Justice Or Else.... Remembering the Historic Million Man March

Justice Or Else....

Remembering the Historic Million Man March

   

  I remember going to Washington D.C. 20 years ago on Oct. 16, 1995 to the now historic Million Man March. So many people were hating on The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan. So many people were hating on the Nation of Islam. All the major news outlets were saying that we were coming to disrupt the peace and cause violence and to spread hate. President Clinton and all of his staff and all of the government left Washington D.C. In fact, they shut down the government and had an enormous military presence underground, beneath our feet on the mall, ready to be deployed at the slighest hint of disorder.

     But the night before and the day of the march, something happened. God showed up and His Spirit was present. They could see all of the flights that were booked. They could see the buses and cars and trains full of Black Men coming to Washington D.C. On a Monday! That morning, at sunrise, Black Men were already gathered on the Washington Mall. At sunrise the numbers were so large that the Police Chief tried to move all of the brothers back, because we had already begun filling areas that were designated to be clear for safety purposes. But the police and the Chief of police were unable to get the brothers to move back. The Chief of Police had already lost control of the mall and had to ask our Chief of Security of the Nation of Islam to please come out and have the men move back out of the designated areas. With respect and love, our Supreme Captain sent the FOI out and politely asked the brothers to move back and all was well. From that point on, the Chief of Police understood that we had this and moved his men back and let us do what we came to do.

     Before it was over, God proved to us that He was with us and that He heard our prayer. The sun shone through the clouds at dawn and throughout the entire day. 1.8 million Black Men had descended on the nation's capitol in the largest gathering of men in the history of the world. The spirit of Love was so thick in the atmosphere that the experience of the MMM could only be described as a "glimpse of Heaven". We came together as Christians, Muslims, Baptists, Catholics, Jehovah's Witnesses, Hebrew Israelites, wealthy, poor, educated, ignorant, young, old, etc., etc., etc. No division, no confusion, just brothers dwelling together from all over this country sharing the bond of brotherly love and unity. Every facet of the diversity in the Black Community was represented. And it was the most peaceful, orderly, dignified gathering of people that Washington had ever seen. We gathered to stand before our God to ask his Forgiveness and to pledge that we would learn, practice and teach the principles of Atonement, Reconciliation and Responsibility. And we did.

     Now, we are back - 20 years later to balance the scales. To balance the scales of justice. Our theme today is ‪#‎JusticeOrElse‬. Its not a game, Its not a picnic. Its not a party. It is a demand from God, Almighty - issued through our Leader, The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, and through all of us who stand with God and stand with His Messenger among us. It is a demand placed upon America from The One God and His Christ, who sits at the right hand of God in control of the rain, wind, hail, earthquakes and all of the forces of nature. Allah (God) is present today and He will make His presence known on 10.10.15, just as He did 20 years ago at the Million Man March.

     We invite you to be with us on the mall on 10.10.15. We are not coming for foolishness. We aren't coming to start a race war. We aren't coming to build an army to kill white people. We are building an army. But not that kind of army. We are building an army of soldiers and saviors. We only fight with those who fight with us, and we are NEVER the aggressor - because God hates the aggressor. Don't you sing in the church, "Onward Christian Soldiers"? Then why are you afraid that God has appointed a General to call His soldiers onto the battlefield to receive our marching orders? God is no longer a mystery. God is present and has shown His face today. And His army is gathering in Washington D.C. on 10.10.15. Get off the fence and get on the battle-field.

     The media lied on us 20 years ago and have been lying ever since. Don't believe their hype. Learn the truth. Our God will be made known on 10.10.15. And He is not happy with the way America has treated His children. If you have the courage to stand with God, join us, and be a part of the history that will be written of for millenia to come! I can't wait. I was born for this! #JusticeOrElse!

10 Steps to Close the Emotional Gap in Relationships

Emotional gaps or "distance" forms in all relationships - kind of like the ice that forms on the concrete in the winter time, making the relationship take on a cold and heartless feeling.  Sometimes we know it is there and sometimes we don't. Sometimes we think that we can navigate across it, but end up flat on our backs.  Here are 10 ways to break the ice, close that Emotional Gap, and warm things back up.

These 10 behaviors are not gimmicks or quick-fix remedies. Each behavior is based in universal principles that requires a degree of integrity from the reader to extract the power contained within. These 10 behaviors are also very effective to break the ice in any new relationship - whether business or personal. 

1.  Notice where he is strong or talented, and point it out to him

By complimenting and asking sincere questions about his strengths and talents, you communicate that "who you are and what you do is important to me".  It is a first step in establishing an emotional connection that goes beyond the surface of mere small talk by delving directly into the core of a person's interests and self-image.

2. Compliment her on getting better at something

People only improve at something through applying thought, energy and effort. Though she  may shyly brush off a compliment about some area of her own improvement - his acknowledgement of such  becomes a very powerful motivating force when the person is putting in the work to bring about that improvement. His compliment and his image as the source of that compliment, then takes up a space in her mind that causes the flow of positive and motivating emotions.

