emPower Magazine Blog

Will Food Be The Death of Us?

By DeShuna Spencer

During my sophomore year in college, my father had a heart attack in his early 40s. At the time, I didn't have a cell phone so I had no idea that my family was trying to reach me on campus. When I got back to my dorm room after work, my roommate grabbed her bag and told me to check the voice mail before walking out the door. So I did, and that's when I listened to the message from my big sister.

Thankfully, my dad's heart attack wasn't massive and he survived. But the emergency room doctor told him that he would have to change his lifestyle: cut out unhealthy foods, start moving more and maintain a low stress level.

My father's ordeal came rushing back to my memory today after hearing that comedian Patrice O'Neal passed away on yesterday of complications from a stroke that occurred in mid-October. His death marks a grim recurrence over the last few years of African American male entertainers who have passed away (or nearly died) from ailments that typically affect people who are 20 or 30 years older. Last year Gang Starr's Guru suffered a heart attack after battling cancer, which eventually took his life at the age of 43. Nate Dogg. 41, died in March of complications he received from two strokes. Most recently, Heavy D, 44, died after collapsing outside of his home. A few days after that, 43-year-old Erik Sermon (of EPMD) suffered a heart attack. Sources say that he is still recovering. In 2006, Gerald Levert died in his sleep at the age of 40 and his brother, Sean, died 14 months later at the age of 39. Sean's coroner said he suffered from high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes at the time of his death. And we all remember Big Pun's massive heart attack in 2000. At the time of his death, the 28-year-old rapper weighed nearly 700 pounds.

Studies have shown that African American men were 30 percent more likely to die from heart disease, compared to white men. And African-Americans suffer more strokes than any other group of people. For African-Americans between the ages of 20 and 44, the risk of stroke is nearly two-and-a-half times higher than it is for whites.

Countless research has proven that people with higher incomes tend to lead healthier lifestyles due to better health care and access to quality foods. So I am perplexed by the idea that even with wealth and access, some black people are still dying from preventable ailments.

I am not writing this to condemn or place blame on stroke or heart attack victims, but I am using this time to make a plea to anyone who is reading this and suffering from hypertension, high blood pressure, diabetes or obesity to gradually change your lifestyle. We know better. We know that cooking with bacon drippings is bad. We know that in order to keep a healthy heart rate, we have to engage in some form of physical activity regularly. We know that fried chicken shouldn't be consumed on a consistent basis. We all know that obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes are killing black folks at alarming rates. We know all that these diseases are preventable. We've all heard the statistics over and over again. Yet, many of us still choose not to change. We choose not to listen. What will it take for us to wake up?

I will be the first to admit that I could do a little better to be healthy. I have a natural high metabolism so with very little effort I can maintain a healthy weight. Back in the day, I used to eat whatever I wanted. Being born and raised in Memphis, I probably ate a pulled pork sandwich at least a couple times a week while in high school. A barbecue joint was a few blocks from my house. Years later when my husband and I first moved to the DC area, we ate so much Popeye’s that the manager knew me by name. I had my first colonoscopy at the age 16 and had two more before the age of 30. I was eventually diagnosed with a digestive condition that my doctor said I could keep at bay with the proper diet. So I reduced the amount of times I cooked my favorite southern dishes to just a few special occasions each year. I gave up McDonald's in 2004 and Popeye’s in 2005. Now, I try to make a salad with most of my meals. Gradually, I have changed my eating habits.

My brother-in-law took a drastic approach to his health recently. A few years ago he had a mild stroke in his mid-30s. He went back and forward trying to find the right regimen to maintain a healthy lifestyle. This year, he decided to go vegan. Since then, he and his entire family have lost weight. I'm not suggesting that everyone gives up meat and dairy. God knows I love my bacon from time to time. But I'm sure there's something that you can live without.

With all of the depressing news lately of black celebrities passing away from heart attacks and strokes, I was glad to hear that Fat Joe got his wake-up call. After losing seven of his friends—all in their 30s—to heart attacks last year, he decided to change his lifestyle. He lost nearly 90 pounds. To drop the weight, he told the NY Daily News that he did two hours of cardio a day and replaced the popular fast food chicken and burger meals and smaller portions of fruits, veggies and lean meats.

During his interview, he said: “I always loved being fat, obviously. I’m Fat Joe. The biggest killer of people is food. It kills more people than AIDS or gun violence or war, anything you can name. Everybody keep catching strokes and heart attacks, and what happened to me was, like seven of my friends passed last year from heart attacks, and they were all 32, 34 years old, 35. What’s the difference between me and them? Health doesn’t discriminate just because I’m famous.”

Fat Joe said it right; health does not discriminate, even in a wealthy country like America. Despite being a "super power" we rank 28th in life expectancy in the world. The results were released last week by the Organization for Economic Cooperation (OECD). It included 40 nations. In the United States, the average age of death is 78.2, which is below the average of 79.5 years in other OCED countries.  Some of the countries that ranked in the top 10, according to OCED, included Japan, Italy, Switzerland Spain, Sweden and Israel.

