Notorious BIG 11th Year Anniversary

On March 9, 1997, Brooklyn-born hip hop artist, Notorious BIG, was shot and killed in Los Angeles at the age of 24. As a libation to the Notorious BIG and 2Pac, I have poured out this poem in remembrance of their spirits.

Two Thugs Talking
Quiz: How many BIG & Pac songs you can find in the poem?

I gotta story to tell
Shorty (S) wanted to be a thug
He had the heart of men
And his mind was made up
The notorious thug (NT)
Said

NT: “I ain’t mad at you
I love the dough
That’s why I kicked in the door
Come with me
And lets run the streets
Two of America’s most wanted
For just one week”

S: “What’s beef?”

NT: “That’s when we make ni#ga$ bleed
When it comes to trading war stories
They can’t see me”

S: “I wondered why they call you skandalouz?
The world’s filled with playa haters
How you handle it?”

NT: “Well in my eyes, this little candle lit
Hypnotized I realized sky’s the limit
But my ambitions as a rida
And my thug passion
Let me astray from
The 10 commandments
I pictured myself rollin’
With no more pain
But in the end
I lost as much or more than I gained
You’d rather be me
And I’d rather be ya
See all I have is California love
God loves you
and only God can judge me
There’re people who miss you
Whereas nobody loves me”

NT: “Life goes on
but everyday somebody’s got to die
with that nasty boy mentality
Life might f%#k you tonight
If it is your last day
And it’s check out time
Holla at me in heaven
Heaven ain’t hard 2 find”

S: “What’s your phone number?
So I can give you call
I like it when we ride”

NT: “Well ridin’s my downfall
It ain’t all about you
But how do you want it?”

S: “All eyes on me”

NT: “Aight, then take 2 in your stomach
Forget life after death
I’m going back to Cali
Mo money mo problems
Another brother for the tally

NT: You think you’re nobody
until somebody kills you
so you’re tryna do it BIG
so that you can feel cool
but you’re bright like the light
just let it fill you
It’s a long kiss goodnight
Or to life
but you choose
all the fame and fortune
is just an interlude
cause while you’re chasing it
the movie keeps making moves
this is your debut
so all that’s left to do
is be you, be true
and find your inner groove”

See the answer to the quiz question here.

Answering the Call of a Lifetime

Voice Mail from God:

"What's up Man. It's me…God. I know you hear me calling you. Ay....Yo...I've called you like 3 times. Pick up the phone...How you gonna screen my calls when I'm the one who gave you your first dial-tone in the form of a heart beat. Don’t you know I created cells?

I’m tired of all the excuses. Don’t try to blame it on your battery. I told you to stay power-full and in-charge. And don’t try to tell me that you’ve got to save your minutes. Didn’t I tell you that AT&T meant Appreciate Today & Time. This Lifetime Cell Plan doesn’t have roll-over minutes, so I don’t know what you’re saving for. The only things rolling over are the hands of the clock, one second at a time. On top of that, you and I have the Global Family Plan meaning we have free mobile-to-mobile and global coverage. You can connect with Me whenever and wherever you want to.

Anyway, I don’t know how many more messages I have to send you before you get it but your bill is getting kind of high. Eternal life costs life and you haven’t been making your payments. I don’t know who you’re spending all that time talking to every month without calling me, but I it’s cool…I still have love for you.

I have some Good News to tell you so holler at me. I’m always here.

One.”

The In-Sight

There is a calling on our lives. We get three rings in life; the quarter life crisis, the mid-life crisis, and death. If you’ve ever been in financial debt, you know that money costs (more) money. In the same way, life costs life. May we always remember to pay our greatest debt to our Creator first and answer the important calls before it’s too late.

Wikipedia defines the quarterlife crisis as a phase between during one's 20s characterized by insecurity, confusion, frustration, and loneliness. The quarterlife crisis is an earlier version of the dreaded midlife crisis. However, according to NationMaster.com, the life expectancy for women in the US is 80 years and the life expectancy for men is 75, therefore the quarter life is really in the early 20s and midlife is around the 40s instead of 50s.

The problem with the terms quarterlife and midlife is the assumption that we are actually going to live the average amount of years. Nobody thinks that they are average! The reality is that there are 10 year olds that have lived 50% of their life already and will die at the age of 20 and there are a few 25 year olds who have only lived 25% of their lives and will die at the ripe age of 100.

Oftentimes we measure the youth of something by the amount of time that has passed since its birth or inception, but I think that that's a false measurement of youth. During the course of my 25 years on Earth, I've seen two of my teenage mentees make their transition to the afterlife before me. Life is not an assembly line where the person who gets on first gets off first. So what is young?

