Okay, we are now 13 days into the New Year, and by now, Resolutions are probably being broken or have an additional shelf-life of about a half a month --and maybe a couple weeks longer for the over-achievers among us (smile).
So I am asking you. . .are there areas of your life -- areas in YOU -- that you want to change and grow this year? Well, My Friends and Family, consider the concepts of committing to EVOLUTIONS instead of RESOLUTIONS.
A friend of mine, Khepra the Evolutionary, wrote the following and it makes perfect sense to me.
Read it and let me know what you think. . .
Consider New Year's EVOLUTIONS and not New Year's Resolutions
Greetings All!!!
A question a friend of mine asked me about my "resolutions" for the upcoming "New Year" inspired me to write and share this.
Consider committing to what New Year's Evolutions will assist you in getting closer to the person you need to be and/or destined to be in 2008 B.C.E. and beyond. Don't try to use "resolutions" to resolve the challenges/problems that you may have had in 2007 or years prior by making New Year's Resolutions.
Commit to creating personal evolutions that will have permanency for as long as you live on this planet.
Stop considering yourself a problem child that has issues that need to be resolved before you can begin being the best person you can be today.
Commit to being the person that embodies and demonstrates the activities needed for you to be who you need to be and/or are meant to be.
Instead of making a New Year's Resolution to lose weight (been there, done that) commit to a New Year's Evolution of evolving to being that person that embodies and demonstrates the activity of getting physical exercise as often as possible. Or commit to evolving to being the person that embodies and demonstrates the activity of eating healthier.
That way your Evolution to who you are becoming can begin with immediacy and have sustained permanence.
For example, you can go to the mall and park way in the back away from the entrance of the store(s)/mall. Or when taking public transportation, get off one stop further than the nearest stop to your house or wherever you are going.
Or exit at the furthest exit on the subway. Or even taking the dreaded stairs instead of the escalator(smile).
Whatever you choose, you can immediately begin your New Year's Evolution right where you are with just a slight alteration to what you are already doing instead of promises to yourself and grand plans written out to figure out how and when to begin (been there too).
Don't just talk about it.!!!!
Don't just write about it!!!!
Be about it!!!
When embodying and demonstrating these activities, you are immediately producing tangible evidence of your New Year's Evolution that you can actually chart/record and reflect on throughout the year, not to mention throughout your life. This evolution can continue as long as you live to whatever limit you choose if you decide to choose a limit at all.
Of course you can begin your personal evolution anytime you want.
Using the philosophy of Evolution through Fusion, you can take the annually reoccurring celestial cycle of the star Sirius's (A.K.A Spdt, the Dog Star etc.) heliacal rising reaching its peak point at approximately midnight December 31. Fuse that with a strong deliberate willful intent in committing to your personal evolution and you have the ability to harness Astronomical momentum going into 2008 B.C.E. for Evolutionary results.
Who do you commit to being in 2008 B.C.E. and beyond?????
What will be your New Year's Evolution??????
Sovereignty for Success
Khepra the Evolutionary
And there you have it (Thanks, Khepra!).
Who will you commit to EVOLVING into in 2008? What will your projectory of growth be?
Too many times we focus our attention on all that needs to change around us while ignoring our own growth. I'm suggesting that in 2008 we take the time to focus some of that passion on our own Evolution.
We will be all the better for it. And so will our families, our communities, and our world.
Let me know about your Evolution(s) for 2008! I want to hear from you. . .
Meanwhile, affirming Peace to you and yours and looking forward to Evolving Together. . .
Moving Forward!
Adar
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Sunday, December 9, 2007
WHAT ARE YOU REALLY CELEBRATING?
Well, the holidays are here -- again -- and once again, I’m shaking my head at the massive scale madness that seems to engulf so many of us each year.
And it leads me to wonder: what are you REALLY “celebrating”?
Now, some folks say that they are “celebrating” this religious holiday or that one.
But I can’t figure out how spending money that you don’t have; going into debt that takes 6 - 9 months to pay off (just in time to spend again for another holiday); and focusing on secular symbols (not that there’s anything wrong with that if that is how you flow), food, and presents has anything at all to do with religion –- unless the Higher Power being celebrated is The Great God of the Coin (and in this economic climate you’d do better to genuflect to the Euro, but that is another story. . .).
And now poor Kwanzaa is on the run from the powerful, all-encompassing, greedy hand of American consumerism. Used to be that amerikkka did not even recognize Kwanzaa as a holiday. But with Kwanzaa growing worldwide as a season of importance for Afrikan descendants, I guess amerikkka decided that as long as there was a buck to be made –- or two, or three, or a couple hundred –- it would be more profitable to absorb it in the great maw of amerikkkan consumerism than to continue its ineffective strategy of marginalizing it.
