Source: TheThinkMovement.com

Be inspired.

And that’s what What My World’s Like is all about. “Find the good. Be inspired.” Acceptance is the path to transcendence. We have to accept where we are in order to rise above our circumstances. This works the same way with thought patterns. It wasn’t until I accepted my cynicism that I was able to start finding the good. I’m happy that it’s finally a way of life for me now. Like everyone else, I have my moments, but I always rebound and find the good.

If you’re having difficulty with going back and forth between pessimism and optimism and starting to feel a bit schizophrenic, it’s okay! You’re creating new neural pathways and that process takes time. You’re forging a new path in the forest, so be persistent; it’s just a habit.

Jampolsky’s quote about the mind as creator, however consciously, connects back to the concept of the shadow I discussed briefly last week. What’s inside comes outside. In order to transcend the issues caused by the shadow or shadow projection, we have to accept the shadow. Suppressing it is what created it’s darkness and density in the first place. Once we accept the shadow and integrate it into our persona, we will feel a shift in the world — a shift in our worlds, individually. Change what’s inside and you will change what’s outside. Find the good…with a smile.

In light of Wednesday’s question, the concept of the shadow has reigned heavy on my mind. So far, it’s had a mildly profound effect on me. As I learn more about it and truly begin the process of self-integration, I’m anticipating benefits of even greater profundity.

For the benefit of helping others in this process of self-development, I’m including some links on the shadow so we can learn together, if you’re so inclined.

• From his book, No Boundary: Eastern and Western Approaches to Personal Growth, Ken Wilber includes an enlightening summary of the shadow.
• Self-integration through meditation

I’m looking for something on the shadow and/or self-integration (or personality integration) within an African or indigenous framework, so if anyone should happen upon something, please share. In the meantime, I found this article detailing a simple journaling exercise with some pretty good questions.

I’d really like to hear about people’s thoughts and experiences with shadow work. It’s interesting stuff.

Please consider the following: do you need to see the worst of yourself in order to be the best of yourself?

I woke up today and remembered a dream that I have frequently. I dream about someone that mattered to me and was taken from me. And that dream got me to thinking about ‘value’. As I look around me and the world we live in, a lot of our values are distorted.

The way in which we judge our significant others, our friends, and the people we choose to entertain, is taken very lightly. It saddens me. While it is not uncommon anymore to see a woman with a man just for his finances, what about when they run out? The same can be said about a man for a woman. Many people place value on things that are not constant and everlasting. I’m not about to give you the paddy cake riddle that ‘It’s what’s on the inside that counts’.

Allow me to go deeper.

Since I was a child, I was always very observant of people and my surroundings. I stare. I dream. I imagine. I began a game with myself for fun that I would imagine everyone I know, in an assembly line as long as it could go filled with people I know. They all are lined up, naked, bald, and void of all material possessions. If we could see the people around us in this way, it would allow us to see what we really like/dislike about the person.

Take for instance, the “Good Hair” phenomenon. How many men and women would not be as aesthetically pleasing to you if it were not for their clothes, hair, and make up?

What about Tyrone? He hits on you every time you see him at Roscoe’s. You turn your nose at him simply because ‘he looks like he cannot even purchase a meal’. Why can’t you be his friend?

Sure, he’s simply a waiter (as far as you can see)… But what if Tyrone came into $30 Million dollars and started driving a Lamborghini to his part time job at Roscoe’s? Is that when you’d decide to finally give him your number and get to know him?

Or do you take a chance on Tyrone and find out that Tyrone is a lot more than what he appears to be on the outside?

Allow me to flip it.

So you’re dating Renee’. She’s beautiful on the outside. Her parents are wealthy, and by association so is she. She never needs anything from you financially. And you enjoy being around her because of the attention you get to be on the arm of a beautiful woman. Do you enjoy Renee’s conversation? If she were to undergo surgery that destroyed her good looks, would you still find yourself with her? Be honest. Not with me, with yourself.

John is a successful basketball player about to sign a major contract. Would you still be his girlfriend if he had not been scouted that day? If he was still playing street ball at the neighborhood park and working at Best Buy, would he still have the same value to you?

I performed an experiment a month ago. I went shopping yet was dressed in sweats, and tennis shoes. Nothing fancy. I purposely made myself look simple to see whom would help me in the clothing stores I went to. I had plenty of money to purchase anything that I wanted. And out of 6 stores, it was the last store that finally decided to not take me at face value. I asked people for help in each of the stores. I told them what I was looking for and was treated as if I was a bother. The last saleswoman helped me and I explained to her my story.

This weekend I went to the same stores, but I was dressed in clothing that made more of statement. I made it a point to simply walk in the stores that I went in before. I was thoroughly responded to…

How many people pass up potential over the basis of material possessions?

And who are you putting up with based on what they have?

My point:
You cannot obtain success by sitting in the lap of someone successful. You are not rich because the person you are dating is. Beauty fades. Beauty is accidental and most importantly fragile.

So I ask you to do this, right now: close your eyes or look into the distance, imagine 5-10 people that you are close to or find ‘value’ in. Line them up side by side in your imagination, remove their clothes, remove their hair, and material possessions. Lastly, remove their face.

Is this someone you would still choose? Is there anything within them that complements or intrigues you?

Personally, I practice this exercise daily as second nature. So if you’re in my life and I make time for you, it’s because I’ve lined you up, I’ve removed all of your clothes, shaved your head, burned your wallet, erased your face and still found something worth keeping….you.

