Words of encouragement for the start of a wonderful work week!

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.” -Aristotle

We must give 100% in everything that we do. That includes our spiritual lives, finances, relationships, health, work and so forth. Practice makes perfect so lets practice excellence and  let us live excellent lives!

 Bag Lady

I saw this photo of Eryka Badu and immediately thought of one of my all time favor songs “Bag Lady.” When the video first came out I was unaware of why she chose to have all of the women dressed in different colors until my freshman year in college. The concept of the video is from a play “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf” written by Ntozake Shange. The play is a series of poems of African-Women who all face many problems from employment, parenting, education, respect, self-image, financial status, relationships and so forth that cause insecurities and other problems in their lives. I actually had to play the Lady in Blue and recite one of the poems. As women ( not pertaining to any color) we tend to carry these heavy burdens (bags) with us through out life and often times miss out on many of the opportunities presented to us. We let our insecurities overtake our lives and end up living a life of despair. These insecurities can deal with our physical appearance, relationships, education, financial status, etc. We try so hard to find a quick way to “fix the problem” and heal the wound but in all reality we are just covering up that wound with a band-aid. Band-aids don’t heal, the temporarily protect and so we are going to have to face those same problems we “thought” we fixed again.

Instead of dwelling on what’s wrong, we need to focus on what is right. In this day and age we are so impatient we want quick results without doing the work. No you cannot lose 20lbs in 1 week and keep the weight off, no you cannot use cream that will make your breast grow (Rudy from the Cosby Show) and no you cannot make him leave his wife for you! Because we do not get the desired results quick enough, we have this extra baggage: doubt, insecurity, hopelessness. We need to “pack light” literally and once we learn how to be patient and work hard for the things we want, we will see change. All of that extra baggage causes bags, now you have to wear more make up, break outs now you have to pay to see a dermatologist, weight gain, now its going to be harder to lose the weight, hair loss now we have to rock a wig, loss of appetite, now our clothes don’t fit so we have to spend money that we don’t have to for a new wardrobe. You worrying about what’s wrong is making the situation worse, so my advice to you is to

1.Pray (or any other spiritual exercise depending on your beliefs)

2. Be patient (Good things comes to those who wait)

3. Don’t worry about things that you don’t have control over (sometimes you have to realize that you can’t change the situation)

4. Work hard at changing the things that you can (weight loss)

5. Stay motivated

6. Have a positive attitude

7. Be thankful for what you do have.

I hope this posts helps someone and if you get a chance please read “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf” by Notzake Shange

Bag Lady- Eryka Badu