3. Praise him without expecting praise in return

Move beyond the need to receive praise when you give praise. When she gives praise and then waits with obvious expectation of receiving praise in return, it causes her effort to lack sincerity. I have seen people actually give praise to another person and then become insulted when that person did not return that praise immediately. Let the giving of your gift be your own reward.  

4. Go along with her wishes when it seems right in your heart

Don't be so stuck on always being "right".   Let her be right when she is right. Give her the space to make decisions and think independently, knowing that there is no resistance to her desires  when her desires are right and just. People often feel "controlled" in relationships when they feel deep down that they have to ask permission to follow their own just desires.

5. If the heat gets too hot, walk away, but come back in a conciliatory mood

The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it. When she is trying to "win" she has to make him lose; when he is trying not to get hurt, he must lash out and hurt her first. Attack and defense become our underlying motivations when things get too hot.  These unconscious motivations cause pain and cause a gap to form between the two enemy combatants as they go off into their respective corners. It is necessary to take a break when you are angry so that you can begin again with the desire to end in peace. 

6. Own your own feelings. Nobody else does. And accept that you don't own his  feelings either; he does.

Become aware of the emotional baggage that you carry and recognize when she is operating from her own emotional garbage pail as well. When his anger or frustration is not about you, and yours not about him, practice re-directing that emotion into constructive activity rather than into destroying one another. 

7. Don't bring up sensitive issues when they could be embarrassing, especially in front of other people or a group.

Self explanatory. Unless your intentions are to cause pain or embarrassment, keep things that should be private, private.

8. Before bringing up a sensitive issue, make sure you're in a good emotional place and then make sure he is in a good place too.

Be aware of your own emotional state and of his as well. When he is beaten down and tired from a hard day's work is not the best time to pull out the "honey-do" list.  Feed him, energize him, build him up - then give him his tasks for the rest of the week, or point out an area or two where he needs to improve.

9. Avoid stale rituals. If you find yourself saying the same things every day, that is a ritual; not a genuine response. Find something new to say, and some new way to show that you care.

Keep looking for new ways to engage with her on every level.  Read or listen to a good book on love and relationships. Keep it fresh.  Even too much of a good thing is no good.

10. Find one thing every day to Forgive him for. Don't let him know what it is. Just Forgive him and let it go.

The most important point of all. We are all flawed human beings and fall short of our true potential every day. Know that Forgiveness must be constant, instantaneous and sincere for any two or more people to remain in relationship with one another for any significant period of time.  To Forgive, is to Give a person a Gift, Be-Fore they Deserve it. And that person is Yourself!!! Master Forgiveness and you will be half-way down the road to a successful relationship.

10 Points borrowed from Deepak Chopra's "The Soul of Leadership".

Resolving Conflicts in Relationships (Part 1)

Ever been so frustrated with your partner over a simple disagreement that you could just wring his or her neck?  We’ve all been there – but why is it so difficult to work through these simple disagreements to avoid explosions into full-blown conflicts?
 
The questions is how do we resolve conflicts when they occur, and even more importantly, how do we avoid allowing  simple disagreements, decisions or routine exercises to explode into conflict – whether that conflict be verbal or physical.  It is often-times the unnecessary conflicts that emerge over simple things when multiplied over time that drain our patience and capacity to handle the bigger decisions and issues of life that must be worked through in a productive manner within a relationship.

A few tough, but simple principles:
 
1.   Resist the tendency to become easily offended.
2.   Be aware of the internal dialogue in your own mind.
3.   Remove your own contribution to the problem before trying to correct the other person.
4.   Learn to FORGIVE


Resist the tendency to be easily offended.
We are very often offended by events that occur that have no actual reason to cause offense and that the other person in fact had no intention of causing any harm.  Yet, we allow ourselves to become angry and may even say, “you made me so angry…”.  But, the reality is that no one has the ability to make you angry.  Can you think of a time that you became angry or offended after making an assumption, coming to a conclusion, and then taking an action based upon that conclusion, when the initial assumption was wrong in the first place.  Many, many simple conflicts in relationships begin in this way.

Be aware of the internal dialogue in your own mind.
Once we have made a false assumption and have become offended, the anger and the offense begins to feed off of an internal dialogue in the mind that seeks to justify the false conclusion and the action that we begin planning to take.  You know that you have fallen into a negative internal dialogue when you are in the shower, or driving, or at your desk at work, or anywhere else with no one else around and you are thinking about what someone did to you.  This negative internal dialogue is occurring when you play back the situation and talk either out loud or in your own mind about the situation and how another person should have acted differently.  You must become aware that this dialogue is not productive and actively  bring your mind back to the present.

Remove your own contribution to the problem before trying to correct the other party.
There is rarely a conflict that occurs in which one party is totally right and the other completely wrong.  To truly resolve a conflict, we must first examine ourselves.  I f you only contributed 5% of the problem, remove your 5% before you attack the 95% of the problem that your partner brought to the table.  Look into your own thinking and actions and identify the error in thought, speech or action that you contributed to the conflict and be honest about that first, before you can expect to be heard when you tell your partner what they did wrong to cause the conflict.  This is difficult, but absolutely necessary if you desire to restore a positive and peaceful  relationship.

