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I don’t know how you get inspired before doing what you do daily but for me music is the one thing that gives me the nudge I need to start my day off.  So as I was listening to a variety of music videos on youtube I came across Oprah Winfrey.  She hasn’t released a record, well I don’t think she has but she was talking about Karma; giving and receiving positive Karma and what that truly means.  For some reason, I was hypnotically drawn to watching something that I would have skipped through before but I’m glad I clicked the play key instead of scrolling through and finding Rhianna, “Where have you been, all my life”.

Oprah’s life class is well worth a watch and this particularly relevant to me lesson put into context the realization I have leaned towards for some time. Why are there negative forces in my life? Did I invite them in or did they knock on my life’s door conning me with their so-called welcoming homemade cake secretly wishing that I choke on its filling? Death by Fruit Loaf…I don’t want to go out like that!

If there’s one thing that offends me the most and will see you out of the door before I let you take a step further is when your sole intention is to make me feel foolish or worse use me when it suits then act as though I don’t exist. That’s just rude but I must have decided at some point that it was ok.  Acceptable treatment because I value my friends and family and I stick with people no matter what…loyal to my cost, at times. It confuses people when I back off, the defense mechanism that I have no choice but to use to protect myself, ‘maintain my sanity by keeping my distance’.

You’re all thinking, “She’s going to end up all alone with a house full of cats and her blog posts scattered all over the furniture, we’ll never find a sofa to sit down on”. Well you thought wrong, I love people and I’m really social; honest!  I’ve just come to understand through years of searching and questioning myself that the door is my door, I am in full control of whom I open it to and am happy to say that through distancing myself from certain people I have allowed the most beautiful souls in. I didn’t know this would happen but it has and am lucky enough to not count them on one hand but to count them on two.

This doesn’t mean that I won’t ever let the others back in, it just means that I’m letting go for as long as it takes them to understand themselves a little better than they did before and if one day they find themselves ready to knock with no agenda or reason other than to have a cup of tea with Shelly then I will happily eat a slice of that cake…with I hope, a cherry on top!

© Michelle Sotiriou 2013

Standing at the road of heartbreak and mistakes

You look around, wondering, unable to move

Your feet dirty from the steps you take.

Wash them clean those digits are screaming

In pure water that is divine

It will leave them gleaming.

© Michelle Sotiriou 2013

Apparently, this is a fact; on average a woman smiles 62 times a day and a man only 8.  An interesting statistic don’t you think?  So why do women have more to smile about? And why are men moody so and so’s (allegedly)?  Questions questions!  I’m a sucker for a smile and the ‘bad boy’ work me out if you can strategy used by some men is tiresome and a waste of energy.  But not all women feel the way I do; they love a bit of moody male and make getting to the bottom of the moodiness their life’s mission…impossible!

Hide behind a smile

To be honest, it never occurred to me that we smile more than men.  Women tend to smile when faced with adverse situations and use it as a disguise when they don’t want people to know of any unpleasantness or struggle going on; it’s a front used so people don’t have to worry about them/us.  Not healthy and quite harmful in the long-term.

Smile with your eyes

Us girl’s do tend to use our smile, pout and flutter those thick with mascara eyelashes to let a man know we’re interested, he may not act on these alluring methods but what man isn’t going to notice a pretty girl smiling at him?  Maybe women are longing to be noticed and a smile is just as good a tool as any to let him know you exist.  If you think this man of few words Vin Diesel type hasn’t clocked your facial muscles go into smile spasm you are mistaken, whether he makes his move or not he isn’t blind.

Smile, it’s not hard

I reckon the age of the macho man is dying a slow death and R.I.P to it!  The idea of a man not smiling because god forbid he shows any emotion or weakness is being slowly phased out and replaced by someone who is much more in tune with his emotions, someone who knows that it is absolutely fine to express his feelings and is comfortable in doing so.  The macho self-conscious type is becoming a trait of the past making way for a new male phenomenon.  Confident, self-assured and courageous; so much more attractive with a refreshing openness; Hallelujah!!

Two smiles are better than one

On a serious note, London isn’t the easiest city to live in for many reasons at the moment and is a possible contributing factor to the lack of general happiness.  Both men and women have pressures in equal measures but they differ depending on their expectations and vision of how they believe their life should be lived; so I’m not entirely convinced that the statistics in my opening paragraph are valid.  There is something that to me seems obvious, if there are two genders why aren’t we making sure that each has something to smile about?

Smile for real

Don’t be fooled into thinking that neither sex can tell the difference between a genuine or fake attempt to bring on a smile, the sad reality is that there will always be someone out there with an ulterior motive and will bust a gut to see that cheesy grin of yours when they are only interested in what’s in it for them; you’ll learn that the hard way but you will learn.

So smile!

The alternative isn’t worth looking at!

© Michelle Sotiriou 2013

Daft Punk stay up all night to Get Lucky and the lyrical genius that is Bruno Mars complains about being Locked Out of Heaven…for too long!!  Sex Is On Fire for the Kings of Leon and Elvis Presley was a Hunk o’ Burning Love (allegedly) I wouldn’t blame you for thinking that these songs are a warning against the perils of unsafe sex but  these brilliantly written and thought-provoking songs are about something that when administered even in small doses, can give a much-needed boost to the immune system…Passion!!

So what ignites your passion?  This could be anything really but essentially it is a desire for something or someone who makes you feel alive and gives you a burst of energy when you’re physical or emotional battery is running at its lowest.  Physical passions are spontaneous and exciting but they have a tendency to be short-lived, which is unfortunate but intellectual passions such as exploration and discovery can really enhance your life and the way you view things.  Interestingly, passion is of Latin origin and its meaning is ‘to suffer’.  Are we meant to suffer?  How can we appreciate the things we are fortunate enough to have or experience if we don’t?

You’re in a rut and can’t find what you’re looking for because you don’t know what it is, but it is clear that there is something missing and this deep unwavering feeling is going nowhere any time soon.  Looking inside yourself is something that we all do but I think after doing a lot of that myself, that the answers are elsewhere.  My passion got lost after I took more than one wrong turn on the proverbial yellow brick road.  The Dorothy myth of clicking my heels to get me where I belong didn’t work…wishing rarely does.

I now find myself in a place where I have gone full circle, a bit like an eclipsed moon that reaches its full, bright self.  The turning point for me was when I started reading the poems displayed on the London Underground.  This may sound strange to some but the words and their flow brought back memories of school and how I used to love listening to stories and writing a few odes myself.  Signs are everywhere, cliché I know but it’s the truest thing I ever heard!

It’s all about being ready and for the longest time I avoided to my detriment the view from my window; I know now that I had to experience a certain way of life to eventually enjoy and embrace the possibilities that would follow. Your passion may not find you so why wait? If you find yourself reaching up with one hand try using both; so you suffer a little or maybe a lot either way it means that you feel something.

© Michelle Sotiriou 2013