Week 12: Sunday Service Announcements

God is asking you to take a step back and assess your life. If you don't like it then it's time to change like the church mother changes her hat to match her suit.

One thing about the mother of the church is they are going to have their matching hat and suit on.

Now that I am older I wish my grandmother was the church hat-wearing mother of the churches I grew up in. There was this one lady I remember who had the biggest most vibrant hat collection and it used to make me wonder if church was the Black woman’s runway.

Ain’t nobody flier than a Black woman and a Black man going to church on Sunday morning in their church suit, her in her hat and his gator shoes.

Black women endure so much each week leading up to Sunday, for some of our mothers and grandmothers church was their reset. Church was their meditation and self-care time.

For some, this was their moment of silence to hear the Lord speak to them.

When money was funny and the only people laughing were the bill collectors church was where that worry was left to rest. Or when those sons got caught up in the street life and every time that house phone rang your mama looked like a little bit of herself faded away every time wondering if that was the call she’s been dreading to receive.

Those hats symbolize the African woman’s head scarf, a protection of our crown.

I believe those church hats saved lives, and still do.

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It’s our birthright to live life without limits.

Jamiya

Hey, family! I am so very blessed to be in front of you all again. I thank you so much and so deeply for welcoming me back with open arms.

The original topic I thought about writing got pushed to the back burner when I heard about some very sad news that took place this week. If any of you are like me, who grew up in the 2010s in either middle school, high school, or college, you’re very familiar with Rich Homie Quan and the news of his passing. He was such a defining piece of my childhood and early adulthood that it hit me hard. I found myself grieving and contemplating the message I wanted to share today.

And that message is to live your life without limits because time can snatch away everything you think you have.

When we’re born out of our mother’s wombs, and we grow through each age, we walk through life with the thought that we always have time. Time is not always on our side and everything is so unpredictable. Especially in today’s world, you really never know what’s going to happen when you blink in the next two seconds. I am a firm believer that time’s supposed to guide us, not hold us back, but that’s usually not the case. Time is a limit we must turn our backs to.

Historically and unfortunately, as a people, we live some, if not the majority, of our days in fear, afraid to step forward and step into the spotlight. I’ve always prided myself on being brave enough to chase my dreams of being a successful writer, yet there are so many other things that stop me from fully living my life. Living life without limits doesn’t only speak to tangible dreams and accomplishments. It also speaks to the aspects that can’t be seen such as what’s needed to grow spiritually, mentally, and emotionally as a person. We must rid ourselves of the things that hold us back so that we can break free with a new perspective and live our best lives.

“I really don’t think life is about the I-could-have-beens. Life is only about the I-tried-to-do. I don’t mind the failure but I can’t imagine that I’d forgive myself if I didn’t try.”
– Nikki Giovanni

Have you ever had someone give you a sign that they were into you, but you didn’t realize it until way later? Do you remember how you beat yourself up for not acting upon that sign? Or how about the feeling you had when you’ve put off tasks, only to realize that they were so simple when you did complete them? That is the same feeling as not living your life outside of fear and your bubble. For so long, I have heard people say that your comfort zone can do you more harm than good. I can only speak for myself when I say that my comfort zone metaphorically almost killed me one time. I was at my lowest, full of regrets of what I could have done but didn’t.

at my lowest, full of regrets, ready to just die

I know in my soul that the most important thing any of us could ever do is love and believe in ourselves. To me, that is what helps us live life without limits, and without fear. Once you get past the firewall of fear, you tap into God and the Most High (or who it is that you pray to) and they answer the call that helps you reach all of what you desire. Life is so unpredictable in positive and negative ways that the least scary thing we can do is go for what we want.

Life is not always good. Life is not always bad. Life is worth living when you find purpose and understand that trying to move forward can always be enough. Everything you do, follow your heart. Time moves so fast that we can’t keep up. Fear keeps us locked down with a vengeance that sometimes we have no choice but to watch time go by.

As a 20-something-year-old Black woman who is teaching herself to live without limits, I want you to know that anything is possible. Whether you want to start a new career, a new hobby, learn better coping skills, or change something about yourself internally, it is possible. Overcome that obstacle of fear and watch how much brighter the sun shines. What you desire is just on the other side of choosing to go and get it.

Be great, y’all.

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It’s our birthright to be financially free.

Rahkim Sabree

I stumbled across a tweet that read:

“Voting should require $10,000 of assets and a 600 credit score. Fairly low bar, but high enough to stop the 60% of society that has no business contributing to social policy”

I retweeted it and then commented within the thread that “This is racist as hell” and proceeded to screenshot it and share it on Instagram and as a graphic reel to which I garnered quite that controversy in the comments. I captioned the reel that I thought the statement was racist and asked my audience what they thought to which I received a mixed bag of replies. Many of those replies however were attempts at educating me on the difference between racism and classism and informed me that the tweet was indeed classist in nature but not quite racist. Rather than engage in the comments I decided to take to Medium

BlackStack

to share my thoughts in long form for those curious enough to read it.

