Unlimited Power

In Positive Change and Transformation, I recently wrote about the fact that those of us fro a political background often come from a position of blame. Blaming white folks, blaming those in power, blaming whoever. Even blaming ourselves and each other.

Individuality

By individuality, I mean valuing oneself and others and respecting one’s own ideals and values. For more about this, see The Key to Confidence.

Individuality is not the same as being individualistic or selfish. Nor does it mean doing something because “Black people do it”. In order to be individuals, we need to honour our uniqueness.

The more we behave as individuals, and treat others as individuals, the more we can become free of the group mentality which lies at the hear tof the blame culture.

Instead of blaming, we need to take responsibility.

Passivity vs. Blame

At the opposite end of the spectrum from blaming is passivity. The “let God take care of it” attitude that many of us from a religious background tend to have.

I think this is a cultural difference between Black and white people. People from European backgrounds tend to be confident about self-power, but they tend to fear other power. We, on the other hand, tend to be overly reliant on other power, and lack confidence in our self-power.

We need both. We need a balance between self-power and other-power.

Although I have said that they are opposites, passivity and blame often go together. This is because we feel frustrated by our own passivity and then project it onto others.

I saw a post on an online forum recently where someone who had worked in a care home was writing about the corruption she had witnessed on a daily basis. She had seen residents of the home being abused. She wrote, “I was going to challenge it, but then I decided to leave it to God”.

People, we cannot afford to “leave it to God”.

When I was a Christian and believed in a god, I also believed that “God helps those who help themselves”.

To put it another way, everything we do is matched with energy from the universe. The universe matches and multiplies whatever energy we put out.

We can only do this if we focus on our own power – not other people’s. For more about this, read Allowing Success.

Imagine you have unlimited power to attain anything you want, and fulfill your dreams.

You do have this power, you were born with it . Reach down inside yourself to draw on this power. You are unstoppable.

For more about this, see The Higher Self.

As I said in Success Strategies for Black People, never say "I can't". Say "How can I?".

Michael Jackson Is Dead

Wow. I remember when he first came to prominence, when he was 10 and I was 11. He was an exceptional talent and grew up to be one of the biggest stars on the planet - deservedly so. In those days, to be famous and successful as a performer, you needed to have real talent. And he had it in spades.

He has had such a troubled life. He had no childhood. He faced his demons in adulthood but we don't know if he won.

I was just thinking about Michael Jackson a couple of nights ago, about how when he was a child and was appearing with the Jackson 5 at the Royal Variety Performance, Elton John said he felt sorry for them because they had been made to wait so long.

He was interviewed by Oprah, where they both talked about the childhood abuse they had suffered.

How could he have died of a heart attack? He was only 50. What was going on there?

This has really shocked me. No doubt we will be learning more over the next days and weeks.

See also, Celebrating the Legend That Is Motown.

Black Men's Health - Too Embarrassed to Talk about It?

On Oprah today, Dr. Oz will be the host. It's the first time anyone other than Oprah herself has hosted.

The topic is men's health. And everyone in the studio will be male.

If you are a Black man, are you too embarrassed to talk about your health? Do you avoid talking about it with your wife, the woman in your life, your family?

Do you avoid going to the doctor because you don't want to get bad news?

How can we as healthcare and health promotion workers reach African American and African Caribbean men? How can we support them to get the health checks they need?

In the free More Black Success ebook Volume 4, Dr. Bill Releford writes about the Black Barbershop Project. If we can't get the men to go to the doctor, we need to bring the doctor to the men.

For your free copy, visit More Black Success today!

I'm on TV Tonight!

I will be appearing on the Rhoda Wilson Show tonight (Friday 19th June) at 10:00 p.m. I hope you will join us.

Rhoda will interview me about my book Success Strategies for Black People and about my Nonviolent Communication (NVC) workshops for the African Caribbean Community.

BEN TV, Sky Channel 184
The Rhoda Wilson Show

I am very passionate about this work. It is changing people's lives.

Positive Change and Transformation

In the face of recent events such as, for example, the Samantha Orabator case, the Troy Davis case and the many instances of tasings of African American people, one of my online contacts recently raised the question, “What Can We Do?”.

We work so hard to battle these injustices. Yet they never seem to decrease. So what can we do?

My work is all about creating a more positive future.

The Law of Attraction tells us that whatever we put our energies into, increases in our lives. This is very similar to the Law of Increase, which I write about in my book Success Strategies for Black People.

Although our intention is to bring about positive change, we need to be aware that these universal laws are constantly working. They can work for us or against us. We can use them in our favour – or not.

