If They Could See Me Now

It was like a slow dance with all my worst nightmares. I was angry, jealous, tired and quite a bit out of control. My wildest dreams were the furtherest from becoming my reality, or at least it seemed that way, and I was very close to empty, and then he walks in. I had always hoped that the next time that I saw him, I would be at the top of my game. I would be the star in his sky, so famous that he couldn't hide from the shadow I cast, but instead, I couldn't find the shadow fast enough. I needed a place to hide but he had already seen me.

"Candy, is that you?" I wanted to say, "Que? No entiendo?" but I was certain that he knew it was me and that English is my first language, so I turned and smiled,

"Hi Charles. What a surprise . . ."

I used to live for an emotional revenge. Everyone who has ever hurt me, tossed me aside like I was disposable, disregarded my attention and affection, I held it in my heart knowing that one day they would face me again and I would have my emotional revenge. I mean, on the surface I forgave. Based on what I understood at the time, I forgave. But now I know that to truly let go, I have to release them out of my heart and let me live without this list of people that I need to prove something to.

I know that revenge belongs to God and that the best kind of revenge is good living. It's just that I used put a lot of hope in my "enemies" or "painful others" seeing my good living. But that energy is distracting, redirecting some of the best of me on something that doesn't elevate me. So I decided to let go. That moment described in the beginning of my post happened in my dreams. I awoke, wrote it down, and called it a nightmare. I refuse to live for revenge in any form. Today, I decide to live for something more. I live for the dream, I live for the love, I live for the faith, I live for God. I live . . . for real and for free this time around.

Why don't you make a revenge decision today and live by it from now on. I hope you make a great one.

MizJAI

Change My Mind

Our minds control where we are. If I think that I have to do this "all by myself" then I do. If I believe, however, that God has sent an army to help me, then He has. It' not that the army wasn't there before but the difference is my mind now goes to work to identify and prepare this "army" of people, my team, to help me reach my goal.

When our minds shift we discover that our team often consist of some people that where always very close to us. They where always there but our minds changed and we began to see with the eyes of a leader and a dreamer. What makes the dreamer so special is that he conceives of a different kind of future. What makes the leader so priceless is she conceives of how to make that future a reality now.

Change your mind, so that you can change your future, today.

-MizJAI-

E is for Everlasting

Did you know that you are meant to last forever. The truest parts of you are: your spirit and your soul don't die, although there are some days that you hurt so much you think they will. But don't fall for that, they actually live forever.

Knowing that, make sure that you make choices to ensure that your eternity is relaxing and beautiful and all things lovely. Check your heart for your first love, your love for the One who created you. It is amazing to me how we know that the intelligent things that we use daily like cars, airplanes, and medical equipment have a creator. Yet we are confused as to the idea that the intricacies of the human body, the way that air surrounds us, the way gravity grounds us have a Creator too. No matter your religion (Christian, Muslim, Buddhism, Atheism, etc.), it seems that there are so many intelligent creations that require a better author than simply a random bang. My Pastor says, "God is that which nothing greater can be conceived of," after you reach the limits of your best thoughts and ideas, there's God standing there with the truest and most life changing solutions, if you let Him. Of course His #1 answer is His son (John 3:16), and everything else floods in after . . .

Allow yourself to have the ultimate gift: tap into a love that lasts forever (Rom 10:9-10) and find out what love really is (I John 4:16, I Cor 13: 4-13), and then you can give your man or your woman the best of you and the best of you just gets better with Love.

-MizJAI-

V is for Very, Very Extraordinary

The line comes from a little jazz ballad that I heard Natalie Cole sing, as many have done before, but her version stays on my mind. She talk's of love, but I am talking about you.

There is this thing that makes you unique from everyone. For all the elements that we share: symmetry in our body, being human, as well as a myriad of other things that we have in common with all kinds of people all over the planet, there is something that makes us unique, and that thing is priceless.

You've heard this before, but each snow flake is different. In turn, each person's experience is with a different flake and therefore a slightly different moment. Well, each human is different and each of our experiences are slightly varied from moment to moment from person to person. I am saying, while you don't need to shave your head bald and choose the strangest outfits you can in order to stand out, you do need to take inventory of you and make a decision to love what makes you different and special. Let the residue of that high school drama go. You no longer need to be like everyone else to survive, you never did. Go ahead and be very, very extraordinary.

