Gye-Nyame Journey Media

  Great Ujima during this third Ujima in 2022: I am excited to be able to reach out to all of you and build in the way that we do. Waking up this early and hitting this keyboard has been a mixed blessing. I guess all blessings are. Strange how the world seems to work like that. Hey... That thought moved us into what I want to talk with yall about this morning. Work, that dirty word that we have learned to associate with early mornings or late nights. Work, the place we go to be abused and missed used. Work, that hamster wheel that we have sold our most valuable asset to run on powering someone else's dream. I know y'all may be waiting for me to unleash some secret that is ingrained in the Nguzo Saba that can free you from the drudgery, but.... Naw I can't. There is no cure for it. We have to work, as a matter of fact I am writing this to encourage you to continue doing so, but what I am going to point out for you is that you may be working too much for the other team, and n

  Great Kujichagulia to all my Kuji born out their: "Umoja in motion (collective work and responsibility)" We are looking at Kujichagulia today through the marvelous principle of Ujima. For those new to the journey, and to remind the old heads Ujima means collective work and responsibility. We teach within Gye-Nyame that Ujima is Umoja in motion. Today let's look at the power of a collective, which is a group that pulls together to accomplish a goal. Now let's imagine that they collectively focus on defining their world, or bringing it close to home,redefining their world. What type of changes could this collective bring about? "Gye-Nyame Journey has already put this into motion , by redefining the day" Kujichagulia as we saw last week is strong on defining the world, and since we are in the week of Ujima I believe that it is appropriate for me to call on our collective to start to redefine the world that we are in. Using our collective thought power to resh

  Great Imani: "Let us look at Imani through the lens of Kujichagulia" Yesterday we spoke about the power of Kuumba and how it was unleashed when we were able to define our purpose. Now we are going to continue that conversation by traveling to the other side of Kuumba. Ladies and Gentlemen a present to you the principle of Imani. For us in Gye-Nyame Imani is the basis of the Nguzo Saba, which means that if we want to unleash the power of our principles we have to start with Imani. "Imani means faith in self, family, community, and our people" For today's post, I want to look at Imani through the lens of Kujichagulia, and ask what Imani is. Imani means faith, and in the Kwanzaa tradition it means to believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, and the righteousness and victory of our struggle. Faith in general means a strong belief or trust. In the context of Kwanzaa, it means the belief that we can be self-determined, self-authored and s

Great Kuumba: We have made it through week two of this cycle's challenge and I want to salute all of you that are participating and hanging in there. I know that it can be hard dealing with these questions, getting up for the Toast Ritual, writing and moving more than usual, but believe me (My fault), don't believe me believe the process. The process that you are going through now was created over a long period of trial and error, but we got it together. As a matter of fact this process is a living testament to Kuumba. It was through following the process that this system even emerged. Realize that where you are I was... I will just leave it at that, I was struggling trying to figure out what my Ancestors were trying to tell me through their "crystalized wisdom" (write this term down because it will continue to pop up throughout the process). One proverb always stood out, I must admit that it was not my favorite but it was the one that held the secret I needed. The qu

Great Nia: I was out yesterday with the Gye-Nyame girls, because Gina wanted to take a walk in the woods ( I will attach pics). She actually wanted us to go out after dark, and go for a hike. I personally was not with that yet. I have noticed more and more tents around some wooded areas and I don't want to get caught in the dark with my little ones and it end up bad either way. To make a long story short I was walking, observing the environment, and listening to a book and the author quoted Brother Cornel West. Dr. Cornel West was giving a talk about the blues and his statement set me off on this article for the FAM. Brother Cornell described the blues as "courageously bearing witness before the worms get your body". For me that is a perfect definition for living Nia. Can you stand up and say that you are courageously bearing witness to your Nia? "Once we know the truth of each principle (Umoja, Kuji, Ujima, Ujamaa) we can bear witness to our Nia" Bear witness r

Before I go down the road of the title I want to reflect on what we discussed yesterday and bring it in line with today's idea. We focused on defining responsibilty. We stated that "taking responsibilty gives you power", but now brother ha2tim wants to to take it one step farther. When we take responsibility it puts us in the seat toward ownership, or it should. Ownership of a thing gives you control. There are many things in life that we cannot control; but, there is something that all men have some level of control over, and that is their own physical body - your mind and spirit too. See, I can't make the sun shine, but I can put on my shades. I can't make it rain, but I can get an umbrella or simply stay indoors. "Taking responsibility gives you power" When you think about your life, your career and all the things that are apart of your world, who owns them? Who do you give ownership to? If you think about your job, who owns it? Is it your company, o

Great Ujima: It is time to discuss Ujima from the standpoint of Kujichagulia, and today I want to look at the responsibility part of this principle. We Know (at least those who have been listening) that Ujima in Gye-Nyame is Umoja in action. Ujima works because responsibility is exercised, but let's take this day to look into the idea of responsibility. Responsibility is the ability to be in control of our actions and words, it is a state of being accountable for one's actions and words. There is a deep level of self-respect and self-love that comes with responsibility. A responsible person knows who they are, they know who they are, they know where they are going, they know what they want, they know why they want it, and they know how to get it...in other words responsibility gives us power. Many of us do not want to take responsibility, but the reality is that we are responsible for our actions and non-actions. The lack of responsibility breeds anger, frustration, confusion,

