Dear Black Women,
You are PHENOMENAL!
Oftentimes, I have the angle of the monthly edition all sketched out, ensuring coverage is fair and balanced, covering topics that will pique the interest of the younger and older generations, and people from all walks of life.
Then, I look at the draft outline and see if there is something that brings tears to my eyes or even makes me want to be a better human being. I judge every story from front to back and get feedback from my "village focus group."
On the first draft this month, I did not get the tingles that I needed. Something was missing, something was hidden, and I felt I needed to change ASAP!
So this month, sorry men, we had to drop you from the lineup because my gut told me that, as we end the year, we must celebrate the BLACK WOMEN out here who have been busting their asses to change the lives of their families while, clearly, being under attack.
The devil has been busy, I have experienced it myself.
of our own Houston treasures being used as a captive political pawn in a foreign country and enduring extra hardship just for the simple fact that she is Black and LGBTQ (Brittney Griner), Black women around the world are suffering and it must come to an end!
I tell you my sistahs, it is time to make that village stronger, select the right members of your support group, find the right mates and drop the wrong ones, and go out there and be the best WIVES, GRANDMOTHERS, MOTHERS, SISTERS, AUNTS, COUSINS, BUSINESS PARTNERS, FRIENDS, and MENTORS you can be!
Only by TRULY sticking together, will we CHANGE the narrative of how we are perceived and what we can accomplish. Goodbye 2022, hello 2023 - there's a tribe of STRONGER, Black women waiting to make your acquaintance.
Houston Association of Black Journalists
From a young Black woman killed while on vacation in Mexico (Shanquella Robinson), to a mentally challenged woman killed by a Baytown police officer (Pamela Turner), a rising rap star killed while driving in H-Town (Lotta Cash Desoto) to one
With Love, Nakia Cooper Publisher, Bayou Beat News President, Houston Association of Black Journalists
Headlines. Social media hashtags. Cries for justice. When will it end when it comes to violent assaults against Black women?
“The most disrespected person in America is the Black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the Black woman. The most neglected person in America is the Black woman,” Malcom X poignantly said. And judging from the daily news updates, it appears to be an all-out assault against us.
The controversial police-related deaths of Sandra Bland and Breonna Taylor had people across America screaming for social justice. Pamela Turner, a Black woman who suffered from mental illness, was shot and killed by a Baytown police officer at the apartment complex where she lived. Her heartbroken family cried tears outside the courtroom when a jury found the officer not guilty.
It is clear, violence against Black women is a growing epidemic.
Now, in wake of the tragic case of Shanquella Robinson, many have been introduced to a new word - femicide - which is defined as the intentional killing of a woman based on her gender.
Like most American women, Black women and girls are often killed by someone they know. A study by The Guardian noted that nearly a third of Black women and girls in 2020 were known to be killed by an intimate partner or a family member, according to law enforcement homicide data reported to the FBI, and another 16% were killed by a friend, neighbor or acquaintance.
That may be true in Robinson's case. The 25-year-old
went on a trip to Mexico with her friends and came home to America in a body bag. Her friends told her parents that she died from alcohol poisoning, but that was found to be untrue.
Cellphone video which surfaced shortly after her death shows her being violently assaulted by one of her friends during the trip. The heartbreaking footage showed the friend pummeling Robinson across the head and neck while the defenseless woman was naked. While the identity of the person responsible has not yet been confirmed, an autopsy noted the cause of death was from “a direct attack, not an accident,” and involved a female friend of the victim. Mexican prosecutors are working with the United States to extradite the person wanted in the killing.
Statistics show crimes against Black women are definitely on the rise, especially involving gun violence.
Even in hip hop, female entertainers are falling victim. Recently, Memphis rapper Destinee “Lotta Cash Desoto” Govan was gunned down in Houston streets.
The Guardian also noted that five Black women and girls were killed every day in the United States in 2020, as a national increase in violence
during the pandemic took a heavy toll on some of the country’s most vulnerable people.
In all 1,821 Black women and girls were killed that year. That was an additional 461 women and girls who were murdered in 2020 compared with 2019 –more than one additional killing a day.
