I stumbled on a couple of poems that I originally wrote years ago. One is entitled,‘Maybe’, the other, ‘Audacious Wisdom’.
In these writings, I am questioning myself, and my purpose through God’s eyes. I wasn’t looking for the poems. I stumbled on them. I literally have close to a thousand or more bodies of work. But recently finding them was right on time for what’s going on in our world and with me, right now.
Recently, I have been again encouraged to author a book, memoir, or screenplay on my story. I really want to, and know that I can, but I haven’t completed several in-progress projects. Though I’ve started many and have created bits and pieces over the years, I’ve never compiled or finalized anything.
I’ve written a great deal, enough for more than just one book, maybe about six! But still, I have not assembled what has been written, never completing the projects. I have started several videos, much the same way. I want to complete them, but often I feel uncertain about doing so. Years ago, I vowed to never venture into anything new without really feeling it in my spirit. I feel these projects in my spirit, but not strong enough yet.
About writing, and about life in general, I have been asking myself, ’Maybe?’ quite often.
I try to eat 1 or 2 bananas each day. To me, bananas are one of God’s miracle foods, like garlic, turmeric, cinnamon, and goji berries.
I learned more about the benefits of eating bananas than I ever imagined a few years ago while working at Whole Foods Market. I really enjoyed this job, especially the residual benefits of becoming well-versed in healthy lifestyles and the health benefits of eating produce.
This only complemented what I learned from meticulously attending to my elderly mother’s health, as well as my own.
Gaining this knowledge was yet another example of how we can help each other by sharing such knowledge. Working at Whole Foods Market, I met many people who were deep into their wellness journey, who were eager to share information with me. It’s really interesting how we seemingly secretly exchange information about natural healing as if it is government classified information. That should not be so.
I had been on a holistic healing journey for many years but working in WFM’s produce department certainly elevated my health knowledge. Because customers were generally astute, I have to do my homework, research so that I knew what I was talking to others about. This included learning the benefits of exotic fruits and vegetables. ‘
Eventually, health and lifestyle became evangelistic for me. I strongly believe that living a healthy lifestyle is an aspect of Spirituality. When I learn of the uncommonly known benefits of fruits and vegetables, without man’s intervention, it confirmed that God wants us to live healthily and naturally.
I have ever since high school. He was very popular in New Orleans, and when I went to college in San Francisco, he was very popular there. When I lived in London, he had a cult following. He had a shop there, in Camden Town. I visited his shop and I appreciated him even more because his shop was full of incense, candles, and was very metaphysical, the kind of stuff I love. I’ve actually met Prince in person as well, in San Francisco at a record store. He had quite a following of look-a-likes at the Studio West dance club, in Embarcadero, San Francisco.
Studio West San Francisco: In the early to mid-’80s, this was one of the best clubs. It was along the Embarcadero with beautiful views. People used to come from all over, the scene was mostly rap, with some techno, along with the favorites back then including Prince, Madonna, Michael Jackson, etc. …Lot of young folks, especially Asians, Mexicans, & Blacks.
I’ve always liked Prince; I was like a Prince’s-head. I followed him from the very beginning with the first album that I remember, Soft and Wet. I’ve seen him in concert as well. He is amazingly energetic and performs nonstop for 3 or more hours.
I sincerely share this post to proclaim that Inner Peace is the most valuable gift that God has given us.
In Inner Peace lies Acceptance, Surrender, Trust, Belief, and Patience. These virtues are beneficial to the body, mind, and spirit.
Inner Peace was not always accessible to me. At a time when I earned six figures, I stressed my mind and spirit to keep money flowing. That was over 20 years ago before I became a new man. Today, friends and colleagues attempt to entice me to return to ‘the game’, to be it in IT, bitcoin investments, small business adventures, or money-making ideas du jour.
I have no plans to return to that noisy chaotic world again, though. I fear what money and chasing after it would do to the Inner Peace that I now have. I never want to lose this. I have no interest in going viral or monetizing for profit. Over a year ago, I deleted my Facebook, Linked In, and other social media accounts.
I do wish to reach more people but to do so, unfortunately, costs money. So, I reach who I can on my personal but limited budget. But I do, therefore, maintain my Inner Peace.
Achieving Inner Peace in the New World Order, in our new post coronavirus world, is essential. There are many human challenges that can distract us from this gift, and worse can bring out the worse in us.
Many years ago, I recognized the importance of maintaining a peaceful state of mind. That’s likely because my life has always been dynamic, intense, and bursting with passion, since birth, I’ve experienced, and been told.
