[random reload] lauryn hill – i get out

I get out, I get out of all your boxes
I get out, you can’t hold me in these chains
I’ll get out
Father free me from this bondage
Knowin’ my condition
Is the reason I must changeYour stinkin’ resolution
Is no type of solution
Preventin’ me from freedom
Maintainin’ your pollution
I won’t support your lie no more
I won’t even try no more
If I have to die, oh Lord
That’s how I choose to live
I won’t be compromised no more
I can’t be victimised no more
I just don’t sympathize no more
Cause now I understand
You just wanna use me
You say “love” then abuse me
You never thought you’d loose me
But how quickly we forget
That nothin’ is for certain
You thought I’d stay here hurtin’
Your guilt trip’s just not workin’
Repressin’ me to death
Cause now I’m choosin’ life, yo
I take the sacrifice, yo
If everything must go, then go
That’s how I choose to live

That’s how I choose to live…
Hehehehe, awhh
No more compromises
I see past your disguises
Blindin’ through mind control
Stealin’ my eternal soul
Appealin’ through material
To keep me as your slave

But I get out
Oh, I get out of all your boxes
I get out
Oh, you can’t hold me in these chains
I’ll get out
Oh, I want out of social bondage
Knowin’ my condition
Oh, is the reason I must change

See, what you see is what you get
Oh, and you ain’t seen nothin’ yet
Oh, I don’t care if you’re upset
I could care less if you’re upset
See it don’t change the truth
And your hurt feeling’s no excuse
To keep me in this box
Psychological locks
Repressin’ true expression
Cementin’ this repression
Promotin’ mass deception
So that no one can be healed
I don’t respect your system
I won’t protect your system
When you talk I don’t listen
Oh, let my Father’s will be done

And just get out
Oh, just get out of all these bondage
Just get out
Oh, you can’t hold me in chains
Just get out
All these traditions killin’ freedom
Knowin’ my condition
Is the reason I must change

I’ve just accepted what you said
Keepin’ me among the dead
The only way to know
Is to walk then learn and grow
But faith is not your speed
Oh, you’ve had everyone believed
That you’re the sole authority
Just follow the majority
Afraid to face reality
The system is a joke
Oh, you’d be smart to save your soul
Oh, when escape is mind control
You spent your life in sacrifice
To a system for the dead
Oh, are you sure…
Where is the passion in this living
Are you sure it’s God you servin’
Obligated to a system
Getting less then you’re deserving
Who made up these schools, I say
Who made up these rules, I say
Animal conditioning
Oh, just to keep us as a slave

Oh, just get out
Of this social purgatory
Just get out
All these traditions are a lie
Just get out
Superstition killing freedom
Knowin’ my condition
Is the reason I must die
Just get out
Just get out
Just get out
Let’s get out
Let’s get out
Knowin’ my condition
Is the reason I must die
Just get out

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balance : the highs & lows

maat5

*The Egyptian concept of truth, balance, order, law, morality, and justice.

When things are going good it’s all too easy to get caught up in the wave and emotion of whatever it is.

“YES, work is going so good, i’m making so much money, this project is gonna be ill.. i’ve met the perfect guy, we get along so well, i think i love him you know..”

Likewise when things are not going so well we can also get caught up and easily dwell in that moment.

“Life is shit, money is so tight right now and everything is expensive.. i hate people, they piss me off, they’re so annoying” ETC.

When you think about it, looking back at the past year or so how many moments of the ups have you had? hopefully a fair few. now, look back again and consider the downs. it’s likely you’re experiencing a peak or a trough now, whichever it may be and on reflection one wouldn’t exist without another.

I’ve experienced my fair share of both, even this year alone. None of which have defined me luckily but both of which i’ve been so grateful for. From doors closing (one abruptly, actually) but then about five windows opening, to getting slightly arrogant about things going well or having a breakthrough within myself. I know this to happen with a lot of people too, especially the latter of when things are on the up (although they may not see it for that) and they are shouting from the rooftops. Then, the universe balances and their world seemingly comes crashing down. Maybe it’s my yoga practice where balance is integral that’s allowed me to fully understand the necessity of balance on and off the mat. I’m not sure, but once balance is truly understood, every moment can end up being appreciated.

We wouldn’t know the true feeling of excitement without feeling dread and the varying emotions in that sphere. Something that i’m learning to instill in my moments of ups and downs, in life events and in my every day, is not being afraid to acknowledge it, whatever it is, but more importantly, not dwelling in it. Swim in the feeling, but not drown. If i’m feeling discouraged for whatever reason, maybe a disappointment occurs – keeping in mind that universal law gives balance and to counteract the “low” there must be a high is a comfort.

