Love and Work

 

Love and Work 

Last week while reading a book by the inventor and engineer, John C. Lincoln, I was reminded of a saying from one of those street corner philosophers I grew up with;

“If you want to hide the truth,” he said, “put it in a book.”

There in the book entitled, Christ’s Object in Life, were the words that made me stop and think (okay full disclosure here; this whole book has, as the young folks say, ‘blew my head up.”)

“…work, instead of being a curse is the greatest gift that [mankind] has.”

Lincoln goes on to say that when we love what we do, truly love it, work is our salvation.

I love what I do. I love that I get to do it. Even when it is hard and tiresome and demanding, I love my work.

Most people cannot say this because they will not say this.

The first step in loving someone or something happens when you make the choice to do so.

No one and nothing can make you love them. You must chose it and when you do, your choice enables you to see beauty that you would not have seen before.

I somehow knew this when I was a kid in Wilmington, Delaware cleaning houses and banks.

One day, I decided to love what I did. When I did, my mind opened up to all of the possibilities of life. The toilets I cleaned would one day be my own and I would be grateful for the job that had made it so.

I am grateful for the early morning flights, because I choose to be. No one makes me write a blog, nor do they pay me to do so.

I love this work because I have the opportunity to look at life and reflect it back to the people who share in it.

Your work is your salvation and while some of you may want to argue about who and how their salvation is truly found, I will simply suggest this:

If you are not happy with the work in this kingdom, how do you expect to see The Kingdom---on earth as it is in heaven?

Be you, be loving, be loving the work you do.

Bertice Berry, PhD.

http://www.ayearto.com

The Mis-Education of You

Who am I not to..

The Mis-Education of You

In 1933, historian and father of the study of African American History, Dr. Carter G. Woodson, wrote The Mis-Education of the Negro.

In it, Dr. Woodson argued that schools were not teaching African Americans; instead “negroes,” as we were called then, were being indoctrinated to be second class citizens in the very country they helped build.

As you might imagine, this was incredibly radical. Dr. Woodson was the son of former slaves. Education was highly valued in his family. His father had moved Woodson and his siblings to West Virginia to find a school for them.

Dr. Woodson was the second African American to earn a doctorate, and he did it at Harvard. It goes without saying that education was important to him, but Woodson saw a distinct difference between education and indoctrination.

At the age of 12, my mother had to drop out of school. At 12 she also learned that her grandparents were not her real parents that her mother, a woman she believed to have been “some white friend of the family,” had come to take her away from the people who had loved and raised her. (My grandmother Caroline was not white, but could and is believed to have often “passed” as white.)

My grandmother Caroline sent my mother to work and so her formal education ended. Still, my mother yearned to learn and “know things about things,” as she put it.

She was an avid reader and when she came across Dr. Woodson’s treaty on mis-education, it became a guide for her education and a source for the correction of me and my siblings.

“You are just building the back door,” my mother would often chide whenever any of her children did something that she believed was against our own self-interest.

As a child, I had no idea what she was talking about, but years later when I read The Mis-Education of The Negro for myself, I came to see her full intent.

"When you control a man's thinking you do not have to worry about his actions. You do not have to tell him not to stand here or go yonder. He will find his 'proper place' and will stay in it. You do not need to send him to the back door. He will go without being told. In fact, if there is no back door, he will cut one for his special benefit. His education makes it necessary."

Dr. Woodson’s treaty can and must be applied to all God’s children because we are all being mis-educated about our own selves.

We are allowing others to tell us who we are and who we can be. We have been limited in our own thinking and our own story.

We have been telling ourselves that we are not capable and we are not powerful.

We have come to believe that we have no say in any matter and nothing can or will ever change.

The story we have been telling is not true, but we have come to believe in the validity of it because Santa Clause, the Care Bears and Wall Street told us so.

“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, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” Marianne Williamson~ A Return To Love

 

Be you, be bold, be knowing

Bertice Berry, PhD.

 

Are You Afraid to Live?

Are You Afraid to Live?

“Something is always happening to you,” a former friend said years ago. She had just learned of the death of one of my children and not knowing what to say, she said that.

I smiled and looked directly into her eyes. I wanted her to feel the words that I was about to say.

“The bigger the life, the bigger the pain.” I told her, “but with much life, comes much joy also.”

This past week, I had the opportunity to speak to the women of Aspire. These women are a part of the workforce at Medtronic. The room was filled with folks who are extremely smart, beautiful and compassionate about their life and work. (Medtronic)

What they admitted out loud to themselves and to one another was the fact that we can all be more confident.

With a goal to contribute to the wellfare of humankind, these women understood that they had to be the change the world needed to see.

I began to think of my own bold life and how incredibly big it is. As I did, the words of a character from one of my novels spoke to me clearly; “If you ain’t dead, you ain’t done.”

I decided that I could live even more and be much better.

The decision to do so required three things, faith, courage and bravery.

Are you living, or are you merely existing?

Are you afraid to step out of the comfort of your comfortable life to teach what you know to someone else?

Will you be willing to love someone so much that the loss of the loved one is too much to bear?

Are you willing to read from a new play book, even at this stage of your game?

Can you appreciate all that you are becoming and tell yourself “well done?”

Be you, be well, be living.

Bertice Berry, PhD.

http://www.ayearto.com

 

Love or Shame

Love or Shame

Earlier this week, I got myself ready to go to cook and serve food to people who are hungry. I was surprised to be met by my girls, who had told me they “might” be able to go with me.

In my mind I had prepared a speech to shame them into getting ready. I had planned to tell them that they didn’t need to worry about being hungry and could get up any time they wanted to, but those who came to Emmaus House had to rely upon the kindness of kind folks.

