Wednesday, December 21, 2011

What am I seeking?

What am I seeking? When I asked for clarity today, this is what flowed. 


The issues I have with the church are the same issues I am now having with traditional spirituality. 


It is not God, the Orishas, the Ancestors or the Deities it is the human beings who manipulate spirit to attempt to control me. 


At this stage in life I am not looking to become like another person, culture etc. I am looking for the common thread that connects us across our diversity.  


Not interested in taking on other’s battles or to control others. 


In my interactions others try to remold, reshape, direct, indoctrinate and in some instances force through fear and intimidation to follow to join to become part of their world.


Since embarking on interacting with others spiritually this year, I have gained a greater appreciation for my African Ancestors that endured their time in America. 


I have deepened my respect for the trials and pains they endured and because of them; others of the African Diaspora have more advantages coming to this country. 



My Ancestors contributed to building this nation and making it a superpower.

My Ancestors made a home in a foreign land. 

As Africans from the continent, the Caribbean, Europe and all around the globe continue migrating here; we have much to learn from each other. 



So far it is only the Orishas that have not been foreign to me. From the first moment I learned of them, I felt a return home spiritually. 

I love the energies of the Orishas, it is how humans attempt to manipulate this knowledge to control others that bothers me, always has, always will. 

I love the energies of Native American wisdom I have studied. I feel God in nature, in babies, in my day to day. 


Do I ignore the warnings from my “spirit”? 


It is about humanity at this time in our evolution. 


Each tradition has contributions to the elevation of humanity. I am seeking understanding of spiritual traditions. 


It is about finding the commonality between all spiritual beliefs, faiths and walks of life that is the highest truth, the rest is dogma. 


We all have so much to learn, let’s focus on the learning. 


Spirit uses people and it is how you deal with it that matters. 


Your intentions guide the process, the journey.

Monday, December 19, 2011

Give the Gift of Forgiveness this Holiday Season

This holiday give the gift of forgiveness to yourself so you can give to others. This season if we act on the teachings of forgiveness that all cultures, faiths and religions espouse we could transform ourselves, families, communities and planet. This season let’s focus on the spiritual gifts. It is time to set aside our material obsessions and focus on our hearts. We each need love, we each need forgiveness. Unconditional love is a gift. We can only control our actions and thoughts. We can only control ourselves. Set my intention, practice forgiveness, and give unconditional love. This is my focus, this is my shift. I love this video, “Joy is a moral obligation to humanity.” Jack Kornfield provides concrete actions to guide us through the process of forgiveness, living with an open heart. Keep an open mind as you watch and listen to this video, The Ancient Heart of Forgiveness. http://youtu.be/yiRP-Q4mMtk Have a Joyous holiday season and New Year.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

The Season of Thanksgiving 2011

This Thanksgiving season in America, Americans again disrespected and violated the spiritual essence of the season. The absolute disrespect for life over an inanimate non-living object is a violation of the laws of humanity. Is the Thanksgiving Season really about bargain shopping for Christmas? Only those who are “deaf to the Creator’s voice” can behave so poorly. Are we teaching our children that the value of the holiday season is discount shopping? All the wise ones and prophets have warned us throughout the ages about bad behavior, greed and violence. Or is behaving poorly part of the culture? When one examines “Reality Shows”, our fanaticism with celebrities, fashion, language, music, and how we treat ourselves and each other, one makes money and becomes famous by behaving poorly. Americans supports this economically by our choices in food, fashion, and entertainment. For guidance I defer to the elders who are the original caretakers for this land. http://www.nicoa.org/About_NICOA/spiritual/spiritual.html

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Danse Edeyo in Washington, DC November 11th through 13th