Further statistics show Black women and girls in the US are four times more likely to die by violence than white or Hispanic women.
Even though American men make up the majority of homicide victims, both Black and Indigenous women and girls face a homicide risk that is higher than that of white men and boys (4.7 homicides per 100,000 people).
In Kentucky, where Taylor’s killing by white police officers in Louisville sparked national protests, homicides of Black women and girls statewide tripled in 2020, from 10 women and girls killed to 33, compared with the year before.
In Washington DC, the nation’s capital, homicides of Black women more than doubled, from 10 to 25. No women of any other race were murdered in the district that year, according to the police department.
In 2020, half the 46 recorded homicides of trans and gender non-confirming people na-
tionwide were killings of Black trans women, according to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), which tracks these deaths. That number is rising, with at least 34 Black trans women killed in 2021 and even more in 2022.
In Houston, Asia Jynaé Foster, a 22-year-old Black transgender woman, was shot and killed on November 20, 2020. A man, identified as Jermal Richards, has been charged in her case.
Foster’s death occurred on Transgender Day of Remembrance, a day which honors those in that community who were lost to fatal violence.
There is a stark difference in numbers when it comes to violence against Black women from all walks of life.
A study by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research noted that more than four in 10 Black women experience physical violence from an intimate partner during their lifetimes, and 20% of Black women are raped during their lifetimes – that’s more than any other ethnic group combined. Black women also struggle with psychological abuse at significantly higher rates when compared to their white counterparts.
Because of their roles as breadwinners and caretakers, Black women who are killed leave deep voids across entire communities.
“When you kill a Black woman, often times you kill a cornerstone of the community, because there are a lot of people tied to her,” Cheryl Neely, a Michigan-based sociologist, said during an interview.
Sadly, that is correct, so how can you kill your backbone, and still expect to stand?
Marian Magdaniel always wanted to express herself through fashion and the creative arts. She loved drawing, painting, violin, guitar and design, and especially believed that fashion was a great way to make something “come to life on your own.”
Now, the 28-year-old Venezuelan-born, Houston-raised fashion student at Houston Community College’s Central Campus has learned that her multiple artistic abilities have placed her in rarified air.
She was one of just six fashion students in the U.S. – and the only one from a community college – to be selected as a finalist for the Pierre Cardin Young Designers Contest.
As a finalist, Magdaniel flew to New York City on Nov. 16 for a gala event to vie for the contest’s grand prize: a three-month, all-expense paid apprenticeship in Paris with the opportunity to work closely with the late, famed Avant Garde designer’s team.
Although Magdaniel did not take home top prize, her placement continues to put HCC on the worldwide fashion map.
“To have the international design house of Pierre Cardin facilitate a Master Class with our fashion design and fashion merchandising students was an invaluable experience for students and faculty,” said Andrea Bonner, program chair of HCC’s Consumer Arts and Sciences Center of Excellence, which houses HCC’s Fashion Design program. “We are the only community college and the first stop on Pierre Cardin’s U.S. visit, which is commendable. The team members said they were not only impressed with our students’ works, but also by our Fashion Archive, our
By: PVAMU Office of CommunicationsThe Texas A&M University System’s Board of Regents has announced that Dr. Tomikia P. LeGrande will become the ninth President of Prairie View A&M University.
Dr. LeGrande, who is currently Vice President for Strategy, Enrollment Management and Student Success at Virginia Commonwealth University, will not assume her duties at PVAMU until the end of the 2022-23 school year.
She would succeed Dr. Ruth Simmons, who will become President Emerita and will hold a faculty appointment as University Professor, a position that will allow her to remain a campus figure raising money, expanding the national profile of the university and lecturing to another generation of students.
“Her experience and leadership in enrollment management and student success is exactly what PVAMU needs at this juncture to build on the great work Ruth Simmons has provided these past five years,” said Chancellor John Sharp. “I’m excited by where PVAMU is headed.”
Dr. LeGrande previously served as an administrator for student affairs and enrollment management at the University of Houston-Downtown from 2012 to 2018. Prior to that, she worked at North Carolina A&T State University and Winston-Salem State University.