There’s yin and yang in everything; hot and cold, light and dark, pleasure and discomfort, challenges and ease. With that knowing (especially in times when you haven’t truly lost anything) the downs don’t seem too bad. In that, you can even become grateful for the lesson that can come, because more often than not it will come, as long as you’re present enough to receive it. Maybe it’s an immediate lesson on attachment to something outside of yourself and the realisation that nothing is promised or maybe it’s a lesson that’s realised later down the line – maybe a day, a week, a month, or longer.

On the flip side, there are those moments of ultimate achievement, again often times, a gain outside of yourself – material or maybe you’re working on something within yourself or you’re losing weight, all great feelings that deserve acknowledgement but again, that you shouldn’t get too drowned in amongst. Instead, developing a consistent attitude of gratitude and gaining an understanding that good and bad happens to everyone and actually, need to happen.

Everything is fleeting. So if you’re feeling a down right now, keep swimming, don’t dip – and if you’re feeling on top of the world, don’t get above yourself. Either way, be still and know.. “This too will pass” – Ancient Sufi proverb

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[random reload] nas – purple

Light it, uhh

Light it up, uhh

The whole, city is mine, prettiest Don
I don’t like the way P. Diddy did Shyne with different lawyers
Why it’s mentioned in my rhymes? Fuck it, it’s just an intro
Hate it or love it, like it bump it or dump it
Writing, across the stomach spell GOD son
Life is like a jungle black it’s like the habitat of Tarzan
Matter of fact, it’s harder than most can imagine
Most of my niggaz packed in correctional facilities
Half of them passed on, mack strong, couple of shots
May the ghost leave a body, now they hauntin the block
Where they used to stand at, somebody’s takin they place
A younger man perhaps, hand slaps, can’t understand that
Same walk, same talk, I wonder can that be possible
A thug dies, another step inside his shoes
And they will hurt you, layin low with a bottle
I’m blowin circles, my state of mind purple

Light it, light it, uhh
Yeah.. light it up, light it up, uhh

Y’all just wanna deal with drama
Talk about niggaz who got things, y’all ready to kill his momma
Everything you went to is underworld related
You sell your man out, not even your girl is sacred
You don’t trust a soul, hold up, you moldin soldiers
to pull guns quick and always look behind the shoulder
Think of how many dudes died tryin to be down with you
Everybody’s under six feet of ground but you
Still standin, still roamin through the streets, that’s real
You a survivor, knowin all the beef is ill
You got a bunch of thugs witchu even now that’s ready
Trustin your judgment, quick to put it down, they deadly
The hood love you but behind your back they pray for the day
A bullet hit your heart and ambulances take you away
That ain’t love it’s hate, think of all the mothers at wakes
whose sons you killed, and you ain’t got a cut on your face?
Unmarked police cars roam the streets hard, the heat is God
Somebody tell these shorties reach for the stars
Instead they tell ‘em how to reach through the bars, holdin a mirror
Lookin down a tear in jail, makin weapons to kill ya
We smoke three tokes nigga pour more Henny
He sighs with eyes that seen a war too many
Cold-blooded murderers, universal
Hood to hood, blowin smoke, state of mind is purple

Light it up, light it up light it up, uhh
Light it up.. light it up, light it up, uhh
Uhh.. uhh, uhh, light it, light it, uhh

These hot-headed youngsters, always get into trouble
Reactin before thinkin, they easily irritated
And murder’s premeditated, it’s a fact that we sinkin
when we should be climbin, in a nutshell, it’s just jail
Drug sales, liquor and diamonds, niggaz rewindin
instead of movin forward, to blow up so what’s the science?
People shoutin, police pushin the crowd
And on the ground’s a young soldier, with meat hangin out him
Am I hallucinatin off the hazin?
Or did I just see a nigga shoot another nigga’s face in
It’s a ugly nation, cops circle the block with mug shots
Photograph pictures of, suspect faces
It’s usually, two or three niggaz who innocent
But if they lock the wrong ones up, then someone’ll snitch
A divide and fall strategy, they aren’t fair
I dig in my bag of weed that’s covered with orange hair
This Color Purple’ll make Whoopi give me the pussy
(?) Oprah and Danny Glover gots to feel me
This is how I escape the madness, too much of anything’ll hurt you
So, my state of mind’s all purple

 

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growing together > growing apart

IMG-20130403-00911

- excerpt from A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle

One very important thing that I’m learning is that there are many roads to the top of the mountain and no two are the same. Often time when you go through an awakening I think its safe to say it’s normal to start to see unhealthy behaviours and thought pattens you’ve recognised and are aiming to remedy in yourself, in other people. And as you make the conscious choice to check yourself i’ve found you become inclined to check other people (that ego in disguise as a righteous teacher). Rather than accept where the person is in their journey, be it seemingly stagnant, stiff or even backward the ego automatically resists what is the fact of the matter (the ego cant stand opposition), and want to change that by either force them along with us or we end up looking down at them with a self appointed righteous authority.