I am really excited to share with you a project that is very close to my heart. As a team member of Rhythm N' Dance we are working with The Edeyo Foundation to sponsor a 2012 Summer Dance and Drum Camp in Port-au-Prince, Haiti for The Joyous Heart School. On November 11th through the 13th, Rhythm N’ Dance is hosting the Oakland based Haitian Folkloric dance company Rara Tou Limen as they visit the Washington DC Metro area to teach several workshops to raise funds for the 2012 Summer Dance Camp in Haiti. On November 11th from 6pm to 8pm, The Danse Edeyo Fundraiser begins with a free panel discussion focusing on “Spirituality and Dance: The intersection between rhythm, movement and faith”, being held at the African Heritage Dancers & Drummers Studio located at 1320-B Good Hope Road SE, Washington, DC 20020. We have partnered with Coyaba Dance Theater, Urban Artistry and Kankouran to bring something new, to the DC Metro area, but to also raise money for a good cause, The Joyous Heart School in Haiti. We are asking the community to support this project by coming out to these workshops to help raise money for this program! $20.00 per workshop and group discounts for 10 or more. Please see the attached flyers for more details. For tickets and information please visit http://www.rhythmndance.com/danse-edeyo Please feel free to share with this with people in your network interested in dance.

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Danse Edeyo Fundraiser - The Arts are Healing

I am really excited to share with you a project that is very close to my heart. Rhythm N' Dance and The Edeyo Foundation are collaborating to sponsor a 2012 Summer Dance and Drum Camp in Port-au-Prince, Haiti for The Joyous Heart School. On November 11th through the 13th, Rhythm N’ Dance is hosting the Oakland based Haitian Folkloric dance company Rara Tou Limen as they visit the Washington DC Metro area to teach several workshops to raise funds for the 2012 Summer Dance Camp in Haiti. On November 11th from 6pm to 8pm, The Danse Edeyo Fundraiser begins with a free panel discussion focusing on “Spirituality and Dance: The intersection between rhythm, movement and faith”, being held at the African Heritage Dancers & Drummers Studio located at 1320-B Good Hope Road SE, Washington, DC 20020.
With Coyaba Dance Theater, Urban Artistry and Kankouran we bring something new, to the DC Metro area, while raising funds for The Joyous Heart School in Haiti. We are asking the community to support this project by coming out to these workshops to help raise money for this program! $20.00 per workshop and group discounts for 10 or more. For tickets and more information please visit http://www.rhythmndance.com/danse-edeyo

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Another Test for American Democracy

“Each generation must, out of relative obscurity, find its mission, fulfill it or betray it” - Frantz Fanon

Profound words by Frantz Fanon that still hold true today. In a democracy engagement on a local level is what creates change.

Knowing history is important. Slavery was legalized into existence. The North won the Civil War but the South won Reconstruction and the state legalized terrorism that existed against black people continues. You need to watch the documentary-Aftershock: Beyond the Civil War, Directed by David Padrusch.

During the debates of Republican Candidates for President, the GOP cheered for Texas Governor Rick Perry’s execution record. http://www.rawstory.com/rawreplay/2011/09/gop-debate-audience-cheers-perrys-execution-record/ No apologies whatsoever and the stated belief that this is what Americans want.

Again there is a strong cry for “states” rights. People are being led into confusion about why we need a Federal Government.

Know the history of this country for it is alive and well.

Why in 2011 are there 600,000 UNREGISTERED African Americans in the State of Georgia?

Democracy is not a spectator’s sport.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Questions and More Questions

Americans have been questioning the competence of government since the founding of America.

As we criticize the government and how it runs certain industries, let’s be clear that the private sector would not exist without the government and has had more than its fair share of failures and corruption.

Which comes to another question is failure the issue or the response to failure?
Governments like business is owned and operated by human beings. Human beings are fallible; we make mistakes all the time. Mistakes are cumulative. Perhaps life is just about responding to mistakes and failures.

So at this time we should call into competence the people of the nation. How do you handle mistakes and failures? Have we created the world we live in? What have we done to create what exists in this nation at this time? Has the US lived up to the noble ideas communicated by the Founding Fathers? Are you the best person you can be? Do we just measure value by material gains? In measuring value by the standard of material wealth, what kind of world do we create? Are only a few lives valuable? We need to ask ourselves more questions every day.

I am disturbed by what I see, read and hear. However, since human beings created this turmoil, violence, poverty, inequity, corruption, greed, materialism, economic crisis and sometime chaos, then we can also create the solutions. We know the solutions, but fear controls us. Throughout humanity's existence on this planet we have created the same problems generation after generation after generation for more than a millennia.

