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Empower Yourself...
Black Woman Thou Art GREAT!
by Lisa Bartley-Lacey,
MA
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Be not afraid of greatness, some are born
great, some achieve greatness and others have greatness
thrust upon them.
-William Shakespeare
Just because a revered old poet, great though he was, made
that oft quoted empirical statement, does that make it true?
Would we be struck by lightening if we reworded it? Let's see.
What if we said: Embrace GREATNESS. All are created for GREATNESS.
Some are born with the awareness of their GREATNESS. Some grow
into awareness of their GREATNESS and others have the awareness
of their GREATNESS thrust upon them.
?
Black Woman thou art GREAT!
There is an inexhaustible Source of creativity and vitalizing
energy within you. You were and are Created by God to be whole,
to be happy and to be divinely successful. You are a Queen,
no matter what anyone else has said to the contrary. You are
Divine despite the pernicious machinations of popular culture
and racist/sexist American society which esteems the Black woman,
for the most part, as less than/inferior to any other member
of our society. No matter what aspersions have been cast upon
you by either yourself or by others, you were born for GREATNESS.
The Black woman is in fact the Mother of all humanity. We are
the ORIGINAL-original!
Nelson Mandela who went from being a prisoner to president,
eloquently illustrates the significance of embracing and accepting
our GREATNESS. We need to comprehend this on a much deeper level
in order to progress from survival to success to GREATNESS.
Please read and contemplate the following words which may already
be at least somewhat familiar to you:
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, "Who am I to be brilliant?"
Who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn't serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking
So that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within
us.
It is not just in some of us: it's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine,
We unconsciously give others permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
Our presence automatically liberates others.
Nelson Mandela's 1994 Inaugural Speech (fragment)
It is true. Deep within every woman alive is the seed of the
awareness of her queenhood. In her soul every woman knows that
she is infinitely more than the prime cuts of meat that popular
culture attempts to dissect females into. Indeed you are far
more than a handy set of T & A. You are Body, Mind and Spirit.
You are whole. The Creator has given you everything you need
to be absolutely brilliant. Anyone who tells you differently,
including yourself, is a liar. Decide in this moment to really
know this Truth. Know it and be FREE!
Every second you spend reading these words is blessed. I have
asked to be used. I have asked the Creator to give me the right
words. The words that would reach into your inner self in order
to access your essential beauty, grace and Divinity. As one
Black woman to another I endeavor to help you to really perceive
the inner beauty that is uniquely YOU. The aim for me is to
support your intention to place your feet firmly on the path
to your ultimate Purpose in life. What is your ultimate Purpose?
Your ultimate Purpose is to become ALL that you might be. This
is simple, yet not "easy."
As Mandela has stated, our deepest fear is not that we are
inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond
measure. Black women are uniquely powerful for their struggle
individually and collectively has been uniquely fraught with
obstacles, opposition and exploitation. The white man has used
us. Many Black men have abused us and even the white woman has
refuse us our rightful place as Queens. The Black woman has
struggled in ways that others know not of. Please ask yourself
if this is not the case with you or someone you love. Together
let us feel the fear but go on to embody our GREATNESS anyway.
I am GREAT. All I had to do in order to be GREAT was just to
know that I AM. How could I not be? I did not create myself.
I was created by GREATNESS to be GREAT. So were you. Pass it
on Sista!
In order to be useful to you, I had to go through a process.
This process was very painful. In this process I might have
perished. It continues. This process is more commonly known
as "life." My demise, however, though supported by
this world, was not sanctioned by the Universe. By God I am
still here.
You could have died before reaching and reading these words,
yet you are still here. We are here! We have arrived in this
moment for a reason and with a divine Purpose. Since we have
made it this far, let us travel the road however infrequently
traveled, to GREATNESS & divine Purpose together. This is
what our Sisterhood through Inner Cosmetics is all about.
When you learn...
Teach
When you get...
Give
-Maya Angelou, Our Grandmothers
Your potential is immeasurable. There are many women who have
some inclination of their inherent GREATNESS. There are even
a few who gracefully embody that GREATNESS at the present time.
Unfortunately, however, there are too many of us who do not
have a clue regarding the inestimable value we possess. We are
acting like sorry little slave girls and victims instead of
Queens and victors. The time has come for all of that to change.
Surely you can see it. Look at the world around you. Do you
really believe that this world can afford the loss of your Light?
Each woman is called. You are needed. There never was nor will
there ever be one who is uniquely YOU. You exist as a precious
singularity in the vastness of the Universe. The Creator loaded
you up with Divine gifts and blessings to share with the world.
Only you can present the world with your gifts. You must decide
that you will tolerate playing small no further.
In his transformative masterpiece, Woman Thou Art Loosed, T.D.
