The Socratic Paradox

A lot has changed since I last blogged! One of my first posts was about eating clean and getting lean.  I would never have thought it would've taken around 2 years to get to this point, that is the 'get lean, eat so clean I don't eat a thing' part. It's funny the way things work themselves out. When I was younger I used to dream about a lot of things; and being skinny was one of them. I was already clever, articulate and creative, so all I ever wanted was to be rich, pretty and adored. It sounds stupid but these were just the stuff of my lucid daydreams. I wanted to be able to go away to any paradise, be accepted by people I would never usually brush shoulders with and instead I felt so confined.  I was involved in a lot of situations that I couldn't control growing up and I thought that as I got older  the things I used to worry about would vanish, but they only seemed to have worked themselves out in exchange for other worries. For example, now I look about half the size I did when I first started this blog. I lost weight and I lost my way.

I became obsessed with Carl Sagan, Quantum Physics &
Became Well Versed in The Expansive Universe

Sometimes we look for possible solutions in all the things we encounter. We look for reasons within

the incomprehensible. We try to fix things that aren't broken and end up breaking them. I used to (and still do) spend hours of sleeplessness nights searching for answers to questions I didn't really understand. I didn't even know why I was asking them in the first place, I just felt compelled to. It became an obsession, I couldn't rest until I knew what it meant for Mercury to be in Retrograde. I couldn't sleep until I understood what Descartes meant, and what that meant for me. Where did I fit in all this? Was I made up of atoms? How could I raise my vibration? What was the law of attraction? I reached a stage where I had all the answers and never before had I felt so stuck, confused and dumbfounded. I started asking questions that didn't have definitive answers like, was any of it real? and Should I be afraid? I had a formula for success and I kept failing. I had the recipe for happiness and got burnt out by stress and anxiety. It seemed every time I found the answer, the question would change, there was something new to consider, another person, another circumstance, something that I needed to consolidate into the equation. Sooner or later, I ran out of words. I felt cheated, that I had cheated myself and let others cheat me too.

Mercury goes into Retrograde 3 times a year &
will have you in your deepest feelings!

Then in a moment of pure divine intervention, I lost touch with what was real and what was imagined by just letting go and unlearning all the answers I had come to know. Let go of everything you think you know, because someone out there will teach you how to be wrong. And if you're wrong and strong it will be the hardest lesson you will ever learn. And don't ask 'why?' because the hardest part is unlearning the question.

I never realised the extent to which I had locked myself within The Socratic Paradox "I know that I know nothing". I felt absolutely cheated when I realised that everything I knew meant nothing if I didn't know who I was, or what I was going to do with myself, day in day out. This immortality of knowledge felt burdensome, I knew everything yet I knew nothing because I didn't know what to do with it. Then I heard Kendrick's song 'Momma' again and it all made sense..

Kendrick Lamar's 'Momma' Lyrics 

Music has always had the ability to free me from the confinement of my mind, to offer me perspective. It enables you to step outside your mind and mode of thinking to understand the mechanisms of thought and how you can pimp it to your own ability and reanalyse everything.

Kendrick Lamar's 'Mortal Man' Lyrics &
What It Means To Pimp A Butterfly

Kendrick taught me that you can become entrenched by your own mind, but only you can free yourself. Rings a bell, "Emancipate yourself from mental slavery" right? Its a message that is repeated time and time again. You have to get lost to find yourself. So when its time, let go of your answers (Ignorance) and your questions (Fear) and just be (Love).

This post was inspired by everyone who has recently mentioned my blog to me, thank you for encouraging me to speak my thoughts into existence again..

Have you got any songs that have enlightened you? Or any funny stories about what happened to you in Mercury Retrograde? Share in the comments or drop me a message! x

LoveSounds: Willough

It's not surprising to find that some things do not change in life. The things that happened in your past still happened and the things that will occur in your future will too occur. But the joy of music is that it helps to change your understanding of situations and circumstances. Better yet, if you can't understand these things with your way of thinking, music can help to open up a new dimension in which your perspective changes and acceptance becomes a constructive process. Willow Smith has slowly over the years become an advocate for this kind of transformative thinking. 

