Tag Archives: Linkedin

Be Prepared for Emotional Hijackings!

Posted on by
Reply

An emotional hijacking occurs when we find that our joy is being controlled by others.

FAITHGIRLBeware of Potential Emotional Hijacks

My number one tip for today and every day is to, “Get prayed up!” BEFORE you face your day because you never know what life will greet you with. Some days are just perfect and everyone makes joyful positive deposits into your emotional account. Other days, it’s like an unrelenting torrential downpour of other people’s distracting, destructive, or draining energy. Each of us has some of our own internal negative chatter going on and that’s natural.  But, when our own fears, worries, and doubts intertwine with the barrage of negative input and sorrow that’s everywhere, an emotional hijacking can occur quickly.  The problem is that when this happens we are no longer in full control. We lose much of our power, perspective, and feeling of self-control temporarily much to our own detriment. Emotional control is critical if we are to make the most  of our days and the most out of our lives.

I’m a motivator by choice, chance, and career.  And, even I find it hard to maintain that joyful inspiring energy some days.  But in everything there is a lesson to be learned and I am determined to learn it and to share it. I’ve been pondering lately the amount of energy it takes to keep myself and others motivated especially during the trying times that so many people are experiencing. We can’t bottle joy and drink it when we need it, but we can find in on our knees (in silence) and in exciting goals and purposeful work.

And, That’s What We Call Life.

Life presents us daily with new lessons. We can’t control the tests and difficulties, but we do chose the lab in which to learn the lessons that we were each put here to learn. It may be through our jobs, our relationships, or other pursuits. Our ultimate job,  journey, and mission is to do what we must to stay our own course despite what occurs around us. Things will always occur and distract and drain our power if we let them.  At the same time, there are ALWAYS positive empowering people, messages, and energy all around. We just need to recognize when it is happening and learn how to redirect our focus more quickly on input that fuels us and makes us stronger!  Truly what we focus on multiplies in our lives, so we must be careful to keep our own emotional tank full. This is even more critical when we are the one that people tend to call on when their emotional tanks are low or empty.

G+E+T

I share my personal formula for success often. G+E+T!  And today I had to remind myself of it. Yes, it’s a given that we must goals (G) and time (T) to achieve those goals, but equally important and perhaps more important is the E (emotional energy) that jump starts us into action and keeps us moving in the direction we choose. Prayer, meditation, sunlight, empowering people and messages, and joy and laughter fuel me and keep my emotional tank full. Negativity, complaining, stressful competitiveness, judgmental people, injustice, insensitivity, selfishness, and unkindness drain me.  You and I have to recognize what fills our tanks and  that which drains it, so that we do not run out of energy in this journey we call life.

Emotions get us INTO motion and KEEP us in motion.  They even have the power to thwart our intended motion and render us impotent or in a state of lethargy.  We are always in motion, either going towards that which we want or drifting or remaining stuck with that which we don’t want). And, be clear,  we do it both in our minds and bodies.  In conclusion, just remember that you are in charge and do what you must to keep your emotional tank full so that you have the energy you need when you need it to help yourself and others! Emotional hijacking affect us must less when our tanks are full, so “get prayed up” and “stay “prayed up!”

Barbara

Wake Up!

Posted on by
Reply
Each sunrise is a gift. http://www.barbaratalley.me

Each sunrise is a gift. http://www.barbaratalley.me

SO, JUST WAKE UP ALREADY!

You can’t wake anyone else up if you are asleep yourself. Signs of being awakened are love, kindness, appreciation, gratitude, and joyousness.  Complaining, backbiting, and pointing out other people’s shortcomings are signs that we too are not fully awakened to your reality and power.  Awakened people understand that the thoughts we hold take hold of us, and so we consciously choose to live in a positive state.  Awakened people realize that negative displays don’t make things better, they just waste their valuable time and energy.  Sadly, most of humanity is asleep to their identity, power, connectedness, responsibility and capacity.  Most think we are just a higher version of the animals destined by some unknown fate. We are so much more!  If only we could see our own nobility and power and that of others, we’d instead focus on educating, encouraging, and envisioning a better future for us all.

When people know better, they do better.

It is irrational to expect people to make changes when they are still asleep and unaware of their power. Mindfulness, alertness, and self awareness are essential gifts that are available to everyone. Unfortunately, so many people are mentally asleep, unaware of their gifts and powers, or are too busy scurrying about to notice the magnificent blessings all around us.  Life itself is a blessing!  Awareness is a blessing!  To have the power to create or re-create reality is a blessing.

We have to train ourselves to be in the NOW, to be aware of the present moment, and to notice what is happening right now.  The majority lives in the past or the present, and so few live in the present.  And the  irony is, CREATION ONLY OCCURS IN THE CURRENT MOMENT! If we want to change our circumstances, we can only do it in the current moment.  But to change, we must be present in the current moment.  Just start noticing and appreciating more and you will become more aware.  You  can train yourself to become more aware by beginning to habitually notice a simple sunrise.

