Say it ain’t so-From Sistah Goddess

I got this post from my Sistah Goddess.  She makes some serious points about the food some of us eat, the prices, and just the simple fact that many “famines” are man made artificial ploys for continued control of the world.  One point that stands out the most for me, is her urging to plant your own garden, no matter how small, this is the season we should work our abilities to feed ourselves.  You can check Sistah Goddes by clicking on the sidebar, please check her out.

“To plant or not to plant is the question of a fool…”  Breeze, from the CD Word Sound ‘ave Power.

Say It Isn’t So!

Picture from: Kwe Ceja Neji artist is Jurema

I am not an economist, really I barely keep my account balanced but I do see trends. I guess I started to realize something was a little funny when the Savings & Loan scandal happened (was that the 80’s or 90’s??). I then noticed the whole “.com” scenerio of having literal fantasy like companies ran by teens that were worth millions of dollars (are any of those still around??). Then came the whole housing scene. Everybody who was anybody wanted to own property and funny there was almost anyone out there who was willing to give you a loan (that you would never be able to pay back…). Now my friends we have reached that the most edgy frontier of Amerikan capitalist survivor maneuvers -FOOD. This one is a little scary because many of us are ADDICTED TO FOOD.

Yes, we are…and if we sense any kind of shortage we would do ANYTHING - I mean ANYTHING to get some food.
Yes, all the years of MSG, orange #5, natural flavors, artificial flavors, trans fats, and hydrogenated oils have finally come to collect on all the “goodness” they have been giving us. Very similar to drug dealers who give you the “stuff” for free at first and then when you are hooked then it is time to pay. I don’t want to contribute to the scare but it is time to wise up while we can…if we can…

My wise friend says,”We have been trying to suckle at dry tit for too long” - to put it bluntly. Time to live wisely, time to see that there is no area in which capitalism won’t try to touch. I am not a conspiracy theorist (even though I find it all interesting) - the word is that the investors of failed mortgage scams are now dumping what they can into hedge funds which somehow translates to food markets. COME ON THEY KNOW WE ARE GOING TO BUY FOOD! We may end up riding some bikes but we are going to have some food!

Knowing that CHANGE IS GOOD and we are going to have to ride this out…so we can see a world we really want to see…Sistah C is going to suggest her plan (it isn’t the only plan). Here is my thinking and the thinking of some folks I have spoken with lately…

* Take your circle of friends, families and neighbors and start your own gardens. Doesn’t matter if you don’t have a lot of land - use planter pots or barrels. There is a good book called Square Foot Gardening Plan out who will grow what and form food exchanges with each other. It is pretty easy to grow stuff. I know if you live in the Bay Area there is an Oakland organization (I forget the name, sorry) that will come into your yard and help you build/start a small garden for this very purpose.

*Starting buying in bulk with friends and family. Bulk prices are better and you can stretch you dollar more this way. Take some planning. Research forming food buying clubs or food co-ops.

*Wean yourself and your family off of addictive junk foods. Food really should be functional not for entertainment. Marketing of food has us all use to using food as a reward. Time to get real. If there is an upcoming food shortage that $7 per meal you spent at Micky D’s would be better used buying rice, beans, etc… We need to find other ways to celebrate, entertain and console.

*Queen Afua is one of my Sistah Mama Teachers from way back and she would tell you - you don’t need flour, rice and all these starchy foods anyway to be healthy. A food shortage is a perfect time to re-evaluate your eating habits and be more sustainable. Lets not go and kill someone over a $40 dollar bag of rice (you know someone will try it), instead of falling for the hooky-doke and giving them the $$ - eat simple. Learn to do this early and it won’t be much of a chore and you will have a strange sense of sanity when everyone else is crying over a $50 pizza. Meditate, do yoga, take a walk - make love not hamburgers…

*Ok, you can do this but what about your kids?? I raised my son on veggies and as a teen he eats whatever he wants but if I fix him a salad he eats it. You see it is NATURAL to like fruits and vegetables. If a child doesn’t like them it is simply because they are a victim of dull taste buds and tv marketing. Just work it in slowly. Instead of chips for a snack, take some celery sticks, nut butter and raisins - remember “ants on a log”. My son and I was just eating this like crazy a week ago. Instead of going to the fast food place buy a blender and make smoothies at home -children love smoothies and they can help too. Lastly, teach them more about helping the planet by not buying GMO foods and contributing to manufactured food shortages.