It's fair to say the young star has caused a lot of controversy, due to her age and actions, she's shaved off her hair, had it in very expressionistic styles and dresses in the same manner which reflects her musical abilities. Most people know her from being the youngest of the smiths, her role in the Madagascar movies and of course who can forget how hard she 'whipped her hair back and forth'. She's always had a positive message to share and I'm glad she realised she had a voice to speak out. Recently, I watched a documentary which explored the possession of power through the use of the Internet; who has it and what will they do with it? Willow is one of the strong, young minds that have grasped the power that they have and the messages they can send out. Whether or not you believe in numerology, or chakara's or the fact that she has 3 eyes and 6 arms is irrelevant to the fact that her voice and music and thoughts can have a proficient affect on you and your train of thoughts. 

Instead of capitalising off of her talents by making music which means nothing to her, she shares soundbites on Soundcloud on what she's been working on with big artists like SZA in their track 'Cuban Pete' and her amazing freestyle 'Female Energy' which I completely adorned the moment I heard it. I wore the track like a turban and let the thoughts, the vibes and the feelings emitted seep into my mind and became complete zen. She's right, some things are really out of our control and we can only deal with these things once we accept it and allow ourselves to float above the negativity. Willow talks about a lot of things which some people may find uncomfortable or strange, in an interview with MTV.com she said she's been really into number as a few had been 'chasing' her and her friends. If you're familiar with Lisa 'Left-Eye' Lopez and her thoughts on numerology you'll understand a little about what these numbers mean to people like her. It would be a huge mistake of yours to disregard her music on the basis that, this kind of thinking about Prana energy, frequencies and vibrations isn't your sort of thing because the message still stands as the same. 

Willow tells in an interview, “I’ve been coming into this new phase in my life, just becoming one with all that is, going deeper into myself and getting to the goal of my music, which is to share that feeling and pass on knowledge so that consciousness can be raised on this planet.” 

In 2015, what could we stand to gain from a 14 year old creative you ask? Well I say you could learn and vibe with Willow so much, the production on some of these tracks will blow your mind. The lyrics will leave you speechless, comprehending whether you've just learned what your emotions sound like through sounds and melodies and what they look like painted in the artwork of the tracks by a 14 year old who started writing her own novels aged 6! Willow has so much to offer and an array of tracks for you to indulge in. 

Head over to her Soundcloud 'Willough', to experience what change feels like though music and free yourself in such beautiful LoveSounds. 

La Chienne: Evolution

I dabbled into the idea of creating a new anonymous blog as a space to talk about all the things which result in me being called a Bitch. I wanted it to be anonymous because well contrary to popular belief sometimes I don't like being called a bitch, but its all in the name, embrace it. Ive been doing a lot of wall-flowering as of recent and have blended into the background taking the magnolia way out of situations, but I'm getting bored so I brought the bitch back. Don't worry all who fear, I keep her locked in a cage and every now and then I let her breathe while I take her on long walks in the crevices of my sane mind and let her say her piece. So with that being said, this is another addition to the ReRegal blog, small think pieces which stem from very bitchy, strong, smart independent girly thoughts! So here's to change!

Recently i've been thinking a lot about evolution, change and growth in a magnitudinal way. Growing up I knew I loved to write, on scrap paper, diaries and notepads. I wrote so many stories and letters to my windows document folders; no one ever read them-and look where I am now. Still sat typing away but now I have some kind of audience, some kind of consumption, even if there is no reception I can feel the release from the pads of my fingertips to the stratosphere of the Internet. We will capitalise it because often it doesn't capitalise us, off of us. The Smith children have had a huge impact on my zen like vibes with their beautiful songs which they've shared on Soundcloud-I'll save that for another post.

Very Zen Like Gems That I Collect

I've been thinking a lot about capitalism in my sociology module as part of my degree. We live in a world where the system of monopolisation is still as dictating to our society as it was in the days of the Egyptians and the Fuedal system. However, this Y generation which I belong to is growing and growing and 'they' don't know it but the revolution will indeed be televised.. probably on Youtube but televised none the less. You can't cheat the Internet, 15 years ago today the Internet had everyone shook up and scared of it, Y2K! The Millennium Bug! You get it if you're a digi-native, born into the digital era, you know all about the power of the Internet. www.dontmesswithus.com, the Y generation should be reclassified as the evolutionary revolutionaries.