Somehow the words from my FaceBook’s app “On this Day God Wants You to Know” provides some guidance.
‘A person can transform, a situation can transform, even the planet can transform. Never lose hope. Under the proper conditions of love, faith, and belief, transformation is quite possible.’

More questions – How can I transform my current situation? What are the proper conditions of love, faith, and belief that can make transformation possible?

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Learning as I go a new way of living


It is so much easier as a child to be born into a culture than it is to embrace a new way of living as an adult.

The personal challenge is blind faith vs discernment.

Should I ignore my concerns or face them and seek guidance with working through them?



Obatala

I need guidance in working through them. 
 My blind faith is in the Creator to guide me through my Life.
I'm Listening



Thursday, September 8, 2011

"We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office." Aesop

"We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office." Aesop

A member of my FaceBook community posted this tonight.

It hit me deeply.

Since time began this has been the battle for each generation. History teaches us about how we are currently living. It is not dead and gone.

The issue of the death penalty and the cheering of the crowd celebrating the Death Penalty in Texas is a modern day example revealed in tonight’s Republican debate.

“We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office.” Aesop

Our continuous challenge as human beings is to embrace and live the reality that WE ARE ALL GOD’S CHILDREN. WE ARE ALL SACRED. WE ARE ALL ONE.

Elevate your mind, free your soul we are interdependent it is the Creator’s plan.
“The choice is no longer between non-violence or violence. It is between non-violence or non-existence.” Ancestor Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Questions for the day

The violence continues to increase in communities in New York and other urban areas.

If a person truly cares about their community would they commit senseless acts that harm others in their community?

What has caused the young people who are shooting at public events to not care about the community?

Have you or a family member experienced the violent death of a loved one?

How do we heal?

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Thank you James Baldwin

"A person does not lightly elect to oppose his society. One would much rather be at home among one's compatriots than be mocked and detested by them. And there is a level on which the mockery of people, even their hatred, is moving, because it is so blind: It is terrible to watch people cling to their captivity and insist on their own destruction."
— James Baldwin


The words of our ancestors from the Harlem Renaissance are time eternal words of guidance. They did not only apply to that time period but to future generations, us. James Baldwin's words applied to all of humanity, not just America. We have all the guidance, past leadership, and history we need. Stop looking for someone else to be like them. You be like them.

We the people bear a partial responsibility for our current economic condition. We trusted others and not ourselves. We did not focus on us, we became distracted by the glamour and glitter of Hollywood ignoring the advice from the ages, “all that glitters is not gold”. We allowed ourselves to be controlled by the marketing campaigns of Madison Avenue to create wealth for the wealthy and not ourselves.

Those of us who achieved a miniscule about of prosperity, forgot to heed the warnings. We celebrated for far too long the accomplishments of the Civil Rights era and missed that the battle for human rights never ends.

We see today, the blindness of fear, paranoia, and disrespect published across all media globally. We see the blindness of fear, paranoia, and disrespect in how we treat each other.

The words of the authors and poets of the Harlem Renaissance are for all of humanity. Time for us to reawaken and hear their guidance, for the responsibility for a more just world is with each of us.

Time for us to be conscious of what we think, say, as well as, how we spend our time, money and energy. We can create a new reality with our thoughts in action based on prosperity for all.

Yes there are those that are threatened by that and have a negative label for it.
If we all contribute to building and sustaining prosperity for all, we are all working, earning and living the life of spiritual beings in human form. It is about so much more, stop being distracted. To learn more about how, read and listen to the Quantum Activist, http://www.quantumactivist.com/.

We are the change we seek. We have the power.

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Freedom Equals Responsibility

Freedom of Speech is free for all sides of an issue. As with all freedoms comes great responsibility. We are free to say whatever we please, we are also RESPONSIBLE for it.

The test as a nation is how civilly can we disagree? For all we promote as good and right about us brings tremendous responsibility.

Freedom of Religion, Freedom of Speech, and Freedom of the Press, Freedom to gather peacefully and to let your Government know about your concerns are all responsibility. The test of a democracy is not only the “intelligence or education” of its citizens; but the maturity of the citizens.

Only a mature person can debate an issue intelligently and rationally. Only a mature person can look at an issue and find a common ground for all to agree upon. How do we find common ground? Or do we hold on to our fears?

