A Day's Journey (In 30 Minutes)

In thirty minutes an entire day's journey can be traveled. I do it all the time on my morning run. It's amazing how even with all the quarantine-ing and changes in life, we can be so busy, so distracted by the multitude of daily tasks. That thirty minutes of alone time is often the only time I have to think - uninterrupted.

(In thirty minutes...) You can leave the house with questions and come back with answers. You can even hear God speaking if you listen. Plans can be made and ideas can be born - and they are, whether you're paying attention or not. Too frequently our choices are made from indecision, a lack of plan, or a lack of action. Too often our great ideas fade away, overwhelmed by the demand of immediate necessities.

This week I'm trying to hold on to those lessons, those ideas, those plans, and implement them back in the world of chaos that I have the privilege of leaving for about thirty minutes a day. It's often said how valuable meditation is - how much our lives would change if we could just sit silently and allow our minds to wander freely, safely. Some even say that in lieu of thirty minutes, five would suffice to start.

OK, but then what?

I propose a bridge. This bridge will allow those quiet thoughts to cross over into the daily routine that is so noisy and bumpy. Those newborn thoughts may be tousled around a bit. They may not know how to survive in this crazy world at first. I'm committing to the exercise of bringing them there anyway. They'll learn. They'll cross over into the hostile territory and become seeds there. They'll grow. I will learn how to tend to them even as new ones are born and follow suit. This little bridge will become more traveled and my time in the world of constant chaos will become more valuable as I learn to let God live there too.

#buildabridge #changetheworld

Love,
T

Rinse, Lather, Repeat #empowerment

Repeat after me:

I Am strong.

I Am powerful beyond measure.

I have the ability to change the world.

Remember:

Those who seem to be trying to hold down your spirit can only do so with your permission. Don't let them. No one is in control of that except you. People who deliberately seek to take another's power are only making a fool's statement about their own insecurity.

Now:

With Love and Kindness in your heart, go take some action that will make you feel useful, helpful, and a positive influence on this society and world, remembering that we are all one family and our mission here is to increase Love.

We work together.

We are Divine.

"Action without vision is only passing time, vision without action is merely day dreaming, but vision with action can change the world."

- Nelson Mandela

Click here for: nelsonmandela.org

Love,

T

The Angel

The Angel in my room, the one that lights up, twinkles, and sends dancing patches of light around the walls every night has stopped.

I could take this as an ominous sign: The Angel has left, its light extinguished.

Then again, its absence of light can serve as an example of faith: We must believe even when our path is not lit. The Angel is clearly still there. Its lack of illumination only indicates that we must believe in what we can not see, have faith through the darkness.

Then there's the reality that I am just out of C batteries. As soon as I put the new ones in, it will light up again.

What's really real is that I can put C batteries on the grocery list, but that light will not go on until I actually put them in and flip the switch. It's on me.

Blessed week...

Love,
T

Conversations

This is no time to stay inside a comfort zone.

Time to take a long hard look at ourselves - because we are supposed to take the log out of our own eye before addressing the speck in our friend's.

"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."

Matthew 7:3-5

The truth is we can do better. 

Conversations that are long overdue are now taking place. Will we say something stupid? (Probably.) Will we give another person the opportunity to judge us? (YES!) Are we experts on a subject before we start to open our mouths? (Not usually.) Would we pounce on someone else's lack of expertise if they got something incorrect? (Just nod your head yes here and wonder when I'm going to shut up because I already made this point.) 

Alright. But we have to be committed enough to walk this path anyway. We have the ability to change our own minds. We have the ability to learn. We can reject our own habitual responses and grow into something new and better.

We are about to change the world.

We are going to be more kind toward each other. We are going to be more understanding. We are going to listen and learn. We are going to take that one extra step. We're going to unearth a new level of truth within. Someone will reach out a hand when we stumble and we'll do the same for another. We are going to be courageous together. We are going to build.

"Justice never comes when you only do what's comfortable and convenient. Change never comes, oppression never ends, equality never prevails. You have to be willing to raise the issues, to challenge the systems that don't educate people about the history honestly."

- Bryan Stevenson, Equal Justice Initiative

"We have been practicing silence about our history for a very long time. In this country we don't talk about slavery, we don't talk about lynching, we don't talk about segregation. We have a hard time talking about race and it has burdened us. We don't think it's odd that we don't talk about this history. We actually think it's odd when somebody tries to talk about it. We react to the effort of trying to talk about it as if THAT's the threat, not our continued silence."

- Bryan Stevenson, Equal Justice Initiative

Blessed week.

Love,
T

More to learn (There's ALWAYS more to learn):

Click here for The Equal Justice Initiative

Click here for NationalGeographic.com's article: 'It was a modern-day lynching': Violent deaths reflect a brutal American legacy

We need to talk about Injustice - Bryan Stevenson

Yes We Are

Yes we are going to talk about it. Because everyone should be talking about it. Because no one should be afraid to join the conversation. Because it is time and long overdue that everyone participate in the conversation.

Since becoming a mother, there have been times I have been plagued with the terror of worry over my son. I've vividly imagined various scenarios in which he is in peril. I have settled on the idea that this is a normal "mother" thing. When he was an infant, I would check his breathing as he slept. Mini movies of him stumbling into danger would play in my mind as I tried to baby proof the house. My heart has skipped a beat as I watched him fall off a chair and couldn't catch him fast enough. I can not fathom the kind of constant inherent danger that is a part of life for young people of color - or know the emotional strain, or tragic grief, of their mothers.

If any of the "privileged" are tired of hearing about it... Try not just hearing about it but also thinking about it, facing it, fearing because of it, waking up with it, going to bed with it, eating with it, sleeping with it, trying to work despite of it, and breathing it in - every waking moment of your life until you breathe no more because of it.

Show some compassion. Out loud. Right now.

Who do I think I Am? I Am privileged enough to speak my mind. I Am somebody's mother. I Am fortunate enough to know the Love of family - some by blood relation, some not - that includes a variety of skin tones. I Am someone who has felt the beauty and warmth of being welcomed into musical families of R&B, Soul, Hip Hop, Reggae and Funk musicians for all of my adult life and career. Friends, loved ones, mentors who have faced unimaginable hatred, prejudice and pain have treated me as a sister without EVER holding any malice toward me. Amazing opportunity and Blessings have come to me through African American people, companies, and organizations.  I Am - most importantly and qualifyingly - HUMAN.

His name is George.

I never met him, but he was my brother. He was your brother too.

Love come cover our hearts.

There is a call of duty - for all of us.

https://colorofchange.org

https://nationalactionnetwork.net

https://nul.org

https://www.naacp.org

https://www.splcenter.org

https://www.aclu.org

https://www.obama.org

https://thekingcenter.org

Love,
T