When You Point One Finger, There are Always Three Pointing Back!

Play the victim, go ahead, try it. When you point a finger at others, you are too busy concerning yourself with the flaws of others, when you have flaws of your own. You gain nothing from blaming others, you are just trying to shift the blame to someone else. Don’t blame your issues on others, there are so many things that we as individuals can improve on, we should not have time to worry about what is going on with someone else. That constant, “they did this to me,” or “I am like this because..” will not help anyone. No one became rich by crying about how poor they were. There comes a point where you have to stop pitying yourself, and expecting pity from others. No one is perfect, we all make mistakes, but you can choose to be the victim and cry, or you can rise above your issues and make the best of the situation. There have been so many times when I have wanted to give up and be the victim because it felt like everyone and everything was working against me. Playing the victim is not beneficial to anyone, it would not have gotten me anywhere. You could sit in the corner and wait for your knight in shining armor to come and save you, or you can make your own armor and save yourself.

We all love a good “underdog” story, because the underdog makes their own armor. These stories give us hope and faith; that we too can make it, and that the world is not that bad. Those “underdog” stories would never happen if the underdog was focusing too much on what’s wrong in their life. You can either focus on all the things going wrong or you can look to what can be done better to overcome all the negatives in your life. Playing the victim only works for a little while. What are you going to do when everyone can see right through that? It may work the first few times, but eventually people will stop responding to your call, just like The Boy Who Cried Wolf. When that time comes you are going to have to get your isht together and pave your own way. No one else can deal with YOUR problems other than you. When you point one finger at someone, what are the other three saying to you? They are asking YOU, what YOU are going to do about it? You have enough energy to blame another, now what’s your plan to do better?

Be independent, do not let what has happened to you in the past define who you are and dictate your future. All you can do is focus on being the best version of yourself, and overcome the obstacles in your path. Wasting your time focusing on negative energy is pointless, it will not get you anywhere. You have to learn not to fixate on the negative and take responsibility for your own situation. So the next time you find yourself pointing the finger, look at the many things that you could do to transform that situation into a fruitful experience. Don’t blame others for something that you have the ability to fix.

WE WON!!!

We all have goals, and we all have the ability to conquer them. The trick is to have a plan and set realistic expectations to meet your goal. You also need to network with people who will support you in reaching your objective. Even if you feel like you’re not making progress, as long as you are working toward your target you’re benefiting from the process. When you finally accomplish your goal, there is a deep sigh of relief in knowing that all your hard work has paid off. However, goals are never ending, there will always be something greater you want to strive towards. You have to take them one goal at a time and one step at a time.

Prior to the 2014 November elections, we formed a coalition of community members to get involved with our local city election. We were afraid that our city government was going to be bought out by HUGE corporate interest which would tamper with the lives of our community members for the worse. Our work was crucial in educating our fellow voters about what was going on with the elections and getting them out to vote for the candidates we believed had the best interest of the community in mind. I can't even begin to explain how difficult I saw this race. There was so much money being poured into this election from large corporate interest, while we, the members of the community, only relied on a bit of funding and most importantly we had a community base unparalleled by these greed driven institutions. All of the grassroots efforts we put into making this election sway in our favor was unquestionably difficult, but not impossible. Day after day for months, we came together over tables of bottomless coffee mugs, energy bars, and pep talks. The days were endless and melted into each other, entire hours of restlessness allowed us a glimpse of insanity, we were holding on by a mere thread.

Everyone had a role to play in order to achieve our common goal. It wasn’t difficult to fall off track because we held each other accountable and expected everyone to put in a hundred and ten percent. However, when YOU are the only one fully responsible for YOUR goal, you have to hold YOURSELF accountable. The important thing is to keep your eyes on the prize, I know that this sounds a bit cliche but if you stray away from your ultimate goal, it will be much harder to reach.  For some, this means socializing less and dedicating majority of their time focusing on what they want to accomplish. I know during the time we were working toward our goal I couldn't think about anything else but the elections. Educating my neighbors on some of the issues we need to address as a community made my work so fulfilling. The lives of my fellow neighbors, family and friends along with my own are at stake and depends on the work we were doing. There were moments when I thought all hope was lost but knowing that I had other people who counted on me to play my role in the bigger picture gave me the motivation to keep going. I had support from close friends and family who believed in me and gave me the courage to keep fighting and keep giving my best no matter how much doubt kept crossing my mind. Don't be afraid to ask people for advice or to talk to a friend when you feel like your efforts are futile or when you feel like it's just too much. Perhaps all you need is a little bit of encouragement and words of wisdom to keep your flame burning until the end and don't give up.