Dr. LeGrande received her bachelor’s in chemistry from Savannah State University, a master’s in chemistry from North Carolina A&T State University and a doctorate in higher education administration from Texas Tech University.
“I look forward to working with the faculty, staff, and community as we honor and build upon the university’s powerful legacy and upward trajectory,” LeGrande said.
By: UHCL Office of Communications
Access to higher education in prison improves the quality of life for those incarcerated and increases their opportunity to sustain a successful life after release.
Currently, University of Houston-Clear Lake offers three degree programs at TDCJ’s W.F. Ramsey Unit and Beto and Coffield units for men.
Glenn Sanford, dean of the College of Human Sciences and Humanities, said the program is now expanding to include women.
“The population of incarcerated women has been increasing, and we need to offer services to them as well,” he said. “There are some other opportunities for women to get their undergraduate degrees in Texas, but we are expanding to include a graduate program for women, which makes us one of the only programs in the entire country offering undergraduate and graduate programs for incarcerated men and women.”
Christina Novakov-Ritchey, the program’s first-ever designated professor, will be teaching in-person undergraduate courses in the Humanities program, and for the first time, graduate courses will be livestreamed for women incarcerated at the Mountain View Unit in Gatesville, Texas.
“These students have lived generational patterns of poverty, abuse and addition,” she said. “Many have never had a chance at anything. The Transforming Lives By Degrees program at UHCL is a unique opportunity to extend a chance to these people, to help them develop their voice, their critical thinking skills, and their critical perspectives on the world.”
Joe and Katherine Jackson created the Jackson 5, Mathew and Tina Knowles created Destiny’s Child and Kris Jenner is the mastermind behind the Kardashian empire.
Whether your child has an abundance of talent or they need grooming, one thing is for sure, behind any child star is a dedicated parent, many whom have risked it all to help their young, talented tots, tweens and teens reach the pinnacles of success.
Bayou Beat News caught up with Houston native Alex Green Jones, owner of Alex Green Media and “Momager,” who shared her story of helping her son, child influencer and Youtuber Stryker Jones, reach the top.
BB: Being a child star has its ups and downs, what made you want to place your son in the spotlight?
AGJ: My son has always been “Mr. Personality” and very charming and charismatic, but I originally started his social media to test my skills and see how fast I could grow his account. As a digital professional, I wanted something to show my clients to give them an idea of what I could do. I started when he was 3 years old and it just so happens that Stryker was really good at modeling and it became our hobby.
BB: How do you make sure that his career remains his choice?
AGJ: I don’t force him, and I make it a point to ask him constantly what he wants, even down to him keeping his hair long. In the beginning, he would get moody and some days he would want to shoot content and others he would not. He would ask me to take a picture of him if he thought he looked nice or he was doing something fun but other times he would say “no, stop taking my picture” and I would stop. I embraced the fact that he was owning his emotions and setting his boundaries.
BB: What made you switch from social media to YouTube and music?
AGJ: When he turned 4, he started watching “Ninja Kids” and “Super Hero Kids” on YouTube and that’s when he asked me to start his YouTube channel. I would hear him making up tunes or repeating words and I started to listen to what he was saying, and noticed that he was creating songs. This started when he was about four. I started writing down the stuff he would say and his music career started from there.
BB: What has been your secret to success? Do you think it’s because he is so talented?
AGJ: I am in no way in denial about my child. LOL! I’m not one of those crazy parents who believes their child is perfect. I know he is not the most talented child out there, but he is dedicated and a hard worker. I
see this as more of an opportunity to teach him how to make money starting right now at his age. He has an EIN, and a bank account that I’m using to set him up for his future.
BB: So he has multiple streams of income at 5 years old?
AGJ: Of course. He has a Poshmark store where we resale all of his clothes, his music is on all streaming platforms, and he has an Amazon review account where he makes money when people purchase toys through his link. He also does paid partnerships with toy companies and clothing companies to do toy reviews and clothing videos.
BB: Would you say that a parent has to have a lot of money to get their kid to the next level?
