Just Jazzing: Thoughts from the Depth of My Soul

By Jay Thomas Willis

This book consists of statements, sayings, thoughts, and ideas that mainly came from the author’s creative cerebral consciousness. A few of them came from TV, radio, and Internet; but were restructured and revised to the author’s taste. Many of these sayings and ideas are not erudite but simple and to the point, yet profound in many ways. These sayings are meant to motivate and inspire the reader. You will find them interesting and stimulating.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 31, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669823780

Jay Thomas Willis

Jay Thomas Willis graduated from Stephen F. Austin State University with a B.S. degree in sociology. He also graduated from Texas Southern University with a M.Ed. in counseling, in addition to receiving a MSW in social work from the University of Houston. Willis has held numerous social work positions.

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Copyright © 2022 by Jay Thomas Willis.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Rev. date: 05/23/2022

Xlibris

844-714-8691

www.Xlibris.com

842717

Contents

Acknowledgments

Preface

1. Personal Behaviors

2. Personal Relationships

3. Life and Living

4. Knowledge and Wisdom

5. Developing Your Assignment

6. Education and Training

7. Parenting and Childrearing

8. The God and Religion We Serve

9. Finding Meaning in Life

10. Family

11. Change

12. Friends and Enemies

13. Balance in the Universe

14. Being Humble and Kind

15. General Interest

About The Author

ALSO BY JAY THOMAS WILLIS

Nonfiction

A Penny for Your Thoughts: Insights, Perceptions, and Reflections on the African American Condition

Implications for Effective Psychotherapy with African Americans

Freeing the African-American’s Mind

God or Barbarian: The Myth of a Messiah Who Will Return to Liberate Us

Finding Your Own African-Centered Rhythm

When the Village Idiot Get Started

Nowhere to Run or Hide

Why Black Americans Behave as They Do: The Conditioning Process from Generation to Generation

God, or Balance in the Universe

Over the Celestial Wireless

Paranoid but not Stupid

Nothing but a Man

Things I Never Said

Word to the Wise

Born to be Destroyed: How My Upbringing Almost Destroyed Me

Nobody but You and Me: God and Our Existence in the Universe

Got My Own Song to Sing: Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome in My family

Random Thoughts on My Reality

A Word to My Son: A Celebration

Messed-Up Kid

Off-the-Top Treasures

Going with the Flow

Man’s Basic Purpose

God Told Me to Tell You

My Life and Times: Some Personal Essays

Life’s Lessons: Some Passing Thoughts

Why I Write: Notes Straight from the Hip

Fiction

No Worldly Options Except Suicide or Schizophrenia: But God Has His Own Plans

You Can’t Get There from Here

Where the Pig Trail Meets the Dirt Road

The Devil in Angelica

As Soon as the Weather Breaks

The Cotton is High

Hard Luck

Educated Misunderstanding

Dream On: Persistent Themes in My Dreams

Longing for Home and Other Short Stories

Poetry

Reflections on My Life: You’re Gonna Carry That Weight a Long Time

It’s a Good Day to Die: Some Personal Poetry About the Ups and Downs in My Life

Dedication

To all the jazz musicians around the world. They have provided me with many endless hours of listening pleasure.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to all my teachers and professors who inspired me.

Thanks to my high school classmates who kept me in a more realistic frame of mind. Sometimes my thinking tended to end me up in outer space.

Thanks to my cousin Roosevelt for providing one of few role models, though he wasn’t aware of it.

Thanks to my dad for never giving up on me.

Thanks to all those who deserve an accolade for a contribution to my life.

Thanks to Doris, Pat, Rosie, Rhonda, and a few other young ladies who were kind to me at a young, tender, and vulnerable age. The only reason I don’t mention names of the others is because their names escape me. I went to school with the ones whose names I remember so well.

Thanks to my brother Wade for buying me that car, without it I would never have survived.

Thanks to all those who were humble, kind, generous, and gracious to a backwoods country boy who had no clue about how to survive in the world.

Thanks to all the PBS televisions stations for helping me to finish my academic education.

Thanks to all the religious TV stations that rounded out my spiritual education.

Thanks to Book TV for providing me with many hours of intellectual stimulation.

Preface

This book is composed of sayings, thoughts, statements, and ideas mostly from the author’s own unique perspective. He has accumulated this wisdom over time. He didn’t simply copy something he had read or heard but combed his own mind deeply to come up with them. He wrote what the Almighty God put on his mind. If it seems that you have heard them before, it’s only because he must have had similar thoughts as someone else. He wrote these sayings sitting in his library/study while contemplating, some while at the local library, some while driving along the highway,