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Self-Care
This month, we focus on self-care as a soul-fulfilling spiritual practice.
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It encourages introspection and offers clarity and comfort. Studies have shown how cultivating a balanced spiritual life can have numerous health benefits. A practice in spiritual self-care quiets the mind and helps to calm the turbulence within, leaving space to begin feeling and honoring what your heart yearns for and having the courage to take the necessary action for good change.
Your body and emotions can’t lie; you will know it at your core when you are truly happy and thriving. You deserve to live life in this place.
Living life can feel like a High Beam with each step, decision, and challenge subjecting you to falling and failure. Frustrated with a condition that caused her to lose a sense of location during her ariel twists and flips, Simone Biles stepped down two years ago to engage in Self-Care at the Toyko Olympics. It was her CHOICE! Unlike anything the Sport has ever seen, she has stepped up with a renewed passion, purpose, and power. Thank you Simone Biles for showing us all what soulful rest can do. Self-care as a Spiritual Practice is Critical.
Living life on your terms and conditions is the most challenging task in the modern world since most people spend their entire lives living on the terms and conditions of others, the demands of a profession or job, the obligations to family, or the burdens of ego or fear. The first key to Self-Care is remind yourself of who you are are - a child of God.
Chapter 11 of Matthew reminds us that while frustration is a common emotion we all experience when things don’t go our way, it can be a source of motivation, creativity, or learning. How we deal with frustration depends on our mindset, attitude, and perspective. Self-care is a spiritual practice designed to foster a positive mindset, a winning attitude, and a Godly perspective.
Jesus experiences the frustration that is possible when you realize bad things happen to good people as was the case of his imprisoned friend John the Baptist. Jesus has a Holy Rant venting his frustrations at the false comparisons between the work of John the Baptist and his own ministry. The people did not recognize God in John the Baptist or in Jesus of Nazareth because they did not recognize God in themselves. It didn't matter how many miracles were performed; the unmindful and therefore ungrateful always wanted more. Then something amazing happens: Jesus stops venting, reminds himself of who he is in relation to God, and invites us all to the soulful practice of self-care. Living life can feel like the High Beams. You have a choice: you may get down for a while like Simone Biles, or you may stay up there. Just don't give up. Self-care is critical regardless of your choice.
Matthew 11:28-30 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Read Full Chapter
FEATURED ARTIST | Beauti-fro is all about the natural beauty in the black female hair. African Americans have been taught to view their features with disdain and hate for centuries. More specifically, Black women and girls have endured discrimination, segregation, abuse, and marginalization because of their appearance. These four beautiful women are ready for confrontation, daring all who observe to say anything less or other than beauty-fro. Your adoration is accepted but not sought. They are proud and unapologetic: the four represent their sisterhood, their struggle, their natural beauty
A limited-edition giclee on paper by Robert Jackson, a Minnesota native who enjoys creating art reflecting his passion for family, culture, music, and spiritual upbringing. Robert graduated from Perpich Center for Arts Education (formerly The Minnesota Center for Arts Education High School) in Golden Valley where his exposure to artwork from various cultures allowed him to enhance his knowledge and appreciation of the visual arts. Learn More
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FEATURED AUTHOR | Before Tabitha Brown was one of the most popular personalities in the world, sharing her delicious vegan home cooking and compassionate wisdom with millions of followers across social media, she was an aspiring actress who in 2016 began struggling with undiagnosed chronic autoimmune pain. Her condition made her believe she wouldn’t live to see forty--until she started listening to what her soul and her body truly needed. Now, in this life-changing book, Tabitha shares the wisdom she gained from her journey, showing readers how to make a life rooted in nonjudgmental kindness and love for themselves and others.
Rich with personal stories and inspirational quotes and sprinkled with a few easy vegan recipes, Feeding the Soul is a book to share--and to return to when you want to feel seen, loved and heard.
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MAKING BLACK AMERICA | The Story of Our Resilience
Acclaimed documentarian, historian, and storyteller Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the creator of “The Black Church: This is Our Story, This is Our Song” and “Finding Your Roots,” has produced a new PBS documentary, “Making Black America: Through the Grapevine,” celebrating Black joy and resilience. The four-part documentary series, which airs every Tuesday in October at 9 p.m., chronicles the vast social networks and organizations created by and for Black people beyond the reach of the “white gaze.”
The series recounts the establishment of the Prince Hall Masons in 1775 through the formation of all-Black towns and business districts, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, destinations for leisure, and the social media phenomenon of Black Twitter. It takes viewers into an extraordinary world that showcases Black people’s ability to collectively prosper, defy white supremacy, and define Blackness in ways that transform America itself.
WE HAVE THE POWER | Despite the statistics, there are many actions that Black women (and women of any race) can take to be proactive when it comes to breast health.
Find clinics that offer free or low-cost mammograms. According to the Affordable Health Care Act, insurance companies are legally required to pay for mammograms every year or two for women over 40.
Find out about your family history. If you know that you have first-degree relatives with breast, ovarian, uterine, colon, prostate, or pancreas cancer, you should be genetically counseled. A genetic counselor will be able to test you and interpret the results.
Learn how to perform a self-breast exam. Knowing your breasts — what's normal and what's not — can be extremely empowering in preventing and treating breast cancer.
SCHOLAR IN FOCUS | Blurring the boundaries of righteous and irreverent, Red Lip Theology invites us to discover freedom in a progressive Christian faith that incorporates activism, feminism, and radical authenticity. Essayist and theologian Candice Marie Benbow’s essays explore universal themes like heartache, loss, forgiveness, and sexuality, and she unflinchingly empowers women who struggle with feeling loved and nurtured by church culture.
Benbow writes powerfully about experiences at the heart of her Black womanhood. In honoring her single mother’s love and triumphs—and mourning her unexpected passing—she finds herself forced to shed restrictions she’d been taught to place on her faith practice. By embracing alternative spirituality and womanist theology and confronting staid attitudes on body positivity and LGBTQ+ rights, Benbow challenges religious institutions, faith leaders, and communities to reimagine how faith can be a tool of liberation and transformation for women and girls. Learn More