Wigs, Butterflies and other Crazy things that can Happen on a Sun Sun Monday (for a Free Woman)

Erykah Badu, singer

Wigs, Butterflies and other Crazy things that can Happen on a Sun Sun Monday (for a Free Woman)

©09

Can I Parler sans fards? ( to speak openly)?

I know some will wonder by the title, what any of this has to do with weight loss. Well it does and I must say that our bodies and our mind & emotions are clearly interlinked & there is no need to call in a rocket scientist to solidify that!

I should first explain what a Sun Sun Monday is. It came about last year with a sweet at that time 6 year old and I who had a conversation while waiting for his parents a lazy Sunday afternoon in the car. I wanted to keep him entertained as he was getting a little antsy and I asked him what his favorite day of the week. He liked Sundays, did not like Monday and was quite articulate in why.

So I said to him since you gave me all the virtues of Sunday and why you do not like Monday, we can move Monday aside and designate our new day as Sunday~Sunday so we can extend the enjoyment of Sunday for one more day. And it kind of stuck. Another artist shortened it to Sun –Sun & a new day is born!

So now Sun-Sun is a day designated as to how you want to use it and you do not need anyone’s permission as to how you will use it. Since you are a free woman or a free man. It is not bounded by space, time, or schedules, but by your own energy to do with it as you see fit. And it does not have to be the calendar Monday; it is the day as you see fit to be fit.

We can become so caught up in pounds, fat, calories, failure (?) success that when we achieve what some may see as unachievable we when we get to the Promise Land then it becomes: so now what? And sometimes when one achieve and then not too sure what to do now can slip back into old habits for not working on making a golden life while in the process. I am no different then any of the other very smart, capable women and men here or elsewhere as they find their way and make their mark.

This is simply an account of my everything that started on Sunday and heated up on Monday.

It has been no big secret of my interest & desire to return to my hometown. Ask and ye shall receive. Speak truth and truth will be found. Sometimes in the oddest places, times and people. I've learned as things unwrap physically in the weight release process, so can other facets can come unwrapped, in some cases unglued revealing all that simply is.

For me timing had not been right, health and wealth had not been right. And then it dawned on me when is it ever going to be right? Yes there are tose days when all systems are cookin' but most of the time, you get what you get until what you got doesn't work any longer...

A place I had been looking at rather casually and had actually veto in New Orleans ended up being revisited this week with renewed interest. After trying to find it on Google Earth unsuccessfully, I enlisted the aid of someone else and thankfully they found it!

Upon my searching out the neighborhood an adjacent street caught my attention. It sounded vaguely familiar but I did not know from where. And then it struck me, my parents, still in love and a young couple my mom then age 33 and daddy age 40 & I was a wee, newly born itty bitty one, fresh and wide eyed with out a clue as to what the world was going to throw at me lived on this adjacent street!

So I went on a search after confirming it on my birth certificate & found the place which literally was 3 blocks over from the house I am getting. My 94 year old mother confirmed the house which is now boarded up after Hurricane Katrina.

My 1st thoughts were "hmm so I am really returning to my roots". And then my 2nd was while discovering this part of my past, something clicked in my head from a article I read upon arising today in a wonderful article on "the Power & the Vision" of how some people, many times spend their whole lives: "it's interesting that most work makes us look downward, while dreams lift our eyes to the sky. While you're keeping that nose to the grindstone, make sure you keep your head up to see where you're going".

I've always known I was going somewhere even if the "where" may not always be clear & apparent to me and even less to others. As the artist, said to me today" I believe some people are being positioned in many aspect for some things big to happen. And if you are in the right place at the right time and ready, you will be there to reap large benefits".

Of course those benefits may be different things to different people. But what is clear if you are not there you will reap absolutely no thing but the same old thing. And the same old thing can get really old, you can start to tolerate what's intolerable, suffer in silence, get smaller, shrinking down and expectations narrow and then you are stuck miserable, bored and not filled. Not even knowing why or worse how you got there...

And even worse, how to get yourself out of it. So while looking into my little garden courtyard, I saw my 1st butterfly of the season. It was beautiful sort of a yellowed lime or a limed yellow color almost translucent. I found myself smiling and wow I get to see some before I leave. And then I stepped out into the garden and though it was high noon fed my plants, watering the ground, being soothe by the act though my thoughts were grumbling over some of the plants still not in the ground and other bulbs I will not get in the ground when it hit me, a missing link of my "Bringing it on Home" project I want to implement once I get there.

It was part of a proposal that was not accepted a year and a half ago when I thought I was going elsewhere. But here was a golden opportunity to bring this vision into fruition! And what a better place then New Orleans with its transformation in action now to do this! If that butterfly had not graced my garden on a Sun Sun Monday I might not have stepped outside to water and subsequently gotten the idea.

