I thought I might get a tag that was a little less thought provoking if I got into the Blueberry Slim tea this morning. That it might be geared more around physical fitness or something less emotional, but that wasn’t to be.

After the week I’ve had since we last chatted, I just wanted to keep it light and lazy. I literally am in my bed sipping and writing today, so we must be in a “yin” phase of the moon month. I confirmed this by looking it up in my Moon journal and sure enough…

I love these pics I found at this website. aliciagoldberg.com They explain a deep concept in simple terms.

The prior Tuesday blogs have been a little deeper than even I want to be going on this particular forum. One even extracted a, “whew” comment from one of the readers. I guess that means it was too much or fairly long winded. Plus, these chats are nothing to do with food, so I’m sure they might not go over well with many of those who follow this blog. That’s ok. Not everything we do has to be for everyone we know. As I believe I mentioned before; the recipes for food are for you. The tea time is for me and anyone else who wants to ride the tea train.

This whole thing was supposed to be fun. It was supposed to be enlightening, sure, but to be totally honest, they’re getting to me.

Don’t get me wrong. The tags are always positive and uplifting, or relaxing and peaceful. Almost always they lean toward love and loving, but I can’t help but notice more and more that they are seeming to speak directly to my life. Let me share a few examples.

This one bugged me a little because my living philosophy is that I don’t “give” happiness. People have to cultivate their own happiness. I can exude happiness like a MF, but giving it is out of the question, man. Sorry, not sorry.

Next up, and this one resonates with me big time because I do communicate love. Plain and simple, I mostly write about eating and food. If that’s not love I don’t know what is. No problem with this tag. But that message drove me to start sending out those finalized chapters of the book I’m writing. I got some responses and pitches to assist me coming in now, along with a kind decline. Win some lose some. The book was not her genre. Cool beans.

And this one really made my heart flutter. The manuscript I have written and am now editing is all about lifting, empowerment and meeting our highest potential. It’s a book about reaching full on bad assery, so again; this tag was like, “whoa.” It has me looking around like, where is the eye in the sky following my every damn move and thought??

This message would be easier to live by if they’d keep the tea tags “light.” Just saying. But, maybe this was just referring to all my heavy life loads. Lighten them and feel free. I one hundred percent agree here.

I was happily loving them blueberry scones with a weekend tea. You know I practice intermittently fasting throughout the week, and I eat pretty much whatever I choose in moderation Saturday and Sunday. These little pastries rocked with blueberry tea. And the message?? Well, it’s right on point, but I’ve already kind of covered that in our prior chats. No need to rehash the benefits of loving oneself and others. Happiness is self made from our ability to love within and without. Others or not, your happiness is derived from what you decide goes down in your life.

And for today the message was this:

This one has a little to do with where I am at in life, but it’s more about what I am currently reading.

Prince left us too soon. I was fortunate to have seen him play live on two occasions in my lifetime, but I’ll never discredit the huge impact that those concerts and his many works of art had on my very own existence. My wild imagination, my flamboyant wardrobe, my idea that I really can be anything I want to be; watching him evolve through the years encouraged all of that. And yasss, bitch. The drama, too. Prince was drama personified, until he wasn’t.

Growing up, I wore out many copies of the albums he gifted the world. The very first introduction I recall was being on a weekend visit at my mom’s house, and her younger sister was getting dressed for a Purple Rain party in the neighborhood. I had so much curiosity about this singer who was crooning from the boom box as my hip, young auntie decorated herself in purple clothing, tons of jewelry (namely big hoop earrings), feather boa and top hat. She was sharp AF from my 8 year old perspective.

Just a year or so later, I was piling into Joe Louis arena with 2 of my dad’s stripper gal friends to see The Purple One perform live. I was 9 years old and I’d never in my young life seen anything like this. He was all over the stage. He had so much energy and all kinds of charisma. He was super sexual and animal like, but in a silky smooth and sensual way. The excitement and emotion in that arena lived within me for decades. I was a super fan of Prince. Uber fan. Still am. Not a bit of doubt, I will always be.

