My son gave me his old ipod shuffle.  I was so grateful because the cd player on my little, old car finally gave out.  I am not a big fan of the radio – except for college radio stations and there is a good one around here.  I enjoy the variety of music they play.  Except if they are playing today’s crappy R&B and hip hop music.  That music is total crap.  The voices of a lot of today’s singers don’t have anything in them — there is no soul, no essence and auto tune runs rampant on the air waves.  God help us and help today’s young people discover real quality music!

But back to this little ipod -  I don’t know anything at all about them. I was very curious as to how it works – this little tiny thing plays music?

So I researched on the internet how to set it up.   Step one – download itunes (which I hate because it takes over your whole computer…).  Then I plugged the ipod into my computer and – it didn’t work.  It said there was something wrong with my ipod.  Bummer.

More research and I discovered that I could download a software fix for the ipod.  Amazing.  A repairable thing.  That was cool.

Did that and the itunes recognized my little ipod.  I loaded it up with 7 hours of my favorite music and I was good to go.

People ask me sometimes if I listen to my own music.  Absolutely not!!  Once a song is done, I don’t want to hear it anymore.  Certainly I will perform it and like it then because it is a whole different energy.  But to sit back and relax listening to myself – nah.  I like to listen to other people.

So, who’s in my ipod?

Femi Kuti, Norman Connors featuring Lady Adaritha, Frankie Beverly, Sammy Morales and Al Lucero (indie artists from California – their music is awesome!), music from Afghanistan (I don’t know the artists names because they don’t have distribution, etc. – someone gave me the music), Teena Marie (love her!), Incognito (love them!), the incredible voice of Maysa, The Brand New Heavies and more!

I have seven hours of music that I can balance on the tip of my finger.  That’s amazing.  Technology is amazing.

But the quality of the sound is really lacking with the ipod ear buds.  There is no bass to be found anywhere!  That can drive me crazy.  So, I’ve got to supplement the pod with a good pair of headphones.  The quality of the sound is everything.

So this ipod experience is totally personal.  I can’t share the music with others openly.  I like the idea of driving and sending out good vibrations from the music I am listening to.  No – I don’t blast the music, but while driving if someone pulls next to me, they’ll get to hear it.

I was listening to Sammy and Al once and a woman walking to her car yelled to me – “Nice music!”  Yeah.  Nice music.

No more of that now.  Just my little introverted world of music because it only plays in my ears.  One benefit of that is you can ignore the people you don’t want to talk to anyway because you can’t hear them!  hahaha!

I am reasonably happy with my little ipod and continually fascinated with technology.

Here it is folks!  Scan away!

It brings tears to my eyes to see the people around the world beginning to stand up against tyranny and injustice. The system that has been designed to enslave us all, creating the haves and the have-nots hopefully will come to an end soon as more and more of us wake up and seize our own power. It is what the few global elite fear most, that people will not tolerate any more and the chains of global financial enslavement that begins from the day we are born will end.

We must live our lives with our eyes wide open. In the United States, our natural water resources are under attack as they water is being drained and stolen from our country in front of our eyes. Please do your research. This is actually happening in the US as it has happened in many parts of the world already. Water will be stolen from us and resold back to us for the profit of the few. These things have already occurred in Africa and parts of South America. Now it is our turn.

Our food is a poisonous cocktail of genetically modified lifeforms and toxic chemicals in the form of stabilizers, coloring and artificial flavor enhancers. This is what we are purchasing every week in our local grocery stores and feeding to our families. Organic farms are being shut down and destroyed as we sit back and do nothing.

Laws are passed while we are sleeping. And America, the land of no jobs for our young people, is amassing an army of our jobless youth that will be used against its own citizens in their effort to control us and to maintain our complacency.

Fluoride is already added to our water for the purpose of making us more docile. If you actually believe fluoride is added to the water for cavity prevention, please get a life and understand the the government does not care about your teeth.

Lithium is going to be the new water additive, in fact it is already being used. It has a calming effect on people and is used to treat aggressive behavior, among other things in hospitals.

