Month: August 2025

Keep Cool ~ A Poem by Marcus Mosiah Garvey

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Keep Cool: Finding Strength in Calm Amid Life’s Storms


When the world weighs heavy, Garvey reminds us: true power lies not in anger or worry, but in the quiet strength of keeping cool.

Keep Cool

Marcus Mosiah Garvey

Suns have set and suns will rise
Upon many gloomy lives;
Those who sit around and say:
“Nothing good comes down our way.”
Some say: “What’s the use to try,
Life is awful hard and dry.”
If they’d bring such news to you,
This is what you ought to do.

Chorus
Let no trouble worry you;
Keep cool, keep cool!
Don’t get hot like some folk do,
Keep cool, keep cool!
What’s the use of prancing high
While the world goes smiling by.
You can win if you would try,
Keep cool, keep cool.

Throw your troubles far away,
Smile a little every day,
And the sun will start to shine,
Making life so true and fine.
Do not let a little care
Fill your life with grief and fear:
Just be calm, be brave and true,
Keep your head and you’ll get through.

Chorus
Let no trouble worry you;
Keep cool, keep cool!
just be brave and ever true;
Keep cool, keep cool!
If they’d put you in a flame,
Though you should not bear the blame,
Do not start to raising cane,
Keep cool, keep cool.

Source

📝 Reflection

Marcus Garvey’s Keep Cool offers a timeless message: life will always bring storms, but how we carry ourselves in those storms defines our peace. The poem urges us to reject despair, anger, or fear, and instead lean into patience, courage, and composure. His refrain, “Keep cool, keep cool”, isn’t about indifference—it’s about discipline, wisdom, and hope. By choosing calm, we avoid being consumed by troubles and instead discover resilience. The sun rises and sets on everyone, yet those who smile, try, and stay steady are the ones who see light return to their lives. Garvey reminds us that calmness is not weakness—it is strength that carries us through trials and teaches us to rise above them.

❓ Three Questions to Dive Deeper

  1. When troubles weigh on you, do you instinctively “heat up” with frustration, or do you pause and “keep cool”?
  2. How might smiling and small acts of calm courage change the way you face your daily challenges?
  3. What does Garvey’s reminder to “be brave and true” mean for your own journey of resilience?

Light for the Journey: The Hidden Treasure in Your Small House

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Sometimes the world feels heavy, but Rumi reminds us: patience and inner vision uncover treasures we often overlook.

Walk patiently through this troubled world,
and you will find great treasure.
Even though your house may be small,
look within it! ~ Rumi

✨Reflection

Rumi’s wisdom points us toward a quiet truth: the treasures of life are not scattered far away but rest gently within our own homes, our own souls. When the world swirls with chaos, our instinct is to look outward for comfort or escape. Yet patience, like a steady lantern, reveals the beauty already close by—the warmth of companionship, the dignity of simplicity, the peace of belonging. Even if your house feels small or your circumstances limited, there are rooms inside your heart brimming with meaning. The invitation is not to run but to pause, to breathe, to notice. Walk patiently, trust deeply, and open your eyes to the richness within. You may discover you’ve been wealthy all along.

Super Agers Keep Moving

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They don’t just walk the walk—they lift, stretch, and sweat their way to longevity.

Super Agers treat their bodies like finely tuned machines. Research shows that regular exercise—especially strength and aerobic training—protects brain health and reduces chronic disease (Colcombe & Kramer, 2003).

They’re not necessarily running marathons, but they engage in daily movement: brisk walks, swimming, resistance training, yoga, or even dancing. Movement increases blood flow to the brain, improves memory, and lowers inflammation. It’s one of the simplest, most powerful ways to stay sharp.

Action Step: Add a brisk 20-minute walk to your daily schedule. If you already exercise, add a new activity like resistance bands or light weights to keep challenging your body.

Citation: Colcombe, S., & Kramer, A. F. (2003). “Fitness effects on the cognitive function of older adults.” Psychological Science.

