THE ORIGINAL

Hey Blue Bloods! How was your week? And the week before? It’s been a tremendously busy fortnight for me. Loads of work, work and more work! I guess that comes with the ‘responsibility of age’ which is inevitable… that’s not my focus today though.

I want to share my thoughts on ‘the original’ or originality. Now, I’m not talking about Klaus, Elijah or Rebecca…LOL! (For those of you who get my drift). In my small length of life, I may have gained ‘vast’ experience, some of which are not self-experienced but are stories of the lives of those I know and those I do not know. It surprises me how the life of everyone is so unique, even the lives of those connected by blood. For instance, I and my brother are two extremely different people. It took me sometime to resonate with how he didn’t do things my way and I love him so much for that. I am reserved but people who are very familiar with me know that there’s a ‘genie trapped in a bottle’ inside of me. Well, I think everyone has that ‘genie’, but the nature of our ‘genies’ are different.

What’s my point in all of this? I’ve noticed that we live in a world where we try to follow glamour and some of us don’t realise that there’s something that smile hides- someone trapped in insecurity, fear or uncertainty. We think we want what the ‘real’ people have, but you know what they say, “Real people have real problems” and some people that we want to be are actually shadows of their real selves. So, before you wish to be that person? Stop to think, “Will I be comfortable having the problems they have?” I am not saying we shouldn’t have people whose positive behaviour we want to emulate. I’m saying, we should aspire to be us. Yes, we may not like our flaws, who does? But, our flaws make us who we are and like it or not, those flaws are designed in a unique way to fit our unique purpose. All we just have to do is develop ourselves for the better.

I heard this from a great man, “You can’t love anyone better than you love yourself” and wherever you go, there will always be one person around you and that is YOU. So, embrace YOU because YOU would always be YOU.

Have a great weekend my fellow Aristocrats. Till we share again. Remember it’s all about the attitude. Live, love and enjoy the moment…xoxo.

THE RESOLUTION...

Hello Blue Bloods, Happy New Year! I hope you caught up on loads of fun. Fortunately (I would say), it’s back to work, or school and back to making sure those New Year resolutions work.

Like I stated in my last post, I have luggage of lessons learnt in the past year and looking back, I would say "I am not the same person" I was 365 days ago, I am not “there” yet but I have taken a number of steps. Like all New Year resolutions we make, we end up not keeping a large percentage of them or maybe the whole thing. Then, we begin to lose ourselves to depression and that sense of failure that comes lurking. Well, next time it comes, just say “Been there, done that”, and move on. After all, what did those feelings do for you? If not make you feel bad and hopeless. The trick is, it doesn’t have to be termed a New Year Resolution. On the evening of the 31^st, my mum asked me, “What’s the difference between today and tomorrow?” I answered wittily, “Well, today is 2013 and tomorrow is 2014.” Later, when I thought about it, I realised there actually isn’t much difference. It’s the same amount of hours and seconds that will go by, it was also a Tuesday and the next day (The New Year) would be another Wednesday.

Now, I am not underestimating the need to set goals for ourselves in this new season but there are a number of things I want to draw out from the above narrative. First, we do not have to wait till a New Year to do and “undo” something. Second, let’s say we have a resolution in place already, if we didn’t keep it, we don’t have to wait till 1^st January, 2015 to get back on track. Third, we don’t have to feel bad because we didn’t keep it, whether we made this resolution on the 1^st of January or the 20^th of June, there is a common denominator and that is determination.

With that being said, we shouldn’t spend our lives in regret of what we didn’t achieve yesterday, there’s always today, to do and “undo”. Every day, we are given the gift of another chance, to start afresh, on a clean slate but the challenge is most of us stay in the past, clutching on to it, ever so tightly. What we all need is determined determination and a forward perspective.

Loads of love and I pray we achieve all and more than we set to achieve. Enjoy the moment…Xoxo.

Many thanks to Mebrock for hooking me up with this new POSH wallpaper.

Photo Credit: http://1b9m613yi0qa0r935crzosac.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/no-resolve.jpg

AND...IT'S A WRAP

Hello Blue bloods, Compliments of the season, hope you had a POSH Christmas? I'm so thankful we made it to the last Saturday and POSH moment of 2013! Thanks for your time and support from the get-go.

So I've learnt a lot, I'm sure we all have, but these are my top three lessons of 2013;

* Never say never.
* Life is very individualistic, therefore, comparing yourself to another is like a lion asking himself why he is not a leopard.
* Your happiness counts most of all...
These and many more I have learnt in the course of the year, have made me less judgmental about people or situations. Ponder on these and make sure 2014 counts for you. Here's a poem, IT ALL HAPPENS IN LIFE, composed by one of our POSH readers, Joel, author of FOREVER AND A YEAR MORE.

It all happens in life,

Disappointments and falls,

Strong, pick yourself up

Weak, keep falling.

