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Turn a new page for 2016
January 06, 2016
"Birds flying high you know how I feel. Sun in the sky you know how I feel. Breeze driftin' on by you know how I feel. It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life for me. And I'm feeling good!" Whether I'm slightly off key or totally off the scale, those are the lyrics I'm belting out to the universe to welcome in 2016.
The lyrics are from Feeling Good, written by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse and recorded by numerous artistes, including, most recently, Michael Buble and Lauryn Hill. My favorite is still the Nina Simone version from the 1965 album I Put A Spell On You. I love the song. And I'm singing it purposefully to usher in this new day in this new month of this new year. It's a reminder to make 'feeling good' my decision and affirmation.
Yes friends, we are here again on
another Wednesday, but not just any other Wednesday; it's the first Wednesday of a new calendar year. The beginning of a brand new year is like opening up a crisp new page, isn't it? Yeah man! And as the lyrics of Black and White - the 1972 Billboard Hot 100 chart No.1 song by Three Dog Night reminds us, 'the ink is black, the page is white'. Well, ahm ... most of the times at least.
You see, those lyrics, first recorded by Sammy Davis Jr in 1957, were written way back in 1954 by David I. Arkin and Earl Robinson [inspired by the US Supreme Court decision of Brown v Board of Education that outlawed racial segregation in public schools] and plenty things change since then, including, maybe, the realisation that there is much in the middle between the binaries of black and white.
Yeah, so ink and pages, like people, have to also be acknowledged as all the other colours, shades, names and identities that fall between black and white, yuh follow mi? However, no matter the shade of your page or the dimensions of your screen or keyboard, and whatever the colour of your ink, or the size or style of your font, these twelve new months
present fresh new pages to write on.
The pages are not yet fully touched and the slate's clean, if you see what I mean. So what kind of vibe do you plan to inscribe? What stories and songs are you going to write? More important, what missteps or wrongs are you going to try and right? Me, I'm writing thanks and goodness. Yeah, I'm reflecting with humility and gratitude on a great 2015, and projecting power and positivity on 2016.
NEGATIVE FORCES
'Feel good and give thanks' is the chapter I'm writing. And when negative forces try to mess up my page by putting roadblocks in the way of my resolve to feel good and give thanks, I just pause and draw for words of inspiration and upliftment from the lyrics of another all-time favorite of mine, There For You by Damian Marley from his 2005 Grammy-winning album, Welcome to Jamrock.
Yeah peeps, Junior Gong's lyrics wisely affirms, "vexation of spirit is a waste of time. Negative thinking, don't you waste your thoughts. Verbal conflict is a waste of word. Physical conflict is a waste of flesh...", and remind us to focus on those who gave life for us and for whom we live our lives - the people who are always 'there for you'. Timeless and powerful lyrics.
Well, look here nuh, you and I may never compose timeless words like those in the songs mentioned above, but the days of our lives are words in a story and lyrics in a song, so let's be careful with what we're writing this year, yuh hear! And let's enjoy! Here's hoping your 2016 will less stressed and more blessed, and each day be filled with newness, nuff niceness and boundless happiness!