What do you do? Be awake, be aware. There are many tactics in place to divide and conquer. The new flood of “gay” programs on television is not a coincidence. Neither is major focus on illegal Mexican immigrants. Please understand that I am not against gay people.  I am only pointing out their tactics for keeping us focused on other human beings that we may not like in an effort to continue the division and to camouflage the harmful things that they do.  We must be a collective in order to affect positive changes for all of us.

Yes, it is an obligation.  If you have a gift, you are charged with developing it and using it.  Our ancestors had difficulties.  For African American people, Native American and others…our ancestors had great difficulties – NO – tremendous difficulties.  And, though many of us are still faced with challenges, they in no way compare to slavery and genocide.

There are comedians who joke about how their parents said they had to walk 10 miles to school in three feet of snow everyday one way.  We would laugh about that, but it was true.  My parents had to walk miles everyday to get whatever education they could get from little school houses.  There were no buses or trains.  Their families could not afford a horse and buggy, nor a driver of those things.  There were inadequate books, paper and pencils.  And there was great opposition from whites that they should even be entitled to get an education!  But, the lucky ones did.  My parents worked HARD to achieve whatever they accomplished in life in the face of incredible, outright, blatant racism.  They lived in a time where Black men were freely and routinely hung from trees.  Strange fruit indeed.

So for any of us to get to a point of stopping our growth, or saying that’s enough, or stopping just short of achieving our desired goals is just plain wrong.  What does that say to our fathers, grandfathers and great grandparents?  Thank you for all that you did so that I can live a free life, have access to education and have the freedom to pursue my dreams just so you can give up or just slide by?

A tree grows as tall as it possibly can because that it what it does.  It would never think to ponder about growing to a certain height and then stopping because it feels that’s enough.  But we humans do.  We give up.  We stop short.  We say “this is good enough.”

I give homage to my mentor who gave me this awareness because I did not have it for myself.  I felt that I had done enough and I set myself up to just get by.  Like I was taking an exam and that I didn’t feel like studying for and chose to let a D be acceptable.  That is like telling my great grandmother, who was a slave in Texas – thanks for putting up with the constant rape and violation of your entire body, soul and mind.  It’s all good now.  I got a D and I passed without trying too hard.   Thanks for that great grandma.

HELL NO!!!

I need to bow my head to my ancestors, thank them humbly for the great sacrifices they made and honor them by doing the absolute best that I can possibly do.  And, do so knowing that they are watching and they are with me spiritually, guiding, protecting and cherishing me.  I owe them a debt that I can only pay by doing my absolute best in all things.  This is my obligation as it is yours – anything less is a dishonor.

I have the obligation to hold a microphone in front of an audience and sing.  I have the obligation to write uplifting music with the goal of healing and raising awareness.  I have the obligation to be the best mother I can possibly be.  I have the obligation to do my very best in all areas no matter how tired or weary I may be.  I have the obligation.

What are you obligated to do?

Sometimes our feet are like glue on the pavement.  Ever have those dreams where you are moving in slow motion and there is something going on and you need to intercede or stop it but you can’t?  Your movements are restricted; you’ve got weights on your arms and legs.  I hate those kinds of dreams, but I have them from time to time.

When I stop and think about what is going on in my life at those moments, I can see the reflection of my life in the dream.  Yes, I am stuck.  No, I can’t get out of it.

This was a post by Loren Weisman.  I am a fan of his blog and reprint that post here:

Your fears will be your downfall. You have to release them or harness the energy from them to move forward. I see too many people that either use fear as an excuse or as a reason for where they are at.

That fear of success, of failure, of disappointing, of saying no, of saying yes, of change or anything else is taking away from your forward motion.

Get past the fear, the excuses and the old patterns that didn’t work for you and replace them with ones that can and will. Find the effective ways to time manage, problem solve and work like you never have before.

Grow, Achieve and Thrive.

No one else is going to get you out of bed, no one else is going to stand over you while you work on your dream. No one else is going coach you 24/7. You can get help along the way, but you have to do it for your self.

Stop wasting time on fear, on excuses and circling in patterns that have kept you from success. And stop talking and actually do it. I am burnt out on the excessive talk from many while the actions are scarce.

If you need help, ask. If you don’t know how, learn. If you are doing something that isn’t getting you anywhere, change. You need to move and make motion or you are going no where fast. Talk will only get you so far, your actions, work ethic, communication and problem solving skills are what really make the difference.