In the end your efforts will not go unnoticed keep that in mind. There is no way to expect your reward if you don't put in the work. When you can almost taste your victory, push harder and know that you will be able to look back on the hard work that you did, and be satisfied with what you have achieved. You will always encounter setbacks but remember the words of George A. Custer, “It’s not about how many times you get knocked down that count, it’s how many times you get back up.” You will always learn from your mistakes and they will help you to figure out how you can do better. That is why it’s important to mentally prepare yourself for the ups and downs and always keep in mind that hard work will not go unnoticed. The universe will reward you well my friend, you just have to see beyond the horizon to realize what that reward will bring. Trust me nothing is impossible just keep your head in the game and know in the end the weight will melt off your shoulders knowing that you did everything you could.

After all the blood and sweat that we put into the election, we rejoiced in victory. All of the candidates we vouched for WON! Now that they are in office I can sleep easy, knowing that they have the community’s interest in mind. We can now work together with our governing reps to build a better community and work to accomplish new and exciting goals! This is just the beginning, you’re never really done because there will always be more goals you want to achieve. It’s important to reflect on the things you have already accomplished, but you should never “run out” of goals, and you should be constantly thinking about how you can grow and develop from where you are. Keep your body busy, because when you die that’s it... there is not much to do then, so do everything you want now!

What's Your Vibe?

We have all had those days where every little thing gets on our nerves and every little thing is just irritating. I am here to tell you that acting on those impulses is a total waste of energy. There are many types of energy, we have negative and positive energies just to name a few. If you are positive and happy that is what you will get back, and if you are negative and sad that is what you will get back. If you smile, the other person will smile back, and they will pass that smile on to another person creating a domino effect. If you are having a terrible day, turn it around, you have the power to change your mood. Our moods are contagious. What you give is what you get back. Try to make the world a better place. Be kind. What do you want in your life, positive or negative energies?

A few months ago, I was driving home from work. On my way I needed to make a right turn, and in order to make a safe right turn I had to inch forward into the crosswalk. As I was inching forward a jogger came out of no where and began to yell at me for blocking “his” crosswalk. I do not understand why the jogger felt like he needed to yell at me, how much energy (not to mention negative energy) did he waste by yelling at me versus quietly jogging around my car? The way I see it is no one got hurt and he got a few extra steps in. I could have let the jogger’s rotten mood affect the rest of my day, but I just laughed it off and moved on. Perhaps the jogger had a bad day and was jogging to blow off some steam, I just happen to be at the tail end of his frustration. What did the jogger accomplish by yelling at me? My car didn't move and he went around me. Did he think about how his actions were going to affect me? I hope he felt better!

Right after that little incident, someone decided to cut me off. I could have gotten mad and honked, yelled and even flipped the bird, but I chose not to. If I got mad what would this have accomplished? I cannot go back in time and stop this person from cutting me off and no one got hurt, so why waste my energy on negative vibes? The same can be said about a simple, harmless look.

We have all been looked at up and down, mean mugged, given dirty looks, whatever you want to call it. This happened to me only a few hours ago, and I couldn't help but wonder what the other person got out of this non-verbal exchange. What satisfaction did they gain from this exchange? Were they trying to assert their superiority or intimidate me? Whatever the case may be, it does not change the fact that they sent negative vibes my way. Why couldn't the other person smile or exchange a friendly hello? This little interaction was a reflection of them, and the type of person they are. I do not pay much attention to people when they do this, but the other person does not know who I am or what I am going through or what I am capable of. What If I was having a rough day, and this non-verbal exchange set me off into the “deep-end”? There is no telling what could have happened. As Plato once said, “Be kind; everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”

~So spread love, smile more.

Halloween Nightmares: The Mystery at Alamo Square Part IV

I knocked her out with some chloroform. “The plan was to keep her upstairs!” I said to Drew.

