All Falls Down...

It's August, and the summer is nearing its end. Although we're still experiencing heat in the 100's, the calendar hearkens us back to school, work, and the serious contemplation of the upcoming autumnal retirement of nature into planet Earth's long sleep.

Undoubtedly, its been a summer full of fun and adventure for me and Kamaria, although at the risk of speaking for both of us, its certainly not ending the way we expected. Over the last couple of weeks, we've both become acutely aware of life changing moves that need to be made. Our careers, which we firmly believe in creating, no matter what the external circumstances, are becoming more concretely defined, and "real." While we are both excited about the future possibilities, we are grappling with the current realities of letting go, in order to move forward.

We are creators, and sometimes in the process of creating, we end up excavating our pasts, looking back, reflecting, recognizing exactly what has influenced us as well as what forces shaped our outlooks. We analyze our successes and failures, and yet, look forward to creating a new path.

When a new artist named Kanye dropped a song about a girl dropping out of college, staying in town doing hair, and having an unplanned pregnancy, I listened in awe...



I mean, no one (aside from Talib Kweli and Common) was rapping about women's real situations, self esteem, being insecure, racism and the materialism we use to cover it all up in the 2000's. Needless to say, I was smitten.
But what really touched me was how REAL the situation was that Kanye talked about. The necessity to create a new path, to figure a way out of situations that don't turn out quite how we expected. To deal with the pain of just letting go as he shows us in the video...his eye/camera lens welling up with tears just before closing.

That letting go is the mantra we've been working with over here at LJL. Letting go of some of the people, places, and expectations even, that we've held close to our hearts in order to get closer to where we really are supposed to be. This, is the process not only of the artist, but also of life itself. A series of letting go in order to move forward. One of the things that we find is that there are interesting surprises along the way. The most important thing we've found is that when it all falls down, you suddenly have the tools to build back up.

What have you had to give up in order to move forward into your LoveJonesLifestyle?

Redistributing Your Energy

Well, Obviously, we here at LoveJonesLifestyle have been putting energy into things other than LoveJonesLifestyle. Again, not for lack of Love, but for the Lifestyle!

We've been busily crafting and creating, planning and implementing. Admittedly, I've taken a brief vacation, but even my vacations involve "work." I spent the week mentoring, teaching, and creating with a group of dynamic young people who dream of future careers in the arts. Seeing their energy, or lack of energy around certain people, topics, and activities served as a great reminder to me, and how I implement my own LoveJonesLifestyle.

As I go about completing my last year of school, planning for my business, networking with artists, clients, scholars and coaches and of course being a family member (mama, auntie, cousin, sister) I become more and more clear on the need for focus, planning and strategic direction of my energy.

I've been alone, and have worked independently long enough to recognize my work style, my best conditions for work, the purpose in my work, and the signs my body, environment and the universe reveal to me for my safety and productivity.

Living the LoveJonesLifestyle often entails a lot of hard work. It entails prioritizing, laser like focus, and oftentimes a denial of all things frivolous or that would block your creativity, energy and productivity.

Having said that, I'm headed into a laser like focus over the next three months that will hopefully pay off exponentially in the academic, business, and health areas of my life. As we head into the summer solstice in less than a week, what are some of the ways you plan on redirecting your energy to get to your ultimate LoveJonesLifestyle?