In my mind there is enough food in the world to feed everyone! When you see people starving in so called “developing nations” it has more to do with the fact that the country has to pay off debts to the IMF by exporting food rather than feeding their own people. I think India said this week they weren’t going to play that game! In Haiti, folks are fed up with it, too. People starve and often there is a warehouse full of grain spoiling - this is the way capitalism works - starve your babies but we are going to get paid. Lives are taken over this worthless pieces of paper…Watch the movie Life and Debt and Mens With Guns.

Now is time to start empowering ourselves to take back our lives - to find more meaning - to not be continuous victims of marketing schemes and stock market woes…It is a time to really re-remember what truly matters to us and begin to live that way…Your thoughts on this are appreciated…
Peace,
Sistah C

 

 

 

The body follows the mind

EEG image of brain waves

In Tai Chi Chuan there is a concept, that the body follows the mind.  In that, when one is playing Tai Chi the mind leads the body to the next posture.  You will picture the movement from one posture to the other, immediately your mind will send chemical messengers or hormones to the muscles and Chi will make the mental pictures of the mind manifest physically.

This is our daily movement in all that we do, yet most of these manifestations occur without conscious thought.  We think and speak our existence into manifestation minute by minute but, never give a thought that we are in fact creating our destiny.  This gives rise to the English word, mindful or to be full of mind.  So, what if we really thought about our intentions during the day?  Would this not give us more power over our daily tasks?  Could we not create much much more for ourselves?

There are many ancient text that teach us that life and death is in the power of the tongue.  Knowing this we should first think, examine, and weigh carefully before we speak since what we say is a seed planted that we will later reap the fruit.  Tai Chi teaches us patience and that each ending opens to a new beginning and that each step, posture, and breath is energetically connected.  This teaching conveys just how we are connected to one another, related.

Our minds are the key to our destiny, building and reshaping our future.  How can being mindful or full of mind help create your future?  With each and every day there comes new challenges and changes the direct and re-direct our future; create changes in our lives.  How can you create your own destiny?

The Bird Flu Has Made The Jump!

 Avion flu virus H5N1 has killed another human.  You may say big deal, but this time it has been confirmed that it was transmitted from human to human.  All previous cases were transmitted from fowl to humans.  The World Health Organization  conducted serological testing on a family in Peshawar, Pakistan northwest of Islamabad where three brothers were diagnosed with H5N1 avian influenza.  Now, the twist is that only one of the three men worked with fowl, the other two didn’t.   Yet, all three were ill with the virus.  Two of the brothers have recovered from the illness, but one of the brothers died, and he didn’t work with birds.

This is where we have to become more vigilant in how we take care of our bodies.  We cannot become lax.  If you’re not paying attention now is the time to get on point.  I am not advocating fear, but warning those that don’t protect their bodies.  We are at war on many levels, and we can be sure there is a war on the cellular level.  It is our duty to protect ourselves and our families.  One of the many ways to protect our lives is to increase the strength of our immunes systems.  Our immune system is the front line of protection against foreign intruders to our bodies. 

So how do we strengthen our immune systems?  First, reduce your stress levels.  Next, we want to take in good fresh local (if possible) fruits and vegetables (organic if possible.) Increase your water intake and I’m not talking about tap water.  Avoid anti-nutrent foods, these foods actually use up your nutrient store to metabolize it.  Such foods (feed)  are white sugar, white rice, white bread, buscuits, soda, fast food and DAIRY.  Stay away for dairy.  Milk does a body bad!  Last, but not least, EXERCISE, get oxygen into the body remember oxygen is like fire that fuels the body.  

NONE CAN SAVE US BUT OURSELVES!

Right thought, right speech? Speaking your future into existance or selling your soul.

Veve of Papa Legba the Spirit of communication.