Part of America's rank is due to our health care system and the lack of access to many poor and working class citizens. For instance, Japan, which has the highest life expectancy at nearly 83 years, provides health care services, including exams, prenatal care and preventative screenings with residents being responsible for 30 percent of the costs and the government handling the remaining 70 percent. In Spain, there is a national universal health care system in which the country handles all of its citizen's health care costs. Whenever anyone mentions a universal health care plan in America, they are labeled a socialist. I consider myself to be an independent—I'm neither a Republican nor a Democrat—but I would gladly pay extra in taxes in order for every citizen in the country to receive quality health care. While lifestyle choices play a large role in our health care, the quality and consistency of services that we receive are just as important. I don't understand why many conservatives—who most likely consider themselves to be evangelicals and "social conservatives"—would think universal health care as a socialist agenda. It's not okay for this country to turn a blind eye to the broken health care system and allow people to die from diseases that would have been preventable if only they had received the proper care. Isn’t access to quality health as much of a moral issue than other concern on their agenda? I guess life is more valuable and worth fighting for only in the mother's womb.

While Obama's health care plan will make some improvements to the system, it won't be a silver bullet. So we still need to invest in the well being of our greatest asset—our bodies—and be mindful of what we put into our mouths.

Fat Joe, who is no longer diabetic after losing all of his weight, had a message for people who were once in his position. During a CNN interview he said: "…you don't have to be a diabetic. You don't have to lose your eyesight, cut off your toes, have a stroke, get kidney failure. You just have to lose weight..."

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Just in case you missed Fat Joe's interview on CNN, I have provided it below.

 

DeShuna Spencer is publisher of emPower magazine.

Hunger: 'The Worst Feeling'

By Marian Wright Edelman

“Being hungry is possibly the worst feeling anyone could ever experience, and honestly, when you’re hungry, you can’t be productive, and you can’t really do anything. And I just remember, sometimes in school I would definitely be hungry,” said 17-year-old New York City high school senior Ninaad Dave. During the recession, his father had to close the small business he’d successfully run for 25 years but found another job after nearly nine months of unemployment. “Now, when I am able to have a nice meal or eat, I’m just always thankful that there is food on the table, there is food in my stomach. I’m just always considerate, and I always think back when I was hungry and how privileged all of us are to eat.”

So many American families, including my own, celebrate Thanksgiving Day with a traditional feast and an overabundance of food. In many homes, the sight of a table with enough food for everyone to eat and to get seconds and even thirds is actually nothing special. The tablecloths and menu might be a little fancier on Thanksgiving but every night there’s something in the house for dinner and everyone goes to bed full. For some families Thanksgiving may be the only meal of the year where they pause long enough before eating to truly give thanks for the food in front of them. But for millions of our neighbors—including Ninaad Dave and children like him—they cannot always count on the next meal.

Sixteen million U.S. households are food insecure—struggling to afford food their family needs. With record numbers of families living in poverty and unemployed and food prices increasing, one in seven Americans rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or food stamps. The overwhelming majority—three quarters—are families with children. The latest data showed that in August nearly 46 million Americans relied on food stamps to eat—the 37th straight month the number has increased, and the highest number since food stamps began in 1939. These families do not take any meals for granted.

Like so many American children, Ninaad knows what it’s like to feel hungry. He recently told the Children’s Defense Fund, “I’ve always tried to do what I could to help my family out and achieve the American dream.” For most of his childhood, that meant being helpful with his mother’s health problems at home and a good student at school. But when his father was struggling to keep his business afloat and it became harder for his family to make ends meet, Ninaad found a new way to help: “It was very visible that the business wasn’t doing as well. So I would just try to help alleviate the problem by just making a note to eat at school, to take advantage of school meal programs, eat breakfast at school in the morning, eat school lunch, and then come home and have just, you know, a small meal…I just felt that there should be enough food to go around for everyone, and that my dad was just doing the best he could, so I shouldn’t have to be burdensome.” After his father became unemployed, Ninaad really learned what it was like to go hungry—“possibly the worst experience anybody could ever go through.”

On December 14, Ninaad is being celebrated by the Children’s Defense Fund-New York City’s Beat the Odds® program as one of five exceptional high school students who have overcome tremendous challenges to excel academically and give back to their community. They will receive a scholarship, college counseling, a laptop computer, and an invitation to join CDF’s youth leadership training ladder to help pave the road to college and a successful adulthood.

Hunger and food insecurity are particularly devastating for children and Ninaad and millions of young people like him will never forget how it feels to be hungry. Proper nutrition is essential to a child’s health, development, and well-being. Hunger and poor nutrition are linked to low birthweight and birth defects, obesity, mental and dental health problems, and poor education outcomes. We know safety net programs like food stamps, WIC—the Women, Infants and Children—nutrition program, summer feeding and school food programs work to combat child hunger. In the current recession they have proved to be indispensable lifelines for the millions of jobless families with no cash income in our rich nation.

During this Thanksgiving week, I hope those political leaders who refuse to invest in creating new jobs to help struggling families while protecting tax breaks for the richest Americans and corporations and refuse to ask the privileged to contribute their fair share in this difficult economic period will reflect on what their and America’s true values are. I believe it’s morally unconscionable that the rich should keep getting richer while the poor get poorer—and hungrier. 

 

Marian Wright Edelman is a lifelong advocate for disadvantaged Americans and is the President of the Children's Defense Fund (CDF). Under her leadership, CDF has become the nation's strongest voice for children and families. Learn more by visiting www.childrensdefense.org. This article also appears in Change.org and the Huffington Post

Motivational Monday: 3 Steps to Becoming a 'Have' Instead of a 'Have Not'

By Adrienne, the Soul Power Coach™

So did you go Black Friday shopping this year? Are you taking a quick break from your Cyber Monday shopping? Are you a holiday enthusiast gleefully reveling in the seasonal merriment or a grumpy nonconformist disgusted with the commercialization of a holiday you don’t really like to celebrate anyway? Where do you fall between a frenzied shopper pepper-spraying crowds for the latest electronic gadget or someone who absolutely refuses to smile again before January so as not to risk actually acknowledging a holiday? Where ever you are, there are haves and have nots on both sides of that spectrum. So are you a have or a have not?