It all happens in marriages,

Arguments and fights,

Strong, make it work

Weak, make it flop.

It all happens in dreams,

Dreamlands and nightmares,

Strong, dream greater and further,

Weak, wake up from the slumber.

It all happens with you,

Success and failure,

Strong, its up to you

Weak, still up to you.

It's funny how we could be the cause yet the solution to our challenges, and as always, the choice is ultimately ours. I wish us all a prosperous 2014, dream big, work hard and expect the best. 

Loads of love darling aristocrats. Cheers to the future!

Photo Credit: nrn2197-i1.jpg

DON'T PASS THE BULK!

Hey blue bloods, how was your week? Mine was great…got to learn new things. I hope yours was too. 11 days to Christmas…yay! I remember when I was younger and it was all about the food, the hair and the decorations. Now, it’s about spending time with the people I love and ultimately, the One who loves me. We shall be discussing a topic which I feel we can all relate to…or most of us. Kick back and enjoy.

In my short life, I have wondered why I get frustrated making some people around me happy. You know when you jump to the rescue (Superman/woman), wanting to be there for a dying friend, sick colleague…just show you that you have their back…not that it’s a bad thing, it just needs to be managed because there’s just that likeliness inside us that tends to take advantage of or take for granted. In the past week I have listened to one of my favourite teachers and I have started to realise the bulk is not on me.

Have you ever been at that point where you feel like no matter what you do, it’s not just enough? Or you end up with the shorter end of the stick? Another teacher of mine said, “Be careful of high maintenance people, no matter what you do, it’s never enough.” You have to know just like I know now that we are not responsible for other people’s happiness. You can make someone happy but you are not responsible for keeping the person happy. That my love, is a function of choice and not the equivalent of love like we misunderstand. So do what you can but don’t let someone give you grief because they aren’t being responsible for their happiness. They most likely have other deep seated issues which they have to sort out first and they will suck the happiness out of you in that contagious mood swing. Sometimes, it’s good to be there from a distance.

I’m not trying to discredit some of us that are dependent on other people to make us happy. I was there once and I did not feel free until I realised that me being happy was a function of me deciding to be happy. In effect, I became less disappointed in people. We all go through stuff (if that’s the excuse you are about to throw in my face)…we’ll all go through more stuff and life is too short. So take your pick? Option A- Live your life, constantly being sad and frustrating others around you or Option B- Seize life and be happy.

Remember, enjoy the moments, every day is a gift from God. Have a great weekend.
Loads of love blue bloods…xoxo

Photo credit: http://quotesstack.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/happinesswithin.png

SETTLING...

Hullo darling blue bloods, how was your week? Mine swept by but doesn’t it always? Reminds me of that rhyme, “Tick, says the clock, tick, tick, what you have to do, do quick!” Thank you for taking time out to read this, it’s good to know that there are POSH minds everywhere.

Just a small story to guide us into our main discussion. Yesterday, as I was getting ready to go out, I saw the ducks and swans come out of the lake and as usual were looking for what to eat, I had fed the ducks before but not the swans so I looked up at the digestive biscuits I had on my shelf and thought to share. I broke one piece in two and threw them out my window, one of the swans just passed by it; I threw a whole piece, the other swan just walked over it, I began to think, “These swans are too POSH for this biscuit”. It looked like the ducks got wind of the windfall (pardon my pun) and then started coming towards that area, so I broke the biscuits into pieces before throwing them out. To my surprise, duck and swan alike as well as surrounding flying birds came to party. I said to myself, “Oh Swan, I thought you didn’t do biscuits.” LOL. That’s not my main point, another shocker was that they kept accepting the pieces that I threw from the window but as I write, the whole piece of biscuit is still there. Throughout that period, they all stepped on it, passed by it...and their heads were down most of the time looking for something to eat. Thinking they could hear me, I kept screaming, “there’s one down there, see that biscuit” and the next duck walked over it. I gave up at some point…I had somewhere to be.

I’m sure by now you get my drift, they settled for less...pieces…some of them even fought for one of the many pieces. Meanwhile, there was a whole biscuit just waiting to be found but kept on getting walked over or passed by. I likened myself to the Creator and thought, maybe this is how He watches in amazement at how we make poor choices for ourselves. Settling for the pieces, when there is that one whole biscuit just for you. I can almost bet that that piece would be there for the next week. We have many talents, relationships, ideas that would fetch us happiness, satisfaction and most likely be an answered prayer but I think as humans, we tend to clutch to fragments of what’s left and we fight for the scraps that someone hands down to us and feel that the person is even being gracious to us. You deserve more, I deserve more, We deserve more. Don’t be content with the scraps, why beg for water when you have access to the fountain?

Tap into that talent, reach into and out of yourself, find that God-given deposit in you and be the next game changer just like Nelson Mandela- the definition of a fruitful tree. RIP Madiba (1918-2013).

