PSA: Check In With Your People

Mental illness comes in all shapes, colors and creeds. I don't know what's happening in the world exactly (although I have my many theories), but today people (young and old) are extremely distracted. I spend a great deal of my time in folks' faces just like the photo above...wondering where exactly people are in their minds. Seriously. Simple solutions become mountains of obstacles. Situations that should warrant love and compassion instead incite mockery and ridicule. Patience is replaced by instant gratification, and parents are increasingly unable to connect with their children. Man, Im gonna say it until the end of days: We need LOVE and more LOVE in this world. It pains my heart every time I hear someone say they have no one to trust or rely on. We must become more connected and NOT through social media. I love this platform but only as a means to REINFORCE the love I live, not replace it...

SMILE at people, man. Ask folk how they're doing/feeling. Give your loved ones a call and pay them a visit. Touch hands. Hug. Say I LOVE YOU whether the gesture is returned or not. I had to get out of my feelings when I would show love that was not reciprocated too. It was hard because it's a battle with the ego, but we've got to remember that its not about self every time. Often times to attain the greater good, we must meet people where they are and some of us are in very different mental spaces and thresholds. GIVE LOVE...it will always come back to you even if not from the people you gave it to. Just check in...check in with your youth and neighbors and family and friends. Many people's lives depend on it, including your own actually; the greatest gift to ourselves is the gift of giving, and the greatest thing we can give to another is time. Ase.