-MizJAI-

O is for Outstanding

You know what? Today is a great day for a little excitement. Let's check ourselves, if you find that you have been waking up too many days in a row with that blah feeling, then it's time to move a little different. Yesterday, you were supposed to take some hours for yourself (of course, you stopped everything to do it). I'm back again with the same point, it takes me a minute to get on board some times, I figured you may be the same. The goal is by Valentine's Day, you should be feeling the love, starting with yourself.

So maybe you were not able to take a whole vacation day or even three hours. Here is something even more simple. That thing that you have been meaning to do--do it. If it's an art exhibit you have been meaning to see, go today. Is there a park you have been meaning to walk through or a patch of grass that you have meaning to sit on or a new restaurant you have been meaning to try? Walk it, sit on it, and try it.

Today, do something that stands out from what you normally do. Bring the new things back to life (and that goes for me too)..

-MizJAI-

L is for . . . love

Valentine's day is approaching fast and for you single, married and dating readers, this is a perfect time to access how well you have been taking care of yourself. Maybe it's time to plan a vacation or take a 'personal health day' where you sit around and decompress, take the pressure off you by eliminating the usual hustle and bustle. Even if you only find a few hours take them at the park or the beach (if you are so blessed), and rest.

Remember, a lack of a rest is a crucial enemy to our dreams because we have a tendency to forget who we are and what we have accomplished so far, and the problems tend to appear larger than the solution. So yes, we need a moment to think, sleep, chill and regroup. Take your 'love day' to take care of you, and the way you love another will improve, because they will get the overflow of the best you. Don't wait for Valentine's, start today!

-MizJAI-

Duke Ellington: Jazz Legend

This man was born at the turn of the century, and it seems he set the country on fire with his music. Composing over 1500 songs of varying styles, he called his music American Music, but it is widely considered jazz. If you have a mood, then he has a song for you.

He made music from the 1917 straight through to his death in 1974. Ellington was a pianist, band leader and American composer and one of the most influential people in jazz.

He is another legend who built his name on what he loves, music. Find your passion and work that thing, 'your gifts will make room for you.'

-MizJAI-

In a Sentimental Mood is a mellow introduction to Duke Ellington (& John Coltrane), enjoy . . .

Stevie Wonder: Songs In the Key of Life

Stevie Wonder has been making music professionally since he was twelve years. Born blind in 1950, Stevie Wonder is an American singer, songwriter, and producer today who has built his success as a socially conscious artist and performer. The man has been making music well over 4 decades and I just don't want you to wait till he dies and everyone starts thinking about him deeply before your uncover one of his notable albums, Songs in the Key of Life.


I discovered this album while I was in college because an upper class-men walked up to me while I was in the music store and said you need to know this album by Stevie Wonder, and you know what, I agree. I later found out that he received a grammy for the album, among a myriad of praises that have come since its 1976 debut, but I like it because it's good.

If you need ballads, they are there including Loves In Need of Love Today & If It's Magic. If you need up beat songs, they are there, including Pastime Paradise which Coolio sampled in the 90's. If you need to know more about black history or taste the black experience in song, those songs are there as well in Village Ghetto Land & Black Man. If you need to be reminded that the world is a big place with a beautiful variety of people, then theses songs are there as well including Ngiculela-Es Una Historia-I Am Singing.

This album is still relevant today. Check it out, and make history present.

-MizJAI-

Contemporaries, Today and Yesterday

I found out that Mary J. Blige and I share the same birthdate, that Marion Jones, the sprinter was sentenced to six months in prison (on my birthday) for lying about using steroids and check-fraud. I also learned of Irving Penn, an educator, journalist and administer who was born on my birthday and lived during the same time that Madame C.J. Walker and Carter G. Woodson lived. They were all contemporaries like you and I and Mary J. Blige and Marion Jones, experiencing the same time in history. It is exciting to see all the black men and women who where shaping their destiny only days after slavery ended (essentially). My focus on individual success is not meant to hide the struggle of that time, but rather to highlight the abilities of exceptional people to overcome in-spite of.