“I tried, I … I …” Drew responded.

“If you want ANYTHING done right you have to do it yourself. Grab her feet, lets put her in a room.”

Once we got to the room, we tied her up. I was then faced with the challenge of making sure our plan could still play out. I sent Drew to finish cleaning up, we needed to get rid of all of the evidence that linked us, more importantly ME, to this house.

Before I could finalize a plan Enith woke up. “YOU!? Why? I thought we were best friends! How could you?”

“You are just a pawn in the bigger picture, and as for the why? You will never know why.”  As I said this I walked out, and I sent Drew in so that she wouldn’t try anything.

I then went into the locked room, the room where all of our research was. That necklace is my life’s mission. My family has been hunting it for generations, and this ONE necklace will put me back into good graces with my father. I decided to pay the old woman a visit once more, I covered my nose in attempts to avoid the smell. I am sure I checked the body before I put it “away,” it has to be here somewhere. I put 2 sets of latex gloves on my hands and pulled out my pocket knife, and began to rip the pink chair, exposing the old woman’s decomposing flesh. Months ago, I chopped the body into little pieces and stuffed it in the chair. There was not much blood as it had all drained out and dried up, but still no necklace! Before I left the room I was sure to leave some of Enith’s hair on the chair, so she get blame for the crime.

I knew I was running out of time, the body was rapidly decomposing, and surely someone will notice that Enith is missing.

As I was about to exit it room, the door slammed in my face, “WHAT THE….?” I  turned around to see what was going on, but there was nothing. The only sound that I could hear was the wind howling outside

I then heard Drew at the door trying to come in to see what happened but he could not get the door open. I then kicked the door down. “Who is watching Enith?” I asked Drew and I ran to the other room, it was empty! “Great job Drew! Now go find her!”

Drew never caught Enith, he came back and told me that she called the cops and we needed to clear out as soon as we could, but I did not have the necklace yet! We packed up and headed to the landfill. Drew began to flip out, so I did what I had to. I put his body where no one will ever find it.

When the cops made it to the house they saw nothing … the house was EMPTY, there was nothing in sight. According to their records no one had lived there for at least 6 months, when the owner, an old woman, went missing. Her body was never found until they went into the room with the dirty pink arm chair.

The police listened to Enith’s side of the story, and given the state of the house, they decided to get her a psych evaluation. I knew she would fail, and end up in a crazy home. This was all part of my plan.

As for me? I went back to the house weeks later to look for the necklace. Enith said that the old woman’s ghost was talking about cookies. I decided to look for the necklace in the kitchen. There was a single bag of flour in the pantry, I dumped it out on the floor, there it was! The Necklace, It was finally all mine!

As I turned to leave the house, the old woman was standing behind me..… but HOW? I killed her! She was floating above the floor with a crazed look in her eyes. Her clothes were covered in blood and she had a shovel in her hands, and then she said, “You will never win!”

They found my body months later, chopped up and stuffed in a little, dirty, pink arm chair.

Halloween Nightmares: The Mystery at Alamo Square Part III

The following day, Enith was determined to get inside the locked room. She looked around the entire house to see if there was a key, but she had no luck. Finally, she went to the local hardware store to ask around if anyone knew how to open the lock but she still had no luck.

On her way home, Enith remembered Drew from the corner store. He grew up there, he must know something! Enith made her way to the store but just as luck would have it, he was not there for the day. After hearing this, Enith was about to walk away and accept defeat but she then realized that she had the whole house to herself to explore and look for clues.

Once she came back into the house she could tell that someone had been there. The house looked and smelled like it had been cleaned, but who? Enith made her way to the old woman’s room, but this time she did not hear a thing, not even the cool air blowing in from an open window, or a mouse squeaking in the distance, nothing. At her own risk Enith made the bold decision to enter the room.

Before actually opening the door, she took a deep long breath. Without thinking about what should happen if she got caught, she opened the door. The smell was unbearable, it smells as though someone had died in there. As she looked into the room she saw that there was only one object inside: a single, worn-out, pink, arm chair with black stains all over it. There were no curtains on the windows, yet it was dark in the room. There was so much dirt build up on the windows that the sun wasn't shining in.