Photo – Burst On Spotify – person-faces-the-city-while-sitting-on-a-yoga-mat-on-a-balcony.jpg
Over 30 years ago, I began a ‘deep dive’ into my own spirituality. This exploration was a personal one, whereby I sought to establish a relationship between me and God. …A really close one, with no one in between, for no one seemed True. I did not want the layer of religion or the church between us, though.
I respect religion and the church, but I put them in proper perspective, with regard to spirituality. I’ve found that religions and churches often deviate from what should be their main focus, addressing other priorities, such as tiding, fundraising, televangelism, and social media. …popularity, materialism, etc.
They do a get deal of charity ministries as well. It’s not directly their fault, but the sources of their funding, contribute to making poverty and inequity comfortable, instead of working to totally eliminate it, making those that they help self-sufficient.
Generally speaking, they continue such ministries, foundations and governments keep funding their causes, people keep receiving, but their long-term status remains the same.
Though these efforts may be well-intentioned spiritually, they impeded the closeness that I needed to have with the God of my understanding. I seek, still today, enlightenment. Beyond wisdom and faith, I want to be immersed in the spirit of God.
Furthermore, I wanted to shape the image of the God of my understanding. God bestowed me with this free will. I wanted to use this blessing to see God as I wanted to based on my journey, failures, triumphs, and ever-evolving wisdom.
I longed to see the God in me, and in every living creature. I longed to experience a multidimensional sensee of God, not a one-dimensional one.
Photo – Burst On Spotify – hand-on-tree-bark.jpg
I remember, in early 2000, when participating in an exercise that Minister Rev. Barry Vennard, of Unity Church, asked participants, in a Unity Church spiritual workshop to do. This exercise still sticks with me today.
Minister Vennard asked all participants to close their eyes and imagine God as they would like him to be. He asked that we imagine how he would be towards us? Would he judge us? How would he treat us when we made mistakes? What would he say about our pain, mistakes, defeats, and victories? How would he encourage us through our trials? …And so on and so forth.
I’ve been terribly busy lately. It seems that my life has gone from zero to 100 with the beginning of the new year. Aspirations have not manifested as I desired. They are unfolding, not as I expected, but I am non-resistant to what God and The Universe guide me to and reveals to me.
I’ve been every-day busy! And my list of projects seems to go nowhere! …While my mind keeps adding new ideas to the list. I have at least five posts and videos in the incubator that I refuse to rush until I have time. But I never seem to have the time and mindset in sync to complete them.
I apologize to guest blogger Brandyce for taking so long to create this post. We have been both busy and have gone back and forth in its conceptualization. She is as busy as I am, and our schedules often were not in sync. I am posting it now to honor my commitment but wish I have more time to do it right.
I invited Brandyce to share a post over a month ago. I invite all of you to share a post. I will share a post or more, likewise.
You see, I’ve given up on the world being saved, Instead, I am creating my own world of like vibration spirits, within The World. You are in my world. I am in yours. Brandyce is a part of the beautiful community that we created that I want to share with you.
“We all have ability. The difference is how we use it.” – Stevie Wonder
This is a Feel-Good post. I hope that you want to feel better today. I do. We need it. I will try my best with this post.
The vibration in the atmosphere has been tense. I believe that the Lord wants us to have more alone time to reflect and reconcile our differences with The World, to perhaps lead us to reconciliation, inner peace, and Love. I have had to go inward and introspective on a daily to keep my vibe up high.
Today, my vibe is very elevated! I am looking forward to the new life that begins each day. I see sleep as dying each night and waking reborn.
But this moment, the new Season just before us, post-Lobster, post-COVID19, post-insurrection, post-everything 2020 is more eagerly anticipated by everyone. The unknowns and adventure of it all can be absolutely exhilarating, if you are imaginatively creative, and are vibrating higher than most. I am that way today. Are you?
I am looking forward to a more discerned and refined me, blossoming in this new Springtime. For I know that Spring always comes. Always, period point-blank.
We are on its horizon. I listened to Stevie Wonder’s music and watched his videos today, and I feel mighty inspired. I hope you enjoy it. Kevy
I am singing about Tomorrow. Let’s start singing of Love from our hearts.
Stevie Wonder – Ngiculela – Es Una Historia – I am Singing – Apr 18, 2007 – Crustybrown
I am excited to feature COLORADO POET in this post, once again.
I regularly invite other bloggers to share their perspectives on any topic. I invite you, right now. We do not have to all agree but must be respectful of each other.