I heard the Internet was taking the world by storm. I heard all about Eric Garner, Mike Brown and the fact that 'WE CANT BREATHE'! from Twitter.. not The News. Apparently, 1000's who can't breathe in Westfield London, stopping traffic with their suffocation and shutting down Central London with their asphyxiation isn't newsworthy. But what do 'they' know? The Internet is ours, we are the news and we own the communication across the seas, so tell your story in OneHundredAndFortyCharactersOrLess. Instagram is the time capsule that will tell our legacies about the truths 'they' didn't want to share through pictures and videos. And these blog posts right here are the messages in a bottle that somebody will stumble across and consume what I have to say and what I have to share.

I've been thinking a lot about evolution and I think i'm evolving. I've been thinking a lot, and some people don't like it when you think too much. Tumblr tells you overthinking blows your mind and crashes the system. But thats fine, break the walls down and think long and hard because knowledge is power and we're getting pretty powerful.

LoveSounds - Chiara Noriko

A new Digi-Native I must introduce to the LoveSounds family has got to be Chiara Noriko with any and every track she has ever laid down her soulful, vibeful vocal tresses on. I've been following this wonder on Soundcloud for a while now but kept missing out on her latest releases, with that said I should introduce you - or I should let her introduce you all to her newest treasure... Feeling The Vibe. 

'Feeling The Vibe' Cover Art

Taken From @chiara_noriko IG Account

Chiara, pronounced 'Kiara' posts spontaneous bursts of sounds to soundcloud and I believe her when she says it preserves the moment, it keeps the music and the emotion right in the configuration of her thoughts. You can feel it, and for a moment her moment becomes yours. It's great.

Some of the beats for Chiara's sounds are samples looped from Hip Hop legend J Dilla, such as 'Feels So Right' and J Dilla Beat (Chiara Remix). She's also played about with Musiq Soulchild and Ciara adding her own soulful vibe to some of the essential R&B sounds of all time. 

In my opinion, Chiara's residence in Berlin adds to her whimsical, dreamlike melodies. Working in the underground gives her music a very rustic persona that coincides the imagery she dictates in her lyrics, synths and bass. It's great to see she's worked with London's @SkyeChaiUK in the past and hope she continues to grow and bring her blissful music to the UK.

Keep up with Chiara @chiara_noriko

The Breakfast Club Avec Joe & The Juice

Right now I'm stuck indoors with a cold when this time last week I was preparing my stomach for total annihilation at The Breakfast Club in Soho. After a lengthy walk from Regent Street to D'arlaby Street passing mouth-wateringly worthy fooderies like Leon - I've already planned what I'm having for lunch tomorrow  - and Joe & The Juice, I was more than ready for war at the English Cafe. Once we arrived I wasn't shocked to see a small queue forming as it's only a small quirky yellow building with a very - we're not hipster at all- kind of vibe, so obviously it was packed out. Finally we got some seats after maybe a 10-15min wait but the real test of patience and strength of will came with the long awaited arrival of our food. My cousin and I couldn't work out why everyone seemed to be tucking in but us! Two girls sat beside us ate their full English in complete silence, must've been tasty, we saw more and more breakfast type meals pass us back and forth then we were presented with the almightys! 

 The Greek Gods of all meals made that early afternoon! Everyone made way for the Big Bad Burrito and the Buttermilk Chicken Burger mmmmmmmmmm and those skin-on-chips omg flashbacks. Basically, we were the only fatties in the building oh well that's what we came for! Temi had the Big Bad Burrito with pulled pork. I had the buttermilk chicken which was sandwiched between two healthy buns, guacamole coeslaw and peppers. Temi ordered a fresh apple juice while I had the Virgin Apple Mojito (she obviously wasn't taking this new experience as seriously as I was)  

The fun didn't stop there guys we lazily sauntered back on to oxford street and chilled out on the John Lewis RoofTop Garden! So cute! It's got chairs made from grass and a marquee where all sorts of talks are going on (the posh lot were on about vintage wine) I couldn't help but order a juice from the Joe & The Juice bar! I got The Sports Juice with Pineapple, Passionfruit and Apple very fresh indeed. 

So I've been a London Fatty what've you been upto recently? Leave a comment guys! 