Yes, this is the season where retailers urge you to shop till you drop. This is the season where shopping becomes a sport when you have the means to spend. It is also the season where people get more depressed, stressed, angry, and fearful. It is a season of helping those whose financial resources are outmatched by the need. There are advertisements all over reminding you of what you don’t have and what you should be working to get. This seasons’ “must-have” lists were published well before Halloween to urge you make your shopping lists early. You may not be able to find that perfect gift on your list. You may not even have the means to purchase that gift for the one you love. You may be bummed because your neighbors are filing a court order against you for having too many lights up on your house. Perhaps you are hoping someone will be kind enough to bring your family some food to eat. And it is more than just the material have not’s. You may not be able to celebrate with someone you care about. You may not have anyone special to celebrate with. You may not celebrate any of these holidays and wish the whole hoopla would just go away already. Either way, it can be so easy to get distracted by the things that matter the least during this season.

So are you a have or a have not? Oh, I am not talking about material things. I am not talking about the traditions or the groups you gather with during these celebrations. I am talking about your focus. Is your focus on what you have or what you have not?

Let us all remember to fix our focus during this time of year on a more meaningful place. And I am talking about paying more attention to your own focus before telling others what to focus on. Perhaps each of us could commit to focus on our own attitude of gratitude for the next few weeks because it is our focus that determines whether we are a have or a have not. Here are three ways to focus on what you have:

1. Update your Attitude of Gratitude

If you know me, you already know how big I am about an attitude of gratitude. Nothing pulls your mind back into the right spirit faster than being grateful. I love challenging people around gratitude. When you are feeling like a have not, challenge yourself to create a list of things you are grateful for. How many gratitudes can you list within 30 seconds? What type of things show up on your list? What are the things that surprised you that you thought about? What were the major gratitudes? What minor gratitudes did you come up with? Are the minor ones any less effective in pulling your spirits up into a higher place? What differences are you noticing in your mood now that the list is done?

2. Focus on What You Have

It can be difficult in this season to remember this. All the marketing messages are tough to escape. Think for a moment about all you have. You updated your gratitude list and you might feel a higher level of happiness for where you are. Take a moment to really think about what you have. Take stock of your life. This weekend, I spent some time cleaning out my closets and clearing spaces in my home. I was coming across all kinds of things stored in boxes or place up on shelves that had real meaning. Things I had forgotten about. There were also things that had meaning before that no longer held a real value to me. As I began making a huge pile of things to share with others, the reality of my own abundance became so much stronger. I have much more than I need. I have more than enough for myself. I have enough to share with others. I give out of the abundance of my heart not a spirit of lack or expectations of getting something back. When you choose to look at your circumstances from a place of abundance, your circumstances begin to change. This is how you become a have instead of a have not.

3. Do Not Compare Yourself to Others

This is a pet peeve of mine. I hope you are okay if I go here with you. How many times have you heard about someone whose situation seemed worse than yours? I have never really understood why that was something that was meant to make me feel better about my own situation. Whether it is the man with no shoes, starving children in Africa, homeless families living in a car, knowing someone else has a different set of problems or challenges never really made me feel better about my own circumstances. The whole at least I am not you method of gratitude always seemed a bit callous and misleading to me. Maybe it is just me. I guess because I often end up feeling compassion and sadness about that person. My experience has been that just as the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence; it is not always as dead and dried as it might look. I know some people in tough situations who have more joy than others that seem to have it all together. It is never really about what others have or do not have as much as it is about how much you appreciate and can be grateful for what you have in the present moment. Be happy about your situation. Do not be happy because you see someone else who might be worse off than you. Be happy simply because of where you are and what the day brought to you. This is the only way to truly be a have instead of a have not.

 

Adrienne, the Soul Power Coach™ is the founder of www.mysoulpower.net and the creator of the Live with Soul Power System™, the most practical habit-building system available to get the personal accountability, focus, balance, and peace of mind you need to be more accomplished, creative, and successful for the rest of your life.

Using the principles of living with Soul Power, Adrienne shows creative thinkers from artists to engineers how to stop struggling with procrastination, fear, and indecision. Many of them come to her seeking a more meaningful career. Her clients learn to embrace their unique purpose and start taking action on the big ideas they have about being of service to the world.

To request a complimentary Taste of Soul Power Coaching Conversation and get a free Soul Power Pack of Life Area Cards, go to www.mysoulpower.net You may also connect with Adrienne, the Soul Power Coach on Twitter (soulpowercoach), Google+ (SoulPower Coach), and Facebook (Soul Power Coach)

Kryptonite

By kat calvin

To absolutely no one’s surprise at all, the supercommittee has failed. The official deadline is midnight tonight, but the real deadline was Monday, because it takes 48 hours to push the bill through to a vote.

