2014 and Beyond

Good morning/night all!  It is finally here ... The New Year!!!  I just rang it in with family and still having a wonderful time!  During this time I decided to slip away to rock out this post.  We all know that no matter how we look at it 2013 was definitely one for the record books.  There were so many up and downs, triumphs and failures, beginnings and endings that we say we are living life in the now.  Now I know many may be able to say this at the time they were living, but I can say that for myself that this year has been eye-opening. 

For myself I have noticed that I am starting to understand the way in which to live my life to the fullest.  Now I have always have the philosophy of living to the fullest under the LORD's watchful eye, but I can say that the LORD has finally opened my eyes and allowed me the understanding necessary in order to fully comprehend this statement.  2013 has shown me that if I want something (no matter what it is) to pursue it to the fullest and leaving nothing to chance.  It has also taught me to be completely honest laying out a plan for myself that I know that I can accomplish with the tools I have in front of me allowing me to become pretty efficient in living life to the fullest now and not later.  As a result I have had many happy moments but also have had my share sad/hurtful moments but still very thankful for all of those moments.  In addition, I have had many great moments with others but have also made others sad or hurt them.  I am thankful for those moments as well, but also apologize to those I have hurt hoping we can move forward into 2014 in a better place.

Though 2013 was one for the record books, I must say that I am looking forward to 2014.  I don't do New Year Resolution because I feel if you want to do something you should do it right away not waiting for a special period in order to get your best life now.  But I do plan on still living my best life now, getting my mind, body and soul in better positions then they were in 2013.  In that vein I plan on keeping it up with the working out, reading more and continuing to live my life for my LORD and SAVIOR.  As a friend just told me and I FULLY concur that GOD gave us another year, so it is only right that we live it to the fullest in HIS NAME!  

Well I guess I will end it here!  GOD LOVES YOU ALL (and I do too) and lets move forward together so that we can show everyone that 2014 will be another year for the books.  All in all GOD IS GOOD and continues to show His mercy and grace upon us in all that we do!!!  I thank you all for reading and be continually blessed; time to head back to the fam!!!  

"The System" and its "Errors"

Hey blogging world, I hope all is going well. Yesterday, I saw a post on Facebook that made me think and I decided to share it on my own fb page. Later I viewed the video again and this blog post is a result of it (after viewing it a few times to figure out as much as I could ... but I know I missed something. Actually will be asking ya'll for some help about that later). As a disclaimer some of my points may seem harsh but hey it is just an opinion and you are welcomed and invited to disagree in a respectful manner.

First, here is the video that spurned this post. Watch it and let it marinate:

Now that you have experienced the awesomeness of that video ... lets dissect it together. I will only hit on three points that I thought were the most interesting since if I sat here and dissected his entire spoken word I would be here for a while. Now I feel the best place to start would be at the beginning. Mr. Powell starts off with a powerful statement (in paraphrased form): the system don't want us here right now since we live in a system that is designed for us to fail, essentially dictating what we do and say. That is a very interesting way in which to start his performance (which is the way he always starts it, found other videos featuring him performing the system). I say interesting because he starts with his conclusion and then goes into how "the system" achieves this point. As a trained attorney we do this all the time especially when writing a decision or memo. It allows us to get straight to the point without the reader guessing what the conclusion will be. So they already know the ending and are just guided through the how. Definitely an interesting approach. Now let dive into the meat of the matter.

Second, the "system", Mr. Powell states, defines everything that is essential to popular culture even defining what is "swag"/"trending". He goes on to describe the ridiculous "need" that seems to surround our culture, from the incessant want for the new Jordans or Fendi bags to the need to talk about the many sexual encounters you have had in your life. This description is sad but true, as we saw this past weekend with the release of the Gamma 11's. The lines at the sneaker stores were ridiculous. There were fights over these sneakers and screams of triumph when some received their pair. The fact that this actually became news shows that the "system" has done its job in creating an insatiable need for consumer goods and placing that need in the homes in order to gain more followers. This "need" leads to an emasculation of the male and misguided women as they are being raised by the television instead of their parents (lets leave that there at this moment, but go see my other post "Black is Beautiful" for more explanation). When they are raised by the television these children begin to copy the the values that are being preached through the media, leads in my opinion to men who create a defense mechanism of aggressiveness and women who see marriage as "trendy". Therefore, this starts a vicious cycle; by providing this need for consumption (in general), it allows the system to define what "popular culture" is and then this "popular culture" defines what is needed in your life. All for the simple fact that they (the system) cant have them (the blacks)"thinking for themselves".

