Rise and Shine – Personal Development is a Lifestyle

Personal development technology is not a telephone booth that doubles as a dressing room for us to change into our super self.

True self improvement addresses the strengths and weaknesses of the individual. It guides us in the process of supplementing our deficiencies and reducing our excesses. One size does not fit all.

Those of us interested and actively involved in the personal development journey have by now become familiar with the focus placed on constant forward motion in self improvement literature.

The gurus of self improvement are for the most part type A, take no prisoners, no surrender-no retreat icons of maximum performance.

But what about the rest of us. What about the type B folks, who are content with living our dream of non-competitive personal best.

What about those who are motivated by an intrinsic sense of self-expression and self-actualization that does not revolve around besting the gal next door.

An integral and very important tool employed in the personal development journey is the observation of retreat. Retreat is removal of oneself from the normal activities and environment. It provides a clear space and time for you to reintegrate, reflect and renew.

When we retreat, we remove ourselves from the battle field. We find a safe place where we can go within for assessment and reparation.

Retreat allows us a moment to listen to the signals that may be getting drowned out by the constant rabble of the world. We embrace quietude, reflection and assessment as a foundation from which our next campaign will be launched. We slow down, tune in and right our course.

When we re-enter the fray, we return with clarity, having dropped the excess baggage of the previous encounter.

We return with strength centered in the core of our being and ready to be directed. We return focused, eye on the prize and single minded.

Retreats are necessary and should be built into all of the cycles of our life. There are not just for special times of year. But are for transitioning from one campaign, task, strategy to the next.

Here are some ways we can work retreat into our personal development lifestyle.

• Use a portion of your meal time to retreat. Don’t just rush down your food then rush back to your work station. A focused, sincere prayer before eating is the ideal retreat. After your meal, a casual walk with no “next” destination on your local streets or a park is an excellent daily constitutional.
• Incorporate internal exercise time into your day. Practice 20 min. of yoga, tai chi or qi gong or some other internal art. If you are not yet a practitioner. Take a class 1-2 sessions per week and practice on your own.

• Choose a scripture or passage from you favorite spiritual text and contemplate it’s deeper meaning in your life. What does the passage mean to you? How does speak to you personally? What can you take from it to improve your life and the life of those around you?

• One day of your week should be a Sabbath day. A day that is focused on connecting to the source of your being. A day devoted to inner labor. A day to let the cares of the world fend for themselves.

• Once a month take a trip with family and friends to a nature setting. A lake, a park, on a hike, a hot spring, a waterfall. In inclement weather go to a spa and allow the sauna and steam rooms to melt your stress and eliminate your toxins.

• An annual retreat with your religious or spiritual organization is always rejuvenating. You will return re-connected to divine, humanity and nature. With clear purpose to guide you in the coming year.

These are but a few ways to hit the reset button of your spirit and unclutter your brain, so it may serve you optimally in the challenges ahead. Start incorporating retreats into your schedule today. Notice the way you feel and perform after re-entry. Develop your on protocol for how to get the most out of your retreat time, based on your own personality and needs.

“Black Male Unemployment Comparable to ‘Great Depression”

This is one of the many headlines you will find on your local newsstand, the internet and falling eloquently from the mouths of the well informed and ill informed alike. And has now trickled down to the barbershop and street corner politicking shared amongst young men in our inner cities.

“Son, ain’t no jobs out here. I put in mad applications, but nobody’s calling me back.”

When you accept someone else ‘interpretation’ of events, of the future and of reality, you have made a commitment to walk lock step in stride with their train of thought.

Make no mistake about it, believing is committing. When you accept an idea, explanation or perception as your reality; you are committing your rational-emotive resources to support, pursue and be consistent with that idea. You are now married to the idea. This is how the human psyche works. What you believe is what you get.

I have on several occasion found myself falling into this pattern. Embracing the popular explanation of why some particular human institution is failing. “Yeah, business is slow, people aren’t spending like they were three years ago.” And then I sit back and suffer the self fulfillment of my prophecy.

Until things begin to get so tight, reality bitch slaps me in the jaw- “It’s not the economy stupid, it’s you.”

Immediately, I see the light (that’s what happens when you get slapped), I need to diversify. If folks aren’t buying my product like they used to, maybe I need to start selling a few more products in different markets. I can also add more value to my existing product, making it more competitive, without lowering my prices. Maybe I can . . . . The ideas start flooding in.

If you buy into the idea- “the economy is bad, ‘therefore’ the likelihood of my being able to support myself financially is improbable. As a black male, damn near impossible.” You might as well get down to the soup kitchen before the line gets long. Better yet, join the underground economy where this has long been a mantra.

