Thoughtful Thursday: Wake Up Early….Maybe Not!

Just some random thoughts floating in my head this beautiful Thursday…

Motivational speakers/quotes on success need to stop telling people that one of the ways to be successful in life is to wake up early. Wake up early and do what exactly? I keep seeing this all over social media on “how to be successful” or “tips from successful people” I could wake up early and binge watch TV shows all morning am I being productive? No. Remember that waking up early is relative try telling a person who got home at 4am from work to wake up early, so you expect this person to sleep two or three hours and wake up early so they can be successful? Tell that to the nurse who got home at 8am from her night shift, tell that to the young lady whose shift starts at midday and ends at 10pm. Bear in mind that some people are not morning people at all they are night owls they are nocturnal they function better and are more productive at night. If you ask me they should stop telling people to wake up early and tell them to wake up earlier than their scheduled wake up time maybe an hour earlier and do something like work out, read a book, meditate, pray, listen to soothing music or just chill and have some much needed alone time before they have to get ready for their day/night. There is an African saying that goes “whatever time a person wakes up, that is their morning”. So do not wake up early but wake up earlier than your normal scheduled time and indulge in positive self care activities in that time to get you on the path to success.

While one person’s early is…

Another person’s early just happens to be…

Another great quote that could potentially leave room for plenty of misinterpretation some that could potentially be dangerous is “never give up”. Never give up on what? Naturally we assume never give up on your dreams, never give up on your goals, never give up on your desire etc. Someplace somewhere is an abused person hearing/seeing the quote “never give up” over and over again, in their mind it may be interpreted as never give up on your abusive situation never give up on your abuser. Do you see how dangerous that can be to someone in that sort of situation…I think if you are going to ask someone not to give up please add what it is you do not want them to give up on before making memes and quotes for social media or ending a talk with “last but not least never give up”.  Sometimes giving up may just be the best option for people in certain volatile situations.

Work hard. I believe in working smart not hard and you will reap twice the benefits of hard workers.

Forgive and Forget. Forgive; please do if not for anything else forgive for your own emotional well being but remember it just enough not to let it happen again because the moment you totally forget then you create room for it to potentially happen again.

Happy March; this is my best month yet this year I hope it is yours as well:)

Concoction Wash Day!

I cannot remember the last time I deep conditioned with a homemade food based concoction it must be over a year at least! There was a time I would use homemade DCs at least once a month. So last wash day I had a really really overripe avocado that I decided to mix with other ingredients and use as a deep conditioner; so it was one medium sized overripe avocado, about a tablespoon of pure honey, a teaspoon of white vinegar (mainly to stop the avocado from discolouring since I made the mixture about an hour before I was due to use it) and also for the benefits of vinegar to hair, I added about a tablespoon of whole milk just because I had just made my breakfast cereal and the milk carton was still on the counter.

File Photo: not exactly the avocado I used but you get the picture:)

My hair absolutely loved this concoction I cannot even begin to describe how soft it was I was even able to detangle without conditioner in shower on rinsing that was how soft it made my hair. I think I will add some coconut cream next time as well. I let it sit for about 45 minutes covered with cling film/wrap first then a headscarf to generate some heat before rinsing out. Oh and I used some of the deep conditioner as a face mask – two birds, one stone:)

 

All the fibres  get blown away on blow drying with cool air

The only downside to food based homemade deep conditioners especially fruits is the fibres left behind in the hair after rinsing. But thankfully they fly away on blow drying with cool air so it is not too bad. The benefits for me far outweigh the fibres left behind. Rinsing done I t-shirt dried turban style until damp and then applied my leave in conditioner made two jumbo braids and left all other product use for the next day since it was already late. Well all other product use (scalp oiling etc) ended being done a day later seeing as I never left the house the next day and I could not be bothered to touch my hair.

Thoughtful Thursday: Random Acts of Kindness

Don’t you just love it when a total stranger compliments you out of the blue or someone does something nice for you unexpectedly? I know I do it totally makes my day when that happens. If so how about paying it forward and performing random acts of kindness as well.  Spread the love. Here are few ideas that you can perform as a random act of kindness this month and any other month for no reason at all simply because you can and want to.  It can be for anyone and I mean anyone, friends, family, colleagues or complete strangers, anyone.

·         Buy someone a meal or cook them a meal

·         Pay for the next persons groceries while you are at the check out

·         Give a total stranger a compliment

·         Mow your neighbour’s lawn

·         Pay someone’s bus/train/cab fare

·         Offer to babysit for a friend/family

·         Volunteer at your local shelter, children’s home, nursing home etc

·      Buy gift vouchers from any store(s) of your choice and hand them out to complete strangers – my top suggestion would be grocery shopping vouchers and/or bookstore vouchers

·         Do household chores for an elderly or ailing neighbour/family/friend

·         Someone in your household left their room untidy? Clean it up for them just because

·         Help a stranger carry their heavy luggage up or down a flight of stairs with their permission of course

·         Leave positive sticky  notes for your colleagues at work or school etc

·         If you are able to and in a financial position to do so help out someone struggling financially, you can pay off a debt, a bill, pay their rent for a month or two any little bit helps to help someone get back on their feet.

·         Purchase school supplies for kids who need them

·         Speak kindness and positivity to others

Please feel free to add to this list in the comment section.

We rise by lifting others…It is more blessed to give than to receive…

Natural Hair Edition – Ivory Coast

I came across this lovely article below on CNN talking about Ivorian women embracing their natural hair.

Ode to hair: Ivorian women champion afros - By Nosmot Gbadamosi and Earl Nurse, CNN

“Growing up with afro hair can be a harrowing experience, especially if forced to chemically straighten it. "Once you are eight, all hairdressers say, oh you have to relax your hair... we can't manage your hair, you have to relax it, it will be beautiful," says Mariam Diaby, a hairdresser and founder of Nappys de Babi, an online community focused on promoting natural hair. Read more HERE…”

What I found interesting in this article is that it took living in Paris for the subject matter an African woman from Ivory Coast to embrace her natural hair. Interesting because most African women for the longest time had been subjected to unrealistic standards of “neat hair” like having long silky straight hair for it to be considered neat and it took this black African lady living in a European capital where long silky straight hair was the norm to embrace her natural hair. In hindsight the whole long silky straight hair is a product of the 80s and 90s if you ask me because I remember looking at photos of the older women in my family and circle and they all had natural hair back in the 70s, 60s and beyond. Nine out ten photos featured women with large Afros and hair braided in beautiful patterns or threaded (African threading) and woven. The few who did not have Afros or braided hair wore wigs. It is only in photos from the 80s and 90s that the relaxer revolution was seen in full effect.