the courage to surrender

many times in life, there will be moments where we hold onto things that are dear to us. it can be relationships, careers, among other things that we feel we can't live without. 

this clinging comes from a place of fear that takes up the necessary energy needed to live fully in the truth of our lives. 

moreover, our desires for what we don't have, but feel we need, are also calling us to a place of surrender. it is there that we come to realize that all we have is all we need. our longing does not fulfill us. if anything, it makes us less whole, lacking, insufficiently waiting for something outside ourselves. 

my dear spiritual teacher and inspiration, Oprah, said it best when she said "you alone are enough". embrace that truth. 

surrendering can be as simple as inhaling the thing worth surrendering and exhaling it from our being. 

let's try it. 

breathing in, i acknowledge my need to find love. 
breathing out, i release my need to find love. 

breathing in, i acknowledge my financial woes.
breathing out, i release my worries about my finances. 

surrender. 

surrendering is not the same as giving up. it simply is the letting go into the natural flow that is life. 

it takes courage to do this. your mind will always attempt to cling and hope for and take you out of the place of surrender. 

but what i know for sure is this; if you can stand there, in the most holy place of surrender, all that you need will come to you. 

dim your light for no one

it is my deep belief that all of us are born with a light within us. it is the mark of the divinity that created us, and a reminder of the love source that we originated from. let there be light. 

that light is what illuminates our life path. it gives us hope and reminds us that the darkness that attempts to enter our hearts doesn't stand a chance. we are the light of the world. 

i had an incident today that made me declare that i will not dim my light for anyone at anytime. sometimes our light intimidates others. they want us to glow a little less. how can someone have this much joy or be this entirely themselves?

when you choose to live fully and tune into the awesomeness that has always been a part of your being, you become whole. do not get me wrong, it is an everyday decision. moment by moment, you will have the opportunity to shine out into the world. outside forces will be there to cast a shadow, but they too shall pass.

let's meditate on the source of all energy in our universe; the sun. it is our light, our heat, and the reason we exist. all planets revolve around the sun. plants and other life forms need the sun to grow. even when hidden by dark clouds, it is still present and giving. 

see yourself as a single golden ray of sunshine falling onto a beautiful patch of green grass. see the grass glisten and dance in gratitude for the gift of your sunlight. let this be what your  heart emits. 

so no matter who or what life circumstance tries to dim your light, remember that you do not have to give them your power. your light can heal yourself and others. let it shine. with your smile and every loving gesture, be so others can become. let it shine. and until we all tap into that eternal light and return to our divine source, may we continue to shine brighter with each passing day; until darkness can no longer exist.  

amen. 

the joy of friendship

a shoulder to lean on...

there are very few friendships that have come close to mirroring that of mine and my dear friend kim. she is the essence of what a good friend is; loyal, compassionate, wise, and always willing to tell it like it is. our friendship brings me joy and solace in my most trying times and i'm sure the feeling is mutual. true friendships are like that. they give more than they take, heal more than they hurt, and provide a support system that makes life beautiful. 

everybody needs a friend like that. 

the joy of friendship is that you have someone in your corner who is rooting for you and always wants the best for you. your friend should tell you the truth, even when it hurts or when you're not open to receiving it. that's what friends do. 

so here's to real authentic friendship. may we all be blessed to know that joy! 

the will to endure

in the face of a difficult circumstance, you have two choices; to endure it or be succumbed by it. hopefully the latter will not be your choice. throughout life, all of us will experience deep pain and suffering. no matter if it's cancer, heartbreak, the lost of a job or a loved one, the pain can seem crippling and even on some levels, paralyzing.

the deeper the pain, the greater the lesson. one thing i have learned to do is to ask my difficult situation what have you come to teach me? what can i learn from this? the only way out of pain is through it. no one can experience your hurt for you. it's personal. this is your moment to evolve.

the will to endure is not something you have to muscle up the strength to have, it's there already. our souls are built on strength. it's the humanity that you find in the eyes of a hungry child in Botswana or in the resolve of an Alzheimer's patient in Kansas.

the will to endure is the choice you make when you declare that you will be triumphant in your struggle. it is the essence of faith multiplied. no matter what your religious beliefs are or what name you choose to call God by, the source of all things is connected to your will to endure.

