Screens hiding silent screams

I commute to work

Use public transit

It may be cold though, the scenery is exquisite.

And if you gave it a shot,

You would not at all, be tied up in a knot

For your eyes will rest on beauty,

On purity and nature

and nothing less than a sense of security …

that you belong to a place that’s bigger,

Bigger than You and,

your mundane tasks and commutes.

Yet, right there are all the faces,

Dipped into their screens ,

Worried their awkwardness would be met,

By lively eyes that would in fact, confess

If allowed-

to the same awkwardness,

Introversion or to the same existence;

Heads looking as if were chopped off,

and made to look as if they’d perfectly fit into tiny screens of ..

Mobile phones ,

That are sold to us (& with our consent)

And to make us believe:

“Oh but we have the world in our grasp!!”

In one click,

U book a vacation in Bora Bora,

U sign on a house in some paradise island ,

U sign off your business deal ,

Ur biggest investment ,

Ur lifetime opportunity ,

Or perhaps u do send also,

that long awaited warm,

e-letter or sharing with your daughter, sister, brother ,aunt , son, or your grandparents.

Sure.

But to all creators of those “in your grasp”- tools:

I wish you asked me.

If I wanted my brain to keep digesting 24/7,

To be stimulated, not once twice, or twenty times a day, but relentlessly. –

To keep spinning,

while it surfs or while i access all those apps “in my at my grasp tool”

I wish you asked me,

If i was ok with inhibiting “idle” brain time,

Eliminating any moments or

lapses of the brain not processing something new,

(Rather creating something new!)

Or, indirectly being silenced by input

from your never ending apps and channels, and all other online content creation .

I wish You surveyed, or cared..

That you have invaded my choice,

and distorted my sense of what ‘s important..

When you influence so many around me,

Or when you make it the norm to have the world at our/my grasp;

That i become alone among my herd,

And often labelled “the rebel” ?!

But what i cannot fathom is-

Why is everyone else so accepting,

Why are they not feeling the lost potential , their own potential

The imposition on their lives, their privacy

In synthesising their own views,

Own understanding

And own expressions

Only if-

Only when..

their brains have a “down or idle time”.

Or when their eyes see beauty, and simply reminisce on that,

Or when they meet others

And the eyes cross paths or interlock,

Which prompts random yet “humane” comments like,

Ive had a terrible day and i have too, i relate

Or comments about traffic,

each other’s day or job, or the state of the weather and the roads

And all kinds of queues that open UP conversations – instead of shutting them down;

Without normal people feeling strange for striking up random and conversations as strange ad their own thoughts, perks, and little and big things.

I wish you asked me,:

What i thought of humans or of their creativity ..

If they just “be” immersed in their “here and now”

And the potential of that here and that now,

Rather than dwelling , virtually,

in the potnetial future that they think they are currently living …

Alas… it is long outside of their grasp.

All we are often left with,

Are Screens hiding silent screams.

***

My thoughts tonight/ over the week.

Truly yours,

Joy

Imperfect, but Complete

Rarely is any moment perfect;

Rarely is any person perfect.

Yet somehow, life has a way to make memories or moments that are far from perfect, simply complete.

With them around or in your life,

You feel like anything and everything could go wrong or, counter to your expectations, hopes, or habits

Though:

Somehow, the world is incomplete without them.

As different as they may be, in Carrying the sense of:

responsibility, of love, of worry, of adulting, and of life – so contrastingly,

Your world with them in it- Sharing the same space, or place, or room-

Is simply * complete* .

You are more complete ,

with them hovering around you.

I think, I really , finally began to understand what #SIBLINGS are and what they become, in adulthood.

I ♥️ you.

All of you, as different or as far we may ever be/get.

#silliness

#complete

Don’t Fade

**Don’t fade**

Don’t fade

Not alone,

you’re not alone

Sometimes I wish this could be on repeat

For the rest of my life.

Not only for me,

But to remind that every person

Who has known me

That I gave out something;

Because of them,

No: thanks to them.

I would have never otherwise,

Or ,with someone else.

**Don’t fade**

Because your spark was, is and will

Always be. It will always be;

Here, there, everywhere I turn.

Even if it wasn’t our turn,

Or perhaps, it wasn’t my turn?

I may never know

**Don’t fade**

Don’t think any less, of yourself

Don’t blame yourself!