When asked why she built such a big house, Madame C.J. Walker stated that she wanted it to be an example that we can do it too "with hard work." Don't miss your dream because of an obstacle, become strong enough to climb, wise enough to go around it, or bold enough to command it to move out of your way. Live.

-MizJAI-

Today is Bob Marley's birthday. He was a Jamaican singer and songwriter and a perfect introduction to reggae music (if you want to color your world).

Madame C.J. Walker: Changing the World with Hair Care Products

"I am a woman who came from the cotton fields of the South. From there I was promoted to the washtub. From there I was promoted to the cook kitchen. And from there I promoted myself into the business of manufacturing hair goods and preparations. I have built my own factory on my own ground" - Madame Walker (source of quote - http://www.madamecjwalker.com)

Madame C.J. Walker was born in 1867 about three years after "slavery ended" in 1863. Like Carter G. Woodson, she too is the child of former slaves and came out blazing. She was orphaned at the age of seven and survived by working the cotton fields in Mississippi. She married at 14, had a daughter, at 16 her husband passed and she moved to St. Louis to join her 4 brothers who worked as barbers in the city. She worked as a laundrywoman and saved money to insure her daughter's education. As she was turning 30 she began to suffer a scalp ailment that caused her to loose her hair, and consequently sparked the makings of her empire.

Looking for a solution, she began to experiment with homemade remedies and products made by another black, business woman of the times, Annie Malone. By the time Madame Walker was 38 she had become a sales woman for Ms Malone. By the time she was 40 she had founded her own business and was traveling with her husband, Mr. C.J. Walker, selling her line of hair products. By the age of 41 she opened a college for her sales team, employing up to 3000 people during the life of the company. By the time she passed at the age of 52 in 1919 she was considered to be one of the first black millionaires, and we didn't even have the right to vote yet, women or African Americans.

Go get your dream. Your rough start and mid-life challenges are stepping stones not road blocks. Step high and move on, your destiny is waiting, and your history has paved the way.

-MizJAI-

Dr. Carter G Woodson

Someone has to tell the story, in order for the experience to live beyond the moment. In order for truth to take her proper place, then someone must be the guardian of the details. Dr. Carter G. Woodson (1875 -1950) was a historian who was born about a decade after slaves in the United States of America received their freedom. He lived during the reconstruction age of the South, the roaring twenties and the Harlem Renaissance, and right up to the door of the formal civil rights movement. He is the 'Father of Black History' because it has been stated that during his lifetime he was probably the most significant scholar promoting the history and achievements of African Americans.

At a time when blacks were barely considered equal or human, he studied abroad and become fluent in French, as well as received his PhD in History from Harvard University. His life's work was truth in History as it relates to the Negro, believing that the widely accepted misconceptions and myths of the Negro needed to be challenged. In 1926 He created Black History Week which became Black History month in 60s, a decade after he passed.

He matters to us because his efforts helped to establish a sober minded and rounded view of our history (Black History, American History).

Get inspiration from the fact that the times didn't slow him down, they propelled him forward. Be who you're going to be in-spite of where you are, because of what you have been through, and regardless of the challenges you face. The world is yours, now decide how and where you fit in, and get to the business of truly living.

Carter G. Woodson loved history and he built his professional legacy on it. Go find your passion & change the world.

-MizJAI-

What about February?

Happy February, a month that is toted as the month of black history and love. Since 1926 this has been black history month, thanks to Dr. Carter G. Woodson. The purpose is to ensure the consistent acknowledgement of the contribution of Black Americans to the United States of America. In other words, this month is created to highlight and rectify the fact that African Americans were (are in many cases) mysteriously left out of the history books. It is an effort to right a wrong and to expose a more complete American History where all of her citizens' stories are told. This month we will take the time to gain our inspiration from our history.

This is our assignment
1) to remember and learn from history and
2) to teach someone younger

So let's get ready. On Monday, we are going to find out who Dr. Carter G Woodson is and what his life can inspire us to do today.

-MizJAI-