Hey everybody,

Thank you for making last night such a special evening and blessing this space and world with your presence. I had an incredible time.

The Menu

• roasted chicken with creme of mushroom and brown rice by Jullien
  
• fried chicken by Wesley
  
• collard greens by Jullien
  
• sweet beans by Jullien
  
• vegetable platter with green pepper and broccoli by Kanako
  
• pound cake by Jamilah and Sallome
  
• homemade brownies by Alicia
  
• little nestle crunch ice cream balls by Honey and Ashley
  

• Please forward this email to Jamilah
  

• TODO: Send Jamilah your substitute filing #
• PLUG: Honey may need an alto sax
• IDEA: Consider starting a music production company for youth
• CONX: Check out Youth Uprising in Oakland - http://www.youthuprising.org/
• CONX: Check out Crown Heights Live - http://www.crownheightslive.com/
• TODO: Send Jullien the guy you met on the train from US Games Experts

• TODO: Send Jullien the contact information of your friend who is a programmer about to finish grad school

• PLUG: Check out Jullien's godparents' BBQ at http://www.carmenandfamilybbq.com
  

• Wesley and his transition to New York
• The Amish people as revolutionaries?
• Building sustainable communities: What's your role?
  
• Urban education in the 21st century
• How to make money in the music industry
  

• www.4real.com show
• Knaan - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0IuUXHBkaw and http://www.thedustyfoot.com
• Majora Carter - http://www.ted.com/tedtalks/tedtalksplayer.cfm?key=majora_carter
• William McDonough - http://www.mcdonough.com/full.htm
• Park Slope Food Co-op - www.foodcoop.com
• Song Thai Food 295 5th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11215
• Room Service Thai Food 166 8th Ave, New York, NY 10011
• Ringo USB music bracelet - http://beatle.wordpress.com/2007/12/21/ringos-new-album-comes-on-digital-wristband/
  

• your authentic self
• a book to exchange for another book that someone else brings
  
• a dish to contribute
• love
• a smile, and
  
• another person if you would like

April 30, 2008







Today I lead a workshop on the 8 Principles of Purpose for 300 Ghanaian young adults through my friend Allah Jesus' (that's his real name) company called Real Talk.

Because it was over the phone, I wasn't really able to engage with them as deeply as possible, but here are a few question that I got:

1. Once you've found your purpose, how do you maintain it?

Friends and community are your maintenance. It's easier to fix a flat tire with 2 people instead of 1. Your partners pump you up. Its no fun going on a road trip alone.

2. What if a physical disability is preventing you from doing what you love?

There are many examples of people with physical dis-abilities that are living or lived purposeful lives. They have found ways to use their dis-ability to their advantage instead of thinking about it as a dis-advantage:

• sprinter, Oscar Pistorius (double-amputee, still competing to be in the 2008 Olympics representing South Africa)
• theoretical physicist, Stephen Hawking (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, but is still making ground-breaking discoveries in phsyics)
  
• author, Helen Keller (deafblind, yet campaigned for woman's suffrage and worker's rights)
• former boxer, Muhammad Ali (Parkinson's dis-ease, yet still lives life more fully than most)
  
• former Superman, Christopher Reeves (paralyzed, but now leading stem cell research movement)
  
• musician, Ray Charles (blind, but made inspiring music nonetheless)
• musician, Stevie Wonder (blind, but has made incredible music that has influenced many other musicians)
  
• "Back To The Future" actor, Michael J. Fox (Parkinson's dis-ease and appeared before Senate to advocate for federal funding)
  

In-Capable of Loving

It's cr-amazing when two spiritual beings recognize each other and vibrate at such a high level when they are together that they combust with love. I'm great + She's great = Lets get together. Then the honey-moon sets, the sun rises, enlightening the darkest corners, and the truth is revealed.

How could Erykah Badu and Common break up?
How could Erykah Badu and Andre 3000 break up?
How could Winnie and Nelson Mandela get divorced?
How could Whitney and Bobby last so long?

What the f%$k?
This doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense. If they can't do it, then who the hell can.

