Basically Bunnie

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Happy Feelings

When I was younger I had an aunt that loved Frankie Beverly and Maze. My favorite song was and still is Happy Feelings. I just liked the smoothness of it and of course the runs. I listen to it whenever I feel down, lonely and mostly when I fire up the grill. What's s bbq without good music? As a child I thought it was a love song, as an adult I thought it was about getting high. Don't judge me, almost all music from that era was about that. So today I realize, once again, I'm wrong.
I have this habit of putting a spiritual spin on r and b songs. In this case however, I think the song was made with spirituality in mind. He says

"I've got myself to remind me of love, I've got my mind and my heart and I believe in above."

How beautiful is that? People, myself look for outside sources of happiness from people and material things, we tend to forget that the door to happiness is always open. If it happens to close, guess who has the key? You do! It shouldn't take much to be happy. If you wake up and have your mind, you can stay focused on God and all the favor he shows and that should be enough to put a smile on your face. You have your heart to inspire you to help others and show compassion, what better feeling is there?

He also says

"I've seen the light, watched it shine down on me, I'm gonna spread my wings and tell all I see".

Of course God is the light and as I spread my wings in His love, believe I'll tell the world of His goodness and you should too. His goodness is simpler than your home, job, car, support system or whatever. It's just him giving you the mind and heart to know of His goodness and being comfortable there. Isn't that something to be happy about?

So no matter what you are given, what is taken away, who you have, who you don't have, remember you've got YOURSELF to remind you of love, and along with Gods grace, thats all you need.

This post is dedicated to my aunt Angela Simpson. 9-30-53 to 7-20-12.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Get over yourself

All of my life, I wanted things handed to me. I don't come from a silver spoon family by a long shot, but because of things I had been through I thought the universe owed me something. Sort of like a reward for making it. As I sit here typing this, I recall all of the anger, frustration and hurt I caused myself just because I thought everybody owed me something. You can also call it being spoiled, feeling entitled but don't call it a way of life.

You may be thinking how is a grown woman spoiled? Do you know anybody that hangs up on people, get mad when things don't go exactly their way, walks out of meetings? Those are just general examples, it can go deeper depending on the person. In past years, I found that by me simply believing things would work out, they almost always did. I could just sit back and hope and pray and all would come to pass. As I'm growing older, I'm realizing that it was God taking care of me, because I had been a fool doing foolish things. So I've been going over the reels of my life and seeing how I have confused having faith with feeling entitled.
And now that I know there is a difference, I'm seeing how much work goes into living the life you want.

The bible says that faith without works is dead. Meaning simply, you cant just sit around wishing, wanting things to happen. You have to believe that God will give you the end result you want, according to His will, but that's only the start. For instance, you may want to be a doctor and it may be in God's will, but you still have to go to school, study and perform your best. So the pure faith I had as a child is no longer enough, for I have bigger dreams, which require bigger faith and certainly work. And when adversity comes I have to first check myself and determine if it's real adversity or simply my feeling that things should just go my way. And if its really adversity then that's when it's ok to reaffirm my faith, remind myself what I am working toward and who has my back, and keep going towards my goal.

This is going to change my life, for the better I'm sure, because it involves a lot of checking myself, humbling myself and basically getting over myself.

Thursday, February 21, 2013

My Daydream about Marilyn....Diary of A Mad Dieting Woman....

As I stood over the table making a plate of "smaller portions" I thought "If I eat this lil bit of food, I'm gonna be hungry again before I know it." I instantly imagined four trips to the kitchen through the night, the agony of being awakened by the pangs of hunger...maybe not pangs of hunger, but my stomach growling in the middle of the night? Ain't nobody got time for that! So I thought about how women do this at picnics and parties and on dinner dates and at the office, all this small plate making is how you end up eating all day. My aunt calls them "dainty pigs". I just really had a "tired of dieting moment" and it hit me. It all came together. I can't just eat until I'm decently full ( YOUR fullness requirement, how much past a "portion controlled" plate it takes for me to be full. i.e. a "portion controlled" serving of pizza may be one half to two slices depending on crust, slice size, ingredients, whatever. So for me to be decently full I normally have two or three, someone else may be five or six, depends on you) because my "decently full is obviously too much. But that doesn't mean I can't eat a slice (with salad and water) and then go again if I need to in two hours. Not eat two or three slices, two or three wings, a soda, and cheesy bread if I'm feeling myself. It made me recall a quote I heard in a roundtable discussion of "My Always Told Me" and someone said "My mama always told me don't ever take a doggie bag home on a date." The topic raised some interesting points, if I tell you what was said I'd have to kill you, but what we didn't touch on was how unbelievably beautiful and shapely women were in our mother's and grandmother's generation. What we have is a watered down version/ standard of beauty. Marilyn Monroe, Mae West, Dorothy Dandridge, Elizabeth Taylor, Lena Horne, Bridget Bardot, you would see them in a movie in a pretty whatever colored dress, just a dress you know is bad in black and white, jewels all on it, hair just gone with the wind fabulous and they're inside some equally fabulous and undoubtedly expensive restaurant, in a word stunning. Imagine her date so handsome, so smooth, so suave, completely enchanted by her. As they enjoy dinner he says "Why darling, we've talked so much you've barely had a chance to eat your food. I must be boring you beyond belief!" She responds "Oh no, I like talking to you, this is how I keep my girlish figure!"
Or something like that. The point is, back then women suffered, sacrificed meals, desserts and super sugary drinks. I don't know the workout regimens they had but I know there were not a lot of cars so there was plenty of walking and their food was half as processed as ours. In order to preserve our bodies, not die young, live a life the slew of problems that can arise from simply overeating, and overall just be a lady, I gotta work for it. Multiple trips, plenty of water, NO soda are all the price that has to be paid. If you want that long lasting definition of beauty that is.

To all the dieting women, stay encouraged my friends.