I believe that we must regularly engage with each other, feature each other, as Colorado Poet and I do, if we are serious about healing as a civilization.
I am privileged to have a blogger like Colorado Poet who is sincerely open to sharing her talent in the interest of creating better relations, understanding each other, and for plain friendship.
Her brand appeals to me. …A lot! I searched her site and easily selected several poems that resonate with me.
I love how the brevity of her poems efficiently utilizes the writing landscape. This is clearly not one of my strengths, as evidence by my lengthy posts that sometimes seem like novels.
She uses imagery quite effectively with her poems, identifying the picture’s location. I can tell that she puts great effort into selecting the perfect picture. So, with each poem, I included her chosen image for that poem. I also included links to her site all over the place. Check Colorado Poet out.
I know it may seem that I’ve been slacking on posts, but I really haven’t. I’ve been working in the background.
But also, I have days where I may have a little anxiety about the times we’re in.
Photo – Brut Carniollus – Unsplash
I wish more of us would admit that we’re going through shit. Because there’s a lot of stuff that’s going on. It’s a lot to comprehend. It’s a lot of uncertainty. It’s challenging our Faith, challenging our truth, and it’s challenging who we are. We should just admit that we’re going through things.
On my good days, however, I am creating. I have upcoming posts on the That Monkey. I have another post that’s coming up on Truth Decay. And I want to do a post on vaccines because that’s not for me when it comes out.
So, I thought I’d give you a little teaser for now, while I create more content for you, in the background.
The other day, I was just stumbling through my YouTube feed and ran across Common in a studio performance. And it was incredibly beautiful! It shows me that we share a common vibe. I’ve always liked Common. He shows me that what he’s saying is what I’ve been saying in most of my posts. …About this revolution.
Listen to it, especially the 1st, 2nd, and 4th tracks. Those are really good. I also put in a little Eryka Badu. I skipped Common’s video by mistake and discovered a quarantine performance by Eryka Badu. It’s also a performance video and it’s nice.
Kevy Michaels Video
Uplift Urself – Common Erykah Mr. MYOB & Denver Art – YouTube – Dec 5, 2020 – Kevy Michaels
This video is a teaser to lift your day until tomorrow’s blog post. I feature poetic artists that I like, Common, Erykah Badu, and Mr. MYOB, a Denver rap artist. I will also take you on a virtual tour of the Masters Gallery Denver, and provide supportive content on dealing with anxiety, depression, and uncertainly during the Revolution. I hope you enjoy it.
If ever there was a time to enjoy Solitude, now is that time. Let me give you a few reasons: Truth Decay, Racism, Hate, The Lobster, Riots, COVID19, Uncertainty, etc. This post reveals that I am spending most of my free time alone. …And I am joyous! God is there with me showing me how beautiful I am, and where I may have gone wrong. …Or did I? Was it all for my greater good? Kevy
I was speaking to a friend the other day and I was telling her that I am not sure if I could ever be in a close relationship, live with another person or even engage with my family. She agreed with me for much the same reasons.
I know it sounds a little strange but it’s not at all. I’m in spirit now more than into people. I enjoy Being alone. I have so many rituals that I follow which keeps me at a higher vibration. …Rituals such as grounding on a regular basis, meditation, and prayer daily. I have a lot of health rituals such as juicing, also do mineral baths, with salt and oils. I have a creative side where I’m writing, making videos, as well as putting content out on the blog.
I hope that most people who read my post don’t think that I’m full of rage and anger because I’m not.
I am simply a Black man who has been through a lot of trials, and who’s well-traveled, analytical, educated, and brave enough to speak my mind. I really don’t care if my reality has a dismal aspect. It is simply what I’ve experienced in my life, good, bad, and ugly.
Though many Black people don’t speak their true minds, I do my best to encourage them to speak their minds in response to my opinions, even if they disagree with me. I won’t shun them. Sometimes they do comment on my posts. Sometimes they do so in private. Many despise me because of my views as oppose to discussing why they feel differently. That their “monkey”, not mine. I will explain “The Monkey” in a future post.
But I am only sharing with you how I managed through The Revolution that we’re currently in. …And, through the trials that you may experience.
For one, I manage through practicing daily meditation. I’ve done so for about 30 years. I have posted on meditation, as well as on prayer, which too is a long-time daily practice of mine. I do grounding as well. All these things keep me at a higher vibration in spite of expressing frustrations with the things that I’ve experienced. …The things I experienced today. …The trials in which I’ve endured.