So here we are with: unemployment at 9%, but real unemployment closer to 16%, Congressional approval ratings at about negative 375,two wars and troops expanding even to Australia, Iran building nuclear weapons whether we like it or not, Wall Street remaining occupied and the nation’s police partying like it’s 1969, the country falling apart with no end in sight, and the Democrats and Republicans in Congress can’t even get it together enough to save the nation from defaulting again. And by “get it together” I don’t mean put together a plan. That was never going to happen. They can’t even sit in the same room. They haven’t actually met since October. This whole thing was a pantomime. It was better performance art than the Herman Cain Art Project. And, again, no one is surprised.

The problem, though, is that while we’ve been consumed by the latest Congressional failure (although they did manage to declare pizza sauce a vegetable, so they’re not completely useless) they have managed, yet again, to ignore the problem of jobs. And they’ve taken the American conversation with them. I have been amazed in the last few weeks by how many people have said to me that it’s the fault of the unemployed that they don’t have jobs. From a coworker in Washington to a cab driver in New York, they have all railed against the "lazy" Americans who just don’t seem to want to work. When I politely point out that, in fact, most Americans do want to work, if only there were any jobs, and isn’t it interesting that such a large number of Americans became lazy around the same time that the economy crashed, they declare that surely there are jobs somewhere but people are just so lazy. These same people also claim that the Democrats (just the Democrats, mind you) keep extending unemployment so the poor can live high on the government hog. Even when I ask if the fact that thousands of people are moving to North Dakota of all places because it’s the one place in the country where jobs have suddenly appeared is proof that Americans do, in fact, want to work, doesn’t sway them. The line is “Unemployed people are lazy”, or, in Cainian, “If you’re not rich, blame yourself”. Never mind that none of the people I’m having these conversations with are rich themselves.

It’s remarkable that we seem to have lost our empathy. Oh wait, for a second I forgot the last 250 years of our history. It’s remarkable that the same segment of the population that never had any sympathy (some middle class white Americans) still doesn’t get it, even when the issues are affecting them. Sure, ignore slavery, it has little to do with you. Ignore the feminist movement, they’re all a bunch of unattractive lesbians anyways. Ignore Vietnam, your son is in college. Ignore the Civil Rights movement, there aren’t any black people in your suburb anyways. Except the maid, but she’s thrilled to be cleaning up after you.  Ignore the immigration issue, you don’t live near the border. Ignore the health care problem, your job covers your family just fine. For decades and decades it has been easy for a very insulated segment of our population to ignore the world around them, but not anymore. Now it’s your house that’s underwater (although you’re blaming the “Wal-Mart employee with the $600,000 palace” according to my cab driver yesterday). Now it’s your job that’s laying people off and getting steadily closer to your middle-management position. Now it’s your recently graduated college student who is moving back into your basement. Now it’s your SUV that you can’t afford to fill up with gas, your vacation that you have to cancel this year, it’s your life that’s being destroyed. All of a sudden that insulation is giving you cancer and you can’t ignore the outside world any more. So what do you do? Listen to Michele Bachmann and blame the wrong people. Get passionate about abortion and gay rights, neither of which affect jobs or the economy. Forget that we’re in a war. Call the Occupy Wall Street protesters “hippies” and leave it at that.

The supercommittee hasn’t failed because Congress is useless. The supercommittee has failed because America doesn’t care. After all, their net worth has gone up 25%. Congress is doing just fine.

We used to be a country that fought for what we believed in. We went on strike for labor rights after a devastating fire proved that Americans deserved better working conditions. We marched for the right to vote.  Twice. We marched for the right to sit anywhere we damn well please. We marched to end a war that was killing our young men by the thousands and we marched to protest an election that was stolen from under us. But now, in yet another of the worst times our country has ever seen, with everyone suffering and no one paying for it, only 1% of the 99% are standing up against the 1%, and 98% of the 99% hate them for it. Where’s the solidarity? Where’s the sympathy? Where’s the outrage? This is your life, America. And you have no control over it. Why the hell aren’t you mad as hell?

What YOU Can Do

March on Wall Street (or Main Street, or whatever street is near you); call, tweet, email, and write your Congressman; attend a town hall and ask them about jobs and the economy; run for office; find someone else to run for office; write a letter to the editor; turn off the Kardashians and watch the news; donate money to campaigns you believe in; debate the issues. 

What Teachers Don’t Get About ‘Low-Performing’ Students

By Yvette Jackson

All students should have the chance to be motivated to achieve in ways that are usually expected of those students labeled “gifted,” but that’s not the case. Often educators and parents feel a sense of hopelessness in the ability of our leaders to enact policies that can transform public education.

What has been ignored in policies that attempt to address underachievement is the focus on the individual. Instead, there has been a proliferation of practices that lump students together into programs of generalized instruction, as if all the causes for the underachievement are the same.

While the learning process is pretty much the same for all of us, what ignites learning and stimulates that learning to the point of achievement is different for everyone.

We are all born with an intrinsic desire to learn. Just go into any school around the country right now and watch kindergarten students of any background enter school and you will see children excited with anticipation.

They anticipate having their inner drive to learn quenched and want to collect on the promise made to them by their parents that in school they would learn and be motivated to succeed.

However, as Dr. James Comer, who teaches child psychology at Yale, illustrates, motivation from academic success is an acquired taste. In other words, students are motivated to achieve academically by the identification and development of their interests through enrichment and through opportunities to research and apply their earning in stimulating and authentic ways.