Flash Fiction Prompt: The Deadly Lab Leak

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One slip in a biotech lab unleashes a nightmare. Can your story capture the desperate race against time before the virus spreads?

First Line (grab hold):

The vial shattered on the cold tile floor, and Dr. Elena Ruiz knew the world had just changed forever.

190-word paragraph:

The alarms screamed through the biotech facility, but Elena’s pulse was louder. She’d begged management to upgrade containment, warned them corners were being cut in the name of profit. Now, whether by accident or design, the nightmare had slipped free. A deadly virus—engineered to adapt faster than the body could fight—was no longer locked behind glass. As hazmat teams sealed the building, she stared at her trembling hands. She wasn’t just a researcher anymore; she was humanity’s last fragile shield. The government wanted answers, the press wanted blame, and shadowy investors wanted silence. But none of that mattered compared to the countdown already ticking inside her chest. The virus didn’t negotiate. It spread. Elena opened her encrypted files, scanning through half-finished formulas. If she moved fast enough, she could craft a vaccine. If she failed, cities would burn. And a whisper lingered in her mind: was this really an accident, or had someone planned the perfect catastrophe?

❓ Reflection Questions for Writers

  1. Was the virus release an accident—or deliberate sabotage?
  2. How does Elena balance fear, duty, and suspicion in her race against time?
  3. What unexpected ally or betrayal could change everything?

When Life’s Storms Roar In: Hold On, Blue Skies Will Return

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Thunderstorms don’t ask permission. Neither do life’s challenges. But storms pass—and strength grows when you choose to endure.

The power company sent out an email earlier in the afternoon warning of potential scattered thunderstorms and the possibility for the loss of power. They send the emails anytime there’s a threat of thunderstorms. It south Texas. We hardly ever get rain in August. Why would this afternoon be any different? The storms would stay to the east and hug the coast or they would stay to the West hang around in the hill country. But come over San Antonio, in August, in late afternoon when the river walk would be crowded, no chance. So much for my ability to see into the future beyond the next one second. Around 4 o’clock the sky turned from bright blue to gray. It quickly grew darker. I could hear thunder in the distance. I checked my weather app and the radar. The radar indicated a small thunderstorm to the east and passing south of where I live. I’m thinking I could plan for after dinner walk a little later in the evening. So much for my planning. The wind kicked up about 530 and it roared in like an out of control freight train. The rain joined with the wind and brought along its friends, thunder and lightning. It was tropical rain, big heavy drops. It came down in sheets. The street in front of my house seemed like a river of water rushing down toward the culverts. I was tempted to run outside and take a video fully closed in the rain. The only thing that stopped me was the thunder and lightning. 30 minutes later the storm stopped and left 2 inches of rain and a few small branches down. The blue sky returned.

South Texas storms arrive fast and furious, just like the unexpected challenges in our lives. One moment the skies are clear, and the next, thunder shakes the ground. My afternoon plans washed away under sheets of rain, reminding me how little control we have. Yet, just as suddenly, the storm was gone, and blue skies reclaimed the horizon. Life is like that. Trouble strikes, loud and heavy, but it never stays forever. When we hold on through the chaos, peace eventually returns. The key is patience, faith, and courage to ride out the storm.

Points to Ponder:

  • What personal storms have swept into your life unexpectedly?
  • How did you find strength to endure when everything felt overwhelming?
  • When the storm passed, what “blue skies” surprised you with their beauty?

Word ~ A Poem by Carlos Drummond de Andrade

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Searching for the Word Beyond All Words

What if a single word could replace the world—holding sun, communion, and silence within it?

Word

Carlos Drumond de Andrade

I no longer want to consult
dictionaries in vain.
I only want the word
that will never be there
and that can’t be invented.

One that would resume
and replace the world.

More sun than the sun,
in which we all could
live in communion,
mute,
savoring it.

