"Give others freedom to be themselves. Appreciate the differences between their ways and yours."
- Jennifer Chen
- Jennifer Chen
This year one of my many visions on my vision board was to incorporate more time to spend with old friends and making new friends. Growing up in the South Bronx I had an equal share of female friends and males to socialize with. I did my artistic and cultural socializing with my childhood friend/godsister Candice. I hung out with the girls on my block on a normal basis spending time playing double dutch and spitting out sunflower seeds until the sun set with girls like Nicole, Janet, Jennifer,Tata,Chitera and Toya. I also played with my 'play cousin' Patrice quite a bit coming up as well. I usually enjoyed artistic endeavors with my mother as she and my father are really great artists.Then there were the boys Charlie, Romone, Mike, Motts, Wayne, Vito etc and the list goes on. We had a ball running in those Bronx streets. My father was a coach and often mentored the young men of my neighborhood through softball, basketball, and midnight basketball in an effort to keep them off the streets.
I also loved dancing and started when I was about 3 years old. I still remember my first recital and my little green skirt ;0) I danced in the All Star Talent Show network as a member of Mecca CV lol Those days were super fun spending countless hours rehearsing. I remember when I fell off the top of a human pyramid we did for one of our numbers smh I fell right into a split, luckily I didn't break anything ;0) I even organized a dance team for our high school talent show. I wish we recorded that so I could look back and laugh lol
I don't know if if was purposeful or by default but my mother always had me in different social circles. I didn't go to Broadway plays or spend time out of state at camp with the same friends I played manhunt with in the Bronx and I liked that part of my childhood. Still til this day I like different circles of people and I've found that when you mix them, not everyone see's eye to eye.
Even as adults we find it hard to believe that someone can have a different viewpoint when it comes to relationships, friendships, fashion, hair and makeup. But that's what makes life so interesting right? We all look differently, talk differently, enjoy different cuisine, read different books, watch different movies and hopefully like different kinds of men lol It is very easy for me to revert to my introverted self and just stay at home and only spend time with Jason when I run into opposition by way of socializing. It's not that I'm really anti-social I'm just anti-bullshit and I don't feel it necessary to deal with other peoples hangup's. ☺ It is so amazing how a person can think that they 'know' you and make grand assumptions about you, yet they've only known of you for a short period of time. smh
As an adult one of my best friends just so happened to be a male and not on purpose either. I just always felt more comfortable discussing male and female issues with him because well he was of the opposite sex. I know and have often heard many times that women are catty. I learned that very early on in life but as a 30 year old woman I'd like to think we are all past that stage. Since I am in a period of discovery and spending time 'getting my chi' so to speak, I'd like to keep the balance in my life as even & peaceful as possible. This is also the reason why I've weeded out a few people in my life at the close of the year. I don't want to hang with unhappily married people who spew the "Girl just you wait speech" every chance we talk about marriage. In case you didn't know I'm happily jumping the broom thanks ☺We don't have to bring our friends with us throughout every stage of our lives. I had a friend who disappeared after marriage and haven't seen her since but I also understand when entering a new stage in life, sometimes you have to move on from the old one and those in it.
In closing, here it is only February, two months into my journey of my vision and I'm already writing about this. Cleanse your aura around you and you will attract individuals that live off of the vibrations of joy versus the parasitic friends that live by spewing negative energy. A positive force-field of friends you create will help you attract more positive experiences and emotions that are in line with your vibration.
Let 2011 be the year you let your light shine, and walk in truth with positive like minds. The jealous friend, the friend that always has to 1 up you, the possessive friend, the non-supportive friend, the pot stirring friend [who usually calls you just to gossip], the self absorbed friend that only wants to call you to vent, or brag [it is never about you]; are you keeping them in your cypher? This also goes for both family AND friends. Not everyone around you is cheering for you to succeed in life. The New Year marks a paradigm shift for many of us, and it is a great time to clean house; replacing the people in your life that sustain themselves by sucking the positive energy out of others and replacing it with negativity. MTM
So as the quote above says "Give others freedom to be themselves. Appreciate the differences between their ways and yours."
Lipstick Diva,