AGJ: I have put a lot of money into his career but I look at it as if it was a sport or any other hobby. You have to pay to play. I have had agencies hit me up
and ask for us to pay them for certain classes or management and I turned them down. If they want to work with us, they will pay us and get 15%, which is standard. I would tell any parent that if this is what your child wants, even if you don’t have a lot of money to invest, make sure you educate yourself and research opportunities in your area.
BB: What’s next for Stryker?
AGJ: We just finished promoting his Halloween song and video “Corn Teeth,” which has over 33K views on YouTube and we are gearing up for his Christmas single release titled “Giver,” which is set to drop on Dec. 16. Also, he will be releasing “Girl, Girl” on Valentine’s Day. There may possibly be a children’s book coming as well, but I have my hands pretty full at the moment, so we will see.
While it might not be far enough north of downtown Houston to snow, The Woodlands – recently named the best city in America – is the perfect holiday escape thanks to an array of amenities and beautiful natural surroundings. And The Woodlands Hotels offer a trio of highly acclaimed destination offerings, each with a distinct personality and sense of place, where the season sparkles for all ages.
All work and no play - or rather relaxation time - makes Mama a cranky woman. When you are burning the candle at both ends, a nice escape is all you need. In reality, however, you can't always venture off to some wild vacation far away from home.
Well, there is actually no need for that because The Woodlands is the perfect destination that is great for you to just relax, dine on some amazing food, see beautiful sights, play a round of golf, catch a trolley for some retail therapy, enjoy a much-needed spa break, do some late night partying and so much more!
I enjoyed a weekend staycation at The Woodlands Resort which, not only has everything you need for a private getaway, but a holiday lineup of events and attractions that you can bring your family along for as well. Check out what's in store:
The Woodlands Resort, Curio Collection by Hilton is an ideal escape for families, friends, and couples. Nestled amidst lushly wooded acreage, the property boasts 402 guest rooms and suites and premium offerings including two championship golf courses, a tennis center, vast network of walking and biking paths and waterpark complete with 1,005-foot lazy river, 30-foot double helix waterslide and multiple pools.
• Looking for a flavorful way to gather with friends or treat co-workers and employees this holiday? On Dec. 14, when you reserve din-
ner at Back Table Kitchen & Bar, you and your dining companions also have the option of participating in a complimentary Winter Whiskey Tasting experience starting at 5:30 p.m.
• Kris Kringle makes a series of special weekend visits to Back Table Kitchen & Bar at The Woodlands Resort on Dec. 3, 4, 10, 11, 18 and 19 for Breakfast with Santa. Served from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m., the delectable spread is priced at $28 for adults, $16 for children ages 6-12 and is complimentary for tikes 5 and under.
• Open your gifts and then head straight to the Back Table Kitchen & Bar for Christmas Day Brunch at The Woodlands Resort from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. on Dec. 25. The delectable spread is priced at $75 for adults, $32 for kids ages 6-12 and is free for those 5 and under.
• Park your sleigh at The Woodlands Resort’s Back Table Kitchen & Bar, overlooking the 18th green of the North Course, and indulge in one of the season’s sweetest offerings: their signature Christ-
mas Shake , a delicious combination of peppermint and chocolate cake flavors.
• Make a night of it and ring in 2023 with The Woodlands Resort New Year’s Eve Dinner Package. Packages start at $429 per couple and include luxurious accommodations and dinner at Back Table Kitchen & Bar with live music.
Sophisticated and fun, The Westin at The Woodlands is ideally situated in the center of Waterway Square, just steps away from upscale shopping, over 70 dining options and world class entertainment. The contemporary, 302-room hotel offers a 24-hour fitness studio, in-room spa services, outdoor infinity pool and cabanas. It’s home to award-winning Sorriso Modern Italian Kitchen and Como Social Club.
• Join the party at stylish Como Social Club throughout the holiday season. Don’t miss So-
The award-winning, 205-room Embassy Suites by Hilton The Woodlands at Hughes Landing provides easy access to the live music, food, shopping, art and boat rentals available at Hughes Landing, a 79-acre, mixed-use development on Lake Woodlands. Highlights of the waterfront hotel include a fitness facility, outdoor heated infinity pool, E'terie Bar & Grill plus complimentary guest services such as complimentary evening reception and made-to-order breakfast courtesy.
cial Hours, a popular Thursday evening happy hour, from 9 p.m. until 11 p.m.
