onlynatureknows

[onlynatureknows]

What’s Love Got to do With it? Everything !

are you too woke for love? well, don’t be !

Love is not as complicated as people make it out to be. Love is not logical, it’s not something you can even think about. I’ve heard many people say, “Love is a decision you make.” You must “choose” to love. I can see where these people are coming from, however you cannot decide to love. Love is what propels the decision. Love influences us to stay, to leave, to try again, to forgive. Those concepts are logical: to stay, to leave, to try, to forgive, etc. Love is the cause, not the effect. Love is not attraction, love is the cause of attraction. Love is what propels existence. We must always aim to act out of love. Let love guide our behaviors and our tongues. When we act outside of love, it is very obvious and it cannot be erased.

Love is an intangible force. The strongest gust of wind you’d ever dare to feel. It is invisible and magnetic. It is exhilarating, I can feel it in my blood now. It is so joyfull to be within love. Man has become so silly to believe he can conceptualize love. Love is creation!

I am very blessed to have lived a life of love. To have lived a life of giving and receiving love. I have had a very sheltered life, where I did not have to worry about much except which outfit I would wear to school the next day. Despite certain struggles, I know my parents provided me with a life of privilege and protection. This privilege allowed me to hold on to my youth. A slight child-like nature. My lack of exposure allowed me to hold on to a certain purity, a trust and love of life. I have always been a lover of life. Happy to be existing. Happy to be feeling. Happy to be conscious of feeling. Happy to be conscious of existing. Just like a child. Many people are afraid of “romantic” love or any type of love within interpersonal relationships because they have had moments in life where they lost their love of existence. They do not trust existence. They do not trust love. Too much thinking and trying too hard to perceive the imperceivable.

So what is love? The best way I can explain it is this: love is. it simply is. And we can never control it, just as we can never control God.

But hey, what do i know?

<3

[onlynatureknows]

You Are What You Eat! Eat like pac-man, behave like pac-man.

If we eat the food of the world, then we will have the thoughts and behaviors of the world. The substances we intake influence our hormones which influence not only the body, but the mind.

This life is one huge circle. Who’s to say where a circle begins, and where it ends? The things we call “food” these days have become complete garbage. Since humans must eat (shhh please don’t ask the breatharians) food is a great tool to control the masses. Everyone needs food right? All “food” we ingest has an impact on our chemistry. Side-note: I would love to study more into physiology. When we think of our bodies scientifically, similar to machines, every compound we input has an effect on the machine. So, the food we eat, or the compounds we ingest, then impact our chemistry. This is why it is important to intake organic natural compounds instead of artificial synthetic compounds. The chemical reactions within our bodies are impacted at a cellular level. Our bodies become confused and start coding for the world, and not for reality. Simply said, our input effects our outputs. Obviously.

This chemical confusion then impacts our thinking and behaviors. I am wondering if family members, specifically siblings within the same household, have similar mannerisms due to eating the same foods. If someone eats only chicken every day, then they start behaving like a chicken. All the body is receiving is the information of a chicken. Sounds funny right?

Based on what we eat, our bodies will code for certain hormones. We confuse our brains by eating the wrong foods. Our thought processes and behaviors are largely impacted by food! Imagine how differently people behave in a state of fasting vs a state of non-fasting. Imagine the behaviors of a child who has eaten an influx of sugar, or an asult who has taken an influx of caffine. It seems that even “food” has become a drug.

Anyhow, the point of me rambling about chemistry and food is to come to the realization that we are what we eat. Duh! right? I’ve been having some worldly thoughts about attending university, changing my appearance, making more money, missing my friends, and just having more of the worldly delights. And I wonder why? Then I examine my diet and it’s clear to see. I have been eating only the world’s foods. Barely even cooking for myself, which makes it even worse. If I am thinking worldly thoughts, it is because I am filling my body with the information of the world. Food is information and instruction for the body. Food of the world = instructions from the world = worldly thoughts + behaviors.

But what is real food? Can real food grow anymore from this scorched Earth? It seems that all “food” has been compromised. Maybe we should all just become breatharians and disappear into ✨thin ✨air✨

xoxo

ice_cream_luvr_888

<3

[onlynatureknows]

Every man seems to have his version of a virtuous woman. The Mursi man has his version. And the Yoruba man has his version. As does the Muslim man, the Buddhist, and the Jew. The Nazarite and his wife have also taken their vows. All so similar, yet so different. Overlapping, but not exactly coinciding. My question is, which one of these women is God’s bride?

I’ve come to think God has left man to his own devices.

[onlynatureknows]

Y’all Eating Pinecones? - For my Plant Based Girlies

But no fr, y’all eating pinecones yes or no

So, I made a facebook when i was about 11 (ik illegal) so i could post super cool pictures in my brother’s snapback caps. I think facebook had seen about 5 logins from me since then. Recently, I have been trying to use facebook more as a social network building tool & I have joined quite a few groups. While scrolling through one of the facebook groups last night, just before bed, i saw a post about “cinnamon pinecones.” I said heyooooooo! Cinnamon. Pinecones. It was a photo of pinecones that were boiled in water with cinnamon and perhaps other spices ( i didnt dig deeper into the ingredients as the photo was enough to awaken the African aunty in me). & All the comments were very serious and educational about the benefits of eating pinecones. Still to now now - i say heyoooooo! This be plant based life? Come now to eat common pinecone? Hey!

