Niamo Nancy Mu’id
National Conference of Black Lawyers 40th anniversary. We came and went to Detroit last weekend, der twa as Jonathan likes to say approximating the french. Drove for 10 hours there and 10 hours back. Picked up a speeding ticket along the way. Stiffened my legs fo’ sho and I'm still workin’ out the kinks!
Motown is the same as other outlying cities relative to the greater New York area where we live. Areas of solidity, where stability is present and mums in bloom alongside trimmed lawns. Areas in shambles, where vacant houses and lots told of hopelessness and...we don't want to put anymore energy into describing it.
Glad we heard Rep. John Conyers and City Councilwoman Joanne Watson speak of the possibilities, of the ways to manifest change; he of his health bill HR 676, the United States National Health Insurance Act; she of the many local environmental interventions she is championing. Watson is a tireless banner-waving spiritual Christian in the mold of Fannie Lou Hamer--the energy resembled--and I am so blessed to have met her and look forward to working with her on the board of NCOBRA LDREF. Her lawyer daughter is no slouch whatsoever and held her own on a panel regarding the future of the NCBL. I’ll share more about the trip and the wonderful artists we visited later.
Meanwhile, my health is a concern as always and though I've worked on Mom with reiki and my dear sista K with a raindrop since the trip, that abrupt step that jammed my right leg muscles into my knee at someone's house is still causing memories I'd prefer to forget. Interesting, K said "forgiveness" is something she's thinking about--what does it really mean? I focused on the giving of it, especially to the self, because if one doesn't give to oneself one is not forewarned, not as careful, and therefore disarmed and vulnerable and prone to victimhood. Giving, as we say in Islamic circles and also in enlightened philanthropy, is always for the self. We know it as a way to purify spirit and grow the soul.
Okay, full disclosure--this is the opposite of giving myself the right to drink coffee almost daily even though it is NOT my good coffee which I released because I held (the judgment) that it got too expensive. So now with thoughts of coffee causing stiffness in my knees and the connection to Mom's difficulty in walking no matter what I do (tho admittedly she says with less pain), I have set up Niamo as a guinea pig (no aspersions on the people there but u get the drift) to study the effects of coffee! So I'm online now researching its effects and I already know people who stop drinking report less stiffening and less symptoms in a multitude of areas, which is why the "healthy coffee" Gano Cafe was so wonderful. I can repair my health because this hasn't gone that far. I've always like the smell and it does give me a boost unlike any other, and yet Young Living's peppermint, En-R-Gee and Clarity come real close in immediate mental effect. Mom on the other hand must have her coffee and to her Gano Cafe tasted like Postum. Not good for the transformation team.
Back to starting with myself: I’ll take the time inshallah to make the hard-and-fast connection between her 1-2 cups daily in the AM and this slowness that has gripped her groin area and inhibits her walking easily. Forgiving me for any of coffee’s deleterious effects on my system has led me to clarity, energy and a peppering of my mind, opening the space for resolution of these holistic health issues and a redoubling of giving to Mom and others. I feel better already! And yes, I just had a cup.
Health or ill health are everywhere, which do I choose?
Monday, October 20, 2008
Detroit the beautiful, the forgiving