I feel like a celebrity. Or maybe celebrity relationships aren't that different...up and down...bouncing around. Sounds like me? Maybe Britney Spears isn't that crazy? Or maybe she is? I wonder if Gnarls Barkley would agree?

How can two whole yet incomplete beings form a symbiotic relationship without becoming parasitic - only seeking to fulfill their internal emptiness cloaked in romance?

This sucks!

Where are the healthy models of love?
Will the real Cosby family please stand up?
If boyfriends and girlfriends break up so easily, why is divorce such a surprise?

Commitment and compromise.
Commitment and compromise.

Why do we give up on each other so easily?
When we give up on each other, we give up on the world.
If we can't foster love among two, how can we cultivate it amongst many?
If we can't love self, how can we love another?

Maybe we weren't meant to love thyself alone. Maybe we can't.
Despite its negative connotations, perhaps we're all co-dependents...on each other.
Love thy neighbor as thyself.
If I love me and my neighbor loves me and vice versa...then there is balance.

Family is the solution.
Family is the soul-ution!
Family that transcends the biological and ideological.
Family that is spiritual.

The world is a reflection of me.
The world is a reflection of we.
If we can't love one another...
...then the world will ultimately cease.

Lets stop hiding behind groups, flags, and religions...no more Islam vs. Christianity or United States vs. Iran or White vs. Black.

Lets start thinking in terms of 1-on-1 relationships...father-and-mother, sister-and-brother, husband-and-wife, stranger1-and-stranger2.

Some can't be still in chaos...so they leave.
To the left, to the left. Everything you own's in the box to the left.

But I'm still and here. I still be-lieve...in us...in U.S...in all of us - the single Universal Spirit.

I'm not giving up on me, you, or us.

I can't.

I declare LOVE.

Spring Cleaning Within 2008

Spring is here and it's time to clean up. Throw out the old; bring in the new. I'm opening my internal closets and shining light in dark corners within.

As of today, I'm trying to stop projecting perfection on the external side of my body or temple when my real estate within is not entirely clean. It's inauthentic to those who "think" they know me and hurtful to myself - the one who has to "act" self-righteous all the time. This post has been inspired in part by Lauryn Hill's journey over the past few years. Most people want the old 1998 Mis-Education Lauryn Hill back, but she has transcended that and moved on, yet many of her fans (including myself) have trapped her in an old box. As Nikki Giovanni once said "Even my flaws are correct".

Oftentimes...

1. I don't listen well because I can be arrogant and think I know it all
   
2. I'm shy because I'm afraid of letting people too close
   
3. I'm quiet to a point of being pseudo-passive because I'm afraid of my own light
   
4. I plan too much instead of being fully present in the moment
5. I cut people off in the moments when I need to embrace them or need them to embrace me
   
6. I project perfection because I thought perfection was more inspirational then authenticity
7. I try to control life because I'm a success-aholic and lack faith
8. I don't trust people because I still haven't truly forgiven my mother
9. I'm selfish and shut down when I don't get my way
10. I'm self-righteous and act like I know what I'm doing when I don't

In nations where people have excess time, energy, money, resources, and materials, there is this notion of DOING good. There are those who say to themselves, I'll DO good as I get more and then there are those who say I'm going to BE good regardless of what I have now. There is a huge difference between DOING good and BEING good.

I think that striving to BE good is more powerful than DOING good. People who DO good do it when it is convenient for them or part-time. They volunteer, run a marathon, mentor, donate, etc. In society we celebrate DO-gooders that make one-time weekend contributions while neglecting the BE-gooders that make small contributions to the world with every moment of their life. Creating good is a full-time job. If we're not creating good all of the time, then what are we creating? Money? Money has yet to prove that it can save the world. If I ever win an award, I'd rather win a lifetime achievement award rather than a one-time award, but the only thing about lifetime achievement awards is that they usually aren't awarded until the end of one's life or after they die. But BE-gooders don't seek awards anyways.

Regardless of what other people think, at the end of the day, the Creator will ask us if we did that which we were called to do. DOING good can't be a part-time thing; it must be full-time meaning that it is actually a state of BEING good. The last thing I want to hear on that day is "You did everything except the one thing you were sent to do."

