Green means go
Go forth, go forward, go out into the world
Green means grow
Accept opportunity
Rest and reset in newness
Receive peace in the pasture
Become fertile, bloom brightly
Reach, stretch toward the sun
Protect the goodness of the harvest until it’s ready to present
Health, prosperity, wealth
Newness of life, mold of preservation
Increase
Flutter, float, fly
Burst, sprout, open
Wide, vast, soft, smooth
Hard nature
Wander, wait, wilt
Green means go
Pain comes in all forms and intensities
Pain, whether physical or emotional, is painful indeed
No pain, no gain, it’s how we increase
Pain to the brain erases memories
Pain and I, we’ve never been friends
Before I really get to know him, we always seem to make amends
Pain, if deep enough, can generationally transcend
Through your family, your children, and into our nations
It’s not quite the absence of pleasure
More like a growing pressure
A wound to measure, a new bruise
The sight of blood pooling by the dresser
Pain starts and eventually, most times, it does stop
Some pain endures, it stays with you until the last drop
What are you going to do?
Suffer through it or pill pop?
The pain is peaking, it’s at its top
So you sing: pain, pain, go away
Come if you must, but please don’t stay
We need pain everyday, the feeling of life
Within our bodies as it slowly decays
I feel grateful to be alive and well
I feel creative as I plan and prepare meals
I feel home and happy when baking
I feel full after I’ve eaten too much
I feel grateful to have food and shelter
Inhale
Exhale
I hear running water
I hear the hum of the fridge
I hear the whirring of the ceiling fan above
I hear the closing, popping sound of a lid
Inhale
Exhale
I see sunlight shining bright brilliantly radiantly
I see a couple of dishes in the sink
I see my baby’s artwork on display
I see some squirrels out the window at play
I see the grocery list growing with prices each day
Inhale
Exhale
I taste goodness and richness of delectable cuisine
I taste bold flavors and pizzazz
I taste Granny’s home cooking
I taste yummy gooey cookies and cream
I taste everything before I serve it to my team
Inhale
Exhale
I smell last night’s fried fish
I smell fresh early morning coffee
I smell clean and dirty dishes
I smell somebody washing laundry
I smell a new moment and opportunity as I
Inhale
Exhale
I can feel the warmth of my coffee mug
I can feel my hand upon a full belly’s rub
I can feel washing dishes, rubber gloves
I can feel goodness like being wrapped in a hug
I can feel joy and peace and so much love
In the kitchen
Inhale
Exhale
In the kitchen
We had not spoken in over a year
So we set out on a drive
We chopped it up and asked questions
Really had to dig down inside
I had imagined this moment
And how I would really open up
Then I remembered why we hadn’t talked
And asked myself, “For what?”
What is your purpose?
What was I supposed to miss?
I couldn’t tell you
I can’t remember
It blew away like a kiss is the wind
You’ve been in and out, out and about
Doing that and this
Odd jobs, and chasing clout
What do you even have to show for it?
That you can keep a job
Or get your own crib
For just a couple of years
You almost kind of had it “together”
Then you lost it slowly, but surely
Like a bird’s feathers every year
Bye bye goodbye
New beginnings again
Never settled, never rooted, grounded
Always hoping to ascend
But when it all ends
On the day there’s no tomorrow
I wonder what I’ll feel
Pain or maybe sorrow
I’ll look down at you
I’ll look deep inside me
And ask myself
Will I cry?
I don’t know
R.I.P.
A Children’s Book by Ri’ana Johnson
Outside of this special space we share called Recycled Flowers, I am now a published author. We Are The People is a not only a children’s book. It is a message to my sons, their friends (the future), our sisters and brothers, our partners, our families and ourselves. It is a reminder of the power, love, and strength within each human God has created uniquely.
We Are the People is a poetic series of positive affirmations for girls and boys to encourage self-confidence and empathy. This beautifully illustrated picture book emphasizes the importance of children learning to believe in themselves.
Its simple yet effective messaging encourages young readers to be the best version of themselves while highlighting the value of internal attributes over physical ones.
