Naturally You

April 14 You must act as if it is impossible to fail.---Ashanti proverb The truth is that we start from a position of success. No matter what happens, no matter what the appearance, we are always successful. The truth is that we have lessons to learn through our experiences. What appears as a failure is simply a stepping stone to realizing success. The truth is that we can do anything we focus our mind to do. What looks like failure teaches us what not to do, what does not ...work. It sends us back to the drawing board. It forces us to refocus, and redo. All circumstances in the physical world are subject to change. The truth, however, is consistent. It never changes. The truth is that, as long as we are breathing, we are one with God. God never fails. Our job is to act like we know.---Iyanla Vanzant Victory is the stuff I am made of.

April 13 We are living in a world where your color matters more than your character.---Sister Souljah People want you to believe that color doesn't matter. It shouldn't, but it does. We cannot get away from the color question. The question is, who does it matter to? Does it matter to you that you come from a rich tradition of proud people who believe in self-determination? Does it matter to you that your ancestral culture is based on a spirit of support and respect? Does it ...matter to you that you are genetically coded for genius, thereby rendering you capable of realizing physical, intellectual and spiritual perfection? Does it matter to you that you are the keeper of a legacy of worldwide accomplishments? Does it matter to you that you have the God given right, by virtue of your color, to glorify, magnify and fortify the legacy that you have inherited as a descendant of the first doctors, chemists, agriculturists, astronomers, astrologers, artisans, teachers and spiritual masters? Or does it matter only to those who tell you what you cannot do because of your color?---Iyanla Vanzant I really do matter.

April 12 Rather than face how bad I truly felt about me, I stuffed myself with stuff, puffed myself up with a false sense of power and importance.---Patti Austin Many people of color believe they are lacking something. We have been programmed to feel that way. We are taught we lack good looks. We are lead to believe we lack intelligence. We are educated in a system that denies our history, culture and traditions. How are we expected to feel complete? We are not! We are, how...ever, expected to look good on the outside. We do. We dress up to hide our inner feelings of inadequacy. We are lead to believe that if we have a home, a car, a few jewels and nice clothes we have enough to matter. It doesn't work! In order for people of color to thrive rather than survive, to flourish rather than make it, to stand tall rather than just stand up, we must individually and collectively get rid of the stuff and get to the core- what does it really feel like to be a person of color?---Iyanla Vanzant I Am in touch with my feelings about who I am.

April 11 We are the children of those who chose to survive.---Nana Poussaint in Daughters of the Dust If you have ever doubted your ability to survive, look at who you came from. Don't limit yourself to parents and grandparents, go all the way back to the root. In your family line is the genius of those who were born into a barren land and built the pyramids. In the oasis of your mind is the consciousness of those who charted the stars, kept time by the sun and planted by ...the moon. In the center of your being is the strength of those who planted the crops, toiled in the fields and banqueted on what others discarded. In the light of your heart is the love of those who bore the children who were sold away only to one day hang from a tree. In the cells of your bloodstream is the memory of those who weathered the voyage, stood on the blocks, found their way through the forest and took their case to the Supreme Court. With all of that going for you, what are you worrying about?---Iyanla Vanzant I move in the power of a mighty past.

April 10 Until you free yourself from the final monster in the jungle of your life, your soul is up for grabs.---Rona Barrett Many of us do not realize we have a problem because the way we live is a reflection of what we have lived with. There are men who do not know they are abusive. There are women that do not know they are being abused. There are people who don't know how to take care of themselves. There are people who believe that just getting by is fine. There are ch...ildren who think it is okay that they are not nurtured. There are people who do not know how to ask for what they need. There are people who fall down and never try to get up. There are people who get up by stepping on the people who fell down. Each one of us believes we are fine just the way we are, so we make no effort to get better. If the world and how it works is a reflection of the people who live in it, what will it take for us to realize we have a lot of work to do?---Iyanla Vanzant Today I will take a long, hard look at me.

April 9 A strong man masters others. A truly wise man masters himself.---The wisdom of the Taoists There are so many scars inside of people of color, it is incredible that we survive. Scars from childhood memories. Scars of dreams deferred. Scars from words, incidents and our judgments of them. We cover the scars with personality, habits, and sometimes, drugs, sex, and alcohol. We take our wounded souls into the world and pretend we do not hurt. Yet every time we are confron...ted with an event similar to the one that caused the scars, the wounds are reopened. There can be no healing in our external world until we give intensive care and healing to our internal wounds. We may think we do not know what to do. We do. We must first admit that the wounds exist. We must be willing to examine them, touch them and expose them to ourselves. Then we must wrap them in the most potent antiseptic there is---love.---Iyanla Vanzant Today I will nurture my wounds with love's light.

April 8 Every time I had the good fortune to research into someone's religion I found "God" to be in the image of the people to whom the religion belongs.---Yosef Ben-Jochannon Would the Creator, with all the love, power and wisdom of the universe, make all of us so different and then deem only one right way to get to His kingdom? I would think not. As an expression of the awesome power of the ultimate creative energy, we the people have been blessed to bring forth various ...expressions. We call it race, culture, tradition and heritage. In essence, who we are collectively is a unique expression of God. No one knows better than He the beauty we bring to life, and He cannot be wrong. As we lift our minds and hearts to know, to be aware and to understand that we are all expressions of the Most High, we will begin to recognize the beauty of God at our disposal. Our world reflects God's strength as tradition, God's wisdom as culture, God's love as race and ethnicity. Who are we to decide which part of God is the best. ---Iyanla Vanzant God's strength, wisdom, power and love are being expressed as me.