Dear God, help me DO good all the time, by BEING good full-time.

We all say we want love but nobody has every truly defined it
Can it be defined and/or does it define us?
We have terrible ways of measuring the things we say we value
We measure success and happiness in dollars and eternal time in minutes
Is love a feeling and/or an action?
If it's a feeling then is it not fleeting?
always coming and going like the warmth of the sun
If it's an action, please point to it
Is it holding hands in the park?
or perhaps text messages with smiley faces and hearts?
What's love?
What is love?

The average American who completes college would spend:

9.9 seconds at Work (=work, travel to work, getting ready for work)
5.0 seconds in School (=class, homework, and travel to school)
20.6 seconds Sleeping (=fall asleep to wake up)
24.5 seconds of Other Time (=cooking, eating, recreation, travel, kids, errands, personal email)
60.0 seconds



Keep in mind that though school and work look small in the larger scheme of life, they eat the time of our lives when we are physically and mentally the sharpest and they consume daylight hours when our energy is the highest.

Download my assumptions here: HowWeSpendTime.xls

Who says rappers can't be positive?

Story

A fisherman is drowning. He prays to God to save him. A boat comes and offers him a rope. "No, God will save me," he says. Another boat comes. "God will save me," he repeats. A third boat. Same thing. Finally, he drowns.

When he gets to heaven, he's upset. He asks God, "Why didn't you save me?" And God says, "I sent you three boats."

Insight

In order to find true soul-utions to our problems, we have to:

1. Let go of how and when you think God should answer you in your own mind (ie If I pray for help regarding my financial situation, winning the lottery is one of billions of ways God can answer my call)

2. Be open to the answer coming in many forms (ie If I hate my current job, God may open a door within the same company rather than a complete change of employer)

3. Give thanks to God for the answered prayer (ie If I ask and get an answer, I must give thanks, otherwise I will think that God isn't hearing me if I forget to acknowledge of the prayers that are answered)

I plan to share my journey to write my book, You Can't Google Purpose, with you all. The purpose is to remind myself that rejection is NOT failure....if I listen to the 'why'. It just a numbers game (how many agents I reach) and every time I "fail" it just brings me one step closer to success.

After writing the first draft of my book proposal in February, 8 of my blog readers read it on a private blog and gave me feedback. Thank you! I completed the next draft in March and as of April 1st I started reaching out to agents. Here's rejection letter #1 and my interpretation of how I can do better next time.

Last week, I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art where I was inspired by artist Gustave Courbet among others. His 130 paintings from a 30 year period of his life accentuated the walls of 4 ballroom size rooms. Gustave coined the term realism, which is a visual art style that depicts common (and sometimes ugly) everyday life as opposed to the distorted romanticized view of the world that many artist promote. Keep it real Gustave!

Despite his 130 amazing works, only 13 (or 10%) are well known and mentioned on wikipedia. This made me question...What if only 10% of the things I ever create will be considered great or successful by others' standards (even if I think each one is great)? How would that change my behavior as I deal with my success-aholism?

A perfectionist, who is likely afraid of failure, hopes to succeed 100% of the time and it stifles their creativity. For perfectionist, success is usually defined and determined by someone else whose opinions they can't predict. An in-perfectionist creates without ceasing or concern, aware that everything they create won't be well received. They define and determine success for themselves, knowing that the world will only honor 10% of what they create if that. Sometimes, perfectionist slay their creative spirit. In-perfectionist allow creativity to flow freely through them because postponing or saying no to creative urges eventually silences the creator within.

An example of a modern day in-perfectionist is 2 Pac. He is still releasing albums 12 years after his death and he only lived until the age 25. His catalog consists of 14 albums, 8 of which were released posthumously. One of hip hop's rising stars and creative geniuses, Lil' Wayne, shares 2 Pac's work ethic and says "Man, I just work. When you work the way I work, things find themselves." At the end of the day, a perfectionist creates very little and an in-perfectionist continuously creates until they get it right...to and for themselves. The irony is that the moment the in-perfectionist achieves greatness in their own eyes, the world not only admires their "great" works, but it awakens to greatness of the other 90% of their creations that were always there but overlooked.