In other words, the more energy we put into battling a problem, the more energy we are giving to that problem.

We need to turn our focus to the solution rather than the problem.

Situations such as the case of Samantha Orabator will often respond to Spiritual Response Therapy (SRT). I write about SRT and the Higher Self in Success Strategies.

I also write about Nonviolent Communication (NVC) as well as other highly effective processes.

These are transformative methods. I have seen miracles happen in my life and in the lives of others. This is why I wrote the book. I want to make these methods available to as many people of African heritage as possible. We can use these methods and other things I cover in the book to heal ourselves, our families and our communities. And we can use them to achieve much, much more.

I am passionate about the work I do because I have seen the difference it makes in people’s lives.

As Black people, we often get into victim mentality. This is because we have been victimised for so many generations.

Those of us of a political bent say, “Organise! Fight back!”. And of course, there is a time to organise. There is a time to fight, to defend our communities.

However, in order to bring about real positive, effective change and transformation, we need to turn our focus inward.

Human beings in general tend to blame others for our problems, difficulties and issues. This is a basic human tendency. And others are often to blame.

The problem with this is that it locates the solution outside of us. If only “they” would treat us better. If only he, she or they would stop doing whatever it is they are doing and do what we want them to do. Then everything would be okay.

Please note, I am NOT trying to take the blame for racism and racist violence off of white people.

I am just saying that, whether we blame ourselves or other people, blame is not a solution. And I am interested in solutions.

We have amazing power. We need to use this power to bring about the changes we need. Blame then becomes a distraction from what will bring about the real changes we deserve.

I am a pragmatist. I am committed to doing what works.

I will be blogging about this further within the next few days.

Too Many Politicians?

In the light of the recent Parliamentary expenses scandal, David Cameron has been calling for a reduction in the number of politicians.

Surely there need to be more. Constituencies are way too big, which is one reason why the politicians have gotten out of touch with the electorate. One politician said his "private life", i.e. how he spends our money, is none of our business!

Meanwhile, there has been this row over the fact that all members of the London Assembly, including the BNP member, have been invited to a garden party at Buckingham Palace by the Queen. Apparently, she invites the Assembly every year.

I do not hold with the argument that if she invites one, she has to invite all of them. The BNP are no better than the National Front, albeit with briefcases and nice suits. In other words, Nazis.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but did we not fight a war against these people? Are these not the same people who dropped bombs on London and other British cities every night? Now they are attacking from the inside.

But I blame the electorate. These people would not be in power if people didn't vote for them. Similarly, people voted for Hitler. Learn from history, folks!

Maybe Cameron's right, we do have too many politicians.

Against the Execution of Troy Davis (How much is a Black man's life worth?)

Troy Davis waits to be executed for a murder he did not commit. The case against him rests on the flimsiest of evidence.

Many of us are aware of the Exonerations Project and the Center for Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University.

Among other things, this proved what many of us have known for many years – African American men are disproportionately convicted, imprisoned and sentenced to execution.

Troy Davis’s case stands out at this time because he is scheduled for execution, because there is practically no evidence against him, and because the courts have refused to reopen his case. He was given a 30-day stay of execution, but this has already passed.

There was no murder weapon and no physical evidence to convict him. Seven of the nine witnesses against him have withdrawn their testimony, stating that they only provided it under duress.

You can read more about this at Sojourner’s Place.

See also Derrick’s Window

Converstions with Marva

So why is this case being upheld?

Why is a retrial not being granted?

Fans of TV dramas such as CSI and Law and Order would strongly object if these shows depicted such a case. No weapon, no forensic evidence. This plot does not hold together.

But this is real life. And history has shown us time and time again that Black people’s lives are not worth much.

He killed a police officer. He must be guilty, regardless of the lack of evidence.

It just seems like the same old thing to me. String another one up. Lynchings, tasings, legal, state-sponsored executions. It all amounts to the same thing. So much African blood being spilled.

Black life is not worth much.

Meanwhile, the real killer is still out there somewhere.

Black life is not worth much.

Think about Samantha Orobator, the young woman from South London who was scheduled for execution in Laos.

Black life is not worth much.

Amnesty International have called for today to be an International Day of Blogging for Action.

Black life is not worth much. Click here to email or fax Georgia’s Governor Perdue and prove that this is not true.

Black Writers and Artists, Add Your Link

I am in the process of carrying over the links from the old Nurture Success site. They will appear on various lists including

African Heritage Resources and

Writers' Resources

If you are a writer or an artist of African heritage, please join Black Books and Stuff and add your link. You can also post news of any events you are holding on this site.

You will also want to check out this list of Resources for Black Writers and Readers.