The sunrise is just the beginning of the gifts that the aware will notice throughout their day. The Creator paints the sky each morning and evening with a fresh picture and in beautiful breathtaking colors to remind us that we too are creators and that we are loved and valued.  With each step we take during the day we can learn to appreciate the ability to move.  With each sound we hear during the day we can be grateful for our hearing.  With each smile we give and receive we can be thankful for our ability to touch others and feel their warmth and love.  With each thought we choose, we can be thankful for our ability to create new realities.  Haven’t we been taught that the reality of man is his thought?   With each word utter we can be mindful of its power to influence and we can willing choose the words that encourage others instead of those that depress or sadden them.  We can mindfully choose to spread hope and joy instead of fear and doubt.  As humans, we must always remember that we have a choice, AND that’s what makes us human.  But, with this choice and OUR innumerable blessings come great responsibility.  We are here to grow, mirror the qualities of God,  and make things better.  Today is a wonderful new day and it’s ours to do as we wish.  I’m determined to make mine magnificent, you can too?

You Could Have Been An Onion!

Posted on by
Reply
You Could Have Been An Onion.

You Could Have Been An Onion.

Stop!

Before you complain again about anything, appreciate the fact that YOU HIT THE CREATION JACKPOT.  You could have been an onion, slug, a roach, or a piece of sand. Instead you are blessed  to be human beings, to have the potential to mirror the attributes and qualities of God, and to be so valued and trusted as to be given consciousness, free will, and dominion over this world. Just think about the billions of  creations in this magnificent world of ours.  There are untold numbers of fruits, vegetables, plants, insects, birds, fish, organisms, and animals.  And yet, if you are reading this, you hit the creation jackpot because YOU GOT TO BE  A HUMAN.

“Humans have conscious thought and are aware of their consciousness. With this power, we can create or destroy, love or hate, believe or fear, take from others or serve them unselfishly. Circumstances may not be to our liking, but at least we have the capacity to change things and that’s the miracle and blessing of being a human.  Humans can create new reality.  Humans can make new and better choices.  Humans can willingly choose to change their circumstances through decisiveness, commitment, and focused action.”

Barbara Talley is a professional speaker, poet, and author.  Her presentations focus on vision, values, and virtues.  You can find more about her programs at www.ThePoetSpeaks.com

A Simple Thank You Can’t Hurt

Posted on by
2

Screen Shot 2012-12-23 at 7.44.59 PMCan you imagine working 24/7 for someone their entire life and never getting a simple ‘Thank you’.

And, when you do hear something, it’s a complaint? I’ve heard many people complain about their knees, their back, their head, or their stomach. But, when was the last time you THANKED your body.We are intelligent beings and every cell in our body has intelligence. Every cell in our body responds to love, appreciation, and gratitude from the outside and inside. So today, say thank you to your eyes, ears, nose, mouth, immune system, feet, brain, circulatory system, respiratory system, muscular system,  nervous system, etc.

We know our minds have intelligence but have you ever really thought about the intelligence of your body?  Bruce Lipton in an interview made a profound point.  He said something to the effect (I’m paraphrasing) that our immune system is our physical body’s intelligent history.  It remembers what makes us sick or well and creates responses  (allergies) when we come into contact with those things in the future.  You are a super intelligent being and every cell in your body has memory.  It remembers what it feels like to be valued, appreciated, and well and also what it feels like to be unappreciated, devalued, and sick.  It responds to your thoughts of fear and worry. (We call it stress!) It also responds to faith, appreciation, and good thoughts.  Depak Chopra wrote in his book, Ageless Body- Timeless Mind, that our cells are constantly eavesdropping on our thoughts.  That being the case, let’s follow the advice of our wise old sages when it comes to our internal communication as well, “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything.”  Your body works hard for you 24/7, show it a little more kindness and you might see some miraculous changes in your health.

I’m Barbara Talley, the poet who speaks and inspires.  To find out more about me check out my promo sheet or visit  my website.

Uncivil Rights to Write: Backlash on Courtni the Poet

Posted on by
1

The  headline read, ‘Courtni Webb, San Francisco High School Senior, Suspended For Writing Poem About Sandy Hook Shooting.’  I don’t know if I picked up on the headline because I’m a mother, a poet, or just a human being trying to understand those senseless shootings of those babies in Connecticut like everyone else. At first, only a few lines of her poem were being broadcasted around the country and judged. Some thought that while she had the right, her timing and words were insensitive and that her words were ‘dark’.