Offering a lesson on exercising our own unique powers, We Are The People reminds us of our humanity and our obligation to build stronger communities together.
As an elementary educator, I have learned that not all children hear kind words, positive affirmations, or encouragement in their homes. This is apparent in the classroom when a student faces a challenge and down talks themself or says that they can’t. A child who isn’t habitually lifted up may begin to label themself as less than.
I’ve witnessed transformative outcomes from speaking life into desires, dreams, and situations. I believe in the power of the tongue; that words are powerful. I teach this to my children and all children I’m blessed to work with.
Children need nurturing words to help them grow into solid, functional, happy people with self love and hopes for their future.
We Are The People has layers of meaning. I look forward to sharing more.
We Are The People by Ri’ana Johnson available on Amazon.
Thank you for your support and continued encouragement to keep becoming the woman of my dreams and making it happen.
Fear is a natural emotion.
Fight or flight.
Don’t get stuck!
Keep moving forward.
“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”
– Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
What’s doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.
– Friedrich Nietzsche
Let’s switch gears. Let’s not talk about life theories or ideology, but allow for a little comic relief, if you will.
You know how friends sometimes joke about each others’ driving? Driving up and over curbs, into and onto grassy yards, and tapping or barely touching a little pole aren’t the worst things that can happen.
So people laugh and take themselves seriously by asking, “But did you die?”
And although those moments may make our hearts jump a little. Although those moments may make us question whether we’ve entrusted our lives to the wrong individual and maybe even make us fearful that our end has come too soon, the great question of hilarity is still, “But did you die?”
Life’s things: events, incidents, accidents, coincidences, trials, tribulations, victories, losses and everything in between can be scary. They can be terrifying. They can be extremely exhilarating and anxiety provoking. These moments can bring upon several big emotions, sometimes all at once.
Petrifying you.
Shocking you senseless.
Vaporizing the vividness of the intensity that exists in this moment.
Oh my gosh! I’m scared. What to do?
So many feelings. We’ve all felt it a time or two.
All. The. Feels.
Goosebumps on your neck, shoulders and arms
A chill inside that terrifies and alarms
Saturated in emotion
Saturated in feeling
Petrified with fear
Is the end nearing?
Please note: this feeling, these feelings are not going to stop us.
Fear kills more dreams than failure ever will.
– Suzy Kassem
I heard before that there are more billionaires buried beneath tombstones in graveyards with dreams that they never birthed than there are living billionaires.
It’s been said that fear kills more dreams than failure ever will. People are sometimes just too afraid to try to pursue their dreams, to fail.
I mean the fear of failure is sometimes more daunting then failure itself.
The fear of failure can stop us from trying and then never being able to fail.
Failure is not always a bad thing. It’s a part of growth. It’s a part of victory, part of success, part of learning.
Never be afraid to speak your mind. You have one for a reason.
Don’t ever be afraid to show who you really are because as long as you are happy with yourself, no one else’s opinion matters.
Push through petrifying fear. Keep going no matter what. And never let anything pause your purpose.
Persistent uneasiness
Everywhere is unsafe
Terror rises and falls into shadows
Reliving the scariest thoughts and memories
Intensely shaking, teeth chattering… mind
Fretting over minute miscellany for more than minutes
You can’t move a muscle, you can’t even blink
Imagine being stuck, immobile, completely idle
Nothing to lose, nothing to gain
Going nowhere is scary, scarring
Fidgeting in terror
Evolving into strength
Accepting emotions
Relief from being a coward
Welcome back. I hope that you are well, feeling refreshed, ready and energized enough to fully grasp whatever this day holds for you.
Thank you for clicking here and checking out my blog. I truly am grateful for each viewer, reader, subscriber, commenter, and sharer of Recycled Flowers Blog. Through concentrated efforts, connected ideas and concerted manifestations, we are growing, as a community.
I am diligently working to develop this space into something magical. Like somewhere over the rainbow, way up high, wheresoever the storage clouds are and bluebirds fly.
It’s cyberspace, so community building looks different. We all have our Internet aunties, cousins, best friends, other buds and budding bonds that bound beyond and break the barriers of basic blather about business and beauty.