With growth comes change and if you allow it, you will grow with or without that which once served you. How painful the transition is ultimately a decision. Change comes in the people you once had conversation for days with when now what used to be a hot topic has become vacous small talk or the point-less filling of silence. Change can come in the environment you thrive in – it once may have been chaos where you now need peace or once have been corporate and strict where you now need animation and creativity. As you break out of your old thinking, you break out of the self imposed boundaries of your reality.

No matter how long you may know someone and how much you hope they will be on the same page as you (or at least in the same book) this may not be the plan of god/the all mighty/the universe. You also may be blocking the beauty of the people who are riding with you on this road and whose presence and influence is exactly what you need right now. Taking time with people though, and not judging your difference in thoughts or opinion on things is just as important.

When you feel the universal pull away from someone or something, or to someone or something, moving with or against it will end up with the same result; one will be with ease, one with effort. Change is absolutely necessary in life, no matter how surprising or uncomfortable it is for that moment. Resisting against that change can just bring about more discomfort and that includes allowing people to be who they are and where they are right now without judgement or resentment.

It’s not easy to adjust to but letting change occur naturally and flow with life makes room for joy that seems to come with effortless ease. Resisting that and trying to force yourself to remain the same or try to fit into something you think you need to will still end up with a change occuring but the road might not be as easy. Choice is yours.

Like Nas says: ”A thug changes and love changes, and best friends become strangers” word up.

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[random reload] mos def – travelling man

Intro:

yeah yo yo what time the plane leavin?
ahhh alright, i see you at the airport
*samples of “r-r-r-r-rock on”*

Chorus:
Memories don’t live like people do
They always remember you
Whether things are good or bad, its just the memories

Memories don’t live like people do-o
Baby don’t forget me, I’m a travellin’ man
Movin through places, space and time
Gotta lotta things i got to do
GOD willin’ I’m comin back to you
My baby boo

I’m a travellin’ man
Movin through places, space and time(space and tiiiime)
Gotta lotta things i got to do
But GOD willin’ I’m comin back to you
Baby boo
I’m leavin

Verse 1:
Well go ‘head and leave
The call heard ’round the world from the wives of MC’s
These cats is payin’ more that half a pound
My garment bag I snatch it down
Ain’t got the state but we could prob’ly run a blacker town
Scenarios like this is tear jerkers
For the modern MC ie. the blue collar worker
‘Cuz this thing called rhymin’ no different from coal minin’
We both on assignment to unearth a diamond
When you start climbin’
And them eyes start shinin’
You be strugglin’ and strivin’
And they think you prime-timin’
Maintain and keep silent make note and observation
This confrontation
This is the daily operation
A concentration
Stay focused on my recitation
‘Bout to reach my destination with no pause or hesitation
Baby make the preperation ‘cuz this ain’t no recreation
This is Pro Ball!
And we lettin you know y’all
At the show y’all
Doin’ this for dough y’all
Get the phone call
And I’m ready to blow y’all
‘Bout to go y’all
Been a pleasure to know y’all
And I’m lettin’ you know that…

Chorus:
Memories don’t live like people do
They always remember you
Wether things are good or bad, its just the memories

Memories don’t live like people do-o
Baby don’t forget me, I’m a travellin’ man
Movin through places, space and time
Gotta lotta things i got to do
GOD willin I’m comin back to you
My baby boo

I’m a travellin’ man
Movin through places, space and time(space and tiiiime)
Gotta lotta things i got to do
But inshallah I’m comin back to you
Baby boo
I’m leavin