If I can’t be loved, no one can
If I can’t be happy, no one will
I understand the killings in conneticut

The reviews were mixed, some wanting zero tolerance in schools said that she should be suspended so that more tragedies like the one in Sandy Hook wouldn’t be repeated.  Some focused on her spelling and the fact that a high school senior couldn’t spell. Others thought the school had violated her rights since the poem was in her personal notebook and that the teacher had violated her rights when she went through Courtni’s personal notebook without her permission. Admittedly, the whole country is  still shocked about the shootings and so it seems so was a 17-year old girl, who wrote a poem about it and was suspended from school. So many people had asked about the poem that her mother posted the poem on Huff Post (San Francisco).   Her mother wrote: “My daughters poem…you all wanted to read…

They want to hold me back

I run but they attack
My innocence I want back
I use to smile
They took my kindness for weakness
The silence the world will never get
I understand the killings in conneticut
I know why he pulled the trigger
The government is a shame
Society never wants too take the blame
Society puts these thoughts in our head
Misery loves company
If I can’t be loved, no one can
If I can’t be happy, no one will
I understand the killings in conneticut
If every starts out the same, why don’t we have the same opportunities
Why are we oppressed by a community of haters and blamers
When you don’t feel loved you hate the world
When you hate the there’s no exceptions
Why should they have innocence, when ours is gone…

I want to thank her mother for posting the whole poem because it helps to put her daughter’s poem in perspective. While people are trying to understand the killer in the Sandy Hook slayings, why not someone affected by the killings, who didn’t do anything?  Courtni’s poem indicated that she wanted her innocence back.  Her poem spoke of being ‘attacked‘ as she was trying to run away.  Was she being attacked?  She spoke of how she ‘used to smile‘ and how her ‘kindness was taken for weakness.’ Courtni said she could understand, NOT that she wanted to do the same. I would suspect that the question, “What would make a person do something so heinous, had to go through many people’s minds.” Newcasters were asking the same questions!  Everyone was trying to understand!  How many would be fired or expelled by the same standards that were used against this girl (for trying to understand?) What if someone wrote a song, or play, or book (as they tend to do) about this tragedy? They would become rich, so what’s so different about what this young girl did?

This young poet answered the question of “Why or How could someone..?” through her poetry. Perhaps she was responding to,”Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his moccasins.” Courtni spoke of injustice, “If every[one] starts out the same, why don’t we have the same opportunities?” She spoke of  not being loved as a possible reason why the killer could have done what he did.  And she challenges society to take some of the blame, “Society never wants too take the blame- Society puts these thoughts in our head.”  She felt that he was disconnected, unloved and unhappy AND perhaps that’s why he did it.  Perhaps it was a cry for help. Perhaps it was just her mind trying to make sense of such a senseless act. Perhaps it was a wake up call for society to understand that a violent warring society produces more of the same and it affects us here and not just our troops in war torn countries.

How much violence is there in some communities, on television, in games, in sports, in our children’s textbooks at school, and in America’s sordid history? Have you looked at the violence and bullying stats lately? According to National School Safety Center and reported on MBNBD, “90% of 4th through 8th graders report being victims of bullying!” First we create an environment of violence, then we as a society turn a blind eye to our children’s pain, THEN WE CENSOR them from communicating what they are thinking and feeling, and FINALLY when they EXPLODE we ask,”What’s wrong?” So, who’s to blame? Consider these facts from the Neilsen Ratings,

“Number of murders seen on TV by the time an average child finishes elementary school: 8,000—

Number of violent acts seen on TV by age 18: 200,000-–

Percentage of Americans who believe TV violence helps precipitate real life mayhem: 79%.

And remember the young man who murdered the children in Connecticut had a mother who had weapons in the home which he had easy access to.  I’m not condoning what he did, I’m just saying society facilitates this disconnection in people.

As a poet and a mother of a daughter who is a poet. I am greatly disturbed by this young lady being suspended. When I was a child  a half century ago, I wrote about oppression and my daughter does the same today. Writing was my therapy and does the same for my daughter. I’ve never hurt anyone and neither has she. Some things we write we share and some don’t. We write what we feel in our own personal journals. Setting a precedence like this (of closing the one outlet a person has to reflect and communicate safely) is dangerous because it could potentially scare kids who might find healing in writing out their thoughts.  Courtni was just trying to understand our crazy, mixed up, and violent world. Perhaps we should spend a little more time trying to make sense of this world too! Too many adults have just stopped trying to understand.  Women are abused every few seconds. Human trafficking has become a 32 billion dollar annual industry. Over a million children are dropping out of school every year.

When people (young or old)  become insensitive and stop caring or trying to understand others, we call them cold, inhuman, and dysfunctional. I feel that Courtni was just trying to understand. If she were a musician, perhaps she would have written a song.  If she were an author, she’d have written a book.  But she was a poet, so she wrote a poem. While most thought, “Too bad, so sad,” and went back to their ‘regularly scheduled programs’, Courtni was still haunted by the killings.  Poets and sensitive people somehow need to try to make sense out of the senseless actions going on in our worlds. Poetry is an outlet and humanity’s conscience. How are her words any different than the music lyrics in some songs, or the ranting threats of some of our radio personalities? Some get paid; some get suspended. Poets have been gifted and tasked to capture humanity’s story and that was what she was trying to do.

I’m Barbara Talley, the poet who speaks and inspires.  To find out more about me check out my promo sheet or visit  my website.