- http://www.lorenweisman.com

Simple words but powerful. Get unstuck and get a move on it.  Put flight back into your dreams and fly.

There have been so many times in my life where I gave up music and singing. Whether it was because of my children, difficulties in my relationships, my own little “psychotic” thinking, being angry – or whatever — I would get rid of all of my music books and equipment, stifle the fire inside me to sing and try to live my life without it. Music would come, opportunities would come and I would look the other way. Putting it all on hold, or trying to get rid of it, would work for a certain period of time, but that desire was still there. That flame was still lit even though it was down to a smolder in my chest.

After years of dismissing a dream and denying myself my true self, I realize that it was foolish to even try to do so.

Our most innate desires and dreams come here with us. I believe that before we even come here (to life) that we choose to take on certain traits to help us learn the lessons for this lifetime. The things in our hearts to do are intentional and serve a purpose.

A dream is a gift. Working toward that dream or developing that gift helps us to find meaning and understanding of our own lives down to the essence of who we are and what life actually is.

When the student is ready, the teacher appears.

Throughout my life I have had various people appear to help me. (In actuality, we all have, but I will limit my conversation to myself.) There have been musically gifted people in my life at various stages wanting to help me to improve my skills and to give me greater opportunities. As I reflect, I can name them all and I can define the circumstances of my life at each given interval.  During some of those periods I didn’t understand the opportunity I was being given, nor the importance of it — not the importance in terms of stardom and fame and all of that nonsense – but the importance of getting to know and understand myself more deeply.   And, often during those time periods, I could not get beyond myself…. meaning I could not let the gift or the music be what it was.  I would think too much, rationalize too much and keep myself “in the way.”  In the way of the gift meaning the presence of a mentor, the presence of an opportunity and the presence of my own internal growth.  In terms of my skills I could have been far beyond where I am now.  But, I accept that where I am is where I am.  It does not mean I have to stay there and I now choose to continue to grow and move beyond.

I was recently thinking of giving it up yet again.  No more singing, no more music.  I have been extremely frustrated and stuck in a musical rut that I just can’t seem to get beyond.  I’ve been here for a few years now despite the presence of a very powerful musical person in my life.  I am still very much in the way.

At the peak of my frustration, the Universe sends me yet another angel.  Another person who is very powerful musically.  The underlying theme of the messages are the same from both, just said differently.  It brings tears to my eyes that there is so much love in the Universe that I tells me not to give up – not to ever give up.  The Creator knew that I needed more help and more support to get over myself and my own toxic thoughts about the treasure, the gift and the love, that I have inside me.    It tells me to keep moving forward, that I am not abandoned and that the mission that I have been charged with to develop myself is real and I must do it.

I am ever so grateful for the presence of this new spirit in my life.  Like a young child, I hang on to his every word and his every word makes all the words that I have heard more clear.  It is a mission, it is an obligation.  The people before me were tortured and sacrificed to make it possible for me to do this thing.

Does this thing mean fame and fortune?  I would not mind being more financially comfortable.  Fame I could live without.  I am simply a singer.  That is all I strive to be.  I want to be the music that I am.  I want to write and sing songs that inspire, sooth and heal.  My voice does that for me and from what others have told me, it does that for them.  I am ever so grateful to be an instrument of the Creator.  I find it challenging to write lyrics that don’t reflect my reverence for the Creator because He is such a powerful part of my daily living and thought process.  So, I will let the words be what they are.  I will let the message be what it is – for whatever flows through me.  If I write about staying uplifted, it is a message to myself and all the other parts of myself throughout this world.  A Rebirth, a healing.  We need this so badly on a global level.

So, with this letter that I post publicly on the internet to my Creator, I thank you for the desire.  I thank you for the dream.  I thank you for the vision.  I thank you for providing me with the mechanics to sing.  I thank you for five octaves.  I thank you for hitting the notes above high C!  I thank you for this method to heal myself and to know myself. I thank you for all the love and the help that you consistently send me and at the greatest hour of my need.  I will continue forward on this journey.  There are no more “holds.”  I move myself out of the way and allow Thy Will to be done.

- Tomaca