Verse 2:
But God willin’ I’ll be back home
To drop these heavy ass bags up off my backbone
Around the world with a catalog of rap songs
My baby girl is walkin, been away for that long
But no you haven’t well at least that’s how it seem to me
My home town is like a whole different scenery
The old timers on the stoop leaning leisurely
The new jacks up in the park smokin greenery
Easily taken for granted when you up in it but its sweet scented
When you been down for a minute
Move around city limits
Break it down with the vintage
The innovative
Classical B-Boy image
Collect the winnin’s
‘Cuz thats the reason that we came here
This thing is not a game here
The fortune not the fame here
From New York to the Cakalaks
Cali in the Cadillacs
Chicago know we innovate
Infiltrate Virginia State
DC make me stimulate
Philly know we penatrate
Georgia make us generate
Let’s set a date to get the pace
They celebrate to my jams in foreign lands
Even your mans in Japan know who I am
Minasan, make everybody out in Nippon
Say ichiban, make yard man know where ya getti from ??
Phenomenon, ‘scuse me that’s a phone call
Its the show y’all
Tryin’ to get this dough y’all
‘Bout to blow y’all
Been a pleasure to know y’all
And I’m lettin’ you know…

Chorus:
Memories don’t live like people do
They always remember you
Wether things are good or bad, its just the memories

Memories don’t live like people do-o
Baby don’t forget me, I’m a travellin’ man
Movin through places, space and time
Gotta lotta things i got to do
But inshallah I’m comin back to you
My baby boo

I’m a travellin’ man
Movin through places, space and time(space and tiiiime)
Gotta lotta things i got to do
But GOD willin I’m comin back to you
Back to you

I’m leeaaavvvvinnn’!
I’ll be back to you
I’m leeaaavvvvinnn’!
I’ll be back to you

All over the world we go
DC all over the world we go
VA all over the world we go
The Cakalaks all over the world we go
London all over the world we go
Japan we go over the world we go
Paris we go over the world we go

(Beat playing in background and samples of
*samples of “r-r-r-rock on”*)
1-2, 1-2…All aboard!

 

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be good to yourself!

tumblr_mk4t69xevO1qgjgtro1_1280It’s essential for all of us to take time to re-up and recoup. No matter how hard you think you can go, your body – the only place you really live in during your time on this plane will crash and burn if you don’t take time to take care. I recently went along to the Vitality Show at Earls Court 2 where they showcased beauty treatments, health tips, nutrition advice and fitness and wellbeing exhibitions, including some open yoga classes.IMG_0620 For me being good to yourself means feeling good enough to be in a place to pay it forward. That same weekend I was fortunate enough to be invited to BelEve UK‘s Be Good To Yourself event in celebration of International Women’s Day and sat on a panel with some inspiring ladies including the brilliant Angie LeMar to speak about wellbeing and feeling good.

MH

Part of what I love to do is to spread the good word of yoga and wellness to those around me, especially women and young people in (hopefully) the least preachy way as possible. I also lead a workshop in Yoga and Being Healthy, and the young people who participated were way more receptive and open to learning about how yoga and how it can better your health and wellbeing than I anticipated. This got me thinking about how as children, we without a second thought, listen to our bodies and its needs. If we’re tired, we’d take a nap. Hungry? Have a snack. Need to stretch, stretch it out.

Workshop5

As we get older though, we seem to listen to our minds that often tell us we have to keep going, meet the deadline by any means necessary, “i mean, look at ‘insert name here’ – they’re doing xzy we have to keep up!” when in fact our bodies are saying we’re tired, our throats are scratchy, body aching, we’re feeling run down and looking it too. Something that kids don’t seem to battle with it at all.

Yoga workshop4

According to my truth, knowing when to stop is just as important as knowing when to go. When we’re as invested in having some down time to relax, eat well and have a laugh (which we all love to do) as we are working to pay the bills, provide for our families, prepare for the future and make the dream a reality we’re likely to win in our personal lives as well as professional. We’ll be less tired and distracted, in better moods and able to connect with our work and the people around us more effectively.

Yoga Workshop3

Word to the overworked and sick and tired of being tired why not take a leaf out of the books of our youth? The only pressures we really have are those we put on ourselves as adults to the best ‘insert work title here’ and let’s be honest looking and feeling like shit isn’t doing anyone any favours. Feeling happy goes hand in hand with being healthy and having an elevated wellbeing and that good shit is contagious. Spread the good vibes, do YOU a favour and be good to yourself.

Head to over to my website www.meditateandmedicate.tumblr.com for some motivation, inspiration and information on a holistic approach to taking your wellness and fitness from the roots and allow yourself to feel the benefits from the core to the surface.

You deserve it babes.

