#3: This sparks joy 💥💫

Happy Sunday angel!

Hello sunshine, happy Sunday! Welcome to today. I hope you will take your peace, joy, rest, pleasure, glee, curiosity, or love seriously today. Pick just one, perhaps? Sending love, light, and a hug that lasts much longer than you allowed yourself to need. <3

p.s. sometimes i feel strange about the “sunshine” “angel” “precious being” of it all, but that’s literally how i speak and how i love being spoken to. i love words that tell me the person speaking to me adores me. i love expressing my adoration for my people. and i really feel like i would not be doing anything online if i didn’t feel a sense of love for the person on the other end of the phone, for you. because being perceived and being conscious out loud and being vulnerable to hate and criticism is terrifying and daunts me everyday.

and it’s funny because if i said “hello gross gremlins!” that would be less embarassing, because it’s embarassing, naive, uncool, to be overly loving or nurturing. i tell myself: i must remain true to myself and to my consciousness. but, it’s funny how internet people have to cling to the idea of authenticity and navigate the fear of coming across as fake. but in that bid to be ourselves and to defend our authenticity, there’s still a feeling of performance because who even am i? i’m not one consistent thing. having a sense of self is weird. ok, stream of consciousness over much to your dismay/delight/a delicate balance because binary thinking must fall. back to the list, hope u enjoy :D

1. This tweet

And ALL the replies doing the very important work of trying to prevent the gentrification of jollof rice :’)

… and this one

… and this one

2. This moment

Last week I was walking on a busy street chatting to my best friend on the phone. I was very happy but also I can’t go a day without mentioning and/or thinking about death. I’m a worse case scenario thinker. I know life is precious and finite. Confronting death helps me maintain perspective and let go of shit that doesn’t matter (i’m lying to you so heinously, i hang onto shit that doesn’t matter all the time). So, I had just told my bestie that it recently occured to me that one of us is going to die and leave the other behind. and how tragic was that. Just that moment, there was a violently loud honk on the street. Concerned, he said, “Ooh, babe, are you still there?” We burst out laughing. Imagine I died in that moment? LOL.

3. This Soundcloud mix

Please do not sleep on Soundcloud mixes omg. There’s something about one song and beat seamlessly transitioning into another that I will never get over. It 100% sparks joy. And induces the flow state.

4. This essay

“…it doesn’t only matter that I’m a Black woman telling my story. What matters is the lens through which I’m telling it. And sometimes, many times, that lens, if we’re not careful, can be tainted by the ever-present consciousness of Whiteness as the default.”

— Tracey Michae’l Lewis-Giggetts

This resonates deeply, particulary when it comes to podcasting and writing. It’s like I can hear the white critic and I preemptively react to their voice, but then who am I writing or speaking for? Everyday I have to regurgitate this, and often I fall short.

5. This poem

fall in love with the face in the mirror / watch it do new things, lose the mirror / fall in love with the feeling of a new feeling on your face, call it a small freedom / claim a moment unperformed / meet your own eyes in another’s face grasp control and relinquish it / a new story is taking over you and all of us at the same moment / maybe you are the letter r in a sentence that wants to incite a revolution but desperately needs respite and you can do both / everything in between is a different letter to conjure the breath through mouthflesh / a different way of being in the world, a different miracle / now catch your eye again and relinquish solitude / feel how many bacteria and cells and memories and ideas are collaborating for this exhale, this (insert your name) / write a story of satisfaction and swoon and delight and abundance / and when you grieve let it only be for the hours spent lost from yourself / but don’t give up the lessons you could have only learned in that wilderness / like when you see the moon this full, howl

— adrienne maree brown

6. This art

“Keila Strong is a visual artist from Chicago IL. She tells beautiful - visually articulate stories, by way of paintings and bead mosaics. Her distinctive art style is influenced by the cubism art movement, and she draws much inspiration from her Christian faith. It’s through the arts that Keila looks to celebrate black culture, empower women and ultimately inspire people to find (and shine) the light within themselves. Her works are thought provoking, empowering, jubilant, and hopeful”

Follow @customsbykeila on IG. Visit her website www.keilastrong.com

7. This event

Three amazing human beings will gather for a conversation on Tuesday! Register and learn more here:

8. Bonus: Sunday ideas from me to you, like a bed of roses. Pick one if you like!

• Write a love letter to yourself

• Text an old friend out of the blue to tell them you are thinking of them

• Do one of those things you’ve been anxiously avoiding because you deserve the sense of peace that confronting it will bring. I know it’s hard and sooo uncomfortable but often it’s a lot easier than what we’ve built it up to in our heads! And if you don’t, forgive yourself and know you’re in good company. I for one am avoiding about 7 big scary tasks that each feel too daunting for me to confront and collectively completely overwhelm me. I will if you will?! Let me know in the comments ;)

• Dance to a song that brings you home to yourself

• If you can, eat something DELICIOUS and scrumptious and savor each bite. Thich Nhat Hanh has this amazing quote in his mindfulness book, how to eat. You can get it for free here or buy it here:

Nothing comes from Nothing: “With just a little bit of mindfulness, you can truly see where your bread comes from. It has not come from nothing. Bread comes from the wheat fields, from hard work, and from the baker, the supplier, and the seller. But the bread is more than that. The wheat field needs clouds and sunshine. So in this slice of bread there is sunshine, there is cloud, there is the labor of the farmer, the joy of having flour, and the skill of the baker and then—miraculously!—there is the bread. The whole cosmos has come together so that this piece of bread can be in your hand. You don’t need to do a lot of hard work to get this insight. You only need to stop letting your mind carry you away with worrying, thinking, and planning”. — Thich Nhat Hanh, How to Eat, p10

• Consider taking a social media break today. It’s a rollercoaster and our brains deserve peace from the influx of information and stimulus sometimes. I recommend deleting the app from your phone otherwise it’s just too hard to resist. Or logging out.

• Each time you get a self-critical thought, say to yourself: I’m wonderful actually. I forgive myself. I’m not embarassing! And if I am, all the best people are.

• Do nothing. What I like to do is this: listen to frequency sounds that bring a sense of calm. And set a timer on my phone for 10 or 20 minutes. And breathe. Just breathe and be with life. Slow down. Notice things. Count your breath.

Thanks for reading!