What if youth was measured by the amount of time one had left on this Earth? The more years you have left on Earth, the younger you are. Because we are healthy and energetic now, most 20-somethings assume that they will live to be old, retire, and have all of the time they want to do what they daydream of doing today. But if nobody knows when their time will come, who is really young?

You may have heard the saying, "Time is money". Well it's not! Time is more valuable than any other resource including money because it can't be saved or bought. Most people invest money in hope of a future return, but since tomorrow is not guaranteed for anyone, time should be invested to maximize the present moment. They say live every day like it's your last while making creating the world you hope to live forever. In other words, don't wait to retire to live. Go bankrupt everyday, because the unique things about time is that it is the only resource that is replenished every morning (except one) free of charge.

I don’t even know where to start. Jullien was a true renaissance man. He was an incredible poet, musician, artist, community leader, businessman, counselor, mentor, father, husband, brother, and son. He was also prolific public speaker and so ahead of his time that he wrote this eulogy on my behalf!

In the book of Matthew, chapter 22, the Pharisees got together to question Jesus about the law. In verse 36, an expert in the law asked Jesus, "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37 Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

If there is anyone that I know in this world that has strived their hardest to fulfill these two simple commandments, it was brother Jullien.

He had a huge heart big enough to fit all of us in it. It was his loving spirit that got him everywhere he wanted to go. Goodness always seemed to follow him. Did you ever notice him glow? It was like he was immersed in a ball of light and like moths people just naturally gravitated toward him. He would attribute this energy and radiance to his spiritual connectedness. He was always seeking his highest most divine self. He knew that everything that came through him came from a higher source and was therefore able to remain humble in the midst of his many accomplishments. His spiritual beliefs rested on two words, “We’re Jah-men” (referencing Bob Marley and John 10:34). He believed that we were all divine expressions of the Creator and treated every living thing, people, plants, and animals as such.

Jullien was always very careful with his words, oftentimes speaking in parables and analogies to help himself and others understand the complexities of life. Everything he talked about had to do with love and life; I’m not sure that he saw a difference between the two. He was such an inspiration to me, even as his best friend, I felt like he was my older brother. He didn’t even know this, but I read every single thing he wrote. If I had to summarize everything, I would distill it down these three simple messages.

1. Pursue purpose: Jullien’s goal was to help as many people as possible reach their full potential and that he did. His Passions + Problems = Purpose equation has impacted the lives of millions. I remember his biggest fear being that the equation wasn’t right. The only way to test it was to be his own guinea pig and today, I think we can all agree that it works.

2. Connect communities: Jullien always thought of people as his brothers and sisters. He sought to break down all barriers that divided people. He was about unity. Whether it is the impact he has made on the business world by serving his business school classmates as the world’s most sought out executive leadership coach or the way he has established partnerships between diverse groups through spiritual practice or social enterprise, he has always strived to bring people together.

3. Empower entrepreneurs: He had a loose definition of entrepreneur; he thought of it more as a mindset than as an actual business owner and that education should be customized to students’ passions to teach this way of thinking. Jullien’s vision was to create a world where people could feed their families and at the same time do what they loved. He was able to build Mylinia into a multi-billion dollar company, yet what’s even more powerful than that is that the total value of his mentee’s companies triples his own. He would always tell us, “Challenge assumptions. Cherish mistakes. Create tomorrow.”

Jullien’s sunrise was on July 11th or 7-11 as he would say and his sunset was in 2082. He was 100 years old. He is survived by his lovely wife and a football team of biological and foster kids, but he never saw a difference. But as you all know, for Jullien, family was not just biological; it was spiritual, and therefore it includes you, me, and everyone else’s life that he touched. May the example of his life live with us forever. Ashe. Amen. And so it is.

Yesterday, my best friend’s dad made his transition. I didn’t know what to say or do. As I sat outside eating an apple and contemplating the meaning of this moment, a lesson came to me.

The fruit of the apple I was eating was so enjoyable. It was sweet and juicy. But then I got to the core, the part I never eat. Without ever tasting the core I already knew it to be the opposite of sweet and juicy.

This time, instead of throwing it away, avoiding it, and wasting it…I ate it. I ate the apple whole. I acknowledged that the part of the apple that I loved so much was born out of this core.

Life is similar. We have to swallow life whole. If we avoid life’s bitterness, then we can never fully appreciate its sweetness. What was once sweet becomes bitter and then we set out to find a greater sweetness that doesn’t exist. Enjoy life now, as it is, whole.

What sweet lessons will be born out of your most bitter moments?

Live purposefully!