So as promised here is my 5th place first prompt. The theme was 'Tainos'. I must admit it was a bit rough to do this one but I did my best.

First Born by Ornella Green

Children live what they learn

But what was taught to me?

Weapons and murder is survival

My family would be extinct on arrival of the invaders

What lessons have i learnt?

What have they taught me?

Exploit the meek and plunder

Rob and steal

I come from a simple way of being

Cassava, tobacco

All crops to feed

‘We were here first!’  I screamed at the top of my lungs

But they couldn’t understand

They didn't seem to understand me

They couldn't realize we were first to settle

First to make our homes

First to live these lives of freedom

All they sought was to destroy us

Make us work

And do what they want

Why haven't the gods helped us?

Why can't the cacique lead us to safety?

Are we doomed to this life?

Is there no escape for us?

Children live what they learn

But what was taught to me?

Survival is for the fittest?

The more vigilant and dominating?

What have they taught me?

Hey guys,

It's been far too long since I blogged and I've been on vacay for the past two weeks. The problem is I'm lacking inspiration and need a bit more motivation. So anyway just want to do a little update of what I'm doing. This year my homeland of Jamaica celebrates 50 years of Independence woot! Anyhoo I've been searching for a way to contribute and I found it through the 50 for 50 Challenge which is a prompt competition held over the space of 10 weeks. For those of you who don't know what a prompt is it's when you receive a theme and you're expected to present a poem on that particular theme using any writing style you want. As the weeks go by I'll post the poems I come up with after I've sent it in so you can get a taste of what I'm doing. I'll share the first prompt which I did already last week and came 5th in last week's competition. Hope you're enjoying your summer.

Much Love, 

Nella

Rejuvenated

For the past few months i've been a blogging and writing delinquent. The truth is that I had lost some of my spunk.There was just something missing and I was feeling very demotivated. I struggled with deciding what I wanted to do with this blog and truth is I'm not gonna change much. It's a reflection of me and the stage i'm at in my life. The haphazard but completemotions of my life and I love it as is. So this is just to tell you all .......i'm back! :-) I still won't blog much due to my exams coming up but look for great things this year. They brave may fall but never yield.
 Much Love my sweets, Nella

Be a thinker and a doer

There is always that one student who seems to have an absolute command on everything that he or she does. They are deeply involved in co-curriculars, perform exceptionally well in their academics and they are not lacking in social skills either. These students often called super teens seem to have something that most teens lack.........a thinker-doer attitude.

The world often separates people into thinkers and doers. The thinkers think and the doers do. Thinkers make plans and detailed appraisals but doers get things done. We often cast these impressions unto ourselves and facilitate our grouping into one of these categories. However, what good does it do to be a doer and not a thinker? There is a quote that says: "Thinkers think and doers do. But until the thinkers do and the doers think, progress will be just another word in the already overburdened vocabulary of the talkers who talk."

That being said how can we achieve that balance? How can we execute that thinker-doer behaviour?  We must first think….then do.

1)      Set Clear Goals- Setting goals gives you long-term vision and short-term motivation. Use your goals as a tool for motivating yourself to turn your dreams into a reality. Identify precisely what you want to achieve and note where you want to concentrate your efforts.

2)    Begin with the end in mind- Visualize the end point of your goal and make a plan of action to achieve your goals. Make it realistic and specific to your own needs. One way you can do this is to imagine working backwards from the end point and create a map identifying every step on your journey. Keep the vision of you major goals and dreams at the forefront of your mind.

3)      Set small and intermediate goals- Sometimes when we have large goals we may feel overwhelmed and give up within weeks or even days of setting this goal. A good way to prevent this is to set smaller goals that you can keep track of and cross off every time it is achieved. Small and intermediate goals help you to gain more information. The smaller goals can help you to measure and take pride in the achievement of those goals and thus improve self-confidence in your own abilities.

4)      Take action- You can’t get ahead by sitting on your behind. The major innovators and movers&shakers that really make an impact in any industry are thinkers and doers. They are open to new ideas, new concepts and are constantly trying to improve or change the way things are done. They create effective plans and brilliant strategies for their success. Then they supplement this with efficiently getting tasks done. If you make a plan and don’t take steps to implement it and take action to achieve your goals then you have been twice defeated.

‘If you’re bored with life, if you don’t get up every morning with a burning desire to do things, then you don’t have enough goals.’ ~ Lou Holtz

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

For the past two months I've been a bit MIA. I haven't blogged, tweeted or posted anything in this my world. And believe it's not for lack of ideas it's more for lack of inspiration. I'm at a place where I want to renovate my blog and change the whole direction of it. I want to increase followers and have a specific niche for my blog so for now I'll continue posting until I've completely cemented my vision. I hope you haven't missed me.........too much.

Much Love, 

Nella 

Happy Birthday Bob Marley

Born on this day in St. Ann, Jamaica, Robert Nesta Marley more popularly known as Bob Marley is one of Jamaica's premier cultural icons. He has spread the music of reggae all over the world and has broken many cultural barriers through his songs of peace, love and togetherness. A great cultural icon, stolen at an early age, he will always be remembered for all his contributions to Jamaica and Jamaican culture. Join me in wishing him a

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

One Love,

Nella

Happy Black History Month

Every year the month of February is celebrated as Black History Month. Anything to do with the celebration of a history and heritage and of a people in my opinion is important as it shows not only where you've come from but how far your ancestors came to get you here. I especially appreciate this month as persons of African heritage are often ostracized and demeaned because of the colour of our skin. This leads to things such as 'bleaching' and lightening of the skin, straightening or 'dekinking' hair and disassociation to our heritage, religion, cultural practices and norms which has become a socially acceptable norm in our society. 

Each year a different theme is chosen for the celebrations of the month. This month theme is Black Women: Culture and History. I think it's interesting that this year's theme focuses on the contributions of women as we are often forgotten. Sans Amelia Earhart, Harriet Tubman and a few other named Black women of history, much of our contributions go unknown or unrecognized. In addition, black women tend to face much of the social burden when it comes to our physical characteristics such as our hair, complexion, and curves. We need to change the dynamic of thinking in this arena and embrace our uniqueness.

Let us not forget that we are not only a people of slaves but also of Kings and Queens. We are a people of brilliance, athleticism, musical ability and highly creative in speech, art and drama.  This month I hope to introduce to you a few great gems in history who many not be as popular as they should be. Join me on this cultural journey and hopefully we all learn a lot about ourselves and our history as well.

Much Love,

Nella