After all, amerikkka has never been adverse to making big bucks of off Afrikan descendants -- in fact, the history of this country is ripe with example after example of that –- but the sad part is that now we seem to eagerly welcome our own exploitation by throwing our money into the mouth of the consumer machine that is amerikkka, especially around the holidays.
In 2006, Afrikan descendants spent 50%* more during the holiday season than they had in the previous year: more than whites (35%)* and more than Latinos (37%)*. 39%* of that consumer spending went to “mass merchants.” You can imagine that not many of those –- if any -- were Black owned stores or even stores in our Black communities.
In 2006, it is estimated that Kwanzaa generated as much as $500 million in consumer spending.
And with the dollars of Afrikan descendants staying in our communities for all of six hours (just enough time to deposit your check in the bank), you can imagine how much –- or more accurately, how little! -- of that money benefitted Afrikan descendent business owners and other Black entrepreneurs.
Sadder still is that we willingly disinvest in our communities, ourselves, our families, by investing –- through our spending choices –- with “mass merchants” even as we are reverently and sincerely mouthing the Ngozo Saba (The Seven Principles of Kwanzaa).
So much for Umoja (Unity), Kujichagulia (Self-Determination), Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility), and Ujamaa (Collective Economics)!
Maybe this holiday season, we can give ourselves and our loved ones the gift that keeps on giving: consciously and truly celebrating -– with our hearts and our pocketbooks and wallets -- what we say we believe with Nia (Purpose), Kuumbaa (Creativity), and Imani (Faith).
Habari Gani?
That’s what’s up.
Moving Forward,
Adar
*From the 2006 National Shopping Behavior Study, The Gordman Group
And it leads me to wonder: what are you REALLY “celebrating”?
Now, some folks say that they are “celebrating” this religious holiday or that one.
But I can’t figure out how spending money that you don’t have; going into debt that takes 6 - 9 months to pay off (just in time to spend again for another holiday); and focusing on secular symbols (not that there’s anything wrong with that if that is how you flow), food, and presents has anything at all to do with religion –- unless the Higher Power being celebrated is The Great God of the Coin (and in this economic climate you’d do better to genuflect to the Euro, but that is another story. . .).
And now poor Kwanzaa is on the run from the powerful, all-encompassing, greedy hand of American consumerism. Used to be that amerikkka did not even recognize Kwanzaa as a holiday. But with Kwanzaa growing worldwide as a season of importance for Afrikan descendants, I guess amerikkka decided that as long as there was a buck to be made –- or two, or three, or a couple hundred –- it would be more profitable to absorb it in the great maw of amerikkkan consumerism than to continue its ineffective strategy of marginalizing it.
After all, amerikkka has never been adverse to making big bucks of off Afrikan descendants -- in fact, the history of this country is ripe with example after example of that –- but the sad part is that now we seem to eagerly welcome our own exploitation by throwing our money into the mouth of the consumer machine that is amerikkka, especially around the holidays.
In 2006, Afrikan descendants spent 50%* more during the holiday season than they had in the previous year: more than whites (35%)* and more than Latinos (37%)*. 39%* of that consumer spending went to “mass merchants.” You can imagine that not many of those –- if any -- were Black owned stores or even stores in our Black communities.
In 2006, it is estimated that Kwanzaa generated as much as $500 million in consumer spending.
And with the dollars of Afrikan descendants staying in our communities for all of six hours (just enough time to deposit your check in the bank), you can imagine how much –- or more accurately, how little! -- of that money benefitted Afrikan descendent business owners and other Black entrepreneurs.
Sadder still is that we willingly disinvest in our communities, ourselves, our families, by investing –- through our spending choices –- with “mass merchants” even as we are reverently and sincerely mouthing the Ngozo Saba (The Seven Principles of Kwanzaa).
So much for Umoja (Unity), Kujichagulia (Self-Determination), Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility), and Ujamaa (Collective Economics)!
Maybe this holiday season, we can give ourselves and our loved ones the gift that keeps on giving: consciously and truly celebrating -– with our hearts and our pocketbooks and wallets -- what we say we believe with Nia (Purpose), Kuumbaa (Creativity), and Imani (Faith).
Habari Gani?
That’s what’s up.
Moving Forward,
Adar
*From the 2006 National Shopping Behavior Study, The Gordman Group
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