Okay, let me stop joking. Like i said, the comments on this post were very serious and educational. I am well aware of the medicinal benefits of pine needles and other parts of the pine tree when taken as tea. I just never knew the actual pine cone was edible. I guess its similar to how people eat artichoke? I have also never eaten an artichoke, but i can imagine its pretty close to eating a pine cone. I think. Is the pine cone crunchy? Maybe it becomes soft when boiled. Does it have a woody flavor? If I ever discover an African pinecone, Ill have to try it… with cinnamon.

Being plant based, yes plant based not vegan, has been an interesting journey for me. Coming from a West African background, I do have a certain palette. I like nice food, food with seasonings, food that hydrates me. I absolutely cannot do dry & bland. I’d rather not eat. I have no quarrel with the plant based lifestyle except when it comes to the seasoning & texture of food. Being plant based for me cannot and does not mean bland food. Even raw food can be made delicious! But maybe I am too worried about deliciousness.

I say all this to say - I am still healing my relationship with food. Being plant based & experiencing different native cultures in Africa is purifying my perspectives. Indigenous food is often not very flavorful, and would not get a stamp of deliciousness approval from the West African Aunties. Plant based native food is mineral desnse & often bitter. Again, deliciousness is not a factor. But - God is the chef so who am I to judge? It makes me think again how confused us humans are. The natural food provided by the Most High, designed for our bodies, nutrition packed, and filled w/ information from the Earth, is not enough. We think we are smarter than the creator, so we create our own “food.” Its hilariously sad.

Seeing the pinecone post made me realize, I still hold certain food prejudices. Yes, food prejudice is real. I most definitely looked at those cinnamon pinecones and thought, “That has to be some white people food.” Smh. That “white people food” is actually very nutritional, medicinal, and healing. More nutritional than my pounded yam and peanut stew. And this is exactly why us “Black people” have health issues. You know what they say, eat to live! So I must judge myself - I need to consciously work through these food prejudices, worry less about flavor, and focus more on value. Our food must be valuable, our food must be an offering to our vessels, the intake of food must be intentional & almost ceremonial. Fine, no peanut stew, I’m working on it. But, for now I have to ask:

[onlynatureknows]

The Slow Eater Symphony

Many people take the next bite of food before chewing & swallowing the bite they already have in their mouths. All without even realizing. & all the while asking others, why. we. eat. so. slow.

I bet you’re wondering, what the h*ll is this girl rambling about? Well, let me explain. I’ve been a slow eater my entire life. Not just a picky eater, but a slow eater. I think starting off as a child who was picky / uninterested in food literally shaped the ~way~ I eat. I must chew and swallow one bite before allowing another to enter my mouth. Thus, leaving me in last place as other food loving toddlers shoveled piles of who knows what into their mouths. My daughter eats the same way now, and yes she is a very. very. slow. eater.

but you see, I never really examined my eating process until a friend mentioned it to me in high school. “Diana, you eating so slow! Why you eating like that?” I thought everyone ate this way. I thought maybe im just chewing slow, I do have a small jaw. Some people think im trying to savor the food, but really how savory is a high school lunch? After further examination I realized, people are really shoveling food into their mouths without a second thought! Of course, I set out to test the method of the fast eating food shovelers. Every now and then, especially when i hear, “Hurry up stop eating so slow!” I will employ the shoveling method. Consciously making sure that i chew just enough to allow for a fresh bite to enter. Not fully taking in the first bite, not being present with it, not allowing it to complete its course, to settle with me. Then, on to the next! And repeat! Until the task is complete.

Now i wonder, what do you people do when the bowl is empty? The plate is spotless? Not a crumb in sight. When there is no. next. bite. Must you grab another plate, or reminisce in what was? Well, that sounds like a miserable cycle.

Living in Yesterday’s Tomorrow, is it not Enough?

I say all this to say: silly silly humans! Humans are always after the next thing. Whatever (or whoever) that may be. Always reaching, searching, scoping for something “new.” Notice i didnt say something better, or even something special. Just. something. new. Always looking at what others have, what we could have, what we should have. Always thinking about our wants & desires. Always more, more, more. Never realizing that we are living in yesterday’s tomorrow. Living in a young girl’s teenage dream. Living in a teenager’s adult projections. Living in an adult’s retirement fantasy. Living in answered prayers. And yet still, we fail to nurture what we have. Instead, we hold our palms open, our eyes beady, and put our heads out the window for more. Why? Are we so empty & so lost that we have no capacity to be content for more than 5 seconds? Yeah, i give it 5 seconds. 5 seconds before you feel the urge to reach for that next bite. That fresh new bite, of the same. exact. meal. But its a new bite, right?

I presume this tragedy stems from the condition of believing that we are our own Gods. Yes, we humans are a mirror of creation. Our manifestations and our great love is tribute to that. But this condition i speak of, this “always seeking” mentality, can only be tribute to confusion. But anyhow, what do i know? On to the next!

always,

<3

[onlynatureknows]

Ive decided to let my ramblings take form as blog posts. I never did get to have a tumblr era, this is it !