“To keep the body in good health is a duty… otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear” - Buddha 

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[random reload] tupac – i ain’t mad at cha

Change, shit
I guess change is good for any of us
Whatever it take for any of y’all niggaz to get up out the hood
Shit, I’m wit cha, I ain’t mad at cha
Got nuttin but love for ya, do your thing boy

Yeah, all the homies that I ain’t talk to in a while
I’ma send this one out for y’all, knahmean?
Cause I ain’t mad at cha
Heard y’all tearin up shit out there, kickin up dust
I ain’t…
Givin a motherfucker, heheheheheh
Yeah, niggaz
…mad at cha
Cause I ain’t mad at cha

Now we was once two niggaz of the same kind
Quick to holla at a hoochie with the same line
You was just a little smaller but you still roller
Got stretched to Y.A. and hit the hood swoll
Member when you had a jheri curl didn’t quite learn
On the block, witcha glock, trippin off sherm
Collect calls to the till, sayin how ya changed
Oh you a Muslim now, no more dope game
Heard you might be comin home, just got bail
Wanna go to the Mosque, don’t wanna chase tail
I seems I lost my little homie he’s a changed man
Hit the pen and now no sinnin is the game plan
When I talk about money all you see is the struggle
When I tell you I’m livin large you tell me it’s trouble
Congratulation on the weddin, I hope your wife know
She got a playa for life, and that’s no bullshitin
I know we grew apart, you probably don’t remember
I used to fiend for your sister, but never went up in her
And I can see us after school, we’d BOMB
on the first motherfucker with the wrong shit on
Now the whole shit’s changed, and we don’t even kick it
Got a big money scheme, and you ain’t even with it
Hmm, knew in my heart you was the same motherfucker bad
Go toe to toe when it’s time for roll you got a brother’s back
And I can’t even trip, cause I’m just laughin at cha
You tryin hard to maintain, then go head
cause I ain’t mad at cha
(Hmm, I ain’t mad at cha)

I ain’t, mad, at cha
(I ain’t mad at cha)
I ain’t, mad, at cha

We used to be like distant cousins, fightin, playin dozens
Whole neighborhood buzzin, knowin, that we wasn’t
Used to catch us on the roof or behind the stairs
I’m gettin blitzed and I reminsce on all the times we shared
Besides bumpin n grindin wasn’t nothin on our mind
In time we learned to live a life of crime
Rewind us back, to a time was much too young to know
I caught a felony lovin the way the guns blow
And even though we seperated, you said that you’d wait
Don’t give nobody no coochie while I be locked up state
I kiss my Mama goodbye, and wipe the tears from her lonely eyes
Said I’ll return but I gotta fight the fate’s arrived
Don’t shed a tear, cause Mama I ain’t happy here
I’m through trial, no more smiles, for a couple years
They got me goin mad, I’m knockin busters on they backs
in my cell, thinkin, “Hell, I know one day I’ll be back”
As soon as I touch down
I told my girl I’ll be there, so prepare, to get fucked down
The homies wanna kick it, but I’m just laughin at cha
Cause youse a down ass bitch, and I ain’t mad at cha

I ain’t, mad, at cha
(I ain’t mad at cha)
I ain’t, mad, at cha
(A true down ass bitch, and I ain’t mad at cha)

Well guess who’s movin up, this nigga’s ballin now
Bitches be callin to get it, hookers keep fallin down
He went from nuttin to lots, ten carots to rock
Went from a nobody nigga to the big, man on the block
He’s Mister local celebrity, addicted to move a key
Most hated by enemy, escape in the Luxury
See, first you was our nigga but you made it, so the choice is made
Now we gotta slay you why you faded, in the younger days
So full of pain while the weapons blaze
Gettin so high off that bomb hopin we make it, to the better days
Cause crime pays, and in time, you’ll find a rhyme’ll blaze
You’ll feel the fire from the niggaz in my younger days
So many changed on me, so many tried to plot
That I keep a glock beside my head, when will it stop?
Til God return me to my essence
Cause even as a adolescents, I refuse to be a convalescent
So many questions, and they ask me if I’m still down
I moved up out of the ghetto, so I ain’t real now?
They got so much to say, but I’m just laughin at cha
You niggaz just don’t know, but I ain’t mad at cha

I ain’t, mad at cha
(and I ain’t mad at cha)
Iiiiiiiii ain’t mad
(hell nah I ain’t mad at cha) at cha
I ain’t, mad at mha
(and I ain’t mad at cha)
I ain’t, mad at cha
(I ain’t mad at cha)
I ain’t, mad at cha, noooo
I ain’t mad at chaaaaahhhhhhhh

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