As Enith began to approach the chair, the smell got stronger, but before she could get any closer there was a knock at the front door. She tried to ignore the knock, but this person would not stop. So she ran to open the door, but before she opened it she looked through the peephole, there was a man wearing all black and his back was toward the door. Enith waited till he turned around again to knock, and sure enough he did. It was Drew! She was never so relieved to see anyone in her entire life. She opened the door to let him in.

“Hey, I heard you were looking for me. I thought that I would just pop on over and make sure everything is ok.” Drew said in a cool, calm, and collected voice, but he kept looking over his shoulders as though he did not want to be spotted. He pushed his way in.

“I don’t want to inconvenience you in anyway but ...” Enith said quickly noticing that he was a bit distracted.

“No, no, not an inconvenience at all! How can I help?” Drew said cutting her off.

“Well I have been noticing some odd stuff happening in this house, I just wanted to find out what you know about the old woman who lives here. I actually just went into the her room and you are not going to believe what I saw.”

Drew was confused, he did not know what Enith was talking about. “This house has been empty for as long as I can remember. When we were kids we used to joke about how this house was haunted. As teenagers we would dare people to spend the night here, but no one came close to completely following through. I am shocked that you have been here for as long as you have. ”  

Enith was taken aback … no old lady? … empty for years? .. what in the world was going on?

“Come with me!” she then lead Drew up the stairs and on the way she told him all of the odd stuff that has been happening. Once they got to the “old lady’s” room the door was shut, “That’s odd, I know I left this open!” When she reached to open the door, she could not open it, it was locked. But how?!

Drew had a confused look on his face. Enith then realized that he was fiddling with his phone an awful lot. She realized that she had said too much. It was clear that Drew did not believe her, a simple glance at his face said it all.

Still hoping to win Drew over she took him down to the kitchen to show him the cookies, but the cookies to had disappeared. The pantry was also empty, except for one item, a bag of flour. At this point Enith knew that she had lost Drew … there was no point in trying to convince him any longer.

Enith turned away in embarrassment, as she did so she glanced out of the window. She saw a woman wearing black from head to toe, and this woman was loading a truck with huge garbage bags. “Who is that!?” she exclaimed as she made her way to the door. Before she could get there, Drew grabbed her, and shouted to the woman, “It’s over! She saw you!”

The woman then came running over to the house, Enith then saw the woman’s face. It was ME, her “best friend.”

TO BE CONTINUED …

Halloween Nightmares: The Mystery at Alamo Square Part II

One night Enith could not go to sleep, there was an uneasy feeling in her stomach. She tried EVERYTHING, even counting sheep and when that didn’t work, she decided to walk around the house in hopes to get tired. As she was walking up and down the hallways in the house she was looking at all of the family pictures. There were photos of children and grandchildren, looks like a huge family. This was odd because there seems to not be much activity in this house for what she could see. She spotted an old woman in a lot of the pictures, and she assumed that it was the owner of the house. Enith noticed a very unique necklace in every photo around the woman’s neck. It was a vintage one of a kind piece of jewelry that looked very, very expensive but by the looks of it the it was priceless to the old woman.

As Enith was walking around she found a door that was locked, she tried to go in just to see where it would lead but she could not get the door to open. She then realized that it was 2 am and she needed to get to sleep or else she was not going to make it work on time.

The next day when she came back home from work the old woman was in the kitchen and baking cookies. When Enith saw this, she was relieved to see the old woman, but she was a bit confused. Where had she been this whole time?

“Hello?” Enith said with caution, not knowing what to expect from the old woman.

The woman wore an old knit sweater, over a vintage floral dress that reached all the way to the floor. The sweater was beginning to wither and fall apart, it was yellow and beginning to turn black at the bottom. She walked with a limp and her back was hunched over. She did not stand very tall, but she had a big presence in the room.

“Why hello deary.” The old woman said under her breath, keeping her back toward Enith. She then began to walk very sluggishly toward the stairs, while mumbling under her breath,”Have a cookie, won’t you deary?” over and over again, until Enith could hear her no more.

