Love Thyself, First

This week’s morning affirmation

Love thyself, first. I will not be able to provide anyone in my life the kind of love they need or deserve until I love myself whole.

We get so caught up into deadlines, goals, to-do lists, and quotas that we can’t find five or ten minutes to affirm our love to ourselves.

Everyone wants to love and be loved, but what about the most natural love of all --loving ourselves? My first affirmation of love, strength and hope each day goes to myself; however, this has not always been the case. There was a time when I thought affirmations were not necessary or just some silly life coach's way of trying to make a buck, but the truth is simple. I must feed my psyche with positive words, daily.

The way humans are programmed in the millennium; we can go a long way for a long time without nurturing our inner spirits. However, externally, people feed us with all types garbage that has the ability to slant our perception of ourselves. Whether it is that super slim model on TV, your husband's idea of the perfect housewife, or how your family or friends think you should act, our psyches will be fed. There will always be someone that appears to have it all, whilst you have not. There will also be people who thrive on making you feel inferior or inadequate in order to make themselves look and feel better.

There will always be moments of disappointment in ourselves, moments of spiritual mayhem, moments of distrust and confusion. These things are inevitable. However, it’s your choice whether to fall into that dark abyss of nothingness or be the master of your own universe. The choices are slim, but you must determine which side of the road you want to stand on when it comes to your life. Take your pick!

The breakdown of hope, strength, love, and the ability to have healthy relationships begin with the breakdown of hope, strength, love and ability to love one’s self. This is a vicious cycle that each of us must play an active part in if we want to keep the love for ourselves strong.

Finally, the aura that comes from the inability to love ourselves whole resonates like a drummer boy tip tapping, tip tapping at his drums and affects everyone that we come into contact on a daily basis. They hear your spirit. The question is do you want them to hear whimpers of internal misery or songs of joy.


Love thyself, first. I will not be able to provide anyone in my life the kind of love they need or deserve until I love myself whole.

Shani Greene-Dowdell (c) | 2008

Shani G. Dowdell was interviewed by SG Boutique

Check out the interview here:

http://sgboutique.blogspot.com/2008/12/on-come-up.html

Just a Taste: Bronze Princess by Joi Marsh

Joi Marsh is a Tuskegee, Alabama native. She graduated from both Tuskegee University and Auburn University and is a certified rehabilitation counselor. She is a pure writer at heart and once she shares her gift with the world she will be a force to be reckon with. She has hopes of completing her first book of poetry in late 2008.

In the short story, The Bronze Princess, Joi Marsh introduces infatuating Tula and sexually free Benet' to her readers. After spending a week in Hotlanta with her best friend Jack, Benet' comes over to finalize details for decorating his house. Instantly, Benet' and Tula are attracted, but will the long distance relationship work? After a hot weekend tucked away in a cabin, it might.

Brief Excerpt from The Bronze Princess by Joi Marsh After gathering herself, Tula looked into Benet's eyes, kissed her ever so softly on both her eyelids and proclaimed it was "now my turn." Tula covered kisses over her entire body. A true romantic at heart, she kissed her fingertips, the palms of her hands her elbows and knees, leaving not a spot untouched. Tula held Benet and whispered sweet melodies in her ear as she nibbled and held her close.

Benet laid there, almost swimming with desire, becoming one with Tula with every touch. Tula, a master with the female body, knew exactly where to touch Benet to make her soul vibrate. She knew how to spread her legs and taste her sweetness, how to use her fingers to bring forth her juices. She knew exactly how to please Benet' and did everything imaginable to bring her Bronze Goddess to climax. After making her new lover cum for a third time, Tula reached in her goodie bag and spotted the beads. Visit Joi at

Wanna read more?

Hazel Mills speaks on her book Bare Necessities

Click here to read more from Hazel --> Promoting Reading, One Page At A Time: Hazel Mills speaks on her book Bare Necessities

Just a Taste: Smooth Moves by Landis Lin

Excerpt of SMOOTH MOVES byLandis Y. Lain: Featured in Mocha Chocolate: Taste A Piece of Ecstasy.

Shirley: "FAWN, I SAW SOME HUSSY DRIVING YOUR CAR! "

Fawn: "He wouldn't do that." Fawn typed back.

She glanced down at her new wedding ring and shook her head in denial, locks dancing with the motion. She'd left her car at home this morning, because it wasn't running right. She would catch the bus home. Amir had promised to fix it.

