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I envision a world where people are able to freely live their lives with no boundaries- free of poverty, hunger, racism, and religious persecution. Most passionately, I envision (and pray) that people develop a free and strong mindset. What's so deep in my heart, expresses itself through the channels of my mind, in hopes that the passion and effort flows freely to those who aspire to the same things. I want to reach our youth and help them unleash their thoughts and dreams to allow them to grow and manifest. I want to see people experience the revelation of freedom in their lives, and the beauty that life has to bring them by opening their eyes and minds to new possibilities. The state of society and, more personally, my communities troubles me. If I have to be the example, I want to be it. I aim to plant seeds, not to force hands. I plan to work, not just talk.

God Bless

Its an Emergency

Recently, parts of the eastern coast of the United States experienced an earthquake and endured the blows of a hurricane. (Thoughts and prayers goes out to those who were affected by either -or both- events). One of the things that I noticed was that, in lieu of these events, the urgency to brace for potential catastrophe was elevated as people rushed to grocery stores, hardware stores, and gas stations to load up on the necessary supplies for survival. It began to make me think that in many cases, all it takes is the fear of danger to spark a movement of action. Naturally, we are a being of comfort and tend to stay in such a state until something prompts us to act with a sense of urgency. That is the problem many of us face. We fail to recognize the true emergence of our stagnation until we are directly affected by some opposing entity. It runs deeper than sheer procrastination, but to the very core of our refusal to act. Why? Because it is not important until it becomes "important." We would rather continue to patch the leak instead of repairing the pipes, and when eventually the house floods, we put ourselves in the mode to act. The problem, in many instances, is that in times of emergency, it is already too late to act. The house is destroyed.

Sometimes, when waiting for disaster to occur in order to act, we miss out on the opportunity to prepare. We end up being left with the oft uttered phrase "should have." Moments will pass and the time to act will expire, and many times when the emergency strikes, it is already too late. Take heed of your situation, and recognize the potential severity in action that is provoked far too late. There is a saying that "if it ain't broke, why fix it," but there is a responsibility to keep it maintained.

God Bless

Incorporate it into Your Life

How many times have we wondered as to why certain things have not manifested in our lives? I pose this as a serious question, that I had to ask myself as well. Let us think about the times that we have been to worship, attended a wealth building seminar, or received some well-needed wisdom. In those moments of time, we were filled with a boost of energy and excitement that had us ready to take on the world. So, as we look back, we noticed that same energy and excitement turned out to be a dud. Now, the why must be answered. The easiest thing to do is excuse ourselves of fault and point out all of the reasons why things didnt happen. However, whether it is the lack of motivation, lack of understanding, or just the lack of.... the reason, I believe,  that things do not manifest in our lives is that we fail to incorporate these ideas into our lives. Excuses or not, such inaction is a root cause to our disadvantages. We take ideas and feel good about them (sort of a pick me up), but are not confident enough to practice them. People get ahead because they use their gifts, they act on their ideas, and they do not let wisdom sit on the shelf.

Again, I ask "How many times?" Many. Why? Inaction. If you have a skill, use it. If you feel motivated or energized, release it. If you receive wisdom, practice it. It follows the "practice what you preach" adage; by incorporating life's nuggets into our lives, we will begin to see actualization and growth in those questions we asked.

Humble yourself with Confidence

In the baseball world, it is a common saying that the game itself will humble you. Why? The reason is that baseball is considered to be the game of failure. It is seen as a game that causes you to drop your head, and prevent you from riding too high on your horses. In the conventional world, it seems that to be humble or to exhibit any form of humility requires you to downgrade your own self-esteem. It tends to have a negative portrayal.

During chapel, we discussed Daniel and the power of prayer and how in his prayer he recognized the importance of God. The chaplain, preceded to say that "to be humble doesn't mean to have a lower outlook of yourself, but instead to have the right outlook." Daniel was humble enough to recognize God as the head of the throne (instead of denouncing Him for the king), but was bold enough to face persecution, through his humility, because he had the right outlook. Daniel showed humility in God's word, but exerted confidence in doing His work through prayer.

To have humility doesn't mean that we should walk around with our heads down, feeling as if we should diminsh our self-esteem. Instead, it should cause us to walk with our heads up. I believe exhibiting humility is not the time to show contrition, but the time to show confidence. True humility displays true confidence, for in having the right outlook, the true power of being humble will reveal itself.

God Bless

I'm going to do.......

Isn't it funny how we wait for the right time to do things, when time itself doesn't wait on us at all for anything. "'Going to do it' is the law of procrastination," said Julia Steton. We (including myself) have told the world plenty of times what we were going to do. Basically, we should just tell the world what we are not going to do because action is identified only through action. Let's not be practical in words instead let's be proactive in works.

God Bless

Be careful! when it's easy

This is an anecdote that I read while reading The 48 Laws of Power. It comes from the Essays in Idleness, Kenko, Japan, 14th Century.

A man who was famous as a tree climber was guiding someone in climbing a tall tree. He ordered the man to cut the top branches, and, during this time, when the man seemed to be in great danger, the expert said nothing. Only when the man was coming down and had reached the height of the eaves did the expert call out, "Be careful! Watch your step coming down!" I asked him, "Why did you say that? At that height he could jump the rest of the way if he chose." "That's the point," said the expert. "As long as the man was up at a dizzy height and the branches were threatening to break, he himself was so afraid I said nothing. Mistakes are always made when people get to the easy places."

God Bless!

Limitless

A few months ago, I went to watch the movie Limitless, which was about a man (Eddie Mora) who was introduced to a pill that allowed him to utilize 100% of his brain vs. the normal 20%. This pill gave Eddie extraordinary access into his own brain where he was able to enhance his ability to focus, retain and analyze information unfathomably, recall years of information that was all but forgotten, read rapidly, and pretty much do everything that the brain is ever capable of doing. This was an extraordinary movie in the sense that (outside of the suspense and action) it presented a picture of the unlimited abilities that the brain has and even more importantly of the unlimited doors that can be opened if we were to utilize more of it. Though presumably, there are no pills that allow us such access to our brains, there are products that claim, if not anything else, to enhance focus and the likes.

However, in today's society one of the main reasons many people are not able to effectively utilize more of their brains to broader capabilities is that we do not effectively exercise our brains to do so. There is not enough brain exercise going on that allows the brain to get stronger in a sense. Like a muscle, the brain needs to go through rigorous training such as constructive reading, problem solving, and engaging in thought provoking activities. Instead we fill ourselves with the gluttony of television, gossip, and other sorts of rogue entertainment. We become more concerned with entertaining our brains than "intertraining" it. I personally believe that many people fear what their brains are capable of; in essence, they fear success. Throughout history, many great people were outcasted because of the limitless abilities that their minds possessed, and moreso their willingness to bring forth such abilities.

Nowadays we speak of innovation, and if we allow ourselves to tap into once uncharted territories in our brains, we can begin to remove boundaries. We are always told that the "sky is the limit" but our brains are capable of the limitless. I challenge each person to challenge themselves a little each day with an exercise for the brain, and lets see how far our brain will take us.

God Bless