Those who create programs for students labeled as gifted get the point about how to motivate achievement in school. But for students in schools tagged as “low performing,” their anticipation is quickly squelched by tests that identify under-developed skill areas, which in turn become the overwhelming focus of their instruction. This often leads to the exclusion of instructional approaches that stimulate their interests, strengths, or engagement.

Instead, school is repetitive, boring, and lacks enrichment. This cycle leads to failure and the harshest punishment of all: Many students never experience success in school and their motivation for academic success is extinguished.

All students can experience school as a place where they can learn, grow, and be successful, but that takes bold direction from the local to the state and federal levels.

Leaders must understand that individual student interests and abilities have to be addressed, engaged, and supported.

This understanding is critical if our students are going to meet the promise of the new Common Core State Standards to be college and career ready. The standards require student engagement so they are motivated to be confident as self-directed learners.

The question for policymakers willing to go down this path is: how will they help all students develop the acquired taste for academic success?

Two major shifts would transform how we motivate academic achievement.

*First, change the expectation for all students to that of intellectual development and self-directed learning and not just literacy skills. Instead of focusing on underdeveloped skills, change assessment to identify students’ strengths and focus on individual learning growth. This growth would be indicated through an increase of strengths and a decrease in under-developed skills.

Districts must detail how they will give teachers the flexibility to create practices that provide enrichment and promote self-directed learning that uses students’ strengths to build their skills. Professional development should help teachers activate, guide, and assess the learning process. This would include exploring and adapting the latest research from cognitive and neuroscience.

*Second, policies should reflect the understanding that self-directed learning requires investment, ownership, and responsibility from students. This ownership would be established through individualized plans for student-generated, teacher-guided learning goals. The goals would include identification and application of student interests and strengths for meeting instructional outcomes; identification of skills to be developed; and opportunities for mentoring, tutoring, and/or
internships.

These two goals alone would change two pernicious policies. One is the elimination of the term “achievement gap.” This term has fostered measuring the distance in achievement between races as opposed to addressing the growth of individual students to close the gap between their potential and their achievement. The second is shifting away from the practice of using tests that provide a snapshot of where students are at a particular time.

That status quo would be replaced by dynamic approaches that encourage students to work with teachers to assess their own growth through their responses, classroom work, and other instructional opportunities.

These changes not only transform how we “do school” but they ensure that students experience individual success that builds their taste for self-directed learning and academic achievement. It is in such change that we can find true hope for transforming how we do school and where we will find concrete ideas to act on this hope.

 

This was originally published by New America Media.

Motivational Monday: Are You Using Positive Words As Your Success Strategy? Test Yourself

By M. Elena Rogers

Manly Hall, the Canadian-born author and mystic once said, "Words are potent weapons for all causes, good or bad." Due to the fact that this is so true, I have devised a quiz, so that you can test yourself to see whether you are aware of the profound effects that positive and negative words have.

1. Are you choosing the exact words that you mean?

We often say words thoughtlessly. Many times, we do not really mean what we say. In sense, we live in a semantic universe. Have you ever heard a father say that his child is dead lazy, or have you heard someone say, "I wanted to die,” when something uncomfortable happens? Is that really what that person really meant, that is, that he/she wanted to die? Of course not, so you can see how vital the choice of positive words are.

2. Do you realize the powerful effect negative and positive words have on your life?

Every word that we say has an effect. All spiritual disciplines warn us to be very careful of the words that we speak. Negative words can remain with a child all his/her life, as can positive words. A moment of irritation can cause a parent to say "You never do things right." Many children have heard a parent or relative say, "You will never make anything of yourself." Can you image how damaging that can be when as an adult he/she is applying for a job?

3. Do you spend a large percentage of your time, listening to negative words instead of positive words?

Everyday, we are showered by negative words. Turning on the television and listen to local evening news gives us mostly a negative outpouring of words. We have talk shows where people are always arguing and discussing negative events. Our music degrades women and devalues life. Then a friend calls and tells you about their latest disappointment and yet again, you are listening to negative words. You must discipline yourself to eliminate these negative words as much as possible. You can determine to outbalance the negative words with the positive words by listening to inspirational CDs, joining a group where people regularly focus on positive things, attend a spiritual gathering and sing songs with positive words. There is a marvelous healing power in sacred songs and hymns.

4. Do your realize how many negative words you use unknowingly in common everyday expressions?

Many of our most common expressions use negative words. How many times have you or someone else said, "I nearly had a fit." (I stopped saying that after meeting a young boy who suffered from a form of epilepsy that cruelly twisted and contorted him for several minutes each day.) Have you said, " I could have killed him," when some minor thing has bothered us. This fact of how we unwittingly say negative words was brought home to me, when I was living in another country and learning another language.

In our own language we say expressions without thinking, but in another language we tend to notice the literal meaning of words and phrases. For example, there is a phrase in Italian "morire di noia" means to die of boredom. Translated in a typical sentence could be "I am so sick of working, I hope to die of boredom when I retire." Obviously, a person doesn't really want to die like this when they retire. I will never forget reading at the start of my self-improvement journey that Louise Hay, the inspired woman who began the positive thinking movement, was on a trip to Australia. The organizer of her tour suggested an organizational shortcut. He said, "We can kill two birds with one stone." Hay, turned to him shocked and said," Why on earth would you want to kill a bird with a stone?" She was so conscious of words that were spoken and the power of them and insisted always on the discipline of saying positive words.