Or the little elf inside your head’

For we all have our elves

And those around us,

Don’t always know

… How to keep it low

**Don’t fade**

Pls don’t fade.

Those walls we built,

Are meant to give us direction,

So that when your life gets some action,

You gain some traction,

And with a sprinkle of your passion –

… the passion to keep living,

Singing, and dancing, and splashing …

Your love and support to your best friend,

To your sister,

To your love of playing twister.

**Don’t fade**

For alone, you are not.

And you never will be,

If you really offer yourself a chance to see,

How laughter does come for free!

How you paint your canvas,

Not only at sea,

But as you set one foot front of the other,

And gather with your close ones,

Come and have some wine and Brie!

**Don’t fade**

For life is too short, not to be cheesy.

Not to slow down,

To float free,

And in a standstill,

Be..

Until you are ready to sip your self-will

And just be.

**Don’t fade**

For I am here for you,

And would not be:

Without you.

**Don’t fade**

Truly yours,

Joy

March 19, 2023    

Life is a Blessing

Life is a blessing.

It goes step by step

Even if it often feels like it leaves us with so little time.

**Life is a blessing.**

It is the only entity,

That gives you only what you can take.

Try to think back,

Did you not, get over it?

Did your life, after that accident, incident, shock, or temporary trauma –

Did it not change you into someone who had the experience,

The next time life kicked?

**Life is a blessing.**

Life is the only space that we get to occupy

But that also forces us forward,

Because in it, rare are the ones who sit still.

It is dynamic,

It is fluid.

**Life is a blessing.**

Life, flows like water,

Whatever changes: in you, or your circumstances,

It rebalances.

**Life is a blessing.**

Life is not a status quo.

But when it is, it has the ability to hand you blessings,

You will not always be able to fathom.

Life: can make you feel invincible.

Life: can also make you feel, crushed.

But only temporarily. For it does not always leave you:

Invincible or crushed.

Somehow, it strikes a balance between :

Keeping you kicking, and sitting still when you need to

When your life events, need either of those statuses.

**Life: is a blessing.**

It lets you interact.

It lets you meet, other humans.

And is that not, a big enough treasure??

All my love, for those of you who need it today.

Truly yours,

Joy

Nov.02nd 2022

Posted: mar.19, 2023.

PS: This movie carried such great meaning or reminders i shall say, perspective, if you were rushing, or feeling like life is one big rollercoaster that never stops or stopped:

https://readysteadycut.com/2023/03/16/still-time-review/

Life has everything:

loneliness and companionship, friendship and sisterhood, life and death and pain and happy and complications and effortless sunsets and sunrises ; life is full of routine and of surprises

— all those,

only if you let yourself just *BE*.

Stop trying to control what is not yours; if you are strong enough to control you or Do you, then this is all that you need to *slow down*, to count what, how, who, when it matters.

❤

Easier

It’s easier to be with you.

Words I never thought would resonate..

It’s easier to be with you,

than away from you

Because it’s easier to fall asleep in your arms;

where and when my brain appears to be less chatty

It’s easier to be with you,

when my overthinking,

this “because I care and because it matters“

is tamed.

It is easier to be with you

because I know exactly what to do:

to just be – all there.

**

It’s Easier..

it’s Easier to be with you, when my head stops weaving these questions..

the when, the where, the how.

It’s easier to be with you because: somehow you read me,

and even though i remain private/

or hesitant sharing few things on my mind,

it’s easier to be with you because when together”

We walk me through them,

slowly but steadily bending the walls i spent a decade building,

crafting without my knowing..

on certain areas, dreams, and futures that I did not want to see, in my life.

**

It’s easier to be with you.

Turns out, you were right, actually we both were ..

when we had said that our “us” is all about spending the time, together.

It is true, nothing can replace spending the time with your significant other, with you.

It’s easier,

you get to know the little things,

you get to observe better yet,

to also just be,

and to see how all else revolves around you, around me in all the day to day interruptionss.

**It’s easier, with you**.

It is less justification, more listening.

More of you,

and more of me;

It is more understanding, and less noise, words, really:

it is simply, more ‘content’.

**It’s easier to be with you**.

Truly yours,

Joy

Written: July 2023; posted Mar.19, 2023.

