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Uncomfortable Truths: Stop Coddling and Reclaim Your Power

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Uncomfortable Truths: Stop Coddling and Reclaim Your Power Walking across a parking lot, shifting from a vehicle to the school, I couldn’t help but notice the discomfort lurking beneath our everyday interactions. Even while I was in the midst of my Ramadan fast—a practice that sharpens the mind and spirit—I felt compelled to address a deeply ingrained issue in our society: the idea that we must make everyone feel comfortable at all times. The Comfort Conundrum We’ve been conditioned to believe that ensuring everyone’s comfort is not just desirable but essential. However, when it comes to confronting anti-blackness and reclaiming our space, this comfort becomes a barrier rather than a bridge. Too often, we allow those who would undermine our strength to settle in too easily, softening our resolve. It’s time to shed the notion that we owe anyone an easy ride. The Unyielding Call for Accountability There’s a powerful message echoing from the words of John Henry Clark: we owe nothing b...
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Mastering Consciousness: Overcoming Unbalanced Passions

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Mastering Consciousness: Overcoming Unbalanced Passions Welcome to today's discussion. We're diving into question number six in our ongoing series, and since we're on a roll, we might as well tackle question seven too. These questions build on our previous exploration— "What must the warrior do to become great?" The answer was clear: They must be willing to die. But die to what? The answer lies in dying to unbalanced passions —those forces that cloud our judgment, trap us in cycles of negativity, and keep us from achieving true greatness. What Are the Unbalanced Passions? The unbalanced passions are: Fear Envy Pride Greed Sloth Lust Anger These are not just abstract concepts; they are real forces that, when unchecked, can dominate our lives. They fuel chaos and keep us from seeing reality for what it is. Passions should be tools, not masters. When we let them take control, they distort our consciousness and limit our power. The Enemy of Consciousness Why must...
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Dont'T Let Them Get Comfortable

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  Don’t Let Them Get Comfortable I am surprised the fox is just now coming around in my selection of folktales. Those that don’t know the fox in Aesop fables is in every role, from the bad guy, to the hero, to the instigator, and traitor. This animal is the trickster that you find on every content and in every story tradition on this planet. (My fault he was the bowman and the lion tale) In this story format which you run into maybe a few more times in reading Aesop. The fox is introduced to something new. He has never seen a lion,and he is terrified. But as time goes on he eventually begins to talk to him and finally becomes comfortable around him. Since Aesop stresses I think it is one that we need to cover. For some reason aesop feels that he needs to warn us against allowing people to get comfortable around us. In fact in another story that we eventually cover this comfortableness leads to slavery. I believe that the message is that in our dealings never let people get too comf...
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Experience Matters

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  Experience Matters I love this story because it stresses the power of experience. The mother is looking over her chicks and raising them up and from her bag of experience she not only taught them a powerful lesson, but also those of us who read the story. The moral of the story is “Self help is the best help” which is a powerful statement on its own, but the lesson I learned from the story was take time and learn from your elders. The lark in the story through observation had learned the ways of man. Through her observation she knew exactly when to flee. Even though her young ones were ready she knew that they had time to put more weight on, and eat before it was too late. This type of experiential learning is not only a lesson for the young, but is also a lesson for the old. Are you an elder that can present the young with good advice because you have truly observed the world and participated in it. Are you giving sound advice to the young so that they can build up their mental ...
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Stand Up, But Be ready To Fight

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  Stand Up, But Be ready to Fight Seeking what is yours in the court of an oppressor never works out well. This story reminds us of this. I think that it was stories like this that really made me fall in love with Aesop. He showed that if you really want something that requires you getting permission from others you have to be willing to fight. Freedom can never be given it has to be snatched out of the hands of oppressors. This story does a much better job of demonstrating this because in this story the lions make a reply to the poor hares.  I can see the hares going to lion universities integrating into their system, and still be hunted as prey. Learning the ways and laws of lions, but after all that they end up being shut down by the simple  fact.  What is crazy to me is the rabbits were not seeking separation, they simply were asking to be treated equally, by the lions and other animals. But this request was out the question because the one thing that rabbits nee...
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  Don’t Lose What You Have For Imaginary Gains Here is another folktale about losing ourselves in pursuit of something that is not ours, and truly can never be. We to birds that were gifted with the ability to sing, that became enamored with the neigh of a horse. When I first heard this one I could do nothing but laugh because I had been caught in situations like this.  The swan and kite in the story fell in love not necessarily the sound of the neigh, but they may have fell in love with the sense of pride in which the horse did it. I believe that they confused the two. They really wanted the pride that the horse put behind the neigh, and not the neigh. Many of us get caught in this trap. We confuse the exterior with the internal and think that we want what the other person has. We begin to imitate, but we don’t get the same response that the original received. It is hard for us to understand that “it is not the close that makes the man, it is the man that makes the close”....
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A True Sucker Move

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  A True Sucker Move This is a tale of enslavement, and as sad as it is I have to make sure that my readers get the point. Please realize that this horse was a slave long before he took the man as his partner. The horse fell prey to the Unbalanced passions that we often talk about in Gye-nyame long before the bit was placed in his mouth. He led himself toward destruction and sacrificed everything because he was not seeing clearly. The most unfortunate thing about this whole story is that I witness this behavior on a daily basis. We have people willing to slow dance with destruction rather than take a moment to really think about the ramifications of their actions. I have seen people destroy and attempt to destroy organizations that serve the community for something as petty as the horse’s grievance in this tale. Just like the horse, these people don’t realize until it is too late that they have sold their souls. Man it is like watching a car crash in slow motion. You know the resul...
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Know Your $#!+