 What do I lose if I lose my ego?  I lose nothing!-Boukman Eksperyans

I Like to stay away from politics on this site, I created it for a separate plane of thought, however this post may fringe on the political.  As we gain overstanding we k(no)w-ledge that spirit is not separate from the physical, but intertwined for the uplift or the demise of the self.  Just as we take in proper foods on the physical level, taking not only the physical properties of the food but, also the essence of the lives contained in the living plants we consume.  This is the reason for eating live/raw, but I digress.  In all that we do physically do there is a spiritual blessing or consequence created by our own actions.  As an ancient Chinese proverb goes “from the unreal comes the real.”

So it is when we speak.  When we speak words out loud we activate movement on the spiritual realm.  I came to these thoughts as I have followed the words of Sen. Barak Obama over these last few months, and it has occurred to me that he is speaking into existence his own future.  This experience of campaigning has been and is very expensive spiritually for the Senator concerning what he is setting forth by his own words, and he is not hesitating to pay the expense.

Mathew 16:26 “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?  Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

 Senator Obama is questioned about his personal beliefs like no other candidate in this presidential race at this moment and probably in the future.  His is asked to denounce, condemn and repudiate statements that he has not made.  He is asked to do this about people that are considered icons in the Black community and he has done this with a happy countenance and without hesitation.  He has capitulated to the hidden desires behind these questions mostly by whites, by 1) denouncing the support of Min. Louis Farrakhan.  2) Denying any political kinship with his minister Rev. Jeremiah Wright and 3) Bowing down to a question by ABC”s Terry Moran during an interview on Good Morning America.  Moran asked Sen. Obama “if he is a Black man or an American“, Sen Obama responded “An American, absolutely.”  Was he denying his Blackness?  I was hoping that he would have repudiated, condemned and strongly denounced the question by Moran, but he didn’t.

Mathew 26:34 “Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the cock crows you will deny me three times.”

In the spirit of the Apostle Peter denying Yeshua three times, Sen. Obama has, in essence made crucial denials three times concerning Black people by denouncing the support of Min. Farrakhan, the words of Rev. Wright and even omitting being Black, but is “An American, absolutely” in front of the whole world.  Sen. Obama has set in motion his spiritual karma by his own words.  Should he win the presidency of the United States, he will have created his own blessing (depending on your point of view) and possibly his own demise.  Maybe he doesn’t really realize the power of his words! 

Drugs in your water supply: Continue guarding your gate!

 

This really shouldn’t  be news, but unfortunately we take our food and water safety for granted, remember the 143 million pounds of beef recalled?  A news release today demonstrated the amount of pharmaceutical drugs found in 50 major cities water supply, in the U.S. today.  Philadelphia was found to have of over 56 different pharmaceuticals in their water supply, including Prednisone a corticosteroid this is a powerful hormone usually asthmatics take this drug, but has been used for many more and varied cases.  Carbamazepine, this is a drug used by epileptics to prevent seizures.  Though the news release attempts to allay fears by saying these drugs are measured in parts per billion or parts per trillion there has to be something of concern.  I mentioned Philadelphia specifically because there are over 56 drugs found in the water supply, and though the scientist that were quoted in the paper tried to downplay any affect, there just has to be.  Philadelphia had one of the highest murder rates of any city per capita than any other U.S. city and they are leading the way again this year.  Could we draw a correlation to the drugs found in the Philadelphia water supply and the increase in murders?  Should we not be concerned about our babies?  We can avoid part of the tainted water by not drinking it, but we still absorb it through our skin when we bathe.  We can guard our gates much easier than we can guard the largest organ of our bodies, our skin.  The ill affects of these drugs on the population could be numerous.  When it comes to the food we eat we may have a bit more control as to what enters our mouths, however water is another issue as we are truly at the mercy of our water supplier.  Things could get even worse as cities are turning over the water supply and regulation to private companies, which means less control by the citizens of their respective cities.

Food or Feed? : Guard your gate!

