Ray’s Neighborhood

Yesterday, after spending the week with my sister and her boyfriend, we were on the long drive back to my mother's house. We started talking about the impressions we form of other people. Literally, what we take away from them during the time we have been in their company. Not the surface level impression of general likability, but the deeper layers that give us the general sensation of compatibility with our own patterns of behavior.

My sister's boyfriend gave me his interpretation of who I was when we were first introduced. Notably, he commented that I seemed to be the type of person who was very firm, very solid in knowing what I believe and what I know to be true for me. Paraphrasing briefly, he told me that I was someone who seemed most at peace and content when left to my own space...and that I seemed to grow uneasy or unsettled after too long a period with clusters or large groups of people.

His assessment was correct.

Today's daily newsletter in my mailbox from the DailyOm included my horoscope. Here's just a brief snippet of the message today:

...Your house, apartment, or even your bedroom can become a sanctuary that nurtures your soul and allows you to reconnect with your inner self. Freed from outer-world distractions, you can take care of personal chores, spend time pursuing enlightenment, or simply putter around the house. Home may offer feelings of comfort and contentment that you can’t find anywhere else... - DailyOm, Cancer Horoscope, July 5th

I chuckled. After I got home last night I was full and pleased to have spent time with my baby sister, my little jewel. But I was also eager to go home and re-orient my space to what I needed it to be. I burned sage through each of the rooms while in prayer, I followed it with sweetgrass to replace whatever had been removed with lightness and comfort. I burned sandalwood oil, I sat quietly and soaked it all in. As much fun as I had with her...I was off kilter, having immersed myself in so much energy that was not my own. I couldn't hear myself. And I get cagey and anxious when I cannot feel my own spirit in the company of other souls.

I believe a soul's spirit leaves a resin wherever it's been. You can feel it when you walk into a room and you experience an immediate shift in your disposition. From happy to anxious or indifferent to angry. Sometimes it's good. Like when you walk into your grandmother's home and you immediately feel a sense of peace and groundedness that washes over you like sunshine. Sometimes it can be jarring, like walking into a room where an argument occured and you suddenly feel filled with tension and conflict. We all leave an imprint on the space we've been in. And It can be difficult at times to distinguish your own feelings and moods from another. Some are more sensitive to it than others.

The more souls you have entering your space, the more you take in and process. Whether you consciously want to or not.  Sometimes, it is simply too much for me to take in. Many times, I simply don't want the energy that's being offered to me. After having lots of traffic in my home or disruption to the order in which I do things, I grow eager to go through this little "orienting" process to settle my space. Once I cleanse away the lingering effects of the energy others have brought into my home, I can then get back to clearly feeling my own. I can get back to my center.

Today, I have no desire to leave the familiar, nurturing confines of my own home. I wish only to replenish myself so that I can resume going out into the world clearly hearing my own voice in a crowd of millions. My prayer for you, is that no matter where you are or who you are with...you can always find, hear and embrace your own incredible energy.   

Love my Williams sisters!

Listening to a song I love: Jordin Sparks - No Air tinyurl.com/6nr94b

Flickr Update Bokeh fence - Voxefx: Vox Efx posted a photo:

TerraVox tinyurl.com/6djnzj

Flickr Update polarizer reflection - Voxefx: Vox Efx posted a photo:

TerraVox tinyurl.com/67syrt

TerraVox Update TerraVox - Bigger Larger Stronger tinyurl.com/6ctom5

Listening to a song I love: Stylistics, The - Heavy Fallin' Out tinyurl.com/6p2w3u

TerraVox Update This really takes time..working out the bugs tinyurl.com/5gfsdl

Browsing: TerraVox Did a Major overhaul to the site. More of a true Photo blog now. voxterra.blogspot.com/

TerraVox Update The makings of a Rock Star tinyurl.com/628zam

Flickr Update window drapes bokeh: Vox Efx posted a photo: tinyurl.com/5elgrf

TerraVox Update Larger because... tinyurl.com/5z67bj

Flickr Update holding hands: Vox Efx posted a photo:

How Many more Years? Months? Days? unt.. tinyurl.com/6eh7ly

Flickr Update looking up: Vox Efx posted a photo: tinyurl.com/6awh3u

TerraVox Update A Pirate's Life for Me! tinyurl.com/6975bs

TerraVox Update Holding Hands tinyurl.com/6jr9u7

TerraVox Update Looking up tinyurl.com/6cossw

was all set to go photograph the fireworks...raining like crazy :-(

Listening to a song I love: Seal - If It's In My Mind, It's On My Face tinyurl.com/yvqnvr

TerraVox Update Pig Roast tinyurl.com/69wdx6

Flickr Update mosaic: Vox Efx posted a photo:

from the archives tinyurl.com/5smovk

TerraVox Update Mosaic tinyurl.com/6keojf

Recent Music: Usher – His Mistakes: www.last.fm/music/Usher tinyurl.com/46f2p4

Recent Music: Usher – Appetite: www.last.fm/music/Usher tinyurl.com/5pj3vf

Recent Music: Usher – What's A Man To Do: www.last.fm/music/Usher tinyurl.com/55x3wb

Recent Music: Usher – Lifetime: www.last.fm/music/Usher tinyurl.com/5j5j2g

Recent Music: Usher – Love In This Club Part II [Ft. Beyonce And Lil Wayne]: www.last... tinyurl.com/52mxxn

Recent Music: Blackstreet – Let's Stay in Love: www.last.fm/music/Blackstreet tinyurl.com/6yred5

Recent Music: Blackstreet – We Gonna Take You Back (Lude)-Don't Leave Me: www.last.fm/.. tinyurl.com/5kmjam

Recent Music: Blackstreet – 02. Baby Be Mine: www.last.fm/music/Blackstreet tinyurl.com/5rpxbu

Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter

Originally published at Kenya Allmond: In My Own Words.

Exxon Mobil Record Profits: Are the Local Stations Getting Any Of It?

Mobile post sent by KenyaOA using Utterz. 

Replies.  mp3

1. If you feel a burning need to tell someone to shut up more than three times in one day with ANY consistency....get out.

2. If you have to resist rolling your eyes twice a day with ANY consistency....get out.

3. If you find yourself adding a "...but" after any complement you give someone...get out.

4. If you're more preoccupied with what others THINK you are feeling rather than being sure yourself...get out.

5. If you spend 25% of your time pretending you aren't angry when you are...get out.

6. If your friends have to remind you or offer you compelling reasons to not get out....get out. (And get new friends)

7. If you feel a need to explain or justify your s/o's behavior to get that appalled look off of your loved ones faces or feel alright with your circumstances...get out.

But be warned about taking my advice. I'm a chronically single woman. Perhaps I have no earthly clue what I'm talking about, or I'm the most intolerant person on the planet. 

"4th of July"

In the United States, Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. Congress approved the wording of the Declaration on July 4 and then sent it to the printer. Whether John Hancock, as the elected President of the Second Continental Congress, or anyone else signed the document that day is unknown, because that document has been lost — presumably destroyed in the printing process.[1] Hancock's name and that of a witness do appear on the typeset broadside that was published within a few days. On August 2 in the following month, an engrossed document in script form[2] was signed by Hancock and other delegates.

Independence Day is commonly associated with fireworks, parades, barbecues, carnivals, picnics, baseball games, and various other public and private events celebrating the history, government, and traditions of the United States, but is often also viewed as simply a summer festival, apart from its patriotic overtones.

America