What to do with you

You will meet some people

Who won’t know what to do with you.

You check every list,

You are unapologetically you.

You are bright yourself, but

also there for others ..

Mature and well rounded enough ..

You are strong yet kind,

Bright yet humble

Which leaves them not knowing what to do with you.

Some may be intimidated,

Some may not be fans,

though no one can ever be everybody’s cup of tea.

You shine your light,

Because you are you.

You do you,

because you are at peace with who you grew to be.

You fill the gaps,

with your grace.

You are graceful enough to pick your fights,

To reconcile peacefully

Gracefully .

So,

They won’t know what to do with you.

This world can feel too small –

for you.

And you, as a result,

May feel like a misfit.,

Or bigger than this life,

Bigger than sheer human life.

They don’t know what to do with you.

Some will follow you, from their corner

They won’t say much,

but when the time comes,

they will vouch for you.

They see you and read you, and hear you –

But from where they are.

Others, accumulate jealousy

Though they don’t find an outlet or

an excuse to erupt it, against you ;

they may not be your greatest fans.

Though through it all –

You keep doing you;

you do it for you,

for your growth,

for your ethic,

for what you believe to be true and just and deserving of those around you .

And even though,

at times, you’ll be scrambling to find meaning

or a material translation of all that you are –

all that you do

and all that you can be to a world so in need of kind and compassion and humility ..

Always try to stay you,

To find your grace and your humble whenever you lose your way or direction,

for they will bring you back to ground you with what really matters.

They won’t know what to do with you,

But some day,

and in some hour,

Your turn will come;

Your time will come.

Remember, you who others won’t know what to do with you, sometimes or most times:

Real Kings and queens …

Are those humble enough that they are in touch with their people, in French: leur peuple.

They are those,

who are ‘elected’ idols, by their own people and not strangers from across the globe.

They know you,

inside and out.

They have heard and seen you .

My friend,

The world may not know what to do with you or where to fit you

For the world frequently loses itself,

in the noise,

in the chaos.

in the extravagant commercialization of all things relationships, people, and consumer groceries.

But don’t you question for a second,

What you can do with you;

where you can take you ;

Or how many lives you can change …

By simply being you ;

And the example that you set to your own people, and to the many that you are yet to meet

In this life, or in the next one.

They may not know what to do with you,

And some days you will touch this feeling,

or stare it right in the face ..

Always remember: you know what to do with you ,

Who you are and who to be,

in every adventure you take on.

Life is too short,

Not to be the person whom Others… don’t know what to do with

Because ..

They can’t fit them into any of their ‘boxes’.

It is your world; your oyster; and you can count and have as many boxes as you can fill up to the brim.

What to do with you?

This question is not to strangers or others in your life –

But to you, my friend, for the answer only lies within you.

Truly yours,

Joy.

Dec. 15th 2022.

It’s Hard to Be You

It feels like you come from a different planet

You love reading off the pamphlets,

That everyone else shares, but

You are also more:

More rounded, more open, more stimulated by others

Than by your own ideas and direction.

** It’s hard to be you. **

Because it feels like no matter how far your search goes,

The other, in this cold cold land,

is not quite interested

To hear what you bring to their table.

They are used to their own ways,

To keep to themselves:

To feel, to see, to hear,

But also to relate in silence

Without flinching to even share,

A good word,

A passing Bravo

A pat on the back or a woohoo

.. Ever so genuinely shared with you .

** It’s hard to be you. **

Your life, alas

Developed all of you

And suddenly, what the others here have to give

Seems unsupportive of anything you stand for..

So you sit on that desk,

In your space or you changed up your pace

You want to make it work, you tell yourself

And even if you altered your ways and looked in thyself

** It’s hard to be you. **

You have it all, yes

And you never dared ask,

Rarely stuck to your task,

For you knew there was more to it, than paper

than just knowledge.

They want you to just be a scholar.

They perhaps want you to pass the line ,

But nothing is fine

Because they feel like they be clipping your wings

With their lazy attitude to do what’s right;

Missing out on sending your way, a mere link

A heads up on an upcoming event that may just. ..

Make way for you to be *you*

** It’s hard to be you. **

You expect everyone in your world to understand all of you

The truth is, your layers are diverse.

They are unique and loud,

Each one of them in their own ways.

Yet, people, tend to grow into one thing,

Because life .. has too many things to handle more than one.