We have to protect our bodies, no other can do this but ourselves.  The beef recall earlier this month should be a wake up call.  The Food and Drug Administration is truly not interested in our individual health, just enough that it doesn’t obstruct “the bottom line” profit, and that there is not a wide epidemic which again would affect the bottom line.  In October 2006 the FDA announced they would allow the sale of meat and milk from cloned animals beginning in January 2007.  The story died shortly there after, then surfaced again in January ‘07 and died again.   Now, the big recall coming from Chino Californina.  “Downers” were filmed during an undercover investigation of Westland/Hallmark, a slaughterhouse in Chino, CA.  Once the story broke, the United States Department of Agriculture/USDA ordered the recall of 143 million pounds of beef.  Since Octobor ‘06 Westland/Hallmark has processed 37 million pounds of beef for school lunch programs. 

So, here we have it, they finally have been caught, but this is not the first news of “downers” being processed as feed for the U.S. population.  Peta and the Humane Society of the United States have documented cows that couldn’t walk being dragged into slaughter with chains.  Many times “downers” are often suffering from disease or malnutrician or stress.  Cows eat a diet of feed often comprised of things that are far from grazing in the grass.  One source of their feed is corn.  Corn isn’t anything that a cow would naturally graze.  Corn, is fed to cows because it produces a more tender meat for the consumer, but in fact it’s sickening the cow.  Along with high levels of RBH, a bovine growth horomone to increase the production of milk and a boat load of antibiotics and other drugs since the cows are living too closely and not eating ther natural “liveit” (not die-t.)

You are what you eat.  This in turn is grossly affecting our health and the health of our youth.  What can you do?  Stop it.  Don’t buy it.  Step away from it.  I fully understand the strength it will take to quit, simply because you will have to detox off the heavy antibiotics/drugs in the meat, that you may be addicted to without knowing.  But, its possible.  We should detox our bodies no matter how and what we eat from vegan to “carnivore.”  This is a must.

Do you think the consumption of this meat is affecting our youth? Could the consumption of so much drug filled animals be the cause of so much youth violence?  Do you think this is happening with the chickens being sold on the market?

Can meditation help you in your daily affairs?

Pleiades star system. 

I don’t know if there is a sure fire way of meditating.  Some disciplines prescribe meditating on a perticular word or sound.  As certain sounds work in conjunction with the mind, the total body or specific organs in the body.  I know of people that meditate on a certain set of thoughts, of situations or circumstances they wish to bring into manifestation or gain clarity. 

Others believe they need to be away from all distractions and sounds.  No phones ringing, children playing, no television or music playing, to acheive total concentration.  All of the above techniques are teaching you how to focus.  Focus is the act of concentrating energy onto a specific point to bring about a desired change.  In this way, we begin to learn how to create our daily existance, create our world.  Yet, this is only one facet of meditation when there are many.

For me, meditation has been a “tool” in overcoming the desire to hold on to negative thoughts and in turn, has taught me how to handle and understand the passing away of good thoughts.  I’ve been able to bring the techniques of meditating into my daily way of life.  I know that sounds corny, but let me explain.  Have you heard people say I just let negative things “roll off my back?”  This is something to be desired but, actually pulling it off takes a lot of strength.  I have often wondered about the people that say this.  Are they really letting it “roll off their backs” or are they just internalizing these negative things and it comes out later against someone close to them? 

As I play Tai Chi, many thoughts come into my mind.  Acutally, when you see someone playing Tai Chi they may look as though they are just standing still or moving really slowly, but, a lot is happening and lot is being done…I digress.  Many thoughts come into play outside of the mental work that leads the body to the next movement.  Most thoughts fall into the catagories of desires, memories or some form of reflection.  In meditating many thoughts emerge for me.  However, the work is to allow each thought to come forward, have its time, then allow it to go without lingering or holding onto it.  Have each thought, without attachment. 

As each thought comes it brings emotion with it and those emotions, whether they feel bad or good allow them to go.  Training my mind to no longer maintain attachment to my thoughts and their feelings have allowed me to practice this even when I am not in meditation and dealing with everyday life’s situation.  The mind is very powerful.  In that I have been unable to remove all sound as distractions.  I have found that the more I focus, concentrate and relax the more little sounds that I don’t normally pay attention to, become louder.  The sound of a clock ticking gets louder, if I’m out side the sound of a crickett seems to scream at me. 