Jakes, offers the following insight, "You often experience
success in one area and gross defeat in others. You need a burning
desire for the future, the kind of desire that overcomes past
fear and inhibitions. You will remain chained to your past and
all the secrets therein until you decide: Enough is enough!
I am telling you that when your desire for the future peaks,
you can break out of prison."
Your divine energy and bright Light is desperately needed in
today's world. If you are not illuminating your Light out into
the world it is due to feeling unworthy to do so. It is due
to fear. As Mandela states, It is our Light not our darkness
that most frightens us. You are here to be a reflection of the
Creator's Light. In that way others will be validated in their
call to do the same. This is how we change the world. This is
how we serve the world and give others the inspiration they
need to also act as conduits of GREATNESS.
The oak tree is in the acorn. GREATNESS is within you. Just
as the potential of the mighty oak is embedded in the acorn,
the potential of ever expanding GREATNESS is embedded in every
cell of your Body, every corner of your Mind and within the
internal/eternal fire of your Spirit.
When I was just a little brown baby girl hiding and cringing
in the closet listening to my mama being beaten, GREATNESS was
within me. When I was just a skinny little 15 year old Black
girl in Detroit City being physically threatened, emotionally
annihilated and spiritually devastated, GREATNESS was within
me. I was a Queen, but I did not know it yet.
When I wallowed in despair weeping as a young adult in the
wake of self-destruction and negativity, GREATNESS was within
me but I did not know it yet. When I cried alone as a poverty
stricken unwed teenaged mother, GREATNESS was within me but
I did not know it yet. As I bore the weight of being a divorced
single parent of three children thumbing through my foodstamps,
GREATNESS was within me but I did not know it yet. While lying
up under benighted males in search of love and validation as
a lost woman, GREATNESS was within me but I did not know it
yet. As I walked across the stage to collect my BA then my MA
degrees, thinking that they were legitimizing me, true GREATNESS
was within me, I thought I knew but I did not know true GREATNESS
yet.
God knew it though.
My Purpose is to proclaim the Creator's gift of GREATNESS within
YOU as I reveal it within myself. I was created for this Purpose
before the very foundations of this earth were formed. I did
not know these things for many years. Oh, but I am beginning
to get it now. I am getting it so that you might get it. You
are getting it so that others might get it through you. You
are a Queen and before today you may have been able to excuse
yourself by saying that you "just did not know it yet."
Woman thou art GREAT. Now ya know!
No one, no, nor no one million
ones dare deny me God, I go forth
alone, and stand as ten thousand.
-Maya Angelou, Our Grandmothers
I have suffered. You have suffered. Women have suffered uniquely
in patriarchal society. With women of color, the double whammy
of simultaneous sexism and racism can be particularly devastating.
Let us consider the resultant GREATNESS of women who have gone
through great trials and lessons. Everyone who has achieved
any substantive modicum of greatness has suffered in one way
or another. Our pain makes human. Overcoming our suffering through
perseverance, grace, wisdom and determination exemplifies triumph
over adversity. This is how we tap into the inexhaustible Source.
Our suffering becomes our strength. This strength is our gift
from the Creator to the rest of the world.
Our pain has shaped us physically, emotionally and spiritually.
Going through our lessons with determination and conviction
has taught us perseverance. The most profound epiphanies, revelations
and personal transformations have resulted from the experience
of persevering through pain. In The Life You Were Born to Live
by Dan Millman, he states, "Flexibility avails us far more
than either passivity or resistance; by actively using whatever
arises, embracing even the most painful circumstances, we deal
with our difficulties more effectively, as we begin to see them
as a form of spiritual training."
Just as an infant learns not to caress the fire, a woman learns
not to embrace the things, situations and people that cause
her undue suffering and pain. She kicks all scoundrels and 'hatas'
to the proverbial curb. Thus, our so-called "suffering"
may also be considered "lessons" and ultimately great
blessings. How wonderful have you felt when you finally broke
loose from someone who abused, misused or confused you? That
is GREATNESS. It makes us and shapes us.
Ask yourself, "What if my suffering really was the necessary
inspiration to foster GREATNESS within me?"
"Haven't my life's greatest challenges taught me the most
and made me stronger than I would otherwise be?"
Surviving suffering to the soul, is often like rain to the acorn.
The oak tree is in the acorn. The Queen is within the girl.
By learning her life's lessons the girl ascends the throne to
her queendom. GREATNESS is within all of us...but it just needs
a lil rain to make it grow.
In his exquisitely healing, comforting and insightful book,
Legacy of the Heart, the Spiritual Advantages of a Painful Childhood,
Wayne Muller offers the following wisdom, "Accepting the
pain we are given requires us to soften our hearts and allow
the pain to break us open, to acknowledge and to grieve the
terrible sadness that comes with abandonment, loss, illness
and disappointment. In this moment we can feel most human, in
kinship with all who have felt the deep despair of a broken
heart. This is not angry resignation, born of defeat; this is
the deep, loving acceptance that what we are given that has
become our companion and our teacher, regardless of how painful,
unwelcome or unjust."