But this post is about music. Music is a big part of my life. I see it as the background theme music of every scene and mood in my daily life. …As if my life is video content. I use music to calibrate my mood and spirit whenever it requires calibration.
Music has always been a major influence in my life, even as a child.
When I was not much older than 6 or 7 years old, I used to listen to the Motown Sound. My sister’s husband was a deejay, on the most popular black AM radio station in New Orleans, WYLD, and he’d bring free copies of virtually every 45 that was released. Since the Motown Sound was most popular, we ended up having nearly every song released.
Along with my brothers and sisters, we would pantomime performances of the Temptations, the Four Tops, and the Supremes to name a few. I still remember the words to songs that were released when I was a young child.
Back then, my sister Annette, and my brother Ulysses had the strangest music tastes, considering that they were fairly young and products of the ghetto. My sister would have days where she would play Johnny Mathis albums it seems for the whole day. Her go-to song was Chances Are.
My brother was in love with Nancy Wilson. He would do pretty much the same, often playing Guess Who I Saw Today. Music was so integral in our ghetto lives that we embraced everyone’s choices, and even me, at a very young age, would eventually learn to appreciate Johnny Mathis and Nancy Wilson.
My family, as most black families did back then, had two very elegant phonograph consoles, build with craftmanship into very nice solid wood cabinets that looked like an elegant piece of furniture. It served as the foundation of our modest entertainment endeavors. When the top was closed, and my mother placed a lace dolly and a vase of plastic flowers on top, and polish it with that weird-smelling furniture oil. One would never know that it was a record player until it was opened, and guest would say, ‘Oh I didn’t realize that was a record player.’ For a moment, we would feel white-privileged. It was a big bulky piece of furniture that only housed two speakers, a turntable, and storage area for 45s and LPs, but it was nearly the center of our lives back then.
In addition, either I or my sisters would get a portable record player for Christmas. …Sort of the Easy Bake Over of record players, allowing us to listen to music in our rooms upstairs. It did not have a big sound because the speakers were transistor-radio-sized, but we enjoyed listening to the latest music just the same. Upstairs we would sing, dance and listen in private, well almost.
Music is also a significant aspect of New Orleans’ culture. It’s about ‘what-n-what’ with our food. New Orleanians hold deep pride in both. We have our own style of music, and that tradition continues today with new styles like New Orleans bounce music. I’m not that crazy about New Orleans bounce music. But our most popular music back then was New Orleans blues, soul, jazz, Mardi Gras, and second line music. Continue reading “Not Much Of A Drinker But I’m Enamored For Hours In This One Bar – The Buddha Bar’s Zen Chill Music”→
“A really spiritual person will live life as an art, will create a deep harmony between the body and the consciousness. And this is the greatest art there is. His life will be a joy to see. And he will be fragrant, for the sheer reason that there is no split in his being. The very unity makes him organic; the wound of division is healed.” – Osho
“Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
What is Meditation To Kevy Michaels? – By Kevy Michaels
I am only joking about becoming Shakespeare, but I wanted to draw your attention to the power of regularly meditating. Apparently, I did.
I practice meditation passionately, as I have been meditating regularly for over 20 years.
It’s the biggest benefit of my life is that it gives me clarity and it elevates me, the latter of which is not very easy to explain, but I will attempt.
Meditation gives me the ability to interact with the physical world, but in a metaphysical way. It gives another dimension to my senses, in it’s truest, non-manipulated form. Meditation allows me to feel the energy, of people, nature, and the air even, from the perspective of my soul, not from the object’s perspective.
Its power in my life is hinted to in the tagline of this blog, Life Is A Teacher. Meditation transforms my experiences from being externally driven, to being internally guided. It takes me to the field of Pure Potentiality, chapter one in Deepak Chopra’s, 7 Laws of Spiritual Success, abook changed my life’s direction, many years ago. I am so passionate about it, that I reread it regularly, and have given copies of it to friends, family, and strangers in many parts of the world.
I will feature posts on other chapters in the future.
In the field of Pure Potentiality is where Divinity, Creativity, Healing, Nature, and God’s energy resides. It’s a sacred layer of existence, on top of physical existence. Meditation makes this energy in all things, accessible, in addition to its physical offerings.
I have found profound power in meditation because it separates me from myself, my ego, and from the character of who I am to the world. It takes me to my spiritual essence, therefore I see my spirit interacting with life, as opposed to my ego-self having the experience. It is quite powerful and its benefits have manifested in many ways in my life. Here are a couple of examples.