I suppose meditation opens other worlds to us that we pass on our daily movements without thought.  It seems to open the world of our own thoughts and physical awareness to us.  What have you experienced during meditation? 

I included this picture of the Pleiades star system since stories by our ancestors have told us this is one of the star systems that sent elements to the Earth for the creation and evolution of human beings. The other is the Black Star Potolo, known in science as Sirius B.

Verbal Tai Chi: Learning to fight without fighting

 For many years I have practiced what I call verbal Tai Chi.  Utilizing the ability to ward-off, roll back, press and even uproot someone verbally.  I wasn’t intentionally working verbal Tai Chi the first time I had the opportunity to explore its form.  I had been playing Tai Chi for about a year when the opportunity presented itself. 

This was at a time when I was still living in Los Angeles, when a verbal confrontation between myself and a known gang member erupted.  The root of the issue was that I called his mother a man.  I didn’t do this with negative intention, but it was truly a mistake on my part.  Now, the gang member, I’ll call him Lil M, knew his mother was a crack smoker and that she had lost most of her hair and she often wore men’s hats to cover the patchy landscape that was once beautiful hair, so it was truly a mistake when I called mother M “man.”   Well Lil M was upset, but I’m not sure if it was the fact that I called his mother “man” or the fact he was well aware of the reasons she was looking so badly and he was embarrassed about it.  Either way, he felt he had to talk loudly and defend the fact that his mother was just “dissed” even if he understood how the mistake could have happened. 

By this time, a few of my friends had arrived.  None were gang members or drug dealers, but they were well respected in the neighborhood for the work we did at the local community center, and Lil M knew this as well, yet he felt the need to press on with the verbal attack.  ”That was my mom, homey.  That was my mom!”.  Lil M knew who I was and he knew my friends, so he was well aware where this all could lead to, but he pressed on “that was my mom, blood” he yelled.  My friends in turn began to ask about the situation.  I knew then I had to make a decision, I knew this could easily spiral out of hand.  I ran the initial words from my mouth that started the whole fracas through my mind and decided I did make a mistake and I did unknowingly embarrass Lil M.  To defuse the tension, I stepped in the direction of the approaching Lil M, I could see him  brace for my verbal retaliation.  I then hit him.  I just said “I apologize.”  He stopped in his tracks immediately.  I pressed, I said “I apologize for calling your mother a man.”  He stepped back, looking dismayed, it was almost the same effect as if I had hit him in the solar plexus.  He lowered his head, turned walked back got into his car and rode off.

This was one of those beautiful sunny Southern California days, that could have turned very ugly.  If I would have reacted to his verbal assault and launched my own assault things could have turned a very beautiful day into a very ugly one.  At this point I realized I had just done verbally, the forms I had been physically practicing.  I knew at that moment I could verbally ward off, verbally roll back, verbally press and verbally uproot someone.

Whatever form of martial art you may practice, there is a way to verbally put into use the physical forms you practice.  Try and always keep your cool, learn to act rather than to react to verbal situations, that may get out out hand and seize the opportunity to ward off verbal attacks.

On love, life and relationships…

Veiled Auset (Isis) in her form as the Goddess of love

Living longer by loving

Part of a healthy life can include a loving relationship.  Studies show people that are in a loving relationship live longer.  A 1995 University of Chicago study suggests that men live, on average 10 years longer, than their unmarried counter parts and women live four years longer than their unmarried counterparts.  Yet, more importantly an Ohio State University study suggests HAPPY couples  produce lower levels of cortisol, but couples living in unhappy relationships produce higher levels of cortisol that impacts the immune system and they often face the risk of infectious disease as they age.  Cortisol is known as the “stress” hormone, that can increase blood pressure, blood sugar and can suppress your immune system reducing your ability to fight off diseases from a cold to cancer.