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  Know Yo $#!+ This is a key lesson that I hope that you get. If you have been reading these posts then you are someone that wants to make improvements to your current life. This means that you need to work on becoming a master of something. Preferably something that you can offer to your community that they need. But before you put up your shingle please make sure you know what you are doing. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being an apprentice to someone that can guide you on the path to becoming a master. Because what we have out here now is all of of sudden everybody knows everything. You have all experienced it. People who last week working at the electric company and that you have known for years, have all of the sudden become a financial guru. I know yall know what I’m talking about and I am throwing shade. But as one of the Ancestors said ‘ When you throw a rock into a pack of dogs the one that got hit is the one that yelps”, if you are yelping excuse my rock. These i...
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The Nucleus Of Imani

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  The Nucleus Of Imani Today we will be talking about the nucleus of Imani. Imani is the base of the system that we talk about in Gye-Nyame Journey. Any principle that is used without Imani will be rendered useless. We have to build up the Imani in the system by practicing it on a regular basis. This means that we have to structure the practice so that Imani flows out of us automatically. Once again we have to begin setting up ways that we can activate this principle even when we are seeking and find our why. “We know that unless the practice is working for you, it's useless. That's why we're taking time today to build Imani into your life.” When we find our Nia it is like being in a dark room blind folded and we have to figure out how to get out to share what we have with the world. In this situation the only thing that can get us out is the Trust (Imani) that we have in our senses. The reason it is setup like this is to test if we are worthy of what we seek. We have to be...
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Breaking The Cycle

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  Breaking the Cycle  Great Nia Great day FAM, we have made it to the day of Nia in the week of Nia, and now we have to look at Nia through the eyes of Nia. Wow, I didn’t think about this until I sat down on my keyboard and started pounding out this blog. The Purpose of purpose. Why do we do what we do? Are you living a life on purpose or are you living on accident. Do you Know why you are doing and pursuing what you are doing and pursuing? Sounds like stupid questions, but many people when asked can not answer these questions outside of using the term “I have too”. Many of us are trapped in a cycle of accidents, and don’t know how to get out! So here is where we continue the process. Looking at the ways in which we can break the cycles that we are presently in. If you have started building on the ideas that we have been sharing for the last few weeks, you will eventually begin to see changes within yourself, and eventually you begin to affect the environment that you are in. ...
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  You Better Define Your Purpose & Yo Name Great Kujichagulia:   In this week of purpose we are going to focus on you finding you. I mean the real “You” and what you were born to do. At least strive to get you to begin to ask the question of why you choose to manifest in this day and time. The key word that I am using is choose. I need you to assume that your being here today is not an accident. Nia is the principle that speaks of purpose. So let's assume that there is a higher purpose to your existence. If we are a generational people and we return, then there is a specific reason that we came back to this world. When we identify this reason we now have our why, and this is empowering. If we eliminate the idea of being a victim of chemistry between our parents, and apply the idea that we came here by choice it enables us to look at other possibilities in life. This thought alone can help us move through hard times because it means that we are divine and many of the t...
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Unified Purpose

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  Unified Purpose Great Umoja: Oh my goodness! We have made it into the week of Nia, and now she has to be our focus this week. I love the principle of Nia, because Nia gives or should give us our “WHY”. Hopefully you have found your Nia, and are moving in it. If not, hopefully we can help you with that during this week. We can at least put it on your mind so that you can start attracting her to you. Family, I need to stress the importance of asking questions during this week. When we ask questions, and we are genuinely looking for answers the Universe responds. We might not like the answer we get, or may not even understand it at that time, but It answers us. So, if you have not identified your Nia, this is the week to practice a lot of humbleness and ask questions. “Our Nia is the reason why we wake up in the morning, and doing our Nia is what allows us to live out of wholeness. That's why doing your Nia is so important in life.” We are on Umoja today and I want to focus on the c...
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Daily Toast- Umoja 424171 "Drama"

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Peace FAM: I hope this day finds you standing in Peace, Power, & Joy, our true natural state. Unfortunately we are bombarded with anti-virtues that strives to pull us from this natural state into a spiral that often ends in a wreck. One of these your anti-virtues that i will focus on today is "drama". Drama is an inescapable part of life, but the issue is when it is magnified, stressed upon by others, and then thrust into your existence. FAM the truth of the matter is that you do not have to buy into others over dramatization of life events. Actually it will benefit you greatly if you did not. We are surrounded by these over dramatic episodes today in ways that our ancestors never were. We are bombraded with news, timelines, comments, phone calls, tweets, photos, and etc., that strive to keep us involved and a part of needless drama. This need is driven by a lack of attention, and a lack of purpose. the drama springs up and begin to eat at the unity of the group, and eve...
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Professionalism Vs. Mastery

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Are you a professional or a master? At first glance they may appear to be the same but when we look at their roots and motivation they are not. When we take a look at the word "professional" it is a person who practice a skill for a  livelihood .  A "Master" on the other hand is someone who pursues a passion, and develops a great skill  in what they do. Today the problem is that we have to many "pros" and not enough "Masters". A Professional can be driven by purely financial gain. They may not have a love for the art that they practice, they do it because it pays the bills. They may have been forced into their  field by life circumstances, they may have showed some natural skill, or just following a family tradition. The key  ingredient of a "Master" is missing, the love of the art. It is the love that  separates  the Master from the professional  . It is the love of the "Master" that generates advancement in his or her craf...
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