The topic is very Black and White so we put on our Sunday best for this one.

In a previous piece, I go on to say that “racism plays to empower and favor members of a particular race by way of systems while oppressing others who exist within those very same systems”. It’s well documented that much of this nation’s wealth was built on the back of cheap and free labor with “rules” and tools in place to exclude and oppress poor Black people. Many people view racism through the lens of bias that says I don’t like you based on attributes related to the color of someone’s skin, place of ethnic origin, religious views, etc.

I would challenge that notion as being incomplete.

I believe that a racist can be perfectly content to “like” members of a group that exists outside of their race and benefit from the system of racism. Additionally one can also reject racism vehemently while still benefiting from the system it fuels.

THAT is the power of racism.

That is also why all of the other popular “-isms” are offshoots of that initial thread including classism and capitalism.

We are all familiar with the perils of racist bigotry applied to members outside of the racist group, but we don’t often hear about how racism is weaponized against members of the very same race. How ideas around safety, security, self-esteem, acceptance, and more are challenged should they rock the boat or challenge a system that literally exists to benefit them. How some anti-racists risked more than death to challenge a system where they could have easily sat back and turned a blind eye.

This dichotomy between racist and anti-racist creates a dangerous middle ground we’ll call the conditional anti-racist. That is to say that the individual exhibits anti-racist qualities so long as it doesn’t threaten their quality of life, or comfort, or they simply don’t feel appreciated or celebrated enough by those they profess to advocate for. In plain terms, given enough pressure they will revert to conditions that mirror that of the racist bigot.

The savior complex that this creates makes the idea of “allies” a murky one. Worse still however are those members of the target demographic doing the work racism is designed to do against their own people.

That W.S. and Racism are one in the same.

If racism is a system, White supremacy is the lifeblood of that system. Some would argue that racism and White supremacy are one in the same, and they wouldn’t be entirely wrong. It’s like how Xerox became synonymous with making a photocopy, or how Post-It became synonymous with those yellow sticky notes… even the knockoff version.

The greatest example of racism we’ve seen is that fueled by White supremacy and it’s so potent that characteristics of the racist system permeate non-White spaces.

That’s right a Black person can be a White supremacist.

I know that can be a difficult statement to wrap your head around but that speaks to the potency of White supremacy.

How you ask?

White supremacy is nothing more than upholding the principles and values that exalt Whiteness. I’m not talking explicitly about skin color. I’m talking about the idea that anything White is of the greatest standard and inversely the further you get away from whiteness, the less desirable or less valuable you become.

That speaks to existence on every level from beauty standards, to diet, to religion, to the cadence and manner of speech, education, business, and political norms, literally every aspect of the way we navigate the world — especially in the West.

I’m about to close out…I’m not going to hold you too much longer on this Sunday.

Yes, the tweet that started this all was a racist and a classist one. It was tone-deaf to the fact that because of historical and present-day racism, many Black people aren’t in a position to have the suggested requisite assets and credit scores. The predatory nature of institutions has long since disenchanted Black people in particular from leveraging the tools that financial institutions have available. The lack of financial education in Black communities also contributes to the inequality this statement promotes. And while the reality of the situation is that not all Black people have terrible credit and no assets, a statement like this marginalizes those that do in a system that wasn’t designed for them to succeed in the first place.

Does the statement alienate and marginalize non-Black people with bad credit credit and no assets? Absolutely. Does that make the statement any less racist or classist?

Not in the slightest.

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It’s our birthright to curate our lives the way we desire.

Jacquie Verbal

Here’s another original email newsletter from November 2, 2022, and at this point I’m shocked at how much my writing still resonates almost two years later. It’s like this was the outline for my book UN-TRAP DA HOOD. Call me a timeless writer because no matter when it finds you it’s going to guide you. I’m finding so much joy in being able to take pieces from old newsletters and curate them beautifully for Sunday Service Announcements when these moments present themselves for me to pop back in to write a section.

The Universe is asking you to take a moment to assess your life. Now is the time to learn to be still so you can accept the things that are being removed from your life. This is not the season of force, you must embrace the flow. 

Accepting the ego can be difficult if you aren't mentally in the right mindset, to change that start your day with gratitude and end your day with gratitude. It can be affirmations or you creating your own list, but the key is to find gratitude in your current reality. We are the co-creators of our lives, our reality is a reflection of our creations within the mind and emotions. Whether it is positive or negative it's your co-creation, and you should say thank you for the Universe providing physical proof of your desires. Here is the plot twist, if you are not happy with your co-creation start by changing your thoughts and beliefs about your future creations.

...this one is for the culture!