Learn to FORGIVE
Cultivating a spirit of forgiveness in a relationship is one of the hardest, yet most important lessons to learn in the art of preventing and resolving conflicts. Forgiveness is a gift that you give to yourself that allows you to stop the internal dialogue of feeling offended and replaying it over and over in your own mind.  It is a gift that allows you to stop focusing on the other person that you cannot change and begin focusing on the only person that you can change – yourself.  Forgiveness allows you to see your own contribution and choose alternative responses and behaviors that will begin to break old patterns that inevitably lead to conflict.  Forgiveness is so powerful that it is written in the form of a guarantee that , “…if you forgive others, your Heavenly Father will forgive you”.

Michal Muhammad is the founder of Give Life Coaching.  Bro. Muhammad focuses on applying fundamental, spiritual and practical solutions to solve problems within interpersonal relationships, families and other groups of people.
For more on this subject and others, visit my blog at: http://www.givelifecoaching.blogspot.com
Be sure to connect with me on FaceBook at www.facebook /GiveLifeCoaching
and follow me on Twitter at:  www.twitter.com/MichalMuhammad
My website: www.givelifecoaching.com

"I am Better" - The Root of Human Suffering. (Part 1)

Money has often been described as “the root of all evil.”  But, if we really want to look deeply and seriously into the human condition to pinpoint the root cause of suffering that any and all of us can identify with and immediately begin to change – we have to go deeper than money and look into our own thinking.




Thought always precedes action.  Whether that thought is conscious or unconscious – the thought is first produced in the mind and is then followed by a corresponding action in the physical world.

When we look at the many problems that we experience in relationships, in our families, on the streets, in our communities, between nations, and even between man and the environment – these problems can be traced back to a common thought that is truly the root of all inequity and the basis for the justification of the mistreatment of one human being by another.

Lets take a trip back in time to an event recorded in the scriptures that points to a problem that exists in the nature of human beings.  It is wrapped up in a thought – an idea that – “I am better”.

Recorded in the scriptures in allegorical language is a conversation between God and an angel  who  is referred to in the Holy Quran as “Iblis”, and also in the Holy Bible as “Lucifer”. God is having a conversation with the angels, informing them of His intention to create man as a ruler in the Earth.  God gives an instruction to the angels to give to man the respect and honor due to a superior – and the angels comply – except for one, named Iblis or Lucifer.  When Lucifer fails to give the respect and honor requested of him, God asks, why did you not bow down when I commanded you?  Lucifer’s response was – I am better than him!  I am created of fire, Lucifer says, while this man is created of the lowly dust of the ground.

Whether you consider yourself spiritual, religious, atheist or other, it really does not matter.  The basic truth presented here transcends any particular ideology and simply points to an inalienable fact that exists within the human condition.

This thought that “I am better” looks to find support in numbers and thus expands to “we are better” and becomes the root cause of racism, sexism, excessive nationalism, religious oppression, gang violence, war and most of our problems in family and inter-personal relationships.  This thought that “I am better”, is not passive, it is extremely aggressive.  The thought manifests itself by creating a false psychology and philosophy of superiority in one group, then manifests on the other side of the equation as the false psychology of inferiority in another individual or group.

I am better because I am a man.  I am better because I am White.  I am better because I am American. I am better because I am a Christian.  I am better because I am from the west-side.  I am better because I am blonde.  I am better because my hair is straight.  The list of meaningless distinctions used to justify this thought that “I” or “we” are better, goes on and on.

In the reverse, and equally as damaging is the psychology created on the other side of the equation that manifests a thought pattern that “I am less than”, I am inferior”, or  “I am not worthy”.  Because I am a woman;  Because I am Black; Because I am poor; because my hair is short; because I am over weight – again, the list goes on and on.

This thought that manifests itself as “I am better” on the right hand and “I am less” on the left hand – this false sense of superiority and inferiority is at the root of human suffering.  This delusion on both sides is actually a disconnection or the illusion of being disconnected and separated from God, our inner source of strength, and our connection to the all of creation.

Once we are disconnected, we become weak and this flaw in our nature is easily manipulated to divide us based upon meaningless distinctions.  This flaw in our nature comes forcefully to the surface to cause problems in every relationship that we have.  And we will remain in constant conflict in our homes and in the world until we face this flaw and begin the process of self examination, self analysis and self correction to recognize and eliminate these patterns of superior and inferior thinking from our minds.

More in my next article…

Michal Muhammad is the founder of Give Life Coaching.  Bro. Muhammad focuses on applying fundamental, spiritual and practical solutions to solve problems within interpersonal relationships, families and other groups of people.
For more on this subject and others, visit my blog at: http://www.givelifecoaching.com/blog/
Be sure to connect with me on FaceBook at www.facebook /GiveLifeCoaching
and follow me on Twitter at:  www.twitter.com/MichalMuhammad
My website: www.givelifecoaching.com