#blacksthoughts

[bwiseii]

The human experience can be a funny conundrum when we sit back and think about it. Just take for example feelings. We’re hard wired to feel for the things that truly matter to us and effect us, not everything else. Otherwise we’d go absolutely mad. Just imagine if we felt every sensation that we experienced - to the core of our bones. Every elation and misery. Every pain and ecstasy. I’ve felt such a sensation briefly. I thought I was going insane, but I was simply feeling a glimpse of The All. I’m belaboring the point, but not really. I’m just trying to say that compartmentalizing feelings, disassociating from certain things and people, picking our fights wisely, defending our personal space, and setting boundaries is necessary for health and well being. Like Kweli said, “I can’t be everything to everyone at the same time.” But we can be the truest versions of ourselves that we can be, with the time that we have here during this human experience. It’s okay to not care about certain things, but it’s not okay to not care about anything at all. Passion breeds purpose. Be passionate. Be purposeful. Be free to ... Be. - #blacksthoughts #mentalbreadcrumbs #notetoself P.S. Right after writing this, I received word of my Uncle’s transition (passing) this morning. I walked back pass the train tracks, and took this picture to show that the tracks had a definite ending. Everything has a purpose and a time. Peace Unc. https://www.instagram.com/bwiseii/p/Br-xUFHAU6MZURbEZczDD9HlX53QPdi_wUSsM80/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=16ao8nlkvg2zg

[bwiseii]

Everyone wants more. Today I seek to enjoy what's mines. That's all. Within this space and time, I'm seeking to enjoy what I both have and don't have, what I am and what I'm not, where I am and where I know I'm headed. Just appreciating me within myself as I am. For all of my faults, weaknesses, and downfalls. I'm just appreciating me. For within me, is all of the peace that I need. And in all reality, everything comes from the mind, so all the peace that I will ever have is already within me. - #blacksthoughts

[bwiseii]

I'm making time and space to go inside. This post isn't to grab attention or likes. It's just to let people know that I'm chillin from SM for a while. It's for the few that really do care, and that I really rock with. It's time to just go inside and see what's really hood. So much is going on out in this world, and SM is a viable outlet and means of ascertaining info. But you know what? So much is always gonna be going on. And it'll keep going on even after I'm long gone, and everyone that knows me is long gone. So there's no harm in anyone pulling away from things to tend to self for a spell. This app has literally changed my life. Or rather, the people that I've connected with through this app, that I've built a life around, have changed me profoundly. More changes will continue to be made when I come back outside to play. So until my next post, I'm heading inside to clean house. Peace. - #blacksthoughts

[bwiseii]

LOVE IS AN ACTION WORD! Love is an innate thing. It comes included in the package of birth and death. Although it's an innate feeling and way of being, like anything else, it can be manipulated and deformed into something grotesque or even invisibly deadly. Black Love! ✊🏿 I have it. I have it in boat loads! But really what is it to the average Joe? Is it a #hashtag, a catch phrase, a line to get some skins, or is it a way of life? A lifestyle? When I was a pre-teen, I became terribly aware that Black life was in peril all across the country. From the documents that Hip Hop spread from New York to Cali, to visiting cousins and friends all across Virginia, to seeing how the Fuzz and whites teared us, and to the train tracks that divided Blacks from whites in my small towns; I knew that there was something up. My first question naturally was, "What the fuck is wrong with us???" But as I grew in knowledge, experience and maturity, I began to ask the question, "What the fuck is wrong with white people?" So I began my studies. For my own orientation, I feel that I have a good grasp on what's really up. #NeelyFullerJr is quoted as saying, "If you don't understand white supremacy/racism, everything else that you do understand will only confuse you..." There's no way that I can unpack what white supremacy/racism is in an IG post. But what I can do is state that we have to keep our heads up, hearts open, eyes wide awoke, bodies strong, minds sharp, and spirits primed! I posted this picture because I, myself, needed to see Black beauty, pride, excellence, grace, and intelligence in the midst of all of this bullshit that we're being inundated with. We are all one Human Race. But we're so dumb, deaf, and blind to seek out, and live, the truth of who and what we are; within all of our variances and idiosyncrasies. So to everyone that I say peace to, "Peace!" And to everyone that wants to dim my beauty and my brilliance, "You betta check yoself befo you wreck yoself - Fool!" - #blacksthoughts

[bwiseii]