Drinking this flavor of Kool Aid automatically shuts off the creativity and resilience switch in your brain.

You have blocked access to a faculty that has assisted humans in becoming the cream of the planet. Our adaptability. Our ability to improvise. To rise to the occasion and outwit much stronger forces.

Almost one in five Black men 20-years-old or older are without a job, according to figures released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics earlier this month.

So Kazi, are you saying that there is no economic crisis and that it’s just my imagination?

Emphatically not! What I am saying is, “So what?” So the country is in a recession. So what? I am saying, don’t base the likelihood of your success or failure on statistics.

Don’t feed your mind a story that doesn’t conclude with you as the victor. Don’t lose the battle before you even swing.

Every warrior going into battle knows that his psychological state is just as important as his physical state. Don’t ruin the morale of your troops (rational-emotive forces) and expect to get their best efforts.

Get psyched up, not psyched out!

The recession is simply a part of the terrain on the economic battlefield. It’s an obstacle, a mountain in your path. You can either climb over it, march around it or tunnel through it. There are options. But to see the options, you have to be open to the possibility that there is another way to get to your destination. Use the news (reports from the field) as a resource to inform your strategy. Not as a prediction of success or failure.

Who thought that Muhammad Ali would beat Sonny Liston? Muhammad Ali, that’s who. Who thought he would beat Leon Spinks? Everybody!

Let’s us for a moment take the current economic situation or “recession” for a given. What can you do about it? Nothing! How can you change the condition of the economy today? You can’t. You don’t control the economy.

Economic cycles are a natural & social phenomenon.

Prior to modern civilization, famine, floods, volcanic eruption, hurricanes and other forms of natural disaster where the cause of economic crisis. And their effects were not gradual. They ruined entire societies within hours. This still occurs in many regions around the world.

What you do have control over is the information you value, the strategy you develop, the alliances you make and your own actions.

One of the most important tools in your arsenal are the questions you ask.

Here are a few questions to get you started on writing your own economic stimulus plan:

• What alternatives, what options do I have, that will allow me to survive and thrive in the present economic climate?
• What resources, skills and connections are at my disposal?
• Where can I cut back on my monthly expenses?
• How can I stretch my dollar?
• Is my present place (city, region, country) of residence the best place for me to thrive in the next 5-10 years?
• How can I use my talents, expertise and skills to generate income, if I cant find a job?
• Who can I team up with to form temporary or permanent income generating alliances?
• Does the fact that 20% of the men in my community are unemployed offer a unique opportunity for me to become an employer?
• What are the possibilities I haven’t considered?
• Who would be a good person to seek out for advice.
• What person or group within my community always finds a way to weather the economic storm – legally? What can I learn from them?
• How can I re-frame the popular conclusions about what the present conditions mean to me, to help activate my creative problem solving faculties.
  

Do you need an infusion of cash- soon?

Take out a pencil and paper right now and start brainstorming. Answer the questions above with as many ideas that come to mind.

You may even come up with some additional questions in the process. Once you narrow down your options, come up with a plan to get your idea of the ground. Just get started, and work on it as you go along.

So leave the reporting of the news to the reporters. Stop programming yourself for failure. Stop allowing the media, your psuedo-leaders and hood gossip to provide your spiritual mantra. The reasons you give for what you can and can’t achieve.

Remember: if you receive shit, and you believe shit, you will achieve shit.

Contrary to popular opinion, news commentary is not reality. It isn’t even a guide for how to navigate current events. The news is simply one wing of a social control mechanism, that distracts you from your intrinsic power through “information & sensory overload.”

What we need to be talking-up, are modern day legends. Community generated stories that exemplify the ability to be successful in the face of adversity. The story of what human beings like ourselves, in touch with our personal and collective divine power have and can achieve. Stories of vision, compassion, faith and hard work. Stories that reminds us of our potential and align us with our possibilities.

The Two Wolves

A Cherokee elder was teaching his grandchildren about life.

He said to them, “A fight is going on inside me… it is a terrible fight between two wolves.

One wolf represents fear, anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, hatefulness, and lies.

The other stands for joy, peace, love, hope, humbleness, kindness, friendship, generosity, faith, and truth.

This same fight is going on inside of you, and inside every other person, too.”

The children thought about it for a minute. Then one child asked his grandfather,

“Which wolf will win?”

The Cherokee elder replied . . .

The one you feed.

