YOUR LIFE A-Z: KWANZAA

The Holiday Season Continues.  Joyous KWANZAA

KWANZAA

JOYOUS KWANZAA IS THE PROPER GREETING FOR TODAY.  YES, KWANZAA IS A FAIRLY NEW HOLIDAY MAKING ITS WAY INTO THE MAINSTREAM OF THE HOLIDAY SEASON, BEGINNING DECEMBER 26 AND ENDING ON NEW YEAR’S DAY.  IT ORIGINATED IN 1966 BY DR. MAULANA KARENGA TO CELEBRATE THE AFRICAN FAMILY, COMMUNITY, AND CULTURE.  THE WORD KWANZAA MEANS, “FIRST FRUITS” IN SWAHILI.  SWAHILI IS THE WIDEST SPOKEN AFRICAN LANGUAGE AND RECOGNIZED THROUGH ALL OF AFRICAN DIASPORA.  KWANZAA CELEBRATES THE SEVEN PRINCIPLES OVER ITS SEVEN DAYS.  THOSE PRINCIPLES ARE: UNITY, SELF-DETERMINATION, COLLECTIVE WORK AND RESPONSIBILITY, COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS, PURPOSE, CREATIVITY, AND FAITH.  THE KINARA, WHICH IS A SEVEN CANDLE CANDLESTICK, REPRESENTS EACH ONE OF THE SEVEN PRINCIPLES.  THE BLACK CANDLE IS LIT FIRST REPRESENTING UNITY AND THE OTHER SIX PRINCIPLES BALANCE THE HEART OF THIS HOLIDAY OF SOLIDARITY AND COMMUNITY.  KWANZAA WAS BORN DURING THE HEAT OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT AS A WAY OF OFFERING A STABILIZED IDENTITY IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ANGER AND HATE OF RACISM.  HERE WE ARE FORTY -EIGHT YEARS LATER AND OUR NEWSCAST ARE FULL OF VIOLENCE AGAINST BLACK PEOPLE. LET’S PULL TOGETHER THIS KWANZAA TO STAND TOGETHER WITH OUR AFRICAN BROTHERS AND SISTERS AS THE STRIVE TO FIND FAITH AND HOPE IN A COUNTRY THAT IS OFTEN HOSTILE AND HATE FILLED TOWARD THEM.  WE ARE IN DEEP NEED OF PEACE WITHIN OUR OWN COUNTRY THIS YEAR AND I FEEL IT IS FOOLISH TO FOCUS OUTSIDE OF OUR OWN BORDERS UNTIL WE HAVE PEACE WITHIN.  WATCH THIS THREE-MINUTE VIDEO AS AN ACT OF SOLIDARITY TODAY: HTTP://WWW.HISTORY.COM/TOPICS/HOLIDAYS/KWANZAA-HISTORY

YOUR LIFE A-Z:ELVES

Employ and Delicate some Help This Holiday Season

ELVES

There are several lessons that we can learn from Santa’s ELVES. They do not wait until the last minute to prepare for the holiday season; they work hard all year long making toys that Santa will deliver across the world on Christmas Eve.  The ELVES make an abundance of toys, so as the children’s Christmas list come in, the ELVES can quickly fill children’s orders and wrap them so that Santa’s sleigh is full on Christmas Eve. By Christmas Eve everything is complete and only the fun and delight of delivery waits. How many ELVES do you have helping you this year with the holiday?  It is more fun to decorate, bake, cook, shop and wrap if you have some ELVES to help you along the way.  It is also less stressful if you plan all year long what Christmas gifts you are going to purchase. You can even wrap them as they are purchased.  Santa can’t do it all by himself and you should not have to either.  ELVES flourish in a community rather than staying isolated and task orientated.  They have fun while they work so hard.  They feel a sense of importance and valuable to Santa.  Make your ELVES feel this way too.  Then of course, since 2005, we have become familiar with the ELF on the Shelf.  This ELF is so very important because he goes back to the North Pole every night to report to Santa as whether you have been naughty or nice.  Use this ELF to build personal responsibility in your homes, helping all family members get into to positive energy of the holiday season.