So there you stand,

In your raw and unique layers,

Mending your wings,

Praying they are not clipped

By others or even by you .. as you try to fit in,

As you try to calm down, to soak and embrace

The cold North Pole you recently joined.

And even though you have so much to say,

Too many words to write,

And extraordinary parts of yourself to bring out,

To touch them

To share your gift,

Or merely just, really, to be all of yourself.

** It’s hard to be you. **

You find yourself standing there,

Or sitting on your office chair,

Or bedroom space, staring out the window

At the falling snow,

and wondering, will my snowflake ever make it ,

To where I really deserve to be?

** It’s hard to be you. **

It feels like you are dimming yourself, not to be too much

To fit in, to be understood,

or perhaps only heard, and read,

to reap a response on your ideas.

Like a peacock that only flashes its feathers

Rarely, or only in timely moments

That only it chooses.

** It’s hard to be you. **

Because you never settled to colour inside the lines.

You were always outside the boX,

Not because you tried but because :

** It’s hard to be you, inside the box **

They just scratched the surface,

Of all you can be,

Of all you have to give

Of the lengths at which you can take your work and research ,

They love going by the book.

I understand, the book makes you who they want you to be

But that is only one portion of who you are.

** It’s hard to be you. **

For your degree(s) does not define you.

And as much as they try to correct you, to fix you:

You rebel,

In your own subtle or louder ways

To remain graceful

And that grace you carry:

It does not dim your light, nor want you to.

True though:

Sometimes getting one thing means giving up on another –

at least for the time being.

But giving up on who you are;

What you care about and what makes YOU tick

What wakes you up, to contribute in this world

These make you. They make me.

These things that you are:

Together all make you up,

Build you from your toes, and all the way up to that head.

** It’s hard to be you. **

But it is the most beautiful that you can Be.

** It’s hard to be you. **

Though the key is,

To keep being you because:

** It’s hard to be you. **

Truly yours,

Joy

December 13th 2022.

They Don’t Know You

**They don’t know you. **

And the world will

Sometimes feel like it couldnt care less , 

If u were in it and good, 

In it and doing poorly, 

Or if ure in it .. at all. 

They dont know what you have been through. 

.. for people are full of themselves, 

Or so you may think. 

But truth is, 

They dont know you. 

They chasing their desires, prestige, 

Their own validation be it inside of themselves or in all material things

They dont know you. 

They dont know how your heart is pieced tgether 

They dont know, 

They dont know 

They dont know u have done so much more than this.

They dont know u chose ur path 

Bcoz u wanted the challenge. 

They dont know how you may kneel, 

And kneel some more to find ur humility with that God of yours   .. 

they dont know it but 

u may not be perfect , 

And yes,

U may dwell in it, live there awhile,

Or Catch ur breath and dive in deep 

Because life, has no one way to be done. 

But deep down u know 

Whatever happens, happens. 

Whatever comes , will come 

Whatever the outcome, ur life is the now

.. not the later that comes 

Though the future will come 

So when it does, u do you based on when u are “there”, in it . 

Dont be scared of a failure.

Dont lose hope with one breakup, or 7.

Because life is about forgiveness, 

Forgiving you, yourself and you, again

Until there is nothing left for u to forgive. 

Sometimes it feels like a  lonely path, 

Somewhere where feedback is scarce , 

And long reports say too little; 

Sometimes, u need a friend 

.. or avoid another, so u dont demolish that house of cards u have tightly built to

.. really make it through, after u left home. 

Sometimes,  No often times

Home is where u are. 

But it also the pieces u left behind because..

No one ever leaves a “home”. 

You build a new one, 10 mew ones but never do u lose any of them for , to have lived in each of them a few months to a decade, 

You shared u. Ur sweat. Ur tears. Ur laughs. Ur silliness. 

Sometimes,  No often times

You lose one spark, of gazillion , 

and No: 

It’s not “the only one spark” that u have. 

Coz u , human, operate on a spectrum of sparkles..

And no spectrum can ever resmeble the other. 

One that ranges from dim, and amber lights, 

To bright, unicoloured and multicoloured. 

And the sparkles, 

Are recharged one by one 

With the love(s) that u carry in ur human heart. 