We all aspire to good health and many desire a rich and fulfilling relationship, someone to love.  What brings me to this thought process is a discussion on the Just Lisa blog on relationships and why people don’t tell someone, they may have romantic feelings towards, how they really feel and why they often “settle” for less than an ideal relationship.  Overwhelmingly, the consensus was people don’t express their real feelings due to the fear of rejection.

How to avoid rejection

Fear of rejection, is based, in part on non-communication and your own ego.  If this isn’t so, then why the fear?  Its important to become friends with a person of romantic interest, spending time talking and more importantly listening to the person with whom you have an interest.  Now, guys I know women (not all of them) often like to let you do most of the talking while they listen.  But, its equally important to emphasize that you would love to hear her views as well. 

Know yourself

Now, here is where its really important to have spent ample time with yourself to be aware of your likes and dislikes, know what you want and don’t want, to know what you can tolerate and can’t tolerate.  What, I’m pointing out is that you really have to know yourself, forgive yourself (thats a big one) and really love and appreciate yourself fully.  You can’t share love with someone else without first loving yourself.

Loving yourself

Learn who you really are by spending time with yourself and truly taking inventory of your life and past relationships.  Read books on bettering the self, love and relationships and implement what you learn.  Forgive yourself.  Its well that we forgive others for any trespasses they make against us, but we have to move forward in our lives and learn from our mistakes and forgive ourselves.  It took me many years to learn that I had the ability to forgive myself, so that I could learn to love myself in order that I could love another again.  Forgiving yourself is a major step forward in learning to love yourself.  Now, when I talk about loving yourself I’m not talking about a self centered “its all about me” attitude, but learning to appreciate who you are, your personal acheivments, and your ability to give love.  Loving yourself can produce a happiness with self that exudes and glows around you and in turn, will attract like mined people to you.  I think being happy with yourself will eliminate the fear of being alone the rest of your life, stopping the desire to settle for someone that’s not happy with themselves.  If you feel the need to settle you should take more time discovering your inner self.

Laying it all out

After spending time learning and loving yourself, and spending time with your potential “honey” its vital to express the things you know about yourself to her or him, specifically the things mentioned earlier concerning, your likes/dislikes, your toleration, your goals.  Be honest.  Be especially honest with yourself and totally honest with the other person about your concepts of life and relationships.  Now, here’s the rub.  You must be mindful that your personal standards will work with your potential partner’s understanding of relationships and life concepts.  Be honest right up front with the person if your standards don’t have a common ground, and don’t lie to yourself and try to tolerate something by lowering your standards in the hopes that “they’ll come around” to your thinking.  This is a recipe for disaster and  an unhappy relationship.  Remember the word relationship contains the word relate, and this is the purpose, to relate, and to find  common ground with a potential mate.

Common union

All humans require some form of relationship with other humans, even if they consider themselves loners.  In forming a relationship we really have to learn, love and forgive ourselves in order to build a bridge and a bond with another person.  By relating our feelings and knowledge of ourselves we’ll find  common ground, in essesnce building a common union, a common unity, a community of sorts with each other.  I’m hopeful this will bring about better life and better health and a much happier relationship.

Good Character; Essential ingredient of Tai Chi

In our zeal to delve into the practice and playing of Tai Chi we often work diligently at learning forms, finding tensions in our bodies and relaxing them, rooting, sinking, concentrating on gather energy into the body, into the lower tan tien, we may not be studying much of the essence, the heart of Tai Chi Chuan.

Tai Chi Chuan is interpreted as Supreme Ultimate Fist (Force).  While working towards this goal we are performing a physical act of a truly cosmological experience.  One such experience, is searching for balance.  Balance between the self (true inner self) and the world.  The delicate, but continual balance is built on the foundation of building Good Character.

Good Character can take the form of making correct choices.  Choices that may have to be made during times of extreme stress or in the face of personal weaknesses, choices that work for the Greater Good. Choices for the uplift of yourself, of your family and of your community.  Good Character is often overlooked as an essential ingredient in becoming adept in Tai Chuan.  I’ll leave you with a little medicine.

The Eight Fold Path

Right Understanding

Right Thought

Right Speech

Right Action

Right Livelihood

Right Effort

Right Mindfulness

Right Concentration

The Eight Fold Path