The blueprints for your ultimate identity came with you when
you emerged from Mama's womb. You were bound and born for GREATNESS.
Everything you need to succeed is already within you. Your veins
surge with the blood of Queens and Kings...though the manufactured
mores of society may brand you a "commoner". Your
Mind possesses infinitely sharper acuity and capacity than the
most advanced super-computer...even though you only use 10%
of it's power. Your Soul is as old and wise as the immeasurable,
ever-expanding Universe...though you may have not yet tapped
into your Divine power and destiny. Society may deem you ordinary
but the Creator of ALL esteems you EXTRAORDINARY. Which distinction
matters?
... All my life I have always known I was
born to greatness.
-OPRAH WINFREY
Woman, you were designed and specially created by God to rule.
True greatness and strength are available to all of us. You
are a Queen in the authentic sense of the word. This is royalty
that cannot be bestowed by "man", by money, by membership
among the "elite," mental exercise by "master"
degrees, by might or by any popularly held status symbol of
the modern day bourgeois. The Creator has no use or respect
for these false systems of so-called accreditation and validation.
Why should you?
Your authentic GREATNESS issues forth from the Creator. No
one here can take it from you because no one here gave it to
you. This may be foreign thinking for our society today. That
is because popular culture is heavily invested in the illusion
of your worthlessness. Women are rated by the size of their
hips, their breasts and their lips. As we grow in Wisdom and
stature we are deemed old maids, bitches and hags. The younger
and more fickle we are the more this world values us. Is that
not completely upside down? You are GREAT. Foolishness like
that is offensive to a Queen.
It is time to truly think outside the box which is really a
cage. Think differently. In The Power of Wisdom by Aman Motwane,
it says, "There is no common set of rules, laws, characteristics,
styles, principles, values, habits, agreements, tricks or techniques
that lead to a life of success and harmony. What sets extraordinary
individuals apart is not what they do, but that they see the
world in a way the rest of us don't." It's time to reclaim
your rightful inheritance. Ascend the throne Queen. Get up!
"Your playing small doesn't serve the world."
Black Woman...THOU ART GREAT!
Be BLESSED,
Lisa Bartley-Lacey, MA
http://www.mysoulutions.com/
Editor-in-Chief
UnChained SphinX
by Lisa Bartley-Lacey
GREAT FATHER was a Native
& GRANDMAMA a slave
Some say I'd find "redemption"
IF only I'd behave
That's why He smoked the peacepipe
That's why she cut the cane
& tis their amalgamation
Has wrought this crop of pain
I ain't gon stand at auction
At the altar
Or on the street
White Man 'proach w/caution
Brown Sugar
Ain't so sweet
I ain't gon birth Black babies
Not for nig---s to destroy
Black boys think me crazy
Cause this Bi-ch
Won't be their toy
GREAT GRANDPA reigned in Cuba
The Great Mother was an Irish Queen
Bloodline of a bastard runs
RED/ BLUE/ BLACK/ WHITE/ GREEN...
Tis why my smoke's NOT peaceful
As old mortar burns my bones
These legacies all haunt me
As I drag these chains alone
I ain't gon wait for "masters"
With bids, whips or
Wedding rings
I'll forge my own disasters
(thank you!)
& own up to the joy
or sh-t it brings
Cause I ain't gon fit no stereotypes
Not on paper
Or in theory
For modern men
Yet troglodytes
Shall worship me--
Or fear me
by Lisa Bartley-Lacey
© Copyright 2004. All rights reserved. No portion of this
work may be duplicated or copied without the expressed written
consent of the author.
Bartley-Lacey stands as an independent, empowered exemplification
of triumph over adversity. She, like her mentor, Jonathon Edison,
has evolved from the despair of childhood poverty in Detroit,
MI. to a state of empowerment and success. Speaker. Writer.
Poet. Counselor. Artist. Entrepreneur. Bartley-Lacey endeavors
to inspire others to move beyond false limitations and claim
their right to be ALL that they might be for this is the Purpose
of Life.
Bartley-Lacey has served as Special Guest Presenter for The
Connecticut Black Coalition Awards. She has as counselor at
Woman's Resource Center for Battered Women & Their Families.
Interned with Child and Family Services of Newport County. Former
Co-Editor / contributing columnist for MOSAIC Student News Magazine.
Received student driven Freshman Advocate Award as Academic
Advisor to Freshman Students at Salve Regina University due
to her unique ability to meet and work with individuals where
they are and guide through the process of self-realization,
motivation and manifestation. Bartley-Lacey has been recognized
by WHO's WHO Among American Colleges & Universities and
has received the United States Achievement Academy Award.
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