What's Good??? 2.4.14

Happy Tuesday!!! Gratitude Practice is here!!! How will you take what you are grateful for through the rest of your day? This isn't just about writing it down and sending it back… put it out there! Let the world feel your appreciation! Let's make a difference.

This only takes a few moments to do but gives to you for much, much longer. So put down whatever you are doing and take a couple of minutes for yourself. Every Tuesday morning I am going to ask you to write down 5 things that you are grateful for and email them to me (keep for yourself as well). What are you feeling gratitude around? Here are mine for this week:

Breakfast.
Coconut Water Delivered to my Door.
Opportunities.
Not Concerning Myself With Things That Don't Concern Me.
My Life.

There are no right or wrong answers. It is about what you are grateful for. It is proven that doing this once a week makes you happier, healthier, exercise more and less sensitive to perceived slights. You will sweat the small stuff less and focus on what really matters.

So… what are you waiting for???

Food for thought:

It is Black History Month! Yay! I am excited because I am Black and feel like really living it up this month… you know, being REALLY black! Why not? Isn't that the point? No, it isn't about me being black? It isn't about me at all…it is about us, our history, our story, the part that is shunned and shamed. We don't talk about Black History in the United States and most people get quiet when I do, or don't know how to feel or what to say. I should mention that the people who get quiet aren't black folks. This is understandable. We have NO idea how to discuss race relations, we have no examples of how to really talk about the open sores that this country still has. We have trouble dealing with our shit because we are still covered in it and we want to look the other way. Well, we can't because we are still covered in it.

Think about this: If slavery was happening in England and was centuries old (let's say 400 years of it) and we, America, flew in and bombed the hell out of the UK and then freed all the slaves we would discuss it, dontcha think? I believe we not only would discuss slavery and it's intricacies, we would bow our heads whenever someone who had survived or a family member of a survivor, spoke of it. We would have love and reverence and compassion for the generations of people lost. We would understand if black people set up communities to support one another, we would treat these people with respect and consideration. We would never wonder why they wanted to be around one another and have things that just belonged to them. We would respect their desire to maintain their culture and wouldn't be insulted if they kept things to themselves. Alas, slavery happened here and a majority of us are the products of slave masters and/or slaves which makes it personal. When something is personal, well, we respond irrationally sometimes. Slavery is that for Americans: a personal assault on our idea that our country is GREAT. Well, can something that has been so awful and horrendous be great? If we own up to what we REALLY do will that mean we have to look at ourselves differently? Is this too hard?

When the history of your family is rife with rape, murder, abuse, slavery and hatred it is understandable to not want to bring it up…. to want to sweep it under the rug. The problem is we are still dealing with so much of the leftovers of our history that our lack of wanting to face our upbringing is making it too easy for the problems of our past to persist and infect our present. We cannot continue to run around acting as if shit is ok… Think about your family and your ability to discuss or not discuss an issue. How many times does just not talking about it make it go away, really? That is how it is with slavery, or rape, or murder or anything where we have disregarded the divine grace of another soul. Love is profound and can heal, but first you need to direct it. If you never admit where attention is needed you won't be able to solve the issue, you may not even realize how deep the cut is.

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." ~ George Santayana

xo
a