Let’s grow and flourish. Let’s release our ideas, the seeds that will produce our dreams. Let’s make our own dreams come true. Our dreams will flourish and bloom. They will create a legacy that continues to flower and unfold into beautiful knowledge and power in the lives of humans here and humans to come.
I share Recycled Flowers Blog with you because I find joy and peace in opening up, being transparent and vulnerable with my truest thoughts, feelings, reflections, insight, wisdom, laughter, hope, happiness and heart with those who care to read.
Recycled Flowers is a blog written to share timeless excerpts, teachable moments and more. The beauty of it all is that as we recycle wisdom and give flowers and homage to our heroines and heroes, we edify one another and our generations to come.
Let us bestow flowers upon one another through our stories and experiences to spread laughter, tug at heart strings, make us reflect, wonder, imagine, inspire and more.
I’d love to know more about each and every one of you, your lives, your hopes, dreams, fears and accomplishments. Where are you from? How did you stumble upon this particular page? What challenges are you facing? What’s holding you back? What’s pushing you forward? Where do you want to be in your life in five years? What is your biggest fear, why? How do you recharge?
Answer one or some of the questions above. Tell us how you are a solution seeker and you solved a problem. I have reminded myself that Recycled Flowers Blog isn’t a journal by any means. Everything doesn’t belong here.
Writing is how I recharge, how I release and recharge. Recycled Flowers has been me sharing or recycling the beauty, that is, favor, power, love, knowledge and wisdom, that has been passed to me on to you. But I want Recycled Flowers to be more than just me sharing.
I want Recycled Flowers Community to be you and I pouring out and watering each other. Here we can support, uplift and empower one another.
Let’s dig a little. You dig, a little?
Anyway, thank you for being here and exploring the ever-expanding garden of recycled flowers. Please reflect and spread positivity wherever you are. Thanks for being a part of the Recycled Flowers Blog community.
There’s a beautiful Black woman and she inspires me each day
With the quotes she says, the jokes she shares and the ways she makes a way
She keeps pushing, keeps going, keeps fighting, keeps growing
Knowing good and well the kinds of seeds she’s sowing
If she told you her story, there are parts you wouldn’t believe to be true
The challenges that she’s faced and bodied won’t stop the plans she has made up in her mind to do
Each day is a new gift, a blessing from above
So she let’s her light shine and leads each day with love
It’s not a secret that success takes hard work, dedication and focus
She allows you to lean in, learn from her journey and take notes Sis
If you want to be a hater, you can. That’s you.
But hating isn’t cool. Inspiration is the move
Let’s lift each other up, manifest positive things
Let us lift ev’ry voice and sing
Praises, thanks and apologies will bring the right people onto your team
Believe in yourself, believe in the next
Believe that one day your good is the best
Thank you so very much for inspiring me
I pray that you achieve all your dreams
Asé Queen
A wild flower shined
The petal’s color so bright
Its shine held during night
A wild wolf howled
As the moon glimmered and glowed
More cold nights in stow
Wild winds whip branches
Snapping trees, whistling
Frigid temperatures
I’m in need of a vacation, like all the time
I work hard day to day, I stay on the grind
To relax completely, sit back and unwind
Let the stillness of the atmosphere occupy my mind
Soaring, floating amidst the clouds
Suspended, yet grounded to the ground
Pointy tops, wide bases
Spiked, triangular shaped apexes
Climbing mountains, to the top
Literally and metaphorically
My mind can’t be stopped
As sharp as a needle
Sometimes in some spots
Supporting fertile land for vegetation
And covered in rocks
Jade, chartreuse, mossy green grass
Roaring winds, trembling
This too shall pass
Blowing away into the skies
White clouds, tight eyes
A head rush, a thrill, a grand old time
Temporarily forgetting the present, the now
High above the worries and doubt
Inhale tranquillity, exhale virtuosity
Atop a mountain is where peace will be
Peace, passion, purpose stirs inside
Take care of it, nurture it
Let hope arise
May peace, hope, love, joy
Descend down onto you from up above
Recycled Flowers 