My shame speech was not necessary and I wondered why I had prepared myself to be let down, instead of looking forward to the joy of what had actually occurred.

We rode and chatted about things that only the young can comprehend. I nodded as if I did whilst in my mind I thought of how good it felt to not be going alone.

We arrived at 7:15 and although breakfast is not served until 8:30, there was already a line.

Now, when I go to Emmaus House, I go to work, so dress for the occasion. Apparently, I did my job too well.

As we walked up to the door, one of our customers stood up to inform me about the proper way to stand in line.

“Listen to what I’m telling you,”  he said. “There ain’t no shame in this line. Cause there ain’t nothing to be ashamed of.

 Don’t you feel no shame at all, all you need to have in your heart is love.”

I could not move. A part of me wanted to stand in the line to fully receive the experience, but a bigger part, the part still attached to the concerns of the world wanted to explain that I would be preparing food, not eating it.

Then I thought of what the man had said; “There is no shame.”

I let go of every other thought and absorbed the joy of his comment.

Every day, we get to choose love or shame.

Choose Love.

Be you, be well, be love.

Bertice Berry, PhD.

It's Not Too Late

The Gateway to Success

 

My child, these are not the things that you were made for

This is not the road, this is not the door

My child, you were never meant to face calamity

My desire for you, is that you would be free

It’s not too late to do the things you are to do

It’s not too late to find, the door that leads to life

It’s not too late to turn from your calamity

It’s not too late oh no my child.

 

I wrote the words to this song about 15 years ago. I had just exited the building of a juvenile prison. It was New Year’s Eve and I had been a volunteer for both a young adult facility and a maximum adult prison.

I was there to lend support for an education program that some had declared a waste of time.

The song came to me clearly and fully in words and tune. I remember the tears streaming down my face as I sang words which sometimes come back to me as my own reminder.

Too often, we are too quick to write off troubled young folks as “broken,” “useless,” or “finished.”

It’s never too late for a child or an adult to turn their lives around.

A few months ago, I worked with an amazing group of people who do amazing work.

The folks at Gateway to College identify and assist young people who may have dropped out, been put out, or are in danger of doing so. http://www.gatewaytocollege.org/about.asp

 They not only help these students complete a high school education, but they also a help them get to and through college. Their method of success is remarkable.

We know that education is critical and yet, too often we are willing to give up on our young folks when they have made the wrong choices or have been influenced by others who made them for them.

Education saved my life. It was the key that unlocked the door to a pathway that has helped illuminate a pathway for others.

I was moved by the work of the folks at Gateway because I knew that for every path they illuminated, many, many doors are opened for many, many others.

True brilliance does not come from an easy life; it comes from an educated struggle.

It’s never too late to do the things we are to do

It’s not too late to find the door that leads to life

It’s not too late to turn from your calamity

It’s not too late, oh no my child.

Be you, be well, be reminded.

Bertice Berry, PhD.

Order A Year to Wellness and start your wellness journey Today

 

 

Are You For Real?

Empowered to Shine

I could write an entire series on the folks at John C. Lincoln North Mountain Hospital in Phoenix Arizona. (More to come on that later.)

They are authentic, real and empowered to do whatever it takes to make their patients whole.

Their teamwork, family-like existence and true love and concern for what they do and one another is unparalleled, but what touches me right where I live is how amazingly authentic everyone is.

Their authenticity provides for a diversity like no other. With everyone being who they are and bringing their best to work, the folks at John C. Lincoln North Mountain Hospital are able to create an environment where each person’s talents are able to shine.

I couldn’t help but wonder what the world would be like if were all empowered to shine.

Starting today, begin a journey of realness.

Ask yourself who you really are and who you’ve been pretending to be.

Seek ways to be more you at work, at home and in your community.

Find information, and ideas that will feed your spirit and your personal mission.

Give your best in everything you do.

Avoid negativity and cling to what is positive.

SHINE

Be you, be real, be the light

Bertice Berry, PhD.

Order A Year too Wellness and SHINE

 

Authentic Leaders at John C. Lincoln North Mountain Hospital

 

Give Love Away

Give Love Away

About a month ago, I was working with a team of amazing people. We were discussing value sets and the probability of any two people having the same set.

Let’s just say that it would be easier to be struck by lightning while being mauled by a grizzly bear on your vacation in Tahiti while you won the lottery.

We all laughed and marveled at the fact that life could be so rich.

A few days later, I was at a women’s leadership conference. After I had given a speech, a young woman came up and said that she wanted to discuss a project that she was working on.

I took one look at her and thought of my “nephew” Rob. In my mind’s eye, I could see the two together.  

Suddenly, I was a yenta. Now there are two descriptions of the word yenta, probably more. Yenta is a Yiddish word that refers to a busybody; a gossip but in some cases, as in mine, she’s a matchmaker.

I pulled out a picture of Rob and showed it to the young woman and her mother who was also there. “He has soulful eyes,” Cecilia, the mother said.

We both smiled and nodded as if we were twice our age.

In that moment though I realized that I was the age of the women of old who could look at someone and see a good match.

I gave Camille Rob’s number and then let him know that I had.

Long story short, they are a couple, and a really good one at that.

But here’s the thing, what if we were so busy paying attention to life, love and the yearnings of our loved ones that we never had time to worry, complain or feel lonely ourselves.

What if you paid more attention to the light in someone’s eyes and less to the things they do that give offence

What if our observations gave joy to others and our words were the music we all need.

I’m waxing poetic, or maybe it’s just wax, but all I know is the love between Rob and Camille is rare, hard to find and beautiful.

Maybe we need more matchmakers and a lot less gossiping busybodies.

Be you, be well, be the love others need.

Bertice Berry, PhD.

Order A year to Wellness and Be The Love You Need