Draft Day-Getting Ready For Race Day

Hey Homies! Its been a while since my last run and even longer since my last post so ive decided to collab with the two things I love to do. Race day was May 31st! (I'm still shocked that I actually did it) but with the summer sun playing hide and seek and my endorphines running low theres some other factors that motivates me to get up and move! (I am not reffering to Little Mix here please retain your excitement) If you're being like me and procrastinating, neglecting your weekly or daily run then there are a few things you need to do to get yourself back in the zone. Here's my very own 'In The Zone' checklist to help you lace up and get running! 

Número Uno! Create a cracking playlist, I honestly can't run without an amazing playlist to keep me going, here's my current faves

My Love- Route 94 ft Jess Glynne

 

You & I -Crystal Fighters 

Higher (Free) -All About She 

Best of Me - Mya ft Jay Z

Waves (Robin Schulz Remix) - Mr Probz

Nobody to Love - Sigma 

Just Friends (cover) - Chiara 

Worst Behaviour - Drake

Trophies - Drake 

Draft Day - Drake

Loyal - Chris Brown

Show Me ft Chris Brown - Kid Ink

Iggy Azalea ft Charli XCX - Fancy

Creep - Goldlink 

Let Me Love You (Sllash Remix) - Mario

Number 2 Fitspo! So if you're trying you're hardest to get motivated I assume you've already downloaded some great apps including Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr and Bloglovin'? Right!? If you're going to procrastinate at least use your scrolling time effectively, hey every little helps! 

Thirdly, get some new gear, I love buying new stuff and giving them a test run, sports bras, tops, new trainers and I'm so looking forward to buying one of those Nike Fuel Bands 

Finally, nothing is more demotivating than the feeling of no progression, download this great app My Runkeeper and map your progress. Running can get quite lonely if you haven't got a running buddy but you feel that push when she calls out your stats mid run, I was so proud of myself every time I made a new personal best, and I wanted to get out sooner and beat it again. 

When I first started running it was to train for the 5k Race For Life, but since then I've grown to love it,  I stumbled across some great blogs and Instagrams and felt so inspired watching others train worldwide, imagine flying to Amsterdam to run a marathon, or training on a beach in Barcelona? Sounds like a plan! 

Do you have any tips you use to stay motivated? Share them in the comments, you never know who you could inspire. 

Nineteen

After a birthday people often ask if you feel any different than you did a few hours before, being a younger age and honestly some things never change-I type this handicap-idly with a fistful of gummy bears. I've learnt a lot about myself since my 19th birthday, whether that's because I'm in a different environment, no longer a full time student but now a full time worker I don't know but I have noticed some changes. Turning 19 was unexpected and without cliché which I have appreciated. I didn't have many expectations and some people think this is good, so there's no disappointment but I've taken everything in stride and embraced emotions as they've come. I've learnt that I can't control everything around me, whether you like it or not life goes on and you have to move with it or get left behind. Some things never change though, being around older guys have taught me that no matter what age, boys who are not yet men are still very dumb, idiotic and insensitive. I taught myself how to distinguish between terms for example calling 16 year old males 'boys' and 24 year old males who are still 'boys' 'guys' instead. Aswell as learning a bit more about the rival species, I've uncovered information about the league of aspirational women and the trail of imbecile little girls who let the side down to garnish attention from the opposite sex. It may seem as though I've discovered information about everyone except myself but this is the joy of being 19; well getting it right first time that is. 19 is an age rarely mentioned or warned against. Being 19 is all about subtlety, if you're an extrovert this is your year to sit back and observe, find out exactly how to read people and spot the bullshit a mile off. Trust me after a while it becomes so easy to do. Learn from older people, study their achievements and their mistakes and heed that warning. 19 is a purgatory state between youth and adult. I still believe it should be made illegal to address an 18 year old as an adult, here in London at least. At 18 you have no where near the mental capacity needed to be and adult and do it properly. 18 is the year of ill informed, uneducated decisions and 19 comes along to clean up that mess. So many people end up starting University aged 19 and not 18 because of those ill advised decisions but they usually end up with a lot more to show of their year of growth, maturity and progression. At 19 you're young enough to fool older generations into underestimating our talents, wit, intelligence and skill. Working hard at 19 shows people you want to be taken seriously, especially if you have the facial features of a 16 year old teenager. No ones going to call you a teenager and no one will respect you like an adult until you show them your edge, and this comes naturally once you've mastered being 19. 19 is a good year, just don't mess it up.