#Repost @carmenamara with @get_repost ・・・ I’m so alive right now love you my cousin @paomakeup1 #free #love #gaia minutes later a guy pulls up next to me and takes off his shirt to dance in the rain 😊😂 he’s the red car passing by lol ------------------------------- When I punch the time clock on this physical existence, I won't be stuck with "I wish I woulda's." I'm gonna continue to live my life as rich, full, fun, brave and as bold as Caren. My heart is too expansive, my mind is too limitless, my spirit is too bright, and my path is too guided to stifle who and what I am. So I climb trees, play in the rain, and dare to dream big! I gotta push my boundaries and seek greatness! It's in my blood, my bones, and my spirit. So s/o to the adventurous, free spirited, loving and beautiful Caren for living life to the fullest. When we do so, knowingly or unknowingly, we're giving others permission to do the same. - #blacksthoughts

[bwiseii]

It's not just the film industry, but our entire reality has already changed. There are so few locks left, if any, on anything. The chains are off, and all that's left is for us to become aware of our missions. We have to apply ourselves to our purposes, and push through the openings that our ancestors have made for us. It's all in us, and it's all on us to do what needs to be done. You may ask, "What needs to be done?" I recommend that we take the time to listen to our heart's truest song, learn it, follow it, and adjust to it as it changes to suit the time and need of the present moment. As I was waiting for this video to upload, I deciphered my series of dreams from this morning. They were telling me that the way is opened, and I need to do the daunting work now. I'm not alone, but I'm not in legion w/millions. Some of the long hard work will only be executed by the few, but the many will prosper. So it's go time! As slow or as fast paced as that may be. Learn your heart's song, map out a loose plan, and grind persistently. That's it. The only other things that are left are to do your best to lead a happy life, seek or create beauty in everything, uplift the light, and love! - #blacksthoughts

[bwiseii]

My Dad nor my Grandma favored getting their pictures taken. Someone had to sneak this one. It's the only picture that I know of with the two of them together. It's priceless to me. Even moreso now that I won't be able to see either of them in the flesh again. Keep shining, Daddy. I love you Grandma. I love you both. - #blacksthoughts

[bwiseii]

As I age, I see more of how imperfection is where true beauty lies. Maybe it's just the old man in me, but I prefer aged skin over the supple. The stories within the stretch marks. The scars from childhood mishaps in the playground that reflect upon the youth of the aged. The freckles and moles where melanin pops. The folds of skin that we are fooled to frown upon. I'm not saying that I prefer some old decrepit specimen of a human being. I'm saying that I admire the stories the flesh tells. I admire the pains that have been endured. The smiles that have lasted through heart breaks and massive let downs. The will to press on, apply constructive friction to the body through sweat and pain. Having healed from injuries and surgeries, to walk again, to play again, to live fully again. I love remnants of the past that reminds us of where we've been. Like encrypted markings on a treasure map with no key. The code is only broken through building relationships and gaining trust. That's how we crack the codes, and find the true treasures which lead to the passage way to the heart, the mind, and the spirit. We're led there through traversing our finger tips across flesh, peering our eyes into eyes to see the soul, and placing our hearts exposed side-by-side. Naked with no coverings. Bare for each other to see in our own privacy. Our own utopia, where even there, there's turbulence. It's through a still temperament, caring and understanding, constant communication, and ultimately respect that we can continue to maintain the peace and harmony required to coexist. Seeing you exposed, revealing my truth, freeing us both. - #blacksthoughts

[bwiseii]

When I step back, relax, allow things to process and fall into place, I can then regroup and walk back into a reality that I co-created. At the least, I can be more accepting of the things that seem to be a challenge, and flip my mind upside down to view it as a lesson. - #blacksthoughts

[bwiseii]

"Pure power don't power trip." - #YasiinBey This third dimensional space that we occupy is a space of matter in motion. Friction is innate to motion. So we clash and collide with one another and the world around us. Our immature understanding of the reality that we exist in keeps us in a perpetual state of antagonistic flailing. Where are we going, where are we headed, and for what means? When I am still, I feel that all is satisfied. But this is an existence of motion. Sitting still isn't the nature of our 3rd dimensional being. So we stay in motion until we fade away from this form of existence. We even futily fight, resist and fear leaving this realm of unending motion and friction. For what? Self survival? To hold on to the things that we have grown attached to and love? I say to love and live relentlessly until the time watch stops on our beating hearts, and our inner eyes close to their perceptions of this form of life that we're living. Maybe then we'll experience that form of pure power that feels no need to power trip. Maybe then we will be able to truly see and feel. Maybe then we can remove our masks, drop our disguises, and just be. - #blacksthoughts

[bwiseii]

Looking towards #hope. Working to build the #will required to make the required changes. #Patience, #love, #balance, #reciprocity, #justice, #peace. - #blacksthoughts Photo from 160816

[bwiseii]