April 7 Our greatest problems in life come not so much from the situations we confront as from our doubts about our ability to handle them.---Susan Taylor It makes perfectly good sense to get directions when you are traveling to a new place. Culture and heritage are directions that will help you move forward. You have a rich culture and a powerful heritage. Yet we forget that our ancestors built the world, healed the sick and educated the ignorant. Why should we forget the A...frican minds, bodies and spirits of the past who paved the way into today? We must accept and understand that they didn't do it "because" they were Africans; rather, they were Africans and they knew how. Culture is a rock in a hard place, and we know the Africans knew a great deal about rocks. Let us stand on the knowing of our ancestors, remembering the heritage of the people, the traditions of the family, and the wisdom and strength they used to make it through the rough days.---Iyanla Vanzant I know what the ancestors would do.

April 6 Intuition is the spiritual faculty that does not explain, it simply points the way.---Florence Scoval Schinn Nia had been prepared to inherit the wise woman's book. The old woman was the salvation and the back bone of the entire village. She was wise. She was loved. But she had become too old to carry out her duties. In return for twenty-two years training, Nia was to inherit the old woman's key to life. The ceremony was long. The people were many. The responsibility... was great. Nia was prepared. She was eager to get started. She believed the book would reveal the answers to all of life's questions. It required two strong men to carry the book to her chamber. When they placed it on her table, she quickly waved them away. The book was solid gold, trimmed with emeralds, rubies and sapphires. In the middle if the front cover sat a seven-carat diamond. Nia's heart was pounding. Her mouth had gone dry. With her eyes closed, she fondled the cover of the book. The time had come to open it. She was about to learn life's secret. She opened to the middle of the book. She looked down at the page. Nia had inherited a book of mirrors.---Iyanla Vanzant The storehouse of abundance is already mine.

April 5 You will never know who you are in the world until you know thyself.---Dr. John Henry Clarke We are descendants of the parent race, Africans, transported to a new land. We are African-Americans, African-Caribbeans, African-Latinos and Africans natively. Over the course of the last twenty years we have become eager to embrace our ancestral roots. That is good. It is not good, however, that we continue to define our "Africanness" in concepts foreign to us. We claim the... music, dance, art and clothing. Yet we become uncomfortable about discussing the so-called dark side of the motherland-rituals, scarification, wearing leaves and animal skins, root medicine, bones in the nose, animal sacrifice, plates in the lip and tribalism. We shy away from what we come to understand is still unacceptable by other standards. We must study ourselves, for ourselves. Until that time, it will remain difficult, confusing, and uncomfortable to accept or reject the place we call "Mother".---Iyanla Vanzant From my darkness comes the light.

April 4 Black women must forgive Black men for not being there to protect them.---Suliman Latif Etched into the memory of our being are the very painful memories of the past. What they feel like today are: "Black men are irresponsible." "Black men can't be trusted." "Black men are no good." Are we really talking about Black men today? Or are we remembering those of the past who were powerless to save our grandmothers from the events that have created the painful memories? Wh...ether the memories are from yesteryear, last week or last night, Black women must individually and collectively forgive Black men. We must forgive our grandfathers and brothers, our husbands and sons. If we have anger for one Black man, we have anger toward them all. We must forgive Black men for leaving us; we must forgive them for the excuses they did not make. We must forgive Black men for the things they say; we must forgive them for the things they do not do. Forgiveness is the only way to free ourselves and our masculine complements from the atrocities committed against our mutual souls.---Iyanla Vanzant There is a place of forgiveness within me. Today I lovingly share it with Black men.

April 3 Quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses.---Colossians 2:13 Black men must forgive Black women for doing what is necessary for the survival of the race. While it may appear that the women have been insensitive to and influenced away from the men, it has really been a matter of doing what was required at any given time. It is the nature of women to nurture and support. If that support looks like working in the big houses of the world, learning ho...w to read and going to school, leaving the men to save the children, it was necessary at the time. Black men have an ancestral memory of anger, resentment, guilt, shame and fear directed toward their grandmothers, mothers and sisters. How can they feel good about their lovers and wives? They must forgive. Black men must forgive Black women for the things they have said and done, for the things they did not say and do. Black men cannot accept Black women with the memory of a wounded ego. They must first forgive. Black men must forgive not for the sake of the women, but to heal their souls.---Iyanla Vanzant Today I see all women through forgiving eyes.

March 31 You cannot fix what you will not face.---James Baldwin The time has come for people of color to admit the role they play in their own condition. We have been disobedient to the laws of nature, the traditions of the ancestors and the will of God. We have allowed ourselves to remain in situations we know are unproductive out of fear, which is the result of our disobedience, violations of tradition and arrogance in the face of the laws of God. We blamed others for the ...things we do not do for ourselves. We have betrayed one another to acquire personal riches. We have behaved irresponsibly toward ourselves, have been unaccountable for ourselves, disrespectful towards ourselves by being disobedient and abandoning the word of God. What is God's will? Put the creator first in all that we do. What is God's law? Do unto others as we would have them do unto us. What is God's word? Love thy brother, and thy sister as you would love yourself. If we are to regain our stature in the world as a proud and mighty people, we must be obedient in following the traditions of the ancestors and we must adhere to the will, laws and word of God.---Iyanla Vanzant Today I Am obedient to the ways of God.