Fawn: "There must be some explanation." Fawn's fingers flew over the keys.
Shirley: "UH-HUH."
Fawn: "Stop shouting." Fawn typed back. She could mentally see Shirley roll her eyes, gather her patience and hit the caps lock key on her keyboard.
Shirley: "I'm telling you, I saw the license plate. Besides, how many people drive a gold 1996 Honda Civic with a Clinton/Gore bumper sticker pasted to it?"
Fawn: "I don't believe it."
Shirley: "Girl, I know you so damned soft hearted you don't want to believe water is wet unless you drown, but don't be soft headed, too. If Amir's got a good explanation for this one, then I'll eat my weave."
Fawn: "What should I do?"
Shirley: "Take the afternoon off and check up on a brother."

Landis Lin Bio:
Landis Lain, a native of Detroit, Michigan, began her writing career in the first grade. She has worked as an Assistant City Attorney, a Hearing Officer with the Michigan Department of Corrections, an Assistant Attorney General as a Federal Civil Rights Defense Litigator and an Administrative Law Judge. Her short story Rusty Feet was published in Chicken Soup for the African American Soul and Color Him Father. Correct Madness: Diary of a Mad Corrections Officer is her first full length publication. She writes creative non-fiction, inspirational, contemporary romance, young adult fiction, and short stories. When Landis is not writing, she can be found teaching Legal Issues in Criminal Justice to college students or coaching track and field. She enjoys reading, dance, sports, adventure and romance movies. She especially loves spending time with her children - when they squeeze her into their busy social lives. She resides in Michigan with her husband, Frank, who she considers her own personal Prince among men. Contact Landis atLandis.Lain@comcast.net.

Just a Taste: Hopelessly Addicted

Brief excerpt from "Hopelessly Addicted" featured in Mocha Chocolate: Taste A Piece of Ecstasy:
The longing in your dark eyes and the tenderness of your kiss told me that you wanted me, too. All of me this time. Your hands were soft and sensuous as they stroked my slender back and made me limp in your strong arms. Carefully, you orchestrated removal of my silk nightgown, leaving me standing there naked and completely vulnerable to you. I didn't care that you were married or that your wife had just given birth only two hours earlier....

Hazel Mills Bio:
Author Hazel Mills' short erotic fiction has been published in the January 2007 issue of Playgirl Magazine's Erotic Encounters and inBest Lesbian Love Stories: New York City, edited by Simone Thorne. Hazel has also penned an essay that has appeared in Jolie Dupre'sseries in The Blushing Ladies Journal. Her debut erotic anthology BareNecessities:Sensuous Tales of Passion, is expected to be released March 2008. Hazel resides in Birmingham, AL with her husband and children.

Just a Taste: Guilty Release by Chole R.

Excerpt of Guilty Relase featured in Mocha Chocolate: Taste A Piece of Ecstasy:
Fourteen days had passed. He hadn't touched her. Tina lay in the bed listening to his heavy breathing. What has he been doing, the past fourteen days, that he doesn't want me? The cotton nightshirt stretch across her hips, lay gently against her upper thighs. She bathed every night; lay in her nightshirt without underwear. Easy access. The sound of the television filled her ears, she fought against it, wanting to listen to him breath. Is he really asleep? In a deep sleep? Or is he just lying there, trying to avoid me?

The last time they had made love, she had broken the sexual silence. Had given in to the lust that forever rested around her hips, which needed a center focus to penetrate its core. Her fingers couldn't do it, they weren't enough to satisfy her that day. She wasn't bold enough to keep a vibrator, not for any real length of time. Every time she purchased one, her enjoyment surprised her, made her feel guilty. In the middle of pleasing herself the sudden image of her dropping dead, with the dildo wedged inside of her terrified her. What if her husband walked in and found her like that? What if she died and her mother found the huge thing in her nightstand? The idea terrified her so much that she would eventually discard them.

So Tina had given in. Searched the house until she found him, stretched out on the family room sofa. Asleep. She climbed on top of him. Sucked on his neck, rotated her hips against him. She still felt amazed at how quickly his body responded. He reacted immediately. Whatever had his attention, had not taken away her ability to immediately arouse him....

He had felt so deep, even now she moaned softly, remembering how her juices had covered the table, her buttocks, and his waist. He had whispered in her ear that he loved her natural secretion, loved that he could make her that wet. He had felt so good.

But then, nothing. He hadn't come back for more....

Brief Bio:
Chloe R is a published author and poet. Her short stories can be found in Erogenous Zone (Xpress Yourself Publishing), Mental Seductions (Diva Books Publishing) and the upcoming erotic anthology Mocha Chocolate (Shanibooks, Purlishing Co). Her article, Hiding From Erotica?, will be featured in the upcoming issue of Noire Magazine. Chloe's first erotic novel, Discovering Love, is scheduled for release in 2009 by Xpress Yourself Publishing. For more information, visit her at http://www.chloewrites.com.