Leave a comment below and let me know what you think. Pro or Con. You won’t hurt my feelings -much. ; )

The desire to be productive is hard wired into
the human psyche.  We feel better about ourselves when we can see our accomplishments. It raises our self confidence and allows us to relax guilt free. We all have a certain area of our lives that we find it difficult to get things done. For many, it is the day to day grind of household maintenance.

Certain chores around the house are boring no matter how you look at them. Others, however, can actually be fun. With some creative thinking, you can enjoy yourself while you’re being productive. Just keep an open mind as you search for creative ideas.

Here are nine ways to have fun being productive at home:

1. Listen to music. If you put on some of your favorite tunes, you might find that the job becomes much more enjoyable. This works especially well for the types of tasks that don’t involve much thinking, like washing dishes, doing laundry, or cleaning. You can concentrate on the music while you work.

2. Organize your memories. The outdoor chores you had planned got trumped by rain. Looking for a productive way to spend a rainy day? Take some time to organize your memories. Arrange photos in an album. Burn the old family videos and cassettes to DVD and CD. Start a scrapbook. This a perfect way to reminisce about the good old days while you work.

3. Work with friends. Gather family members and friends to help you out. You’ll find that it’s difficult to be bored when there are people around to talk to. Reward yourselves with a dinner party after the job is done.

4. Give yourself a break. Every now and then, it’s important to give yourself a break. Frequent small breaks can actually increase your productivity. Your concentration on the task at hand will increase because you can defer distractions until the upcoming break time.

5. Find a way to reward yourself. If you have to complete a task that seems overwhelming, give yourself a small reward for completing each step. If you’re working on something big, give yourself a big reward after you’re finished.

6. Make it a game. Think about the task at hand. How can you make it into a game? Maybe you can try to see how productive you can be in a certain amount of time. Enlist the help of others and create a good-natured competition. Before you know it, the task will be completed!

7. Make a special meal. Learn to cook new recipes so that you can provide delicious meals for your family. This is an opportunity to start learning to cook healthier meals for your family. It hardly feels like work if you’re cooking up the foods you love. Later, you can tweak the recipes to make them your own.

8. Try gardening. Gardening is a wonderful way to stay active while enjoying the outdoors. You can also take pride in choosing what to plant, tending your garden, and watching it grow. A garden enhances the beauty of your home and may even increase its value.

9. Sell items you don’t need. You can eliminate clutter from your home by selling items you don’t need. You can sell your stuff on the internet using sites like eBay or Craigslist. You’ll love the feeling of freedom that comes with the extra space in the house, and you may even pick up a few extra bucks in the process.

With the right mindset, you can make most tasks enjoyable. Ask yourself how to make your boring tasks more fun, and you’ll never look at your household tasks the same again.

Thousand’s of books, articles, and media productions are published each year, targeting the human need to be productive. Self improvement enthusiast adopt new productivity strategies, like overweight people adopt diets. Each new offering is the flavor of the month.

We all know when we are not being productive. We can sense within ourselves a hint of falling short. There is a certain disappointment with our efforts and accomplishments, that leaves us feeling unfulfilled.

This sense of coming up short is a warning signal flashing on our divinity meter. It let’s us know, that we are not being the creators we were meant to be. We are not using the talents, intelligence, life force and consciousness that is our divine inheritance to create a haven for ourselves, our loved ones and the world.

Nature is a prime example of productivity in action. Every moment life is being created, growing, maturing, declining and passing away. Only to be replaced by new life, that will follow the same cycle.

What do we learn from the natures productive cycle?

• within every seed lies the template of the fruit – start your day with a goal in mind.
• The birth of the seed marks the death of the fruit – complete the previous task and have closure before initiating something new.
• before a tree rises up, the seed sinks into the earth to root itself – prepare for the productive journey by gathering the material, emotional and mental resources required. Root yourself in the certainty of a successful outcome before you make your plans public.
• Like the stem that becomes the trunk, your initial efforts toward your goal must be bold, passionate and focused. This initial surge will create the momentum that will help to keep you moving upward and forward when the unforeseen challenges arise (and they will arise).

Daily accomplishments are not just about checking to-dos off of a list. Every time you make a plan and carry it through, you strengthen your soul force and communicate value and respect for your very life breath. These are the prayers that reach heaven and shape earth.  In contrast, breaking you word to self, eats away at your soul confidence and increases your personal burden of guilt, apathy, doubt and fear.

Each task completed reduces the power of the adversary that is our own doubtful, rebellious thought habits.  When you keep your personal promise, your word becomes the bond that re-connects you to your divine promise/purpose/birth right.

Let’s be fruitful and multiply!