As a culture, do you see what's happening to us as a people? Trapped in the mindset of sacrificing the peace within to escape reality. Our culture has been suppressed, therefore it's no surprise we are conditioned to suppress our emotions. 

To heal the culture we must commit individually to healing ourselves. Each of us choosing to raise our vibration to reach the frequency level of our true desires will collectively raise the vibration of the culture. 

What if healing became the new trend? Imagine our boundaries within self allowing us to connect with our most authentic self creating a breakthrough within the culture. Fashion trends are created from street fashion, music is hot in the streets before it plays nationally, so why can't we do the same for healing?

Reiki is an amazing tool to use to bring your energy to rest, this allows you to be present in the moment to just be still. Be honest with yourself, when was the last time you were able to do this? Many of us struggle with being able to rest because of our conditioned belief that if you aren't doing anything you aren't being productive. Conditioned belief being a result of the years of cultural suppression, did slavery come to mind? How does speaking the truth about our culture make you feel other than angry?

...create your safe space!

Remember I mentioned how reiki is a great tool to bring your energy to rest? Rest is to take a break from a stressful situation, so currently what are you doing to incorporate more into your life?

We are in a season of accepting, acknowledging, and embracing the things that bring us peace, harmony, stillness, rest, and most importantly value and worth within ourselves. Another plot twist for you, anything outside of you doesn't cause those emotions they help you to discover them within yourself!

I learned these three major lessons at the start of curating my life and they have been consistent since.

Lesson 1: Accept Your Ego

Our healing journey is discovering our authentic selves and our assignment on Earth. To do that we have to understand the main principles of the journey, the first being everything is energy, and energy cannot be created nor destroyed. Therefore, we must stop trying to kill our ego and learn to accept our ego. 

What is the ego?

The ego is our current perspective of our reality; our POV of our life and the flow of life overall. Our ego is either balanced or imbalanced based on whether we accept or deny the ego; or our current reality. 

For example: When my ego is imbalanced I notice I struggle most with my lack of confidence in being able to take action necessary to change the situation at hand. The uncertainty of having solid stability to secure a home was the direct connection to my conflict with my true desires and imbalanced ego. 

Lesson 2: Acknowledge Suppressed Emotions

You might be thinking, but Jacquie if my ego is blocking me from seeing anything other than my current perspective of my reality then how do I bring balance to my ego? 

That is a great question and the answer is simple you have to sit with those triggered emotions that you have been conditionally suppressing. At times this can be difficult, I know, but this is when you use your healing tools to help you rest to be still and call in peace and harmony to assist with understanding the emotions. 

Understanding your emotions looks a lot of ways, and once you recognize your fears you will better understand what they are telling you. Talking it out with someone who is a sounding board, journaling using prompts or free-flow journaling is great too. Video or voice journaling works, creating art, and allowing creativity to reveal things to you, the list goes on but the key is creating a safe space for you to explore your emotions to understand them, not judge them.

Lesson 3: Embrace Authentic Truth

Now this has been one of my favorite subjects to learn more about! Embracing my authentic truth is the upward spiral I had been praying for, and I found it through writing. Last Sunday in our Writers Circle our guided meditation brought us on stage front and center with our inner child to share our authentic voice, and before you know it we were speaking our truths as the ink bled on the pages.

The capability to wake up each day with a positive mindset and outlook on life; and most importantly when energies don't match throughout the day the trigger barely gets a response if any. This is when you have taken that time to understand yourself and your conditionings. We grant ourselves this gift each time we surrender to the pull of the pen and allow our words to inspire like color painted on a blank canvas.

For example: When I am not flowing in my authentic energy the triggered emotion I face is frustration. It's up to me to choose whether to react out of frustration or respond from a place of love. If I react I am choosing to match the vibration of frustration, and if I respond to my frustration from a place of love I allow myself to navigate the emotion. Writing is how I navigate that emotion and when I share my authentic voice I send inspiration out into the algorithm like Cupid.

I am curating the life I desire cause this American Dream will have me sleeping my life away.

Now that you understand how you co-created your reality, what can you do to change your current thoughts and beliefs? 

To fully embrace your healing journey, first, you must understand the journey itself. We are not on a healing journey to manifest our dream home or car or have millions in the bank, and if you are this might be the root of your frustration. 

Our healing journey is the journey to rediscovering self. Who you truly are, your true desires, your passions, and to be an inspiration to others.

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Prayer Hotline

I pray this week you find peace.

I pray this week you find love.

I pray this week you get rest.

I pray this week you give yourself grace.

I pray this week you accept when it’s time to stop.

I pray this week you admit you are tired and stop pushing through.

I pray this week you find the strength to speak your truth.

I pray this week when you say ‘I wish a nigga would’ a nigga would.

I pray this week the banks glitch only positivity in Black accounts and call it reparations.

I pray this week you look up and realize the world is yours.

I pray this week they don’t play with you.

I pray this week you break free.

I pray these things in Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

Amen.

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