• Join The Westin at The Woodlands for a one-mile Holiday Art Walk on Dec. 8 starting at 7 p.m. You’ll stroll – ugly holiday sweaters encouraged - from The Westin to Town Green Park while viewing the latest public art additions along The Waterway, including The Woodlands Art Council’s new art benches. Free to attend, the experience will be led by Sandra Huskey, The Westin at The Woodlands’ Run Concierge and an avid art enthusiast. The evening will cap off at the hotel’s Como Social Club for drink specials.
• Celebrate Festa dei Sette Pesci – the Feast of the Seven Fishes –on Christmas Eve at Sorriso. The three-course, family-style dinner
experience is priced at $64 per adult and $22 for children ages 13 and under. Menu highlights include Roasted Oysters on the Half Shell with Meyer lemon and ciabatta breadcrumbs, Fritto Misto brimming with scallops, shrimp, calamari and a spicy marinara sauce, Prosciutto Wrapped Branzino with fennel pollen, arugula and gilled lemon, Lobster Ravioli with spinach, cherry tomato and saffron, Gulf Shrimp Risotto with asparagus, parmesan and Bottarga, plus Tiramisu and Strawberry Panna Cotta.
• Usher in 2023 at The Westin at The Woodlands with the hotel’s New Year’s Eve Package, which is priced from $429 per room, per night and includes New Year’s Day Brunch for two
at Sorriso, plus a late checkout of 2 p.m.
• Toast 2023 at Como Social Club’s New Year’s Eve Party. Initial reservations are now open to overnight guests of The Westin at The Woodlands only. The festivities take place from 8 p.m. until 2 a.m. with music from 9 p.m. until 1:30 a.m. Individual entry is $50 per person, which includes a welcome glass of champagne, and white table service for a group of 10 is priced at $1,500, including admission, a bottle of champagne and keepsake glasses.
• Explore the flavors of Italy at Sorriso’s New Year’s Day Brunch, which is priced at $45 per person and served from 7 a.m. until 2 p.m.
• Beginning on Nov. 30 and continuing to Christmas Eve, pint-sized hotel guests are invited to the lobby for hot chocolate and cookies from 4 p.m.-6 p.m. daily. While there, they’ll have the opportunity to write Letters to Santa and place them in the North Pole mailbox.
• Enjoy a taste of the season at E'terie Bar & Grill with its signature Hot Chocolate Martini, available from November through December and priced at $12. Served cold while capturing the essence of the original, the cocktail incorporates Santa Teresa 1796 Rum, Godiva Chocolate Liqueur, milk and a house made marshmallow crème.
extract and a vaping device. This medication eases the stress and pain caused by the constant jumping and twisting of the woman with the 6 feet, 8-inch frame.
And wouldn’t you know it, the billionaire owner of her Russian basketball team is a buddy of President Putin. Despite that, Brittney ends up getting a nine-year sentence in the racist and homophobic country.
The empire is evil because 100,000 Ukrainian civilians have eaten Russian bombs, including mothers and unborn babies in maternity wards.
By: Black PepperBrittney’s blues also have spirituals as a companion, which together, are too much for absurdity and meaninglessness.
Brittney, remember your powerful family and continue to sing. Blend the contradictions into a resolution and you will survive.
“Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen….
“Nobody knows my sorrow…. “Nobody kno ws the trouble that I have seen….
hundreds of thousands toiling where they could not reap in the land of the free.
My home is over Jordan I want to cross over into the campground Brittney’s blues and spirit informs her that there is a deep place inside her that cannot be defiled, polluted, or corrupted. Steal away to Jesus. Isabell Allende reminds all who have been captives to “steal away “to the Big Island beneath the sea.
“Freedom is not something you get as a present. You can live in a dictatorship and be free – on one condition: that you fight the dictatorship. The man who thinks with is own mind and keeps it uncorrupted is free. The man who fights for what he thinks is right is free. But you can live in the most democratic country on earth, and if you’re lazy, obtuse, or servile within yourself, you’re not free. Even without any violent coercion, you’re a slave. You can’t beg your freedom from someone. You have to seize it – everyone as much as he can.”
