Words.

"Dara is the most useless person in this house. Useless girl. So so useless." Words uttered in the heat of the moment. Words that weren't true. Words that tore the Dara into a billion tiny pieces. Words that stuck in her heart. Words that could never be taken back.

I don't think we get it. Words can be swords used to kill and they can also be lifesavers. When we use our words as swords, they cut deeper than real life swords because most times the people that say the most heart slashing things to us, will never kill us with a real sword.

Words can heal, cure, build, restore, encourage and give hope.

Words can cut, slash, destroy, kill, weaken and break.

The choice is yours.

We really need to understand the weight our words carry. It may be a little innocent sentence from you but it'll be the sentence that finally tips the person you addressed it to over. You really don't know what that person beside you is going through so before you use your words to kill the person off just stop and think. Would I really kill this person with a real sword if I had one in my hand right now? Probably not? I thought so. Therefore, why use a sword you can't see but have with you to kill the poor soul?

Watching T.V after the Woolwich killing in London has been downright painful. Apart from the obvious horror of the whole story, the array of words being used by both the media and the public is quite worrying. Of course the immediate response on seeing or hearing such news will be to gather up the strongest most soul cutting words in the English dictionary to describe the suspects and their acts. Of course, you want the suspects to feel like the devil himself. I did too. However, there is compassion in the middle of all this (the woman who tried to nurse Lee Rigby back to life) and that seemed to have been almost completely lost or ignored. I definitely ignored that. It took a facebook status acknowledging and saluting the nurse to change my whole perspective on the story. Very few words in that status, but my down trodden spirit was suddenly revitalised. Initially I wasn't going to write anything about this story because I thought there was nothing good about it and frankly I don't think a story that has no good side should be re-told over and over again as it only weakens our faith in mankind even more. Nonetheless, I've also come to believe that EVERY story no matter how horrific, terrible and bad will have a tiny tiny tiny light somewhere in it that we've just got to search long and hard for. Maybe the word, "light" is too strong. A tiny tiny tiny glow.

Finally, it CAN be done. Our good words CAN outweigh our bad words. Will it take work? Yes. Will it take time? Probably. Will it be worth it at the end? Absolutely. This planet might actually be a lot nicer place if we all just spent a few moments to think about the words we say BEFORE we say them. To people and to ourselves. There are some people I know who never have anything negative to say. I'm sure they have said some soul piercing words in their lifetime, don't get me wrong. But, somehow, their encouraging, building and healing words always seem to outweigh their killing, destroying and cutting words. I don't know about you but a world with more people like that seems like this planet will be a tadd bit better. It all starts with your next sentence. No one is perfect, but no one is completely imperfect.

With all my love,
Dara Rhodes. X

Seasons.

Seasons change. No matter how good or bad.

With all my love,
Dara Rhodes. X

People.

  The year I hated people was the most miserable year in my life.

Now,

I believe that the greatest gift given to us are people.

I also believe that the highest form of wickedness dwells in people.

Human beings will cheer you on and then turn and say you cheated when you win.

Human beings will dance with you in the sun and hide from you in the rain.

Human beings will laugh with you when there's plenty and laugh at you when there's not enough.

Human beings will kiss you on your left cheek and stab you in your right side.

Human beings will love you when the music is good but hate you once it goes off.

Human beings will hate on one person for being them self and love another for being someone else.

BUT there's one thing we fail to realise. No matter how different and colourful we all are, at the core of every human being on earth are two very simple needs.

1) To be loved and love.
2) To be validated and validate.

You missing or not doing one has the power to make you feel as bad as not doing any or having any.

Of course people will hurt, slander and judge you. Of course people will delight in your misery. Of course "hating the entire world" will seem like a sensible conclusion. But before you get into that "I hate people" car, I just want you to take a moment to reflect on all the good people you've had in your life. If you honestly haven't had any, then you're probably too young to be getting in that car or your good people are on a couple of blocks away from you. Which, you'll miss if you get in that car. The same way when you're in a car, you see lots of people walking by but make little/no interaction with them is exactly the same way, you can't get love or be loved or validate or by validated from inside that car. You've gotta get down and mingle with people! The real problem with hating people is that you become extremely difficult to reach, hence the needs at the very core of your existence become even more difficult to meet than the average person which in turn makes you then hate people more. Vicious cycle.


In all honesty, I believe all our actions are in one way or another trying to meet these needs. So like I said at the beginning of this post, people are God's greatest gift to us. If you don't believe me, try not talking to anyone for a year. Goodluck!

Lol.

With all my love,
Dara Rhodes. X

Time.

 Heyy beautiful people!!

     "I don't have enough time!" "There's not enough hours in the day" "I need more time" are all quotes that I'm certain many of us are overly familiar with. Well, surprise, surprise, the tittle of today's post is Time. As I spent most of yesterday thinking about how this adjective controls our lives and silently rules the world without many of us even realising so, I thought it best to share some of the things I discovered with you.

1) Time is all we have.

2) Time is all we do not have.

Before you start thinking I'm a complete nutter, please hear me out. Okay. So apart from the fact that what I discovered is obviously an oxymoron, it is also very true. I like to think of time as the air we breathe. Its the only thing every single new born child comes with and its the only thing missing when we die. Its the only thing that is completely free and most often, it is the only thing that is completely taken for granted. It really is the first thing we are given so revel in it. Relax and let your hair down more often.

The second one I discovered is not as obvious and literal as the first one but many of us are far more aware of this one. This is also the one that living in London really taught me. The importance of having a sense of urgency cannot be stressed enough. The older I've gotten, the more I've realised how crucial timing is. In London, I planned my time so succinctly that me getting on the tube 5 seconds later could cost me the first 10 most important minutes of the lecture. I still got to the lecture. I still got the overall gist but had perhaps missed the most important sentence or couple of sentences in the whole lecture. While time is all we have, getting the timing right with everything we do in the time is more important. All you need to do is walk into a hospital ward that has people fighting to breathe or meet somebody that has been told they have 3 months left on earth to realise how precious time is.

In conclusion, relax and enjoy the time you have with your friends, children, husband and family, afterall, its all you've got with them! Nonetheless, never forget that there really is a time for everything and one of your main goals should be doing the right thing at the right time. Remember, time waits for no one, so if you are not in it at the right time, it just ticks on right past your very eyes!

Have a great day!

Yours sincerely,
Dara Rhodes x

Back!

 Hello beautiful people!!! 

              I'm back and very happy to be! Wow, to think that the last time I was on here was the 2nd of March is amazing. I remember thinking then, the 17th of May is sooo far away. Well, I guess time really does fly. Anyway, its good to be back and honestly, a lot has happened in my time away. Definitely gained a lot of inspiration and from the weirdest places too! Please stay with me and like I said in March, I'll do my very best to make sure I post something everyday for as long as I can think. :) So help me God. :) Now, these posts are my thoughts and you're free to disagree with them. As long as you get something to think about from each post, I'm good. Lol. Seriously though, there's a lot of love in this world and I think we just need to bask in it a little bit more. Especially now that a lot of us seems to be swimming in fear. 
          Finally, I used to be extremely dyslexic and even though I've come a very long way from that, I still tend to make some rather silly grammatical errors. Please bear with me and have a great day today you all!

Yours Sincerely,
Dara Rhodes X