Peace upon and within,
K~Y

——
Khalilah Yasmin is a writer, poet and model, “intrigued with life and sharing my stories/triumphs.” She tweets at @KhalilahYasmin and blogs at www.khalilahyasmin.com.

Image source: Michael Oswald

• Even if you don’t eat at a fast food restaurant, you’re still eating food made for/within that system. [If you haven't already, read Fast Food Nation.]
• “Chickens never see sunlight. They’re pretty much in the dark all the time.”
• “This isn’t farming, this is just mass production.”
• “It doesn’t matter if the chickens get sick, all of the chickens will be sent for processing.”
• Learn about the industrial food system.
• 30% of the land in the US is used to produce corn.
• Farm-raised fish is eating corn.
• Average American eats over 200 lbs. of meat a year. Ugh. Do you know how long it takes for meat to leave your body??
• Reminder: there’s manure in your meat! Bon appetit!

• “We put faith in our government to protect us and we’re not being protected on a basic level.” <— this government protects highest bidders: the massively rich, corporations, and industries
• Consumer safety tip: FDA doesn’t protect consumers and was never designed to do so. Former FDA Commissioner Herbert Lay was quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle of January 2, 1970 as saying, “The thing that bugs me is that people think the FDA is protecting them. It isn’t. What the FDA is doing and what the public thinks it’s doing are as different as night and day.”
• If cattle is taken off corn diet and put on [natural] grass diet, they shed 80% of e. coli in their stomachs.
• Hamburger meat filler treated with AMMONIA to kill the e. coli in the beef…in 20% of the market. Bon Appetit! [They project 100% in 5 years.]
• #foodinc is reminding me of why I became a macrobiotic practitioner and eventually a vegan.
• “Faster, fatter, bigger, cheaper!” is the motto of food industry.
• Being an adult who regularly eats fast food is like becoming a new cigarette smoker: way too much information out there to not know you’re asking for trouble. [But I'm assuming you care about your quality of life.]
• If you eat fast food because you don’t have time to cook: try slow cooking. Crock pots are AMAZING!
• I sincerely believe food/diet is responsible for [or a major contributor to] 95% of all health problems.
• Our current economic system KILLS souls. People doing menial, spirit-killing jobs for a wage. Shame.
• I was urged by @andrea_zak to read Kessler’s The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite to find out what happens to factory farmed meat and industrial veggies.
• Someone noted that it costs more to eat well than to eat poorly. Upfront, yes.
• Environmental, health, and social costs for “cheap” food are NOT cheap.
• No to US soy…90% of it’s Roundup Ready: can’t be killed by pesticide. [Roundup Ready products are "herbicide tolerant". To learn more about the effects of Roundup Ready products, check out Roundup Ready Nation: Dying for Profits.]
• Live by your principles. The law is not values-based, thus often lawfully unlawful. The prohibition of marijuana is proof of this. [Note: I am not promoting the use of marijuana, but I am in support of its legalization, especially alongside the legalization of alcohol and cigarettes, which kill an insanely large number of people annually.]
• Become a vegetarian, build an earthship and grow your own food. [Earthships are completely self-sustainable housing. Friggin awesome.]
• Genetically modified foods aren’t labeled. Meat from cloned animals isn’t either. Cheers!
• 70% of supermarket products contains some genetically modified ingredient.
• You can go to prison for criticizing beef in Colorado?!? What the…? [Yes, thanks to the veggie libel law, you can be sued by food producers for libel in thirteen states: Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Texas.]
• Some solutions are to support local food. Farmer’s markets. Communnity supported agriculture (CSAs). Plant a garden.
• (y)our diet can change the planet. and your life. see?

Let’s use this song. Love.

Perfection is illusory, yet I strive to manifest it in the most possible way by simply being better. Sometimes, I fail. Sometimes, I succeed. Some lessons take a while to truly get and some changes take longer to implement than desired. Everything in its course as everything happens in its own time. Knowing that, however, shouldn’t negate exercising effort.

Just today, I told my cousin how I feel like a late bloomer in some ways. She said, “I don’t think you’re a late bloomer, you just have your own lessons to learn and you will. Be patient with yourself, you’ll get it in God’s time.”

I’m not who I was and at some point, I won’t be who I am now. The term “growing pains” is appropriate for so many phases in life, if not the sum of it. Growth–change–can hurt. Does hurt. But taking refuge in stagnation is no remedy.

You are a process, always becoming who you will be.  People will try to confine you to who you were or who they’d like you to be, but “I” is beyond definition because ”I” is not static.  You are transforming regularly.  You change your ideas, modify your behavior, set different goals and declare new resolutions.  Who you have been and who you are now is not who you will be.  Evolve.  You are a process.  So is everybody else.  Remember that.

Image source: Teddy

Right now is an incredibly interesting time for me. I can feel something happening–changes…in me, in my world. Nothing I want to make public right now, but I was inspired to share a little something.

I’ve been standing in my own way. Fears, insecurities, and uncertainties have all been bullying my greatness. In retrospect, I see I must have believed my greatness wasn’t great enough to win–at least not then. But what a silly thought.

I choose to completely believe in myself and my dreams, in things not yet seen on this dimension, but just as existent as anything our senses prove to be real.

You, too, have been holding yourself back. Release the beast– not your lower or darker self– but the greatness in you that can destroy everything that’s been threatening it if you believe in it and give it a chance.

We are always in the process of becoming. Becoming what? You get to choose.

Image source