- Pietro Spina, “Bread and Wine” by Ignazio Silone.
The condition of Brittney Griner’s interior life and support of her global citizens and teammates, fired by the grace of God, will ultimately determine her freedom.
She comes from a powerful family and a people
darker than blue. Curtis Mayfield says that sisters of a lighter hue are the surface of our dark deep well.
Dictator Vladimir Putin and her jailers have little understanding of the Pan African Black experience. They understand suffering, but not Black suffering. Our culture enables the winners among us to have the “sane” living in an “insane” world.
On the surface, it appears that the dictators are winning throughout the world. One of our allies, Washington Post reporter Jamal Ahmad Khashoggi, who was from Saudi Arabia, was killed and dismembered after being abducted.
Putin and Russian intelligence poisons its opposition inside and outside the country.
Brittney’s miscarriage of justice starts with a hemp
Donnie Hathaway asks my sister to, “hang on tight as the world spins around and don’t let the spin get you down.” Rev. Jesse Jackson says, “Hope must stay alive.”
The penal colony, or penitentiary, that will house Brittney will not be like the low nourishment backbreaking labor camps. Her notoriety will be an asset to put a brake on the complete elimination of her basic human rights. Make no mistake about it, she is a pawn in the new cold war chess game under the pretense of laughable illegality.
Brittney’s blues is the same blues that Louis Armstrong sang in, “What did I do to be so black and blue?” The refrain is a chorus of the Black princess Nina Simone singing “I wish I knew how it felt to be free.” Maya Angelou captured the tortured soul of the Brittneys of the world when she penned, “I know why the caged bird sings.”
Facing absurdity at Christmas time, living between the tension between life and death, Brittney’s ancestors sang “Deep River” as they thought of the miscarriage of justice meted out to Jesus Christ, the Hebrew children and
Deep River reminds Brittney and her tens of millions of supporters that diplomacy through President Joseph Biden might produce a prisoner exchange, but if not, DEEP RIVER says, “Our ship is on the ocean, and we will anchor by and by....”
If Brittney holds on, her life will never sink to the depths of her captives.
We just can't get enough of our beloved "Hot Girl" Megan Thee Stallion, who has had one hell of a 2022. She is ending this year on a historic high note as the first Black woman featured on the cover of Forbes' '30 under 30' issue, and 2023 is already shaping up to be another big year.
According to Forbes, the 27-year-old Houston native brought in a whopping $13 million in 2022 through royalties, ticket sales, merch, and big endorsements, including deals with Nike, Popeyes, Revlon, Cash App, Netflix and Time Inc., the latter reportedly paying her $3 million to produce a documentary on her life.
“It’s really hard to be the first something in 2022. I want to be bigger than just my music. I want people to know Megan as everything that she ever wanted to be. Megan the artist. I feel I’ve always liked to dabble and dab in a lot of different things, and I feel like I got that from my mom and my dad. My dad was a street guy, he was an entrepreneur, he had his own clothing line. My mother, I watched her go to work nine-to-five ev-
ery day and come home and write songs. And take me to the studio, and be a mom, and be just a good woman in general.”
as Foundation was created to provide resources for women, children, senior citizens and underserved communities.
By: N. C. Greeneshe got to dig deep into her feelings, including sharing her grief over her mother's death.
• Served as host and musical guest on Saturday Night Live
• Made a cameo in Marvel's the Disney+ series "She-Hulk: Attorney at Law," which sent Marvel and social media fans into a frenzy
• Received the Trailblazer Award, presented by Kelly Rowland, at the iHeartRadio Music Awards
• AND .... just in time for the holidays, you can watch Megan's “Enter Thee Hottieverse” performance from the comfort of your home, thanks to AmazeVR bringing the show to the Meta Quest App Lab store. The virtual concert ticket is just a few dollars and interested users are able to download the AmazeVR app for free and try one song before purchasing the full show.
And that's just naming a few.