Source

Reflection:

Carlos Drummond de Andrade’s poem Word speaks of a longing we all share: the desire to capture the essence of existence in something unutterable, pure, and whole. Dictionaries give us endless definitions, yet none satisfy the heart’s hunger for ultimate truth. The poet envisions a word so luminous it surpasses the sun, a word that unites us not in chatter but in silence, where communion is deeper than speech. It is a reminder that language, for all its beauty, can only point to the ineffable. Perhaps the truest connections we experience are not spoken but felt—moments of shared presence, where words fall away and only being remains.

Questions for Deeper Engagement:

  1. What word in your life has carried meaning far beyond its dictionary definition?
  2. How might silence sometimes speak more powerfully than words?
  3. If such a perfect word existed, what longing in your soul would it fulfill?

Light for the Journey:  The Secret Recipe: Sweat + Kindness = Amazing Life

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Life rarely unfolds as we planned, but when effort meets kindness, the unexpected turns into something extraordinary.

Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen. ~ Conan O’Brien

🌟 Reflection

Conan O’Brien’s words remind us that life’s script is never exact. None of us receive precisely what we imagined—dreams shift, plans bend, and surprises arrive uninvited. Yet in this unpredictable journey, two constants hold incredible power: hard work and kindness. Effort builds resilience; it teaches us to stand when life knocks us down. Kindness softens the rough edges of existence, connecting us to others in ways ambition alone never could. Together, they form a compass pointing us toward opportunities greater than anything we first pictured. What we thought we wanted may fall short of what’s possible when we live with purpose and generosity. Work hard, be kind, and trust that the amazing will follow.

Flash Fiction Prompt: When the Woods Whisper, Don’t Listen

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A family camping trip turns into a nightmare. Can you write the story that keeps readers awake all night?

First Line:

When they unzipped the tent, their youngest daughter was gone—and her shoes were still by the fire.

Prompt Paragraph:

The Woods family had planned this trip for months: hiking, fishing, and roasting marshmallows under the stars. But now, the campsite felt like a trap. The lantern’s glow cast long, trembling shadows as panic surged through the parents. Their daughter’s sleeping bag was cold, untouched, and her small shoes sat neatly beside the ashes of the fire. No trail of footprints, no sign of struggle—just absence. The forest was eerily quiet, too quiet, as if holding its breath. Then came the rustle, faint at first, then deliberate. A branch cracked behind the tent. The father shouted her name into the void, but only the echo returned. The mother clutched their older child, heart pounding as whispers drifted through the dark—whispers calling their daughter’s name in her own voice. Whatever had taken her wasn’t hiding. It wanted them to follow. And in the woods, following might be the last mistake they ever made.

❓ Reader Questions

  1. Who—or what—mimics the daughter’s voice in the darkness, and what does it want?
  2. How does the family decide between staying put or following the whispers deeper into the woods?
  3. What shocking revelation could twist the story’s ending—one that changes everything the family (and reader) believed?

Smiles That Sparkle, Smiles That Stab: Can You Tell the Difference?

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Not every smile tells the truth. Some radiate joy, others hide icepicks. The difference? It’s all in the eyes.

Some people radiate joy when they smile, others may smile while their eyes tell a different story. I’ve known people with a gregarious smile who’d just as soon run an icepick between your ribs (metaphorically speaking). They’ve duped me. Once is usually enough to make me wiser. Every so often I’ll forget about their icepick, focus on their smile, and not notice the coldness in their eyes. Ouch, I should have seen that one coming. The people who radiate joy naturally exude an aura. They sparkle and shine and one appreciates being with them no matter how brief the moment. Which one are you? Have you had the icepick experience?

Points to Ponder:

  1. Have you ever been charmed by someone’s smile, only to realize later it was a mask?
  2. What clues—body language, eyes, tone—help you spot authenticity behind a smile?
  3. How can you nurture the kind of smile that radiates genuine joy rather than hides sharp edges?
  4. Which type of smile do you bring into the world—and what do others likely see in you?
  5. What lessons have your “icepick” experiences taught you about trust and discernment?

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