Guardian Angels

“Being spiritual is believing beyond yourself. When our loved ones warn us of our poor decisions, maybe it's one of our Guardian Angels speaking through them.”

I don’t know what you guys believe in and I am not pushing you to believe in anything I believe in, so please do not think I want pushing my own agendas onto you.

So my origin belief is Buddhism which is a karama based religion where you put out into the world what you want back and you do on to others what you want done to you, things like that. The religion also believes in reincarnation and what you do in this life determines who or what you will become in the next life. With me being raised in an American society, I have adopted some Christian beliefs, which I think all religion ties into each other in some form. “Love thy Neighbor” - is that not one of the 10 Commandments that are supposed to help us shape our character? But I am not going to get into that tyraid of how people should be, or at the very least, how I think they should be.

I fully believe in an afterlife, whether that is Heaven or Hell or whether I become someone else in another life, I believe we go somewhere. But I also believe that while I am here now, there is purpose for me even if I don’t know it. Not neccessaily purpose in what I do for a living, but purpose in my interactions and connections with people I come across. Think about your life. Can you think of how many people you have spoken to? How many people you learned from? How many people you taught something to? Don’t just think of the positive outcomes, think of the latter too.

In my life, I know I have affected people. I know I have made people happy, feel important, and feel loved. I also know that I have hurt people, dissappointed them, and made them feel like an afterthought. I know I have people who will defend me, no questions asked, there’s people who will support me under certain conditions, and then there’s people who instantly get upset when my name is brought up. But with everything I have done or said, I have learned something about myself. What about you? Do you learn something about yourself periodically or are you perfect? In which case, why are you here?

And in believing what I believe, I also believe I have a team of Guardian Angels who are designated to me to guide me through my different obstacles in life whether it’s dealing with work, business, family, friends, or matters of the heart. Maybe one of them is my grandmother, or maybe they were sent by my granddmother or other people who have passed that want me to be taken care of. I had a previous lover who passed traggically and who has appeared in my dreams a few times. Before his passing, our very last conversation with each other was catching up about our lives, how we were both doing and what goals we wanted to achieve. Each time he shows up in my dreams we have those same types of conversations and I wake up feeling a sense of hope and love. I have no doubt he looks in me from time to time. ❤️😇

To My People Who Care For Me…

I am not perfect. I am always learning and going through changes. For those who see me from a distance and those who stick by me even when I not being my best, I pray you have the same types of people watching and caring over you too. - Love, Raya L. ❤️

I have so many people who love and care about me, who think about me, who ask about me, and who keep track of me even when I don’t know it. 📌 So anything that is poorly perceived of me is a judgement someone made because they felt a disadvantage from me being present. I have no control over that. My confidence exudes, I am not apologetic about it. 📌 If you believe what you hear about me, go hear it again. If you know me and if you pay attention to how I carry myself, you will know if what you heard is real or something people assumed who also want you to assume the same things. I do not make assumptions, I observe and make calculations and I have learned that people tend to get very defensive when I am right, or at least when they don’t like being wrong or called out, I notice that too. I watch how people move. People are creatures of habit and do not stray too far away from their instinctive behaviors.

I listen to my intuition a lot, but what if it’s not all my own intuition? What if it’s a divine source that’s giving me notice or warning? Letting me know I am heading the right direction OR I need to rethink my moves. There’s been many times I do not listen to warnings and still carry on with not so great decisions, but I still remain here, intact, and a stronger individual. Is that the work of my Angels? Do they have a plan to carry out for me? Because I have been in circumstances that could have broken me to pieces and turned me into an person no one wants to be around, but I am not.

So we may not know why we are here or why we meet the people we meet, but I am certain that everything happens for a reason and the universe always knows what it’s doing. I also know that my Gaurdian Angels sometimes grow weary of me and my antics, but I am confident I am still around and still have the connections I have with people because either they have purpose in my life or I have purpose in theirs, or a mix of both. 😇 Or in someway, we are living Guardian Angels for each other.

Be safe everyone. 🙏🏽

Look Out For Her When She Doesn't

Yes, postings are still off schedule and this is being published a few days early. I've got a few deadlines this coming week and had to get this done sooner. 😉

Don’t feel like reading? Listen instead.