5. Do you realize that Businesses can thrive and relationships can be healed if positive words are adopted?

Let us look at a few examples. If you are in dentist's waiting room and the nurse comes in and says, "I do apologize for the delay, but the dentist has had to do an emergency treatment. I would be more than happy to help you if it more convenient for you to make another appointment." Or if you have to walk into a supermarket and the manager explains "We are so sorry for the inconvenience, but we are changing the display to make it easier or our customers" If you are anxious about a situation and a friend tells you "Don't worry, everything will turn out alright. It’s not that big of a deal." What a healing, calming effect those positive words would have.

So, in essence, you must be conscious of the meaning of the words you speak, be aware of the resounding effect these words have, discipline yourself to listen to a higher percentage of positive words than negative words, beware of unthinkingly using negativity in everyday expressions, and be proactive in using positive words in your business, home, and moment-to-moment living. It is so true as a wise voice from the past cautions us, "The language we use to communicate with one another is like a knife. In the hands of a careful and skilled surgeon, a knife can work to do great good. But in the hands of a careless or ignorant person, a knife can cause great harm. Exactly as it is with our words." (Source Unknown)

 

M. Elena Rogers is a recognized expert in success strategies. She draws upon her extensive experience to assist people in achieving their dreams. For more information, visit www.bestsuccessoptions.com.

The Short List For New Minority Entrepreneurs

By kat calvin

In case you haven’t heard, this week is Global Entrepreneurship Week. Cities around the world are celebrating entrepreneurs with lectures, workshops, awards, fairs and everything you can imagine. It’s extraordinary. As an entrepreneur, I am in heaven. I'm spending every day taking in as much as I can.

For many entrepreneurs in the Black community, this week will be the motivational push they need to start a new venture, grow an existing business, or support others doing the same. However, for others, it will be overwhelming. The idea of starting a small business can be terrifying. Writing a business plan, raising the money, filing legal paperwork, bookkeeping, all of it is intimidating and can be enough to stop anyone in their tracks.  But it shouldn’t be. Small businesses are the hearth and soul of America and everyone, even Apple, was small once. So, in celebration of this week, and with hope for the future of our nation, I thought I would list just a few of the resources, initiatives and organizations that exist to help minorities start small businesses. They say a down economy is the best time to start a new business so this must be the most perfect time in history. If you’ve ever thought about being your own boss, have ever wondered how to get that idea out of your head and into the stores, or are trying to recover from the long, long unemployment that has beleaguered so many of us, here are some tools that might help:

Small Business Administration

Minority Business Development Agency

The National Black Chamber of Commerce

SCORE

Startup America

Black Enterprise

Opportunity Finance Network

Seedco

Community Reinvestment Fund

Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs- Atlanta

The Reinvestment Fund

Hope Enterprise Corporation- Regional

NCB Capital Impact

Atlanta Micro Fund- Atlanta

Women Venture

Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation- Philadelphia

This is just a small, small sampling of what’s out there. The point is to show you that if you are looking to start a business, there is a way. Don’t let the fear of not having the money, education, experience or guidance stop you from pursuing your dream. Sure, you may fail. But isn’t trying and failing better than never knowing?  

What YOU Can Do: Start a business. Start it the right way, with the right resources, and the right help. If you already own a business, mentor someone else.  And everyone else, support a local, minority owned business today.

 

kat calvin is a lawyer, a writer, and a businesswoman who is hopeful for the future of her people.

 

America’s Real Immigrant Problem

By Matt Amaral

I was recently talking to a teacher from another district who has more undocumented students than my district. His high school has a larger Latino immigrant population, and therefore his students face obstacles in their everyday lives most people don’t even think about. He even has to dedicate part of class time informing students what to do if ICE comes knocking. “Look,” he tells his class, “If ICE comes knocking, you don’t answer the door. Period. You let them knock and knock and you just make sure you and your family stay inside and be quiet. Because if they have a warrant and they’re really coming to get you, there ain’t anything you can do anyway. They’ll knock the door down.”

Sure enough, ICE came knocking on the doors of two or three of his students last week. The families stayed inside, didn’t answer the door, didn’t go to work, and his students didn’t go to school. At one family’s door, ICE knocked for two and a half hours.

Imagine being fourteen years old thinking that any moment the Feds might come bursting through the door to take away your mother and father—and maybe you too.

We have an immigrant problem in this country, I’ll agree with that. But the problem I see isn’t the problem you hear about anywhere in our media. The problem we really have is that our country is getting rid of immigrants and keeping all the Americans.

Tell me how is it that we have so much money to send ICE looking for dark immigrants who do nothing but break their backs working all day, but can’t take care of the gangs and the drug dealers? If my tax money is going to fight crime, shouldn’t it be working against criminals?

At my own school, I usually don’t know who my undocumented students are until they are seniors and start applying to college. One dead giveaway is that their grades are good enough that they can actually get into a good college. Want to know what all the Americans are doing? They’re lucky if they make it to Junior year.

Don’t believe me? Come to my school any day of the week. Please. The problems we have at our schools are not all the undocumented immigrants, trust me. Our biggest problems are caused by all the American citizens running around with social security numbers.

But don’t worry, because I have come up with a solution for our immigrant problem: Instead of deporting the illegal immigrants, lets start getting rid of useless Americans.

There is a historical basis for my unusual solution. We like to forget this country was built on the backs of immigrants. We’re all immigrants, yes, even you. It was that special work ethic, that yearning for a better world that made America what it is today. Immigrants from all over the world came to a place where hard work will win you success. Isn’t that what we trumpet from the cold coast of Maine to the farthest reaches of Alaska? Wasn’t that our old motto, before they changed it last week into trusting a make believe deity?

