If you do not understand racism (white supremacy) and how it works, everything else you understand will only confuse you. - Neely Fuller

We need something to clarify everything for us, because we get confused...but if we use the concept of Asili, we will understand that whatever it is they are doing, whatever terms they use, however they come at you, you need to be thinking about what? How is this going to facilitate their power and help them to dominate me? -Marimba Ani

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Job Lost? Don't Lose Spirituality


“We're going to have to let you go.” This is probably the most common phrase used. What we think and tell ourselves immediately revolves around financial considerations. What we feel can take on different proportions often leaving us feeling helpless, hopeless and sucked towards a swirling vortex of fear, loss of worth and separation.

Though losing a job comes with a plethora of unavoidable real life considerations, we can avoid allowing our thoughts and emotions to become devastating. We don't have to lose it by feeding into self-produced negativity, the fears and unproductive concerns others have for us and most importantly, things we can't control, especially the attitudes and actions of others.

Life happens to all of us and there's no use immediately trying to figure it all out. When there is a loss we experience, in order to keep from losing it spiritually, thus emotionally, simplify as much as possible. Don't get caught up in the job itself and the reasons why you don't have it and how you or others feel about it. You don't have a job, now what? Manage income and expenses. Do what you can each day and have peace in knowing that that is enough. Don't worry about all the things that did, could or might happen. Make a plan and review it frequently. That's the financial consideration part.

Dealing with our thoughts and emotions requires drawing upon our philosophies, beliefs and foundations that are at the core of our character. No one is immune from life happening. When life happens, and it will, to keep from being sucked into the vortex, we must remind ourselves that many things and anything can happen. When we feel life has let us go because we hear “we have to let you go,” hold on to your beginning and your beliefs. For me, it is simply this: I started life with something and when all else this life adds is removed, I still have something. I remember it well because I cried. This is powerful. It is my legacy and history. That something I started with and still have despite any loss that can occur in life is the spirit of endurance, creativity, survival and renewal. It is a legacy that looked back at me and through me as I passed a bathroom mirror at the job.

Looking in the mirror and seeing yourself is one thing. Looking in the mirror and feeling yourself is another. Looking in the mirror on the morning of February 27th, I finally remembered and understood how some feel when they see me. Some people see nature and they disconnect, become afraid. Others see nature and they connect, are awed. Both shudder. I felt me again for the first time and I shuddered twice. This told me, in one moment of spiritual lovingkindness, that even thunder and lightning, though mostly misunderstood, continue to be thunder and lightning whether living in the skies over the USA or Uganda.

We are going to lose things in life. Some things will no longer be where they were in the time it takes to turn around. Not having a job should not have the same effect as no longer having a loved one. If it does and your job is the key and the glue to life, you've already lost. You're an accident that's already happened, waiting to be discovered by you. You are spiritually dead waiting on physical death to let you go.

Spiritually is perspective. Millions have lost jobs, never had jobs, have jobs but inadequate income and still live life. Millions with jobs have lost what's most important. Even in what we believe to be the best of times, there are no certainties. We must stay mindful of who we are, what we consist of and what we are made of. Are you strong or weak? Are you like Antwone Fisher and the pyramids, still standing? Are your beliefs like the teachings of Imhotep and Yeshua Ben Yosef, still intact today?

Know that despite your circumstances, you can be a tree in the bayou rising out of water, transforming and reestablishing yourself because as you grow you continue to see the expansiveness of the spirit. While you grow towards the light and allow others to reach heights, alligators swim at your feet but are limited because their growth depends on predatory behavior. Consider them with a dispassionate view when they do what they do because just the other day, I saw a simple woman eating alligator. Its albino heart she tossed back into the bayou and it settled near the roots of the cypress.

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Two Steps:
1.Finances are one of the easiest things to control. Start saving.
2.Spirituality is a process and is more than going to church. Consider nature, even if you must start with a houseplant or a pet.