All of my posts are pretty relative, of course, they are based off my opinions, perspective, and experiences. It usually takes me a week, sometimes two to complete one post because I brainstorm a topic once day and then come back to it few days later to add more, to edit, to review, to add photos and voice overs, so it does take me some time. This topic in particular is very relative because even though this post has been drafting for over a week, a few nights ago I went out to a bar that I’ve never been in an area that I’m not familiar with and of course I was by myself. I very much enjoyed my time and the people in the bar were very welcoming and catered to me. I am always impressed with the hospitality I get at random places, I’m not sure if it’s just charisma or that I am very personable, but I am always grateful that I meet nice people and that I get home safely because the reality of it is I do put myself in situations that could potentially be dangerous.

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I’m going to be a little transparent with this post because I am aware that my personality isn't always very welcoming when people try to show they care, especially men, because I instantly think there's another motive for their kindness. I need to stop that. You can still accept a man's affections and keep your boundaries intact.

I decided to make a little change, let’s see if my MALE friends notice. 😏

Several years ago a group of friends and I went to an outdoor concert. We all went separately, so we all parked in different areas. At the end of the concert I could not exactly remember where I parked, but I recalled the direction of the parking lot. My male friend volunteered to help my find my car, but I was adamant that I could do it myself, so when he was off asking security where the different parking lots were, I walked off towards my car. I did locate where I parked, but shortly after my friend drove around and kind of yelled at me for walking off and lectured me about safety. Instead of pushing back, I just dropped my guard and accepted what he was telling me.

Another male friend, whom I grew up with and do not see very often, does not like it when I wear revealing clothes. His concern is the type of attention I attract and how he may need to shield me from men being too aggressive or rude. And although I like to wear what I like, I understand his sentiment for me and our overall safety. So, on the rare occasions that we do hang out I keep my attire more modest. If we lived in the same city and state, he would be the one to make sure he gets me home safely even if he wasn’t out with me that evening. But I wouldn't take advantage of that.

There was also a time when I went on a trip with a group of friends, it was a mixed crowd, men and women. I traveled there by myself and got my own hotel room. Of course we all went out on the town, had fun, was drinking throughout the night, and a few of us got into the same Uber to go back to our rooms. I was the only one who booked a different hotel from everybody and when it came time for me to get out of the car, one of the guys in our group suggested he walk me to my room. I initially declined and started to ramble on about how I’m okay to go in alone, but he interrupted me and said that I’ve been drinking and that it wasn't safe for me to walk in by myself. Before I could decline again, he told the driver to wait for him and then he proceeded to take my hand and walked me through the hotel, to the elevator, and down the hall to my room. He stayed outside of the room and then told me goodnight and to lock the door.

If you’re uncomfortable with this, then you’ve never seen a woman in a swimsuit or seen lingerie ads. My girl friends get bothered with these types of images all the time. I always send them random boobage pics. 😝

In these three mentioned scenarios, I love it when a man looks out for me, especially when I don’t expect it, argues against it, and on top of that, does not want anything in return other than knowing I’m ok. There's not a lot of men like this. Remember the “I’m Not Like Other Guys” post? Yeah, this falls into that subject too. And to add a little more to that, even if a man isn't in a formal relationship with a woman, but sleeping with her, he still should protect the connection he has with her and not show out around other women otherwise, he is like most men.

But back to this topic, a lot of men would avoid the hassle of trying to look out for a woman when she's being difficult or if he believes she doesn't need his assistance. NEWSFLASH: You always make sure a woman is safe. I appreciate the men who do this for me and don't act differently about it when other people are around because they know I normally go places by myself. It would be different if I always had at least one friend with me, then of course my friend(s) and I are going to look out for each other, otherwise what good of friends are they?

But there's always women who linger on to a man even when she’s out with her friends and finds a way to separate herself from her friends and convinces the man to drive her home. I never had that mindset. Whoever I’m arriving with, is the same person or people I'm leaving with, although this is easy for me because 95% of the time, it’s just me. But I knew a girl who always came out with her friends, yet would have a certain guy drive her home. The guy made it seem like he was just being nice, when he probably just wanted to be alone with her too and not realizing how it’s making her feel special for going out of his way or maybe they had something going on. Now that I think about it she did always seem to be where he was and certain things he would say let me know they had many personal conversations together, so maybe he invited her to wherever he was? And she always sent her friends off and waited for him to take her home. Either he was oblivious to it or he knew what she was doing and again wanted to be alone with her. Who knows, not my business.

But I do love it when a man takes the time to make sure nothing happens to me even if I’m just walking around the corner or down the street. Like I said, I’m not always accepting of a man’s help or concerns for me, but sometimes I do need to be reminded that the world does have evil people in it and bad things can happen at any time especially to a woman who is by herself. See the dangers that I don’t see. So with that being said, I don’t think highly of every man, but I do think highly of every Gentleman.