But today we face a problem here in the United States. We’ve lost that work ethic that once made us innovative. We’ve lost that dedication and commitment to hard work that filled and fertilized our agricultural fields to feed 300 million people. We’ve lost everything in this jungle of reality television and iTunes. We are failing because we have forgotten what it is like to work hard for your dreams.

The state of Alabama is a perfect, sad example of our lost labors. They have recently scared off all the illegals from working in fields because they want to open up those wonderful jobs to actual Americans. The problem? The Americans are unwilling to work hard enough to fill all the vacant positions. They show up on the first day, but not the second. Or they last a week. Or they don’t even show up at all because they refuse to do that kind of work. Therefore, the law is in fact crippling Alabama farms.

My buddy in another district says it very simply. “Why are they trying to deport these kids and their families? I know their families. They work all hours of the day and are not criminals. And why is it the immigrant kids are the ones with the best GPAs, the ones who stay after school, and volunteer on weekends, and help tutor other kids?” Of course he knows the answer—our undocumented students know what it’s like to live in a country where opportunity is limited. They know how it feels to want an education but not have one available to them. That is why they work so hard when they get here. They can appreciate the American dream.

So maybe we should send some of our Americans to new horizons and let them see what life is like in the rest of the world. Let’s send the kids who don’t bring backpacks, paper, or pencils to school to a country where the kids don’t have access to any of those things. Let’s send our gangsters down to El Salvador and let them see what a REAL gang is all about. Lets say if you have a .25 GPA, 17 suspensions and you’ve threatened two of your teachers you automatically qualify.

Of course, that would then be unfair to the countries we’d be sending them to.

But let’s stop spending so much money searching out hardworking families who now more than ever embody what it used to mean to be an American.

Because the problems this country faces are not being caused by those coming here to work and make their life better. Just walk into any public school in this country and you’ll see exactly what I’m talking about.

 

Matt Amaral is a writer and high school English teacher from the San Francisco Bay Area. Read his blog Teach4Real.

Motivational Monday: That’s ENOUGH!

By Adrienne, the Soul Power Coach™

“Ok. That’s ENOUGH!” When I heard this phrase as a kid, I knew mom was not kidding and it was time to stop doing whatever I was doing in that moment. It is funny how such a familiar phrase can suddenly take on a different meaning.

That’s enough!

Now when I think, say, or hear it, this statement reminds me to get my mind right. It is a call to shift my perspective into a more positive, focused, and abundance place.

Let me explain. If you are like me, you can get stuck before pursuing an idea or being inspired to act because you do not see how it can be done. Before you commit to any action, you want to see how you are going to do it. You wander away from building a dream. You get distracted by doubts and fears about how to get it done. You tell yourself you are just being responsible. It is what an objective rational thinker does.

Can I be honest with you? You are over thinking the situation. How many times have you stopped pursing a dream because you did not see a way to make it a reality? The path was unclear and it deterred you from taking steps forward. Yes, I have done it too. While you are looking for the ‘how’, the inspiration and motivation to act is dying inside of you.

That’s enough!

Let that statement stop you and pull you back into a focused positive state of possibilities and determination. Know your role in this dream and stay in your lane. Understand and trust that if the inspiration was given to you, the way—the ‘how’ is available. In other words, where there is a will, there is a way. It is not your role to see how from the beginning. Your role is to move—to take action.

Those doubts and fears are there to discourage you from moving out of your comfort zone. They are present because you are being asked to grow into a greater version of you. The part of you that does not want to change is on high alert. The more determined or inspired you are, the bigger the doubts and fears. Remember that each doubt, each fear is just a big smoke screen to distract you from your greatness.

This is not the point for you to wonder how. Yes, it is perfectly natural to feel the fear. Move anyway. Take the first step toward that goal. Trust your instincts and simply begin moving. Once you are moving, the ‘how’ begins to be revealed.

That’s enough!

Yes, you probably had a thought just now about why this is not a good idea. Why it will not work for you. This is the time that your faith and trust in the highest good must kick in.

Do you believe you are meant to do this idea? Do you feel it in your heart that this is something you must do? Then push forward regardless of the obstacles and fears.

Do you want to know the best part about That’s enough?!

The very best part about this statement is the reminder that whatever resources you have been given are enough. Think about it. This inspiration was not by accident. It was given to you for a purpose. Everything you need is right there in this moment. When you can approach this dream from a state of abundance instead of lack and fear, you will begin to see where what you have is enough.

The skills you have may not be great, but they are enough for this present moment. Enough to get moving. Enough to start you on the path. Enough to connect you with greater skills and more resources and support for the next step. Stop being distracted by fears about what you will need tomorrow. What you have today is enough.

Keep growing. Keep moving. Keep believing in your greatness because your greatness is great enough! 

 

Adrienne, the Soul Power Coach™ is the founder of www.mysoulpower.net and the creator of the Live with Soul Power System™, the most practical habit-building system available to get the personal accountability, focus, balance, and peace of mind you need to be more accomplished, creative, and successful for the rest of your life.