In addition, the Texas Southern University recent grad has also:
• Launched a non-profit in honor of her mother, Holly Thomas, and her father, Joseph Pete Jr., According to its website, the Pete and Thom-
• Launched a website in September called “Bad Bitches Have Bad Days Too,” which provides information for therapy, drug abuse and suicide hotlines, and LGBTQ community resources.
• Released her sophomore album, "Traumazine," in which
“I can’t slow down right now,” Megan said. “I’ll take a break when I’m dead. I’m trying to really build something. When I start sitting, I feel like I’m not doing enough or I’m giving somebody else the opportunity to pass me.”
As we come to the end of another year, it's time to reflect on life's lessons. This past year many of us have loved, lived, and lost. No matter what is going on in our lives, we must stay connected with our soul's purpose by remembering that we are spiritual beings living a human experience. During our short time on this earth, the lessons we learn and inadvertently teach others are instrumental in our evolution. Here are 5 lessons we should focus on to make this life a little easier.
Whether you call it a vibe, gut feeling, or chills... it's all the same. Just trust it!!! It can save your life. We all have an innate response to danger. Unfortunately, this society has taught us not to trust it but to do as we're told. Master manipulators and abusers initially seek to get their prey to trust them and not their own intuition. This is why gaslighting is such a powerful technique.
It will tell you when something is wrong. When you're tired, rest. When you're hungry, eat. A lot of chronic diseases are a result of us not paying attention to our body's warning signals. Chronic stress is the number one catalyst to our demise. It is never worth your health.
Everyone makes mistakes. This how you learn. However, repeating the same mistake while expecting a different outcome is considered insanity. If you touch a flame and it burns your finger, would you keep touching it? Move in life with the same response. When you recognize your current diet and sedentary lifestyle is becoming detrimental to your health, do something about it. Choose better food options and exercise regularly. If a current situation causes chronic stress, leave it. There are other jobs, and other people in this world with whom you could engage in healthier relationships with. If your current living environment is toxic, move.
Their actions always speak louder than their words. Believe them when they show you who they are the first time. Unfortunately, there are many wolves in sheep's clothing. People will show you who they are when they feel they don't need you. Listen to the "jokes" being said about you. That's how they really feel. It's not your job to convince them to change or truly like you but to protect yourself at all cost. These very people will smile in your face and try to destroy you behind your back or even hurt you physically when an opportunity arises.
"Everything comes into your life for a reason, season, or a lifetime, " says Ilyanla Vanzant. When you approach all situations, and relationships with this attitude, it makes life a little more palatable. Sometimes that job is just temporary. You're not comfortable in your situation because you're not supposed to be. There may be a better opportunity for you if you get out of your comfort zone, and the stress caused by your situation could be the universe trying to give you a hint to move on. The ability to know how and when to move goes back to first lesson we shared, which is trusting your intuition. Also, knowing when to let a friendship, a toxic relative or a romantic relationship go is key to a happier life. Someone who truly loves you will never try to use you, steal from you, lie on you behind your back or gaslight you. Secret enemies can cost you your life. We all witnessed this in the case of Shanquella Robinson. No matter how good you treat some people, that doesn't guarantee a reciprocated response. Their hatred and deep-seated envy is a reflection of their own insecurities. It's not your job to convince them otherwise. Cut them off!!! Your life may possibly depend on it.
At the end of the day, your health (mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual) is your wealth. Once you lose it, all the money in the world can't buy it. As a Practitioner, I've had many conversations with people on their death beds. Not once has anyone ever said they wished they made more money, bought a bigger house, or a more expensive car. Everything they talked about that was important to them, money could not buy. Walks in a park or on a beach with their pets, or spending time with their loved ones, was a common theme.
Get a note pad or journal and write down the pros and cons of any situation you want to change. After your conclusions, write down your affirmation/ goal, i.e., I will learn a new skill ; I will take a trip to a place I've never been before; I will start a new hobby and will meet like-minded people with whom I will form healthy relationships with. As you write, envision and feel yourself in these situations. Thank me later. Let's go into this new year with a new outlook trusting our intuition and moving accordingly. Happy New Year!!!