Great Kujichagulia; We are in a Kuji week and today is Kujichagulia day. I guess this means we need to take a deep look at defining. We have to take time and break down so that we can know exactly what we are doing when we exercise the power of Kujichagulia. When we define something we are stating or setting forth the meaning of a thing. We are also saying how something will be referred to or perceived in some context. We also determine what is important about an object and what is incidental, contingent, or unintended about it (1). Defining can be both difficult and easy depending on the situation you find yourself in. We are defining who we are and what we stand for. The dictionary definition of Kujichagulia would be: self determination. Most people believe that this is associated with the right to make decisions concerning one's own person or affairs. Some think of it as self-rule. There is no doubt that there is much debate on the real meaning of Kujichagulia (self-determinatio

Great Umoja: We are in the week of kujichagulia and now we have to figure out how to see these powerful, life changing principles through the lense of Kujichagulia. To get things started let's look at what the principle Kujichagulia is: Kujichagulia speaks of us defining ourselves, naming ourselves, creating for ourselves and speaking for ourselves. This principle is about creating reality. Using the power of words to shape the world we exist in. Now to apply that concept to the other principles will be a joy. Today we are on the principle of unity, and kujichagulia demands that we take the time to define what this principle is. "We need to break it down to it's very last compound." Let's be clear we can't do anything until we have a clear definition of what this principle is. Unity is being or existing together as one; undivided or unbroken completeness or totality with nothing wanting; harmonious cooperation; agreement; unification; uniformity; consistency;

  Great Kuumba: Second day without a podcast I am going to have to make this one twofer. We are going to continue with the discussion about the illusion of disunity. Today of course coming from the principle of Kuumba. Kuumba for those of you that are new to the culture means creativity. I am throwing out the idea that disunity is not a problem in our community. I believe that it is a manufactured illusion that is being powered by us. Wisdom — as it goes — is knowing what to do next. And creativity is the ability to seek out solutions to our problems. Consequently, wisdom and creativity go together like peanut butter and jelly. But what happens when we use our creative powers to create ignorance? What happens when we use our wisdom to create foolishness? We get ideas running through our communities and lives causing pain and suffering. The illusion of disunity is a major focus for today, although I could hit on many others. The reason why it's important is because it affects how we

So today I want to focus on these trouble makers who keep us divided. Let's call them the illusionists because they are magicians of sorts. They are skilled at getting us to believe that we are separate and not united. They are masters at getting us to see and even create the differences between us and others. They know that if we see ourselves as different from each other then we will not come together as one. Now there are different types of illusionists, but for now I want to focus on the ones that come from within. These are the illusionists that in most cases we can recognize once we know what to look for. These people have a need to have drama in their lives and in our lives, so they try to create it when there is none. They do this by manipulating information and distorting reality, sometimes they do this to intentionally hurt someone or a group of people, but most of the time they do it because they don't know any other way to live. See these illusionists have been taug

Revolutions are not simply about tearing down the old and building up a new. They are about creating an environment to sustain change in a manner that has never been done before. In order for us to do that we must have an understanding of our resources and how to invest them into the things that will make change possible. In order for us to be successful in our revolution, we have to understand how we can create communities that support the development of future leaders. I know it sounds like a stretch but as you continue to read you will begin to see that it is necessary if we want change. The reason why this is so important is because our children are our future and if we do not teach them properly then we will get the same results over and over again. This is why Umoja & Ujamaa have been connected from the beginning of time - they are symbiotic with each other. If you want the freedom of Umoja then you have to have Ujamaa or else it will wither away like a flower without water.

Ujima is nothing but our Umoja in motion. What I mean is that everything that the definition of Umoja calls for is used in motion and in action through the principle of Ujima. The first part of this principle calls for us to build and maintain our community together and to make our brothers' and sisters' problems our problems, and to solve them together. We have an obligation to each other if we are going to be successful in life, because no one person has all the answers, no one person knows how to solve all the problems. The second part of this principle calls for us to remember our past, so we don't repeat it. We should know that there were others before us who had a lot of good ideas about how to solve different kinds of problems. We can learn from their mistakes, too — so that we don't have to repeat them. That's what history means. Now we need to gather the lessons recognize what we have and move into the future boldly. We can no longer be held back by the ill

The meaning of Imani means ‘faith’ or ‘belief’ and it is the seventh principle of the Nguzo Saba or Kwanzaa. Imani signifies faith in yourself, your people, the community, and your Creator. Imani is often seen as confidence, trust, and self-belief. In order to have faith in others and to believe that there is a higher power that governs our lives, we must first believe in ourselves. This principle encourages us to become self-reliant and responsible for our own actions. We must not fear failure but instead use it as a stepping stone to success. There are always new challenges that lie ahead and you should be prepared for change and willing to adapt. We should be proud of who we are as individuals and communities and have faith that we can overcome all adversities by being creative, resourceful and persistent. While some may not share the same beliefs, having faith in others is still an important aspect of life. When we are able to put our trust in those around us, this allows us to hel

Imani is the foundation of so many other principles. We can't discuss Umoja without Imani—and we can't celebrate Kujichagulia without Imani, either. Yesterday, we touched on the importance of Imani when it comes to Umoja, and today I want to jump into this discussion with Kujichagulia. Self Determination is a powerhouse in itself but like the other principles it leans on Imani. In order to exercise the power of Kujichagulia we have to have faith in ourselves. This is why it is important to really take the walk through Imani and gain all the lessons that accompany this principle. Once we have worked on the Imani in ourselves we can now leverage its power and move to the next level. We can extend our Kujichagulia from us to things around us. For those new to Gye-Nyame, kujichagulia is much deeper than the words self determination. Kujichagulia is about the ability to define. Once we have established Kujichaguilia within we can now start focusing this power out into the world. Joi