Keep creating. You are perfectly in-perfect.

The 13 Paintings on Coubet's Wikipedia Page
1. The Origin of the World (L'Origine du monde)
2. After Dinner at Ornans
3. The Valley of the Loire
4. Burial at Ornans
5. Stone-Breakers
6. Peasants of Flagey
7. Village Damsels
8. Wrestlers
9. Plage de Normandie
10. Bathers
11. A Girl Spinning
12. Portrait of Jo (La belle Irlandaise)
13. The Artist's Studio

In-come is usually defined as the economic means someone earns through working and creating value. We typically earn in-come for some particular (expected) out-come. For me, in-come transcends money. In-come is the spiritual resource I allow to be poured into my soul so that I can create powerful out-comes in the world.

In July, I am preparing to leave my job and I won't be making an income. As the same time, I hope to produce powerful outcomes. I believe that the outcomes that I want to create in the world can only manifest if I let go of income and everything I had to do to earn it in order to create a clearing for those new outcomes by freeing my time. At this point, I must substitute my financial income with a spiritual in-come that feeds my creative Spirit which I have faith will result in financial income in the long term.

We live in a po-lite world where nobody wants to step on another person's toes or hurt another person's feeling. To do so is considered trust-passing or in-true-sive.

In The Tree Inside the Seed, I talk about a seed that knows deep inside it is a tree. But imagine if that seed was alway po-lite. If that see was po-lite to its shell, the fertility within it would never blossom for the world to see. If that seed was po-lite to the soil top it would never break free of the darkness that engulfed it underground and therefore never see mo' light. If that seed was po-lite to the forest canopy, it would never get the sun light it needed to survive.

So for me, in-true-sive means to speak the truth that is within me. Being in New York for the past few months, I have seen artists transform public spaces into their stages. I have seen break dancing, guitar playing, singing, preaching, and drumming in the subways. These artists are committed to speaking their truth to whoever will or has to listen. In most cases and to some people, these acts are considered to be intrusive to people ipod shuffling through life or sleep walking. However, to move the world forward, we must in-true-d and expand its current boundaries by challenging what is considered normal and truth. There are ways to be po-lite without stealing other people's light. What are we afraid of? (See associated image)

Making (a) Room for Error

Our Commitment
co-created on January 2008

With Spirit present, we commit to building a strong healthy relationship that is aligned with the will of Spirit.

We are building a relationship that is founded in Spirit which is full of love for nature and the whole world.

We are open and honest with ourselves, one another, and others.

We express our feelings, emotions, thoughts, understandings, misunderstandings, insights, and revelations in the best possible form with one another and others we feel personally connected to and those we feel may benefit.

We are practicing patience knowing that not everything will run as smoothly as we would like or plan. Every thing will fall into place according to the will of Spirit.

We are aware of how our thoughts, which become actions, affect each other, self, and others around us. Therefore, we are conscious of our thoughts and actions while staying true to who we are.

We are working towards building a community of supporters with who we feel safe.

We are learning from one another. Our goal is to build up where there is weakness, continue to lift and support to avoid unnecessary dips (downfalls). Through our relationship, we are more understanding about who we are. We become better aware of our strengths and weaknesses.

We choose to concentrate on and develop our strengths and find ways to turn weakness into strengths or at least be aware of them. We affirm the good in each other and discuss solutions for improving our weaknesses.

We know that Spirit created us, gave us purpose, and in the love of Spirit brought us together to use our purpose. We know that consistent and effective communication with Spirit, each other, and loved ones is the only way. Through Spirit we are delivered from pain and obstacles into great harmony with all of life. We remember to give thanks to Spirit.

We are always in a state of gratitude. There’s no limit to our love, we don’t divide love, we give it abundantly to everyone.

We are happy beings in Spirit put together by Spirit to do the will of Spirit.

We acknowledge problems, but focus more on solutions.

We recognize that healthy relationships live in the present. Therefore, we approach each day as a new day leaving old beliefs about love in the past and focus on creating rather than pondering the future.

We believe that the goal of our relationship is to practice and learn unconditional love with one another so that we can practice it with all Life.