Of course I am not attributing anything mystical to this. My mind was relaxed, clear and comforted which allowed my creative juices to flow and with it the vision came & the idea resurfaced with a plan.

So now what do wigs have to do with all of this? Whenever I am ready for a change, I get the urge to cut my hair. Some women will identify with this. I've worn a curly blond fro for almost a decade and now I am bored, not knowing what I wanted to do as I am not prolific with hair. I knew I wanted to change the color, wasn't sure what style when I decided to look up wigs which can evoke a different mood experimenting with different looks without a permanent investment. So I found three. One is reminiscent of a period of Erykah Badu's many looks or a 1970's earlier Pam Grier style.

Yet another of an earlier Phyllis Yvonne Stickney, an actress and comedian I admire. Sharp clean and distinctive and one of a style I enjoyed on Gabrielle Union. Understand, I am not a 59 year old woman looking to be 16 who is aspiring to look 25 (years old). I am not going to lose me, but a fresher transformed me is where I want to be.

I know for sure that many things work in concert when a person is ready. While the emphasis is and will remain in shedding the physical weight for health many other things work in symphony with that. How exciting is it all!

So among a lot of smaller but weird things that occurred today, these were the thing that swung my day's rhythms. I never got to my "to do list" for a Sun Sun Monday, but that's ok because what needed to be done was indeed done. And embracing all that indeed can be golden...How cool is that?

Moon (being a free woman)

All rights reservedJHM6-23-09©09

Released: Tue 16-Jun-2009, 10:30 ET
Study Pinpoints Links of Depression with Chronic Pain
LibrariesMedical News


Description:

http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/553415/?sc=rsmn

It is well known that chronic pain and clinical depression go together, but a study in The Journal of Pain, published by the American Pain Society, shows that the connection between pain and depression is strongest in middle-age women and African Americans.

Newswise — It is well known that chronic pain and clinical depression go together, but a study in The Journal of Pain, published by the American Pain Society, shows that the connection between pain and depression is strongest in middle-age women and African Americans.
Researchers at Wayne State University studied a representative community sample of 1,100 Michigan residents and found that the incidence of chronic pain, defined as pain persisting for six months, was 22 percent. Approximately 35 percent of those with chronic pain said they had depression, but mood problems were not associated with a particular pain condition or pain site.

Researchers evaluated several demographic factors and found that older age was generally related to chronic pain but with comorbid depression. They noted that depression tends to decrease with age while pain tends to increase.


From the data, the authors concluded that in middle-age women chronic pain might not be the cause of depression but preexisting mood problems could be associated with development of chronic pain. They further concluded that depression can increase vulnerability to experiencing persistent pain.


The study also showed that African Americans were more likely to have chronic pain with depression than Caucasians. Further analysis showed that racial differences were not attributable to possible socioeconomic factors but might be associated with differences in the use of pain coping strategies.

Though income was not a significant risk factor for the study, the authors indicated that occupational factors, such as physically demanding work and poor or no health insurance coverage, may account for the link between lower socioeconomic status and pain, and that financial strain and stress are closely linked with depression.


From their findings, the authors recommend that clinicians screen pain patients for depression and pay close attention to middle-age women and African Americans for whom risk for comorbid depression is the highest.

Where y'er e t

As I was trolling the Internet looking for an ideal photo for a previous essay I notice one thing: the dearth of images of African American especially women images in fitness & in health. For some it may matter not or think "what's the big deal"? In many fitness sites, magazines, books et all, a constant suggestion is the post a picture of yourself or someone you can model your goals on.

Well call me touchy, but would it be such a stretch for me to have someone that looks like me?

I did notice a huge (no pun intended) of articles talking about our deficit; 50% obesity rate/high levels of diabetes/heart disease/ Aids /the common cold/ why it never rains in Southern California. You would never know how many vegans /raw food / joggers-walker/marathon/organic/"green" are women of color etc.

I did see a article about some group reaching out to "urban" groups who do not have a clue about gardening in the city. Urban being a code for black. It is wearisome at always relegated to a passive or victim role.

No wonder people including African American people do not seem to think we are a force in health & well being.

And to add to this no women's land is shall I dare say WOC over the age of 50 in a healthy state of mind?

I know they are there. I know many of them. Yet I saw more articles on one of the reason WOC do not work out is because of our hair. Somehow we are willing to sacrifice our health & our lives for the ultimate do.

Sure it could be among some, but I can guarantee you not all.

So I put a call out to any and all if you come across one please send it to me at: rhythmnhues@gmail.com

I am not looking for models who the heaviest thing they've ever picked up was a cosmetic bag. Or a 20 year old though I will not exclude that. I do want the everyday woman in power & holding to her authority. I will not exclude celebrities, but again we are speaking of fitness & well being.

So where y'er et?