So, some of them 

Whom U had to leave behind,  tug at your sleeve every now and then; 

They die down just a tee bit, 

For u only see them from afar, from where u are 

Others.. shine brighter , for they are near u 

Living your adventures or understanding them from where they stand in front of u. 

Some sparkles are lit by ur amgels Up

In your sky, 

Those are the farthest in distance 

But the galaxy keepers.. where the galaxy they treasure forever so gracefully, is ur little heart. 

So u see 

They dont know you. 

Ur dim and amber sparkles , or your brighter and colourful lights .

But you know you. 

And shine your amber, when u feel amber. 

Dim your bright,  when it happens and u feel not-so-bright .

And hit them with ur neon sparkle, 

When u smash that journey, 

Befriend that loneliness, 

Because who said.. they ever knew you? 

So Pick up your sparkles, 

And stick them upright again, 

Right where they belonged 

But if you feeling adventurous, 

Carry your sparkles like a torch, 

With a Blazing fire 

A light for you, first, before it  becomes anyone’s,

And keep that flame blazing. 

For you only live once. 

And life, is too short. 

Love. Live. Laugh. Eat. And dance. And love some more. 

For when we go, .. 

to another journey

All we carry with us , are our sparkles that made us up

.. throughout all those years. 

Truly yours, if u needed it tonight.

Joy 

🤍🦾

sept.01st 2022

Out of the Fire

Take yourself Out of the fire

When your brain is strained,

When it strangles itself, with thoughts

With paper giants ,

With irrational ideas that really make zero sense if you take yourself out of the blazing inner fire inside your head..

You begin to remember ..

That you can.

That it can be done, with fear.

And that when anxiety creeps in,

.. or the imposter syndrome invites itself to your table:

You tell them,

Im getting myself Out of the fire.

It all does not matter,.

This crazy and induced rush to sabotage yourself.

Those thoughts in your head, at that low moment or when stress kicks you hard

They don’t matter.

You are brilliant.

You are insane for what you are carrying, giving, and doing in life, at the moment –

Wherever you are at, in life, or inside you , right now.

You are you. Hug yourself and look back up.

Breathe.

Embrace what you are now, today, and tomorrow.

Life is one day at a time.

And it happens in a parallel, not in series.

Do today. And let tomorrow bring its own light- because trust me, it will ,

but you ought to let go,

To flow.

Be like water,

Absorb the shape of whatever or wherever you are bottled up in , for , or against –

For it is your way out of the fire,

.. out of the bottle, and out of your current conundrum.

You need to be your best friend. For only you are doing this, and you wouldnt want it any other way.

Because you: Got this.

Out of the fire, always remind yourself.

Pull you,

OUt of the fire .

Truly yours,

Joy

Sept.01st 2022.

Blue Whale

🐳

She only appeared every now and then,

And Her sighting was something albeit unreal

Her stories wise and open,

Sparkles in her eyes were spotted often.

**

Blue whale.

She only came every now and then,

When the tide rose and,

The waves steepened by the shore,

She was albeit agitated.

She often came to respond,

To a call, to distress

To a little gurl bravely shedding her dress

..and knowing shes was never there to impress,

The ocean knew better,

And it did nothing but embrace her.

**

By the time it was time,

She crossed over and in her pocket,

Hid the little gem of a girl,

To hide her, protect her,

No, to empower her

And engrain in her:

The one life lesson:

My little girl she said,

I am the blue whale,

Your miracle sent from up, above

Only for you to inhale

… the sparkles that life has in store for every one day,

That you feel like slipping away, from this world and existence,

For a brief moment away from the persistence ..

**

Blue whale

So Whenever your grounds shake,

Call on me and i shall make,

…you the most courageous human flake! ❄️👧🏽

For you, i exist..

For you are my purpose!

Fear not, said the big blue whale

For every time i visit,

And Tuck you in my pocket , no limit!

..to how much time you wish to spend in it,

You shall find a big blue toolkit.

I am the Big Blue Whale,

And you are, my favourite misfit .

.. the misfit whose eyes sparkle in life,

Even though she feels all rolled up in one tight dice,

She shall shortly begin to see,

It is that little girl curled inside,

who had wept, leapt,

And kept pushing forward actions that did not accept..

any of the deepest promises be unkept

**

Blue whale

Love truly,

Joy

💙☀️🤍

March 03, 2022.