Laying It Down

Being a creature  of habit, as I left the house today I thought of how much I miss the peaceful feeling that my morning walking sessions generally bring. Everything has a season so morning walks are now relegated to the weekends. Que sera sera. As I took these pics of the bamboo, a plant I so well love, even if it can house snakes, my feared enemies, I again thought of Spirit and constancy. Like bamboo I'm flexible and resilient; able to bend as the winds ( challenges) buffet, keeping my footing in clay, sand or loam.  Spirit makes us all the same, in some way. How do you see yourself exhibiting flexibility and resilience?  Are you passing on that strength?  Good day!

Woke up thinking about the number 1. 

Hi, how are you?  Slept well, I hope?

Remember I told you that I am placing all my writings on this blog.  The daily ones are spontaneous.  I see something that moves me and I write.  

 What a wonderful privilege it is to live in an age where more and more, people with differences, not of their own making can live harmoniously!  I await the day when that will be for people of colour; Black people, like me will be able to walk the world without being acutely aware or fearful because someone may not like their colour.  Where my brothers and sisters will not be enslaved and tortured.  I want to live in a world where Black people will have no difficulty in wanting the best for other Black people and not only for those of other races.  In the meantime, I celebrate today with my crazy socks!

So yesterday started off with me heading backwards and I decided to share this experience with a few friends via Whatsapp.  Man, did I ever get great comments on how others cope with lousy experiences.  Read the conversations.  Tell me what you think!

That is the name of a great Soca tune for Carnival 2018, sung by Kes!  Since its been a long time since I've written I've got to say it like Kes, three (3) times!  LoL!  I've been using Whatsapp to share my thoughts, so for the next few publications you'll see those thoughts accumulated for the past 3 months.  What I like best about the Whatsapp share are the comments received after each.  They are most enlightening and supporting.  So I'll be publishing them too!  Keep watching and commenting! I'm taking this from Youtube. Cut and paste and  Enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiYEkyySET4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_ILDFp5DGA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIcJxJL4MOM

I am so glad to be back with you guys!  How are you?  So much (good, bad and indifferent) has happened since last we connected: way too much to go on about.  But I do want to go on about what delighted me today!

This is unedited and only has a working title.    Wrote it to remove the sadness.  I don't know if this would  be called poetry but I speak it, then it sounds beautiful!   Tell me what you think. If I'd been told I Was angry with you I'd have said, NO!

This morning I awoke knowing that I am free!

Today marks the first Sunday in the Christian calender of Lent. Today is also Valentine's Day.  Both the Christian and secular calenders coincide today to speak of love.    I can't say that this day is one which holds significance for me on both counts.  I did appreciate, once upon a time, Valentine's Day  -  in the middle of a drab winter, it certainly perked up the spirits. If I really have to reflect on why this Sunday in 2016 is significant to me it's probably because as Jesus started His fast, I believe, He took on 'human-ness', fasted in the desert so as to understand me better and to save me and as I go through the trials that life brings, I can know that with steadfastness, I will come out of each and every situation spiritually and emotionally stronger.   Early this morning, I began thinking on this love day, and not having a love myself, I found I was becoming a bit uncomfortable since Valentine's Day really  "ain't no bi...

Called her last night and she said she hadn't heard from me in ages.  I reminded her that I'd called for her birthday 2 weeks previously.   Then, I thought, perhaps her concept of 'ages' has changed since she spends so much time alone.  I asked if she'd taken her meds.  She'd taken them in the morning thanked me for mentioning since she'd forgotten the evening dosages.   A friend of my cousin's visited that day and for her the pleasure of the visit ceased early since, as she related, they had little in common, she couldn't remember whether the child with the woman was that woman's first or last.   She didn't want to ask as she did not want her not remembering to be the subject of gossip.   The woman didn't know when to go she said, irritably.  I asked, "are you bored because you're forgetting or forgetting because you're bored?"  She says, "50-50".   Deep silence that turns to the dead air of the phone. ...

Started to write this one morning in September when I came out of the shower and realised that yet again the girls were bowing (no, they're not down to my knees) and began to laugh my head off.  Never finished the article and cannot remember what else I wanted to say.  Yet, I do hope that you enjoy and find some good in this article.  It's October and it's Breast Cancer month.

Wrote this on my cell on August 25, 2015.  I reproduce it just as it came out of my brain, no corrections in grammar, structure or content, since this came from the heart. 

At 17 years of age, after reading the Biblical parable  of the three servants left talents by their Master (Matthew 25: 14-30), I decided that I wasn't going back to God with my talents unused.  The use of and development of my talents has been all I've wanted out of life and it scares me to think that I may die without truly understanding or using them, so that it benefits the Master within us all.

Understanding this is the silly season I listen and read with a bit of a scowl on my face all the crap said by and poured onto the political candidates but people, please leave the families alone, especially the children.    Good, bad, or indifferent,  Internet information is there ad infinitum and the sins of the fathers shouldn't follow the children. Until

08/05/2015  4:48 a.m . Raphel Terrace, Diego Martin, Trinidad and Tobago. Jeannelle Bernard.  All rights reserved. It's a new day with new things to see and do and new ways to look at things! 08/0502015 around 5:15 a.m. Jeannelle Bernard.  All rights reserved Each day when we are blessed with seeing the new day, we have the opportunity to look at our lives in new ways.  It ain't always easy!   My new way is to accept life as it comes and to continue to believe that it is all Divine intervention.  I'm looking for the beauty in everything.  I'm looking at my neighbourhood in a new way; what's beautiful in my neighbourhood and new to me?  Nature is the beauty in this lower-class neighbourhood, that I now call home.  Same space, different face. Have you found a new way at looking at things in our life?  Won't you please share? Until

This week is a revered one for Christians.  It is the Holy Week.  The week when we followers of Christ contemplate the agony He went through for us.  In my contemplation, I'm still stuck on Palm Sunday; my mind is pondering on how quickly we human beings can move from praise and adulation to condemnation and abhorence! Today, as we read Mark 15, the suffering of Jesus is brought to bear, the mockery and humiliation!  I am humbled to know that the Prince of Peace accepted such degradation for me!  I am also struck by the revelation that often in life we too go through our "holy week" and I ask myself "how many times have we been praised yesterday and criticized today by the very persons  in whom we've trusted?" How many times have our virtues been labelled as iniquities?  I am taken aback when I study these things.  What's more, I ask myself "how many times have I shown love which quickly turned to anathema?"  How many times have I cruci...

An old friend of mine, a relative really, is spending the weekend with me.  Actually she is spending 2 nights and 1 day since she is heading out today, Sunday, to spend time with her friend who is celebrating her birthday with a tea party.  It has been a bit of a taxing period, these 2 nights and 1 day because as she puts it " I cannot tell Monday from Friday".  So while I should be in church this morning, she has awakened feeling very confused and embarassed and also a bit angry with herself for those previously described states, thus I sit with her as the dawn breaks, hoping my presence may act as a calmative.   I had an older friend who would relate to me what her mother once told her, that is, and here I paraphrase, that you should get rid of your bad habits before you get old or else they would rule you and ruin your life and that of those around you.  That would mean that I have to work on building my self-confidence and getting rid of my temper - bi...

Before leaving for work today, I took the time to read the message of the day to be found in my Living Faith Daily Catholic Devotions.  The theme today is the title of my post "Living the Message" and the message is one of expressing love.   https://www.livingfaith.com/devotion-01-06-2015