This book holds tremendous meaning to me. It has my parents names and their life stories in it, my father's parents, and so forth, all the way back to Amar and Tab. They were both purchased as chattel slaves on the public auction block in Yorktown, VA by James Glen Blackwell in 1735. Our Blackwell family historian, Thelma Doswell, researched and documented the largest African American family tree, as covered in the June 1977 Ebony Magazine. Mrs. Doswell not only compiled the largest African American family tree, which is 12 by 9 feet with over 3,300 names on it, but she also created our family crest, produced a yearly news bulletin with every accomplishment that every Blackwell made that year, documented all of the cities that we lived in, and catalogued the cemeteries that we're buried in. She made an immeasurable contribution, not only to our family, but to society at large. Her research was groundbreaking for her time. Often I ponder over a piece of evidence that I researched about our family's history. In 1734, Captain James Copland embarked 188 Africans, many of whom were more than likely prisoners of war, onto the slave ship Doddington. The tobacco farmers had a contract with him, and were in direct competition with the indigo farmers in the Caribbean. So no triangle trades happened with him and his ship. It was a direct voyage from the Gold Coast of Africa to the York River of Virginia. Upon debarkation in Yorktown, VA, 167 Africans were present to be sold to the highest bidder. My pondering is, "What if Tab (who 'married' Jack, an Ashanti man, and began our bloodline on these shores) would have been one of those 21 souls that perished while crossing the Atlantic Ocean." They say that there is a trail of bones that line the bottom of the ocean. The flesh was torn from their bones by sharks that are tailed to have followed the slave ships, waiting for chained and weighted Black bodies to splash into the cold waters. But here I am today, a descendent of the Soninke tribe of West Africa, and many other tribes that were mixed together in this experiment that we now call the United States of America. My other pondering is "what will the ones that come after me write about me in their books." I wonder. - #blacksthoughts #bookphonechallenge

[bwiseii]

Even though I can’t bind these days, I still appreciate the flexibility and openness that I possess. I’m grateful for life, just as it is. No matter the obstacles and letdowns, no matter what, I keep moving forward. Sitting here at this spot that I used to come to as a child. A spot surrounded by cows, hay, abandoned barns, fields, dirt roads and all. It’s good to feel my roots. It’s good to breathe the fresh air. It’s good to be me. It’s good to be free. “You was a little nappy headed ugly boy. Now you’re a good looking man.” I don’t mind those words. I’ve come such a long way, and God Willing, I have so much further to go. I also drove by where I used to live as a child. I walked the grounds, looked at the shed my Dad built with his bare hands, placed my hands on the dog house we made together, and admired the trees by the road that we planted. Reconnecting. Soaking every moment and every blessing in. There’s nothing like the present, even while standing upon the grounds of my past. - #blacksthoughts https://www.instagram.com/bwiseii/p/Bsi9LeDAj5owOKWdWJL1Mw2q_n7S7WijdKDP0c0/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=2qegydq2dvw1

[bwiseii]

#Microvacations can be found in any #greenspace, backyard, park, dock or even your own front stoop. Taking time to reflect, or just simply let go, is vital for our overall wellbeing. Sometimes the drudges of our daily lives can be used as fuel to recalibrate our perspectives to see common things in a new light. It's good to just stand or sit outside just to feel the breeze, smell the air, see the sights, hear the animals (humans count in that category), and taste a bit of freedom in the crisp air. 🍃🍂 - #blacksthoughts My ankle hurts, but this utthita hasta padangustasana made it feel a little bit better. 🙏🏾 "Bamboo!" In BigBoi's son Bamboo's voice. True Hip Hop Heads know what I'm talking about! (at The Pagoda)

[bwiseii]

#WinterSolsticeFast2018 I wrote a whole scientific breakdown of my fast and all, but I’d rather simply say that I’m blessed to possess life. I’m blessed to possess privileges, freedoms, liberties, technologies, luxuries, and communities of people to share my life with. I have my bad days and my good ones, my arguments and my letdown, also my victories and happy endings. No matter what I do during this fasting period for myself, I’m still but a man here in this planet seeking things the best way that I can. This is but one of my many ways; and I’m blessed to have it. I thank my teachers, all of them, I thank my heartaches and my impossibly joyous moments, I thank myself for remembering what’s truly important, and I thank those that remind me when I loose sight. So as we move into the remainder of this Holy Season, I keep the spirit of gratitude, grace and mercy in my heart, my mind and my Spirit. May the Divine’s Blessings be upon you. Peace - #blacksthoughts https://www.instagram.com/bwiseii/p/Brz6HqsgkAXVNLq2JtxKQ9cE24X9bByUQothYI0/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=xwdxtb8m45uv

[bwiseii]

I finished learning the #wingchun #longpole form today. I'm grateful for this journey in #kungfu and #martialarts. It's much more than just learning how to fight, #itsawayoflife. - #blacksthoughts 170414 (at Wing Chun School)