I recall going out as a young adult in a favorite outfit that included white platform leather boots, purple velvet mini skirt and a flowing white blouse consisting of layers of ruffles. Yes, I even had a hat. Purple beret, because the raspberry one was exclusive to Prince. I’ve yet to find one, but I keep looking. I wish I had a pic of that wild outfit. I must have looked ridiculous.

A few months ago my Mr. Wonderful pulled up a clip of some video shot at that first Prince concert at Joe Louis, and he took me back in time for 12 minutes. Johnny also bought me this book, and he is always willing to set up the sounds in our jam room so I can belt out the vocals on some Prince tunes. I’m grateful to be in love with a music man who understands how an artist and their work can so deeply influence us. He doesn’t think it’s weird that I worship Prince, just as I don’t think it’s weird he worships Randy Rhoads. That’s our thing. Music brought us together and its glue in our relationship. We seem to get a few things that many humans can’t grasp. There’s freedom in art, and artists need freedom. We get that shit.

So, what my tag today was saying to me felt a little like I should just pump out a blog and get my nose back into the book, and that’s what I am going to do. There’s irony in this morning’s tag and how it correlates to the title but it’s more about the what’s within.

As I’m reading his words (much of it handwritten) I can feel his presence and impact still. Just in a really different way.

His own message was for the people to create and to stay authentic in their work. Ding ding ding!!

Now, I may seem a little crazy to the reader out there who is yet to be enlightened, but those riding the vibe I am on will fully understand what this particular passage from the book means to me. It’s the very last thing I read before sleep last night…

His words, but words I have strived to live by before ever reading this book. Have you ever read something and had it pull deeply on your heart and mind to the point you lost your breath??

The tears came because I have built walls. I had to put the book down. I slept on it though, having no idea what the tag would bring this morning.

As a writer, I’m nowhere near the level of thought that Prince could provoke, but there is no way to deny how much my love of his work has influenced my entire life.

My first real boyfriend was a sort of Prince twin with green eyes and tons of swagger. He introduced me to the more obscure albums and songs, and that boy thought he was Prince. As a matter of fact, I think he moved to Minnesota.

The first song I ever sang to my baby girl was this one. I used to dance her all over our living room to it. I think she is definitely “the most beautiful girl in the world” to this day.

Purple has been my favorite color since the day I walked into the movie theater to view Purple Rain and saw him in all that crushed velvet.

The tag is on point. The beauty of a soul like his is definitely constant, continuous and I’ll be sure that in my life anyway, his is endless.

There are hundreds of passages in this book that grab me by the heart strings and tug. This one is another that snatched me up.

I feel this on such an insane level right now while I’m learning how to keep control of my own work so that no one can soften it or make it something easy for the masses to digest. It’s not for the masses, and I’m not writing for money. That would be a grave mistake, and I’d still be acting phony. I may be more popular, but that’s never been the goal either.

He said it simply. We need to stay true to ourselves and we need to tell truth in the things we expose of ourselves to the world if we are trying to send some kind of a message. No matter how difficult all that gets, or the “backlash” that is inevitable; we have to be authentic. We have to keep truth in the message.

People don’t always like that shit. It makes them uncomfortable.

Also, everyone doesn’t have to be as you choose to be. Live and let live.

Though yoga is teaching me about our collective energy as a whole, I still strongly embrace individuality. To remain an individual, we have to understand how to handle standing out, not fitting in, being called “weird” or “out there”. We have to be leaders and not fear loneliness, because in solitude is where the good inner work takes place.

I hope Prince knows from whatever plane he and is energy are operating on; all of his words mattered to so many. His voice is still being heard and respected. His legend is still very much alive in this little girl from Jackson, MI.

R.I.P., Purple One. Thank you for being such a large part of my entire life.

I am empathetic toward any Prince fans whom I’ve saddened with this post. I know your soul aches over his passing, just as mine does. I highly encourage you to keep his memory alive by reading The Beautiful Ones. Reading his words in his own hand was an amazing and beautiful experience, and I think it would be valuable to any super fan.

I’m out. I’ve long since enjoyed the tea and managed to avoid all responsibilities today while I got lost in this blog and these dogs. They are cuddly this morning/afternoon.

Bye, Babes!! Chelle

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