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

True Freedom is Responsibility. How we define self-responsibility with our actions will determine the success or failure of our Democracy.

Friday, September 2, 2011

Fear and Challenges

In life challenges are guaranteed. Individuals, families, communities and nations must work together to navigate through rough times. When fear hits, we think with our emotions of panic resulting in decisions and actions that often make matters worse.

If leadership reacts based on emotions, he/she is not guided by wisdom but fear. Policies developed based on fear and not reality are doomed to fail.

Change is always uncertain. Utilizing “emotional intelligence” requires individuals to push past the human limitation of ego and emotion, to see the broader picture to see with a higher spiritual sight to see a higher vision. Spirit isn't fear, hate or limitations.

“Where there is no vision the people perish”.

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Democracy Is Not a Spectator's Sport



We reap what we sow. So let’s really look at what we have been sowing as a society for many years.

The average annual operating cost per inmate among facilities operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons was $22,632 or $62.01 per day per. (US Dept. of Justice, 2004) As of June 2006, 2,245,189 prisoners were held in Federal or State prisons or in local jails which costs approximately $50 billion per year. (US Department of Justice, 2007)
As a society we approve of our local legislatures investing our tax dollars in prisons instead of more investment in education.

Steven Hawkins in The American Prospect, stated that nearly 75 percent of imprisonment spending happens at the state level, where dollars are drawn from a general fund that is meant to pay for a range of public needs, including health care, housing, public assistance, and education. Whether we look back over the last two decades, or just the last two years, education, in particular, has become a casualty of state budget battles. Analysis by the National Association of State Budget Officers shows that elementary and high schools receive 73 percent of their state funding from this discretionary fund; colleges and universities count on the fund for half of their budgets. However, $9 out of every $10 that supports imprisonment comes from the same pot of money. With tens of billions of dollars in prison spending annually, states are finding that there is simply less discretionary money available to invest in education, especially in these lean economic times. (Hawkins, 2010)

The strength of any nation is the strength, stability, education and care of the people. Our state legislatures are deciding how to spend our tax dollars. Are we watching the decisions they are making with our money? States still spend more of their general-fund dollars on education than on incarceration, but the percentage of dollars being used for incarceration is increasing, while the percentage for education is decreasing. In 33 of 50 states, corrections -- related costs made up a larger proportion of the general fund than in the previous fiscal year, while spending on K-12 and higher education decreased. (Hawkins, 2010)
Though it is a state budget expenditure, the money is appropriated based on the Federal Budget. For more information please visit this link, http://www.justice.gov/jmd/2011factsheets/pdf/maintain-security.pdf

What are you going to choose Education or Prison for the children in America?

“Democracy is not a spectator’s sport.”

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Hawkins, S. (2010, 12 6). Articles: The American Prospect. Retrieved February 18, 2011, from American Prospect Website: http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=education_vs_incarceration
US Department of Justice, O. o. (2007). Bureau of Justice Statistics Prison Statistics. US Department of Justice.
US Dept. of Justice, ,. O. (2004). Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report. US Dept. of Justice.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Transformation is a Lifetime Journey




Please copy and paste the link to read my latest article on Author's Den.

To access the article on the left side of the page, click on Articles.

http://www.authorsden.com/dianellittles


I pray it opens your mind.

Peace and Blessings.

Thought for the Day

Man has responsibility, not power. - Tuscarora Freedom = Responsibility = Responsible Thought, Word and Action.

This is the century of responsibility in action.

This is the time the illusions are being revealed.

This is the time.

Questions

How do we truly create change in our communities?

Can those who contributed to creating certain problems/crisis in our communities have the solution?

Do we each have the courage to organize and work together to create effective change for our communities?

What lessons can our community leaders take from the actions of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.?

Are we really committed to creating change?

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Time to Heed The Warnings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

In a time of Peace there are so many people living in the midst of social, political and economic violence everyday.

The only way to have Peace is to create Peace. We create peace by our thoughts, words, action, intentions and deeds. Chose peaceful solutions you create peace. Violence creates violence.

Dr, Martin Luther King, Jr. warned us "
It is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence in this world: it's nonviolence or nonexistence; that is where we are today.