It made me more creative, though I never thought that I was. I can clearly remember when I would write songs (such as the one below) where the lyrics, rhythm, and sound would come to me vividly. Since I am not a musician, I would ask a close friend, who sang and played guitar, to give the song chords. Together, we would delight others, performing these songs (and poems) at the Unity church, schools, charity events, nursing homes, and for family and friends. I would eventually write over 200 songs, over 600 poems, and 100’s more finished and unfinished works. There were days where I would get what seemed like cosmic inspiration, writing over 10 songs and poems, in one day.
Being in the field of Pure Potentiality, through meditation, revealed that I had these unbeknownst gifts.
It happened again in the early 2000s, with Love Electra. Love Electra was a company I created that aimed to propagate the message of love through its products, presentation, and messaging. The name, theme music, and product designs all came to me vividly, and magically. The many products, including t-shirts containing messages of Love & Peace, were sweatshop free, were aura cleansed, contained color psychology, and messages and/or images that inspired. During this phase, creativity overflowed to the point that I had boundless energy and ideas. During this period, I meditated daily for at least an hour.
Those days were exciting! Our web and remote boutique set up at concerts, churches, raves, and festivals ignited every venue. In the San Antonio, Houston, and Austin areas, we had a cult following. I would see before my eyes at these events the power of the mind in making visions manifest.
I included my mother, in her late 80’s, in the excitement. She guarded the money box. She protected the money, like Pilate’s guards protected the tomb of Jesus. I can remember how thrilling it was for her to be adored by so many.
I believe that like changing a radio channel frequency from hardcore rap to spa music, meditation tuned me into a frequency where all of this potential was accessible to.
Unfortunately, due to having to surrender to life’s circumstances with health, the economy, and mainly having to solely care for my mother after she had a major stroke, Love Electra was dissolved.
But has it really been dissolved? I feel that with the Life Is A Teacher blog, I am propagating the same message, but doing so digitally, as opposed to doing it with physical products. Please note that I do not sell anything through my blog. I don’t directly promote anything either unless it has positively impacted my life. And, from those indirect promotions, I received no monetary benefit.
My goal now fueled regularly by meditation, is to convey to my audience my life lessons and wisdom, discerned through trials, errors, bad and good choices, successes, triumphs, and failure.
What I present today are virtues I’ve gained and discovered in my life, with the hopes of that others will be inspired, as well. Meditation not only makes this possible, it makes it insuppressible.
The videos below may be helpful in explaining meditation and Pure Potentiality clearer than I have.
What is meditation\to you? How has it impacted your life?
This week, Rev. Wendy begins a 7-week series based on Deepak Chopra’s book, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success. In this lesson, Wendy covers the first law—The Law of Pure Potentiality—and the fact that we are all pure consciousness.
In this short teaching, Mingyur Rinpoche discusses the relationship between meditation and creativity. As he explains, meditation clears space in the heart and mind for the spontaneous, creative expression of one’s true nature. This video includes subtitle captions in English. This video was originally released as part of the Tergar Learning Community course of Rinpoche’s Monthly Teachings.
I often listen to spa, new age, or meditation music. In addition to doing so when I meditate, I listen to this type of music when I am creating and writing. Often my blog posts are written, while I listen to some of the music I now share.
Yellow Brick Cinema’s Relaxing Piano Music, Stress Relief Music, Relax Music, Meditation Music, and Instrumental Music includes relaxing Guitar music, Piano music and Flute music.
Our instrumental music can be used for relaxation, study, meditation and stress relief.
My family, as most black families did back then, had two very elegant phonograph consoles, build with craftmanship into very nice solid wood cabinets that looked like an elegant piece of furniture. It served as the foundation of our modest entertainment endeavors. When the top was closed, and my mother placed a lace dolly and a vase of plastic flowers on top, and polish it with that weird-smelling furniture oil. One would never know that it was a record player until it was opened, and guest would say, ‘Oh I didn’t realize that was a record player.’ For a moment, we would feel white-privileged. It was a big bulky piece of furniture that only housed two speakers, a turntable, and storage area for 45s and LPs, but it was nearly the center of our lives back then.
In addition, either I or my sisters would get a portable record player for Christmas. …Sort of the Easy Bake Over of record players, allowing us to listen to music in our rooms upstairs. It did not have a big sound because the speakers were transistor-radio-sized, but we enjoyed listening to the latest music just the same. Upstairs we would sing, dance and listen in private, well almost.
