Open your wings…
When you overcome something that was hurting you and your soul deeply…
you learn a new way to express life in another dimension and you have a choice…
you can turn something that was bad into something good.
Open your wings to other be free and let your heart fly without fears…
you could be an Angel to someone else.

-CR

Copyright© Carolina Russo

“Men have the drive to provide for their family- it fuels their being. This is something a woman just does not understand”.

-Random Person

Whaaaaat?!! Is this really the belief in current circulation? That is more of a rhetorical question. I am not here to battle or call anyone out. I am here to share about this woman (ah hem…me) and maybe shed some light on dusty minds…

I understand

The drive

The passion

Every pulse of this being

Beating through my breath and body

Is a mama warrior fighting

Forget the ladder

And crush that glass ceiling

Baby, I am outside your window

Scaling that sky scraping building

Full time, part time, side jobs…

One, two, sometimes…

Three jobs

Earning my stripes

Throw my suit in the “provider” fight

So, with all due respect

Sir…

Yes- I do understand

The drive to provide for my family

For when I…

As a kid I remember everyone used to say, “Pursue your dreams, and follow your heart”. But today when you look around reality is not same, not everyone pursue their dreams. There can be many excuses for this like, responsibility of family, piling of bills, a job that pays for your life and many more.

But mostly the reason for staying in rut is that it is not easy to pursue your passion, it takes conscious efforts and gut to pursue your dreams. We prefer to stay in our comfort zone and go with flow because most of us get scared to do something different and hence we take the easy way out.

It is quite human to fear, to get scared before you do something new. If you are going after your big goal, big dream than it is quite normal that you will face resistance from the world…

My broken heart

No longer fears the collision of your sword

For you have forced

the rise of mountains

For you have formed

the depth and curves of roads

Designing a personalized compass

Guiding me home

Marking the one year anniversary with a re-posted blog tribute.

The darkness it was silent
No brightness filled the room
Until a Tiny Glimmer
Raised up its face from gloom.
It sparked and then it fired up
A flash of light it made
Until that Tiny Glimmer
Blew out the grimmest shade.
A laugh was heard from far away
A chuckle too was lit
And then that Tiny Glimmer
It had a firey fit.
The fire ignited everywhere
But nothing felt a burn
Because that Tiny Glimmer
Was gentle at each turn.
The laughter it continued
Respect and love was shared
That Tiny Glimmer was no more
A flame instead it bared.
And everyone sat in It’s glow
The warmth of funny tears
That Flame threw open solid doors
Annihilated fears.
The joy, the crazy, all at once
Side-splitting cheerful glee
That Flame we all partook it there
From him, her…

A few weeks ago, my friends Alan, Darren and I set out on our annual coaster-palooza-extravaganza! It was an epic exploration of Southern California with visits to Disney, Universal, Knott’s Berry Farm and Six Flags Magic Mountain.  While many lessons were learned, and notes of guest service experiences were taken (and will be included in a subsequent post), one experience early in our trip inspired me to share some thoughts about the ever elusive “above and beyond”.

We all hear it, we all say it.  We all tell our employees that we want to “exceed our guests expectations by going ‘above and beyond'”.  Yet, when pressed for what this actually means, very few people can put their finger on it.

So, I thought I would share an experience we had at Disneyland that epitomized ‘above and beyond’.

First I should tell you that during our visit, SoCal was experiencing record…

This morning I woke

In an ancestral cage

Passed down and cleansed with grandmothers

White sage

A glowing freedom

A warrior’s song

All the victors have fallen for

And all we have overcome

I swung back and forth

Allowing the tears to come

Grief takes up chapters in our story

As does the peace, awakening and love

Yet today I chant a tear note melody

The wailing of a mother’s fractured heart remedy

I do not feel beautiful

My soul is bowed in a pale shaded woe

And I will rock in this cage

Until grandmothers spirit whispers

…go

In the Navy, leadership is taught on a daily basis. We constantly exchange ideas and concepts. One constant phrase I keep hearing is “the big picture”. The members of my upper chain of command are always stating we need to stay focused on the big picture. There is a concept we will miss seeing the forest because we were too focused on the trees. I agree with this to an extent. The big picture is important to keep in sight. However, it is equally important to focus on the individual brush strokes. Find out where it came from and take notice on how it was applied. See how well it blends with the surrounding colors, or see how it stands out.

How many times do we neglect those around us for the sake of completing a task? I’m sure it’s more times than we would like to admit. That task…

You are my love and I’m yours.

A Poem by Coyote Poetry

Best poetry are the words for love.

                            You are my love and I’m yours

You are as beautiful as the sun rising from the eastern sea.
You are bright as the moon rising up to light up the night.

You are as soft as a gentle summer breeze caressing my heart and mind.
Your love is my paradise and my final destination.

With each taste of your lips and the feeling of your embrace.
I want and feel the need to be alive.

You are my dream maker and  the woman who make me want to dance,
laugh and make love.

I don’t want to control you. I want to know you.
I want to know and understand your dreams and fear.
Be the friend or lover, anything you need.

So today I have hope and dream…

The power to make change is in each of us. We also contain the ability to change. Although both may sound the same, they are very different. One pertains to our environment while the other is directed at us personally. If we watch media, we are told that it takes everyone to make change. “Let’s band together.” it will say. Sure, that sounds good, but it’s a false hope. We can join an organization and volunteer to help clean up the city, perform neighborhood watches, and various other changes. But the change that media will make false promises on are the political ones. Media will also tell us that we can change who we are, then turn around and try to sell us a product. Really? Since when do I need to spend money to change? We are taught that information is worth money. This is only true if there…

While waiting for a recent flight, I had the pleasure of speaking to a gentleman named Dustin.  He is a 6th grade teacher in Florida and I could tell that Dustin is a guy who loves his job, enjoys helping and teaching kids and truly wants to make a difference in the lives and futures of those around him.

At one point, the conversation turned to those teachers who didn’t display the same attitude, and how they seemed to complain a lot and generally blamed the kids, the administration, and the parents for their bad experience (and attitude) as teachers.

Dustin then went on to talk about how this impacts the students.

“The kids can tell.  They don’t respond well to people who don’t seem to care.  They can smell fake.”

My first thought was, “like a dog can smell fear”?

“Sort of”, Dustin said.  “They can tell when someone…