Moving on and finally, he talks about "Operation Exploitation" which the "system" has initiated in order to keep blacks from being successful yet thinking they are by throwing money at a person. As we all know money is the defining factor at how successful a person is in life and as a result many sell their souls in order to achieve this meager monetary goal. As money becomes the goal these negroes(ERROR) these people become vessels that the "system" can use to their liking. Hmmmm lets use the example he does. The common rapper today typically sucks (well at least to me), but seems to have an immense following. It is because of this following that we always hear how hip-hop is slowly yet surely destroying our entire culture from the inside out (as we saw when "the system" was scanning our popular music [hip-hop] it almost crashed). Most rappers today speak mostly about self-destructive behavior and the ones that don't are usually ostracized as "wack" or not "bout that life". They speak about the "need" that was spoken briefly about earlier but also about a general distrust for authority figures, a glorification of the "thug life" (drugs, prison and the like) and a complete disrespect for women and education. This reaches the next generation and slowly starts to whittle away at those who dont want to think for themselves and to be lead by the masses. Therefore, creating a generation of exploited young men and women who follow the pack to destruction but avoid accountability at the same time since they are just following the crowd.

This is just light sprinkling of what I got from this spoken word. Yet there is so much to dive into here. That is where I call on you. What did you get from this performance? Is it as powerful and I make it out to be or just another negro (ERROR) spouting nonsense? Let me know in the comments and lets talk. Well now back to enjoy my vacation, yall have a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year! As always GOD BLESS!

Inspiration for that Procrastination

Good afternoon everyone! It has been a looooooonnnnnnngggggggg time but I must say it feels good to be back. Now I know you are probably asking yourself, why havent yall heard from me in at least a year and a half and I will respond to that by saying I am sorry. When I started this blog I wanted to schedule myself to write something new and encouraging at least once a week. I severely fell off of that schedule and as a result I have not had a new post within a while. I really thought that no one was reading this and that I was not making a difference in what I was saying to really matter. Even though I would hear from ppl every once in a while that they came across my blog and thought there was some good stuff on it, I still didn't feel motivated/inspired enough to actually get back on the horse and start writing again.

Hopefully, this is the revival. I say this because I have recently been inspired by a friend of mine to get back to it. We were talking about procrastination the other day and several things hit me off of what was discussed. First, procrastination is a a delay of things that we put off to the next time or when it is more convenient. But the problem is we never come back to a more convenient time. We put it off indefinitely always stating that we will come back to it fully ready to attack the task at hand. This leads to the vicious cycle of procrastination. Breaking this cycle moves me into the my next point and the title of this blog: inspiration. It is when you become inspired my friend states that you want to move pass the "I can wait" to the "Lets do it now". Once your passion has been rekindled you will go with a new found life to attack the problem that you have been procrastinating over. The problem is acquiring this motivation/inspiration.

Which leads me to the next thing that I took from my discussion. She stated that in order to become inspired you should start small and build upon it. For example, if you want to write "the next great American novel" but have trouble starting it because you know the task would be arduous, she suggest that you write one sentence a day. Yeah I know I was looking like she was crazy too but she went on to explain herself and from doing that the logic hit me. When you write one sentence a day after a while it wont be a task any longer and you would start to look forward to actually writing that sentence. This small trick hit me because in addition after a while of doing these small things they will snow pile into something bigger and greater than its individual parts! So if it is that novel, sentences would soon become paragraphs, paragraphs would soon become chapters and eventually chapters become sections! Therefore, the small steps start you moving along the path to your passion.

Another quick tip, sometimes take a break (but not for too long)... Sometimes you need to rest your mind (or your body) so do that. Do something else during the time you set up to do your passion. Help your mind/body engage in something completely different, but just remember to come back to that passion. In addition, to giving your mind/body that break you will see that you will come back with a new perspective on the way you look at the original task ready to move away from the procrastination! As of right now that is all I have to say on the topic. I could possibly go on for more but remember small steps :-). I may continue this with a part 2 later but as for now lets leave it here.

I look forward to continually sharing my ideas and thoughts with yall in the coming year. Moreover, I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Make 2014 your year to move in whatever path you have set for yourself. Finally, if you have been procrastinating make 2014 your year of INSPIRATION moving forward towards that goal. Love you all and GOD BLESS! PS: I will say again it feels good to be back!!!