i am reminded of my mother who lost her battle with breast cancer almost a decade ago. despite the unbelievable pain she went through, she was determined to endure. my mother taught me a lot about endurance. she was the strongest person i have ever known. she may not have survived, but she did endure.

no matter what you are going through right now, you must endure. weep all you need to, for joy will come in the morning. believe that.

summer GROWTH

      You know growing up, one of the things i always looked forward to was the summertime. Not only because of the time out of school, but because I thought summer was a time to grow -- physically. In the proceeding fall, I would be amazed at how much taller my peers had grown. Apparently, the summer wasn't as giving to me.
      Nowadays, I still think of the summer as a time of growth but on a whole other level... mentally. Every summer, I set a goal to read at least 100 books (don't ask me if they all get read), I watch documentaries and do other mind stimulating activities. However, I still give myself all of the rest and relaxation I need.
     One thing I am certain of is this, you may not be able to control your physical growth, but you can control the growth in other areas of your life. Mental, spiritual, and financial growth to name a few, also takes time, but it depends solely on you. Where are you in your life? Where do you want to be?
     As lovely as having concrete goals are, what is even better is "growing" into them. Sometimes you can see the growth, other times you cannot. But what is most important is that you give yourself what you need to be nurtured daily. Step out into the sunshine of your spirit. Let the rain of your passion saturate your roots.
     We are all meant to grow and evolve into our highest selves. Commit yourself fully to the harvest you want to reap and grow on my friend. Grow on!

Jehrod Alain

.... the return of when life offers you lemons

Greetings! My has it been too long since my last blog post! I would like to offer my sincerest apologies for not being as consistent with this blog as i should be. I still feel that it is a sacred place to share my writing and ideas with the world. With that being said, welcome back! It is my sincerest intention to give you more of myself through this medium.

With Love, 

Jehrod Alain

finding authentic power

deep within all of us rest this unbelievable, without limit type of power. it is a power that sometimes goes untapped because it often goes without nourishment or permission. trying to tap into that power started when i was in high school. those of us who know what the high school experience is like can attest to the difficulty of finding yourself and loving yourself through the acne, the sexual changes, and through those you call your friends. all through high school i was reading self-help books and trying to become a better jehrod. i allowed people to call me ja-Rod when in actuality my birth name is je-Red. Yes it is spelled uniquely but i am who my mother called me. i gave over my power then.

when i got to college,  i came in thinking that i knew who i was. i was disciplined (and by that I mean that I went to class, respected myself and others, and went to bed by 10 PM every night). yes, i was "lame". i was afraid to go to parties and drink because of my religious upbringing. so i guess what i mean to say when i said "i was disciplined" is that i was scared; scared of embarrassing my family and my church, scared of having a reputation as a "sinner", and scared to fail at this false image the world had constructed of me. i spent most of my time reading. if i had an idol god at the time, it would have been reading. i put my reading before church (i would skip church to read), class (i would skip class to read, especially math), and all other social activities (which is why i later invested in a book light). and most importantly, i reclaimed my name.

all of that reading was like mining a gold mine for my mind. Toni Morrison, Richard Wright, Phillip Roth, Alice Walker, Malcolm Gladwell, Alexander McCall Smith, and the list can continue, all became mentors to me. They aided and abetted me into the coming of myself. they were my heros and sheros who taught me how to think. they rescued me and taught me how to write. now mind  you, i have been a writer since birth. i didn't share my work with the public. only my family, church members, friends, and sometimes my teachers, experienced me as a writer. they were not able to nurture me in that way and that in itself was a blessing. the only person who helped to catapult me into true writer-hood is my professor and mentor, Dr. Elise- Morse Gagne. she brought out the best in me. I spent a semester flunking her classes and the subsequent semester passing with high marks.  she will never know how much she caused me to think and be able to vocalize in writing what i could eloquently do in speech.

i said all that to say this; writing has always been my joy. it is a natural extension of who i am as a spirit in the earth. i found my power through writing and never being afraid to tell the truth. the truth is what liberates us from the limiting belief systems and demagoguery that permeates many facets of our society. in order to break those chains, you must free your spirit. i now understand what my ancestors meant when they sang the words to this spiritual, "...And before I be a slave, I'll be buried in my grave and go home to my Lord and be free." True freedom begins when you find your power, authentically, by being yourself and telling your truth, no matter what that truth is. all else is slavery.

(art by Romare Bearden)