Enith was stunned, about what she just saw, and could not help but question what she got herself into. Once she got over the shock and was able to move, she walked up to the old woman’s room, and could hear her saying the same thing over and over, but the TV was too loud. As she listened closely, she realized that it was not the TV. There were other people in the room with her, but they were not talking to the old lady, they were talking to one another. One of the voices she heard was strangely familiar, but she could not place it.  

What was going on? What was wrong with the old Woman? Where was she this whole time? What is in that locked room? Who else was in this house? It was time to get answers!

To Be Continued ...

Halloween Nightmares: The Haunting of 3318 Part V

It seemed that mother left Madam Huila’s house more confused and filled with questions. I myself had no clue what to think. What were the answers that mother was looking for? At this point I don’t think my mother was sure that Madam Huila knew what she was talking about. She wanted to convince herself that Madam Huila wasn’t really a fortune teller or that she was even able to see into the future. Mother was seeking any excuse to discredit Madam Huila. She didn’t want to believe what she heard, and I don’t blame her, even I was confused and afraid. Just what tragedy was it that Madam Huila foresaw?

The entire drive back was quiet, I rolled the window down and stuck my hand out to feel the pressure of the cool breeze. The pressure made my hand create the motion of a wave over and over to the point that it soothed every part of my mind. Before I knew it, we were home again. I stepped out of the car and just stood there looking at the house trying to think about what possible tragedy would put our family in danger. I walked into my bedroom took my shoes off, turned off the lights and crawled into bed…

One year later.

The sun was beaming through the space in between my bedroom curtains, I pulled the covers over my head and tried to fall back asleep but mom was yelling, “It’s laundry day everyone get up! Let’s go! It’s already the middle of the day.” I dragged myself out of bed and went to the bathroom turned on the sink and splashed my face with cold water. I reached for the towel and dried off my face when I looked up she was staring back at me through the mirror. The little girl was screaming “Get out! Save yourselves!” Her blue eyes were filled with sadness and horror, surrounding her were flames that reached the ceiling and the smoke filled the room. I was terrified and froze in panic. Then suddenly, I heard my mother’s voice “It’s laundry day!” I woke up in a sweat and my heart was racing. Once I realized where I was, I sighed in relief, thankfully it was all just a nightmare.  

I was still dazed from my nightmare but I managed to get my laundry into the car. The whole ride to the laundromat I was trying to gather my thoughts and remember what I saw in my nightmare. When the dryer finished I pulled out the clothing and as I shut the door to the machine, in the glass reflection I saw her again. She was screaming at me “Don’t come home! Save yourselves!” I froze in shock. When I came to my senses, I looked around to see if anyone else noticed the reflection, even though in the back of my mind I knew no one else saw it. I tried to convince myself that this was all in my head and it was still part of the aftershock of the nightmare.

When we finished folding, we loaded the car and headed back to the house. Mother and I took the clean laundry to the living room to separate the clothing. I saw our neighbor running up the steps to our door he started to bang on it with a closed fist and full force, screaming something at the top of his lungs.

My mother said, “Oh my God, what’s wrong with him?”

I went to the door and opened it. “Dude, what the … ?!”

He ran in screaming, “GET OUT, THE RESTAURANT NEXT DOOR IS ON FIRE! YOU GUYS HAVE TO GET OUT NOW!” As he was screaming I saw the same expression of the little ghost girl in my nightmares on his face. Now I understood everything. She was trying to warn me.

We all ran out, but dad was still inside. I could see the flames engulfing our house within seconds. My little brothers were screaming and crying “Where is my dad?! I want my dad!” I stood there waiting and feeling the urge to run back in to drag him out. Mother was in tears and comforting my little brothers. I could feel my legs becoming weaker and weaker. He’s been in there too long, what is he doing?! Black smoke began to seep from the door and the windows. Just when I thought the worst had happened, from the heavy ferocious smoke and flames I saw my dad, he was barely walking but he finally made it out coughing and covered in ash.  

A couple hours after the flames were extinguished, we were sitting down together devastated, contemplating what to do next.

Father began, “I’m sorry I ever doubted you.” I looked up at him in confusion. “While I was in the house I couldn’t see anything, there was so much smoke everything was black as night. But then out of nowhere I saw something,  It was the figure of an old, tall, man. His silhouette was glowing like that of an … an angel.”

THE END