Using the principles of living with Soul Power, Adrienne shows creative thinkers from artists to engineers how to stop struggling with procrastination, fear, and indecision. Many of them come to her seeking a more meaningful career. Her clients learn to embrace their unique purpose and start taking action on the big ideas they have about being of service to the world. To request a complimentary Taste of Soul Power Coaching Conversation and get a free Soul Power Pack of Life Area Cards, go to www.mysoulpower.net You may also connect with Adrienne, the Soul Power Coach on Twitter (soulpowercoach), Google+ (SoulPower Coach), and Facebook (Soul Power Coach)

Corporate Loopholes: The Tip of the Iceberg

By Marian Wright Edelman

Picture an iceberg. Many children know the danger from the “Titanic Song” they learn in school or summer camp. One verse goes like this: “It was off the coast of England not very far from shore, when the rich refused to associate with the poor. So they sent them down below, where they were the first to go. It was sad when that great ship went down. Oh it was sad, so sad. It was sad, too bad. It was sad when the great ship went down . . . husbands and wives, little children lost their lives—it was sad when the great ship went down.”

Some days it feels like America may be speeding towards that iceberg. Every day there is more disturbing evidence of the growing income and wealth gaps between rich and poor. Recent poverty data shows the number of people in extreme poverty, defined as a family of four living on less than $30 a day—one in 15 Americans—has reached a 35-year high. At the same time the gap between CEO and average worker pay rose dramatically from 263-to-1 to 325-to-1 last year. Twenty-five of the 100 highest paid CEOs last year took home more in pay than their company paid in 2010 federal income taxes.

A new study by Citizens for Tax Justice reported that 30 companies paid no federal income taxes at all for the last three years and that the 280 biggest publicly traded American corporations on average paid federal income tax equal to 18.5 percent of their profits during the last three years—about half of the full corporate tax rate of 35 percent. This tax payment rate was lower than in many industrialized countries. In fact, the report found two-thirds of American companies with significant profits overseas actually paid more in taxes to foreign governments than to the U.S. government.

As the Supercommittee struggles to make difficult decisions in the coming weeks to reduce the budget deficit, one of the proposals they are considering is reducing the corporate tax rate. Corporations are pushing for a cut in their official rate, claiming they are at a disadvantage in the global marketplace. Their evidence is not so clear. We should all be looking closely at the important choices the Supercommittee could and should be making to ensure everyone—including the rich and powerful—contributes their fair share. It would be deeply disturbing if all or any of the Republicans on the Supercommittee continue to refuse to put revenue on the table and insist on a cut-only approach to deficit reduction at the expense of children and the poor who did not create our fiscal crisis.

By the end of last year, American corporations reaped profits of more than $1.5 trillion. Each minute, $195,967 are lost to corporate tax loopholes. Every hour, corporate tax breaks cost the U.S. government about $11.8 million. If Congress were to balance corporate profits against critical child needs, just one hour of revenue generated by closing corporate tax loopholes could pay for:

• Medicaid health benefits for 4,800 poor children for a year, or 
• Women, Infants, and Children [WIC] nutritional benefits for 23,600 women and children for a year, or 
• Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program [SNAP] benefits providing food for 9,700 children and adults for a year at a time when hunger affects 1 in 6 Americans, or 
• Pell Grants for 3,100 low-income students to attend college.

Corporate excess looks a lot like General Electric’s balance sheet at the end of 2010. Huge pretax profits of $5.1 billion filtered through corporate tax loopholes meant GE paid no federal income taxes. To add insult to injury, had GE paid the full 35 percent corporate tax rate, it would have paid $1.8 billion in federal income taxes. Add this to GE’s reported $3.3 billion in tax benefits and you get a grand total of more than $5 billion of federal tax breaks for the year. This lost revenue could have been used to fund Head Start for an additional 670,000 preschoolers, creating at least 67,000 new jobs in the process.

Budget cuts already enacted on the federal, state, and local levels have harmed children and their families, especially low-income families hit hardest by the recession. Education cuts have led at least 292 school districts to cut back to a four day school week for children when more than 60 percent of our children in all racial and income groups cannot read or do math at grade level in the 4th, 8th, and 12th grades. According to the Washington Post the number of school districts using a four day school week has more than doubled in two years. Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Texas and other states have cut funding—including critical early childhood education programs that help children get ready for school—to help close their budget shortfalls and adversely affecting hundreds of thousands of at-risk children.

What other choices could citizens demand our political leaders make? If they closed tax loopholes for the oil and gas industry it would generate at least $45 billion over ten years. About one year of that money could fund slots for over half a million infants and toddlers in Early Head Start, a program that currently reaches only four percent of eligible children during their period of crucial brain development. Expanding Early Head Start would create almost 150,000 new teaching positions.

The tip of the iceberg is the budget deficit; the failure to invest in our human capital deficit—our children who are the poorest age group in America—is the rest of the iceberg that will sink America’s ship of state. This is the critical time to raise our collective voices and tell members of the Supercommittee, Congress, and the White House we want them to cut and not increase corporate tax breaks and make sure rich corporations and rich CEOs pay their fair share. We must not balance the budget on the backs of our babies who need health care and nutrition, quality early childhood development and education, an affordable college education, and good jobs to build a strong America and rescue America’s vanishing dream. Children did not cause the budget deficit and they must not be sacrificed to help solve it.

 

Marian Wright Edelman is a lifelong advocate for disadvantaged Americans and is the President of the Children's Defense Fund (CDF). Under her leadership, CDF has become the nation's strongest voice for children and families. Learn more by visiting www.childrensdefense.org. This article also appears in Change.org and the Huffington Post