Remember to enjoy the simple moments, they only last for so long. I love you all…xoxo

Photo credit: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb8iEAGb2JqPUUwVZz5hKciSxjop5J6L_NG5C71_LaIF8wV5pZmYLS-Vk8p7BFoKGnkSvGwjZRoJv4mOjClUiGI7Cxn9zKaQTpRWO5cBm7DXZGvf7wG4PtgrDz1Bi-aGkl_bilk19Rbtk/s320/mandela415x479.jpg

A CLOSER LOOK

Hi blue bloods, how was your week? Mine was good, eventful and a bit stressful but the good part is that November has finally come to an end, 31 more days and goodbye to 2013. This really begs the question, “What have you accomplished this year?” I don’t mean accolades exactly…if you have broken a bad habit or made a good habit in the course of the year, you have done yourself some great good. Now, what’s our hot topic for today? Please sit back and toast to the weekend and the beginning of another month. By the way, it's our 20th post (Yay us)!

Some of us suffer from the internet sickness. Where did I get that from? I’ve noticed over time, and no judgement passed, but it is just funny how much we hang on to the catchy phrases of internet posts and swallow stories, hook, line and sinker. I didn’t want to write about this at first but I feel it’s about time we believed in the statement, “there are two sides to a coin”, and you know what? It’s not actually two sides, I think a coin is a three-dimensional object. We read something about a person and then without proof, we just go ahead to assume it must be the right information, forgetting that this is based on someone’s view about that particular person. Let us look at it this way: Two people ask me for an orange, I turn one person down and I give the other, when each person is to give a review, it’s most likely that the one I did not give the orange won’t have something nice to say about me and what do you know, the other person could say I gave him/her the orange out of pity (the human mind is that complicated).

This does not only relate to what we see or read on the internet. It relates to our everyday life, and I’m also just trying to get the hang of this but how long does it take for us to assume a person’s lifestyle or personality at first contact? Truth is, most of us, assume the way a person, thing or situation is based on hearsay. There are some obvious attitudes that could tell us about a person’s character or lifestyle or what the real situations of things are but most of the time, all we need to do is take a closer look. We may end up missing out on the relationship of a lifetime or something really beneficial to us. At the same time, you may have been right about that thing or person. Whatever the case may be, a second look might be worth it.

Live, Love, Have fun and Soak in the moment. Best of all, be grateful for this season of your life.

Loads of love aristocrats…xoxo

Photo credit: http://www.nysscpa.org/cpajournal/2006/1206/images/FrontImage.jpg

JUST GO WITH IT

Hello my fellow aristocrats, it’s been a very demanding week (but we all survived it, didn’t we?) It’s great to have another POSH moment and it’s really hard-to-describe how the year just seems in a hurry to end. Happy birthday again to all Novie celebrants. Today, we would be talking about a rather interesting topic but as always, I’d leave you to be the judge of that.

Looking at the dictionary meaning of flow, we see words like ‘intense’, ‘unhindered’, ‘steady’, ‘eloquent’…it means a flow cannot be hidden, even if you try to. If you ask someone what flow means, it could be just that ‘thing’ that keeps a conversation going. When there is no flow, you feel yourself having to do the extra work, even smiling seems like a chore, you just want to get out of that situation…but what happens when you find yourself in a situation where you have to induce a flow? Such as a birthday party in which the only person you know is the celebrant who may be a cousin or close friend and whose friends you are clueless about (you can’t speak to only your cousin or close friend, chances are she is mixing up with everyone). What about a get-together with a group of classmates you might have said a total of ten words to? Either way, you are in the situation already, so just go with it and from my experience, you might end up having so much fun.

It’s easy for us to stay in our shells, (at some point in everyone’s life, the ‘alone’ time need comes – that’s great) and it’s much harder to reach out sometimes but an effect of that could be depriving yourself of the joys that come with everyday living. The deal is with a positive mind-set, you could make the best out of that situation, in fact, any situation at all. Most times, you just need to go with it and not know every single detail, as unplanned events sometimes, end up turning out better than well-structured ones. So, just go with the flow.

Thank you for taking time out to read this piece; it’s encouraging how many POSH people there are in the world. Don’t forget the POSH mantra- enjoy the seemingly mundane moments. Look out your window, take in that crisp air, we live in a gorgeous world.

Have a great week ahead. Loads of love my Blue-bloods…xoxo

Photo credit: http://www.google.com.ng/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=LiJpjBNyquX_OM&tbnid=54m43C7l_C-MnM:&ved=0CAgQjRwwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.com%2Fpin%2F66217056991490518%2F&ei=-3mQUs7bOYWI0AXf24HQCQ&psig=AFQjCNESuL2hDUdXjzIJNYw-1t4Ui2Hjpw&ust=1385286524019686