YOUR LIFE A-Z: JOIN

JOINING EACH OTHER ENHANCES OUR VITALITY

JOIN

Join something! Quit sitting on the sidelines of life and get out and JOIN something.  Preferably JOIN something you are passionate about,  but if passion is lacking JOIN a group to learn something new or to stretch you outside of your comfort zone.  Belonging to a community is a great mental health booster and very necessary for a well-rounded life.  JOINING a cause, a group, a class, or even a gym gives you a sense of purpose and you need to experience a sense of purpose to feel good about who you are.  If you are reading this and are totally lost as to what or how to JOIN something new, go to www.meetup.com and enter your zip code.  You will be surprised how many activities of a variety of areas are out there just waiting for you to JOIN.  (Disclaimer: There are always scenarios that one can find that are not healthy or good for you, but for the most part if you are not looking for deviance, you won’t find it on meetup.com) Meetup.com can help you find book clubs, hiking groups, four-wheeling, and cooking groups or anything else that interest you.  The point is for you to stop being a “lurker” in your own life and be a participant.  Get out and JOIN something new to alleviate the rut you have dug yourself into.  If after three or four times in your newly JOINED group, it is not working for you.  Stop and JOIN something different.  The old adage of try and try again is true on this important word, JOIN. 

YOUR LIFE A-Z: ZUMBA

MOVE YOUR BODY 

ZUMBA

ZUMBA began by accident when Beto Perez was teaching an aerobics class and forgot his music.  After digging around in his bag he pulled out a CD of Latin beats.  The class loved moving to the music and thus the rage began (source Web MD by Samataro).  The great thing about ZUMBA is that you do not have to practice any choreographed dance steps but can allow your body to feel the music and move to the music, keeping pace with the rapid Latin beat.  ZUMBA can be done in the privacy of your own home for thirty minutes prior to stepping into the shower in the morning or you can join a ZUMBA group at a local gym.  You usually don’t have to worry about injuring your back or overworking a muscle group.  However, if you have healthy issues that concern you about physical exercise by all means obtain your doctor’s permission. Also, reportedly ZUMBA burns more calories in an hour than an intense yoga class or other aerobic exercises and the added bonus is that the time flies by.  Walking or working out on a machine such as a treadmill or an elliptical can be an hour of pure will power where a ZUMBA class moves fast and the time flies right by.   The exhilaration and energy you   feel as a result of letting your body move empowers you for a longer period of time post workout.  If you are exercise phobic, try downloading some Latin music and dancing to it in the privacy of your own home. 

YOUR LIFE A-Z: XEROSERE

CREATIVITY IN THE STARKNESS OF ENVIRONMENTS

XEROSERE 

“X” words are becoming my favorite because I learn so much.  XEROSERE is especially exciting because it speaks to me of the synchronicity of random events.  After I wrote about water, I typed in “words that start with X” into my browser.  I hardly know what any of them mean and this one seemed interesting so I clicked on its definition. “XEROSERE is plant succession which is limited by water availability.”  I am certain that the science of XEROSERE is deeper than where I am going with this blog but think about the difference between a rock and forest.  The succession of plant stages go from bare rocks to climax stage.  Such is your emotional life.  Emotions are stages and more we are tossed around in turbulent waters of our life the more we grow.  Our stages mirror that of our environment.  We even use a vocabulary that is similar to XEROSERE.  Often time we will say someone is barren of emotional connection, meaning their emotional landscape is void of expression, zeal, and depth.  It is natural to want to connect with people who have well developed emotions by moving past the rock to moss stage and are in the herb, shrub, tree, or climax stage.  The climax state of XEROSERE is a strong community stage of a forest, which has banned together from the many trees that make it up the community.  The healthier you are emotionally the more developed the XEROSERE of your emotional life.  Be sure to let the water of your emotions allow you to grow strong and tall. Forest or rocks, created a community.  

YOUR LIFE A-Z:UNITE

ALL OF YOUR PARTS ARE IMPORTANT.

UNITE

UNITE the many parts within yourself.  UNITE your desires to work for you rather than to pull you in a million directions.  I challenge you to take a twenty- minute break with your journal.  Turn to the next blank page and draw a big circle.  In the circle write words that define your many parts.  For example: inner child, inner teen-ager, resentful one, joyful one, sad one, mad one, happy one, hopeful one, honest one, deceitful one, fearful one, healthy one, unhealthy parts, and other emotional parts as they come up.  Next draw different color circles around each of these words.  Take a breath and look at all of those parts of yourself competing for your attention.  Each part needs you desperately to pay attention to it.  Each part has a story to tell.  Mary Catherine Bates said, “An untold story is a difficult story to claim.”  I might change that to, “An untold story is waiting for your attention in order to heal.”  Interesting shame is positively mitigated by the telling of our stories to compassionate and non-judgmental friends.  In order to heal we must be able to trust at some basic level that our story is just like many other people’s story, but with different characters.  We heal in community by UNITING together with our tribe of like-minded and compassionate folks. UNITE on the inside and then UNITE on the outside with all of those whom you care about and care about you.  UNITE always.