Sometimes when I get a little frustrated I say to myself, "It's hard out here for a pimp." This phrase is actually the title of a hip-hop song by Three-6 Mafia used in the movie with Terence Howard called Hustle and Flow. It's a testimony to how hard it can be sometimes to make ends meet, to rise, to do better than just tread water, even for a pimp, as Howard's character learns in that movie.
I've commandeered it because sometimes it feels just so apropos when I witness people struggle, and even when I experience my own inner turbulence. It's for times like this moment when we're seeing all kinds of cray-cray from people (including, some we know). It seems to express all the tight, the aggravation, the bout-to-break, the next cuckoo story we're bound to hear because people got no good coping mechanism.
Scrolling down my Facebook feed recently, I saw that someone posted an article about a woman who was arrested on an airplane with her dead son's body. What did she do, put it in the suitcase, I asked myself? I didn't read the article because I just don't do "news", or that which pretends to be. But the headline caused me to think, "WTF?" Yes, people are not coping well. Way out of control may be the new normal we're heading for. Some folk are hanging on, but just barely, it seems. The world seems to be spinning out of control, on its way to hell-in-a-handbasket, or godknowswhere.
Sometimes you just gotta sing to release. Or dance. Or paint. Or cook. Or rap. Or do Origami. Or some anything that makes you forget all the uptightness out there. You gotta get close with your creative source and feel that force so you can loosen up and unwind, so you can keep on keeping on a little bit longer. I've said this before and I'm saying it again. You can't find the answers outside of yourself. There are simply none to be had. The total and best answers for you are in you.
"They say I'm old-fashioned, and live in the past, but sometimes I think progress progresses too fast!"
― Dr. Seuss
So, get busy with some art, some nature, some meditation, some rest and R&R, a little vacay if you're able, a trip to the spa, an acupuncturist or reflexology (cause self-care is errythang). Get to getting to some something that will put you back in touch with your own goodness. For in times like this, you're all you've got. Bottom line.
Find the flow. Get with it. Play some 70s slow-jams. Get together in real-time with friends or family. Get your stroll on. Put the wifi down. Seriously. What on earth did you ever do before you got an android or iPhone? How did we keep connected and informed before Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat (and all the rest of them, ad nauseum)? As I recall it, we actually walked down the street and took in the sights, sounds, and smells. We could wait till we got where we were going, and even then, didn't feel the need to express the least significant thing that crossed our mind to anyone who would listen. There was no sense of urgency as there appears to be now. We weren't locked into computer chipped devices - we were grooving on each other.
We had Sunday meals together and spoke to neighbors. We volunteered our time somewhere, for some worthwhile cause. We showed compassion and care for elderly neighbors, or to the sick and shut-ins. And we did things for others without being asked, or being beholden. And, somebody could check us if we were getting a little to haughty or big for our britches. So, what happened?
The only difference I see is the creeping pervasiveness of modern technology in the name of advancement. Hmmmph.
This so-called progress is suspect. I've figured it out. We're in the trick bag (as my Daddy would say). Soon we gonna look up and be talking to robots, not people. I'm just saying...
I recommend that we get back to what really matters. Life. People. Love. And all that jazz. And yes, Jazz, too. Get your groove on, get it back, ask somebody if you don't know where it is, or how to find it. It's gotta be an improvement over this illusion of progress we've got going right now.
Do it. Do it till you're satisfied (whatever it is, as long as you're satisfied). The choice is yours. You just think you don't have any choice. But you do.
You got the power, baby.
