Affirmational Storytelling for ‘black’ children as an act of Liberation

"Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery; None but ourselves can free our minds:" Bob Marley Redemption Song quoting The Honorable Marcus Garvey

A letter to the children of Africa, which means you: so called 'black' children, hailing from the cape of South Africa to the Horn of Ethiopia: stretching through the Americas; encompassing the Caribbean, North and South America and through them all to England, Europe and the rest of the world.

Did you know that your people are ancient? That in fact they are the most ancient people on planet earth? Humanity's first Royal family rose from your people so I am going to address all of you as Royal. Not because you rule over others, but because of your capacity to rule your own heart, your own mind and to love yourself. A capacity many of you have forgotten. So much so, that many of you believe the lies about your beautiful'black' self that the children of this video (click here) believe.

Here then is my letter to you...

Dear Young African

Royalty, I am an African storyteller with a story for and  about you… did you know that hidden within you is a Mighty Elephant of a power called Self Knowledge?

Did you know that self knowledge can set you free?

Free of what(?) you may ask…Well, I called self knowledge an elephant right? That means it is incredibly powerful. In the wild, even lions and tigers will not attack a full grown elephant: they no better. In fact although you have seen elephants trapped in zoos or being forced to work for humans in places like India and Thailand, understand this: it is impossible to tame a free adult elephant. So, a question for you: how then, do they tame elephants?

You've guessed it:

they get them when they’re young...

Elephant tamers (or enslavers) capture elephant babies and tie a strong rope or chain, to one of their little feet and the other end to a strong post. The baby elephant struggles to snap the chain, tugging and pulling, because within it is - like in all free beasts (including us) the essence and the urge towards freedom. However it is a baby, it cannot yet snap that which is imprisoning it. It is much too difficult a task for the little being as it has not yet grown into its might. In the end therefore, instead of trying and failing anymore, it gives up and begins to walk in the circle perimeter allowed it by the chain. Walking over and over: endlessly around the circle, but no further.

As it grows the young elephant gains the power to break the chain, so the so called handler replaces it with a stronger chain and as. Biggger postone and the elephant continues its eternal circular pacing of its perimeter. By the time the elephant has grown so huge it could easily snap any chain or uproot any post the chain is tied to, the handler no longer needs to tie the elephant to the post. The mighty 'untameable' animal is so conditioned to pacing in that circle around that post that it continues doing so, even though it is no longer chained…it carries the chains in its deep mind

Do you feel trapped in cycles of anger, depression, fear and self destructiveness? Are you too chained to a post?

Well you are this elephant my child, powerful, potent with unexpressed might and yet tied to something you could easily snap. As an African child, you should be aware that when our ancestors in the Americas and in Africa, shook the physical shackles of chattel enslavement and colonial forced labour off their own wrists, many still kept on the mental and emotional ones. The horrific treatment that many generations of your ancestors received seem to have affected the minds and hearts of all Africans everywhere, perhaps including you too. The effect of this treatment: the deep wounding or trauma coming from it, has a name. It is called Post Traumatic Slavery Syndrome. In fact because this wound comes through your genes (what you inherit from your ancestors that lives in your body), this trauma is known as Generational Trauma. It is the chain on the African elephant's (you) foot. It conditioned the other elephants: your parents, grandparents and great ...great grandparents through fear, loss, grief, pain and rage, to walk in circles around the post.

Added to this Generational Trauma or inherited wounding, are the things that have already happened specifically to you in your short life eg bullying, parental break up, death of loved ones, racism, alcoholism in your family etc. Understanding this, you might understand that you too have been conditioned to walk around this proverbial circle of your own perceived limitations.

This all sounds hopeless and horrific right?

Well actually there is hope. Freedom from the chain is actually your birthright

This chain resticting; constraining, inhibiting the expansiveness of your mind can be broken. After all the reason I talk of 'Perceived Limitations,' is because the limitations are only as real as you believe them to be!

So I want to tell you that you can believe something else! YOU can choose what to believe

Since we are talking in metaphors,

You can choose to imagine that the Mighty Elephant, the untamed power of self knowledge, lives within the sacred forest at the heart of your deep mind. The cleansing waters of Freedom, (otherwise known as Love and Peace) run through this forest and this is what you 'the elephant' drinks. These waters nurture magical seeds of Self Awareness planted in the nourishing soil of Self Belief and the fruits of this are what you 'the elephant' eat. Fruits which grow abundantly as the sun of Self Love, Faith and your Will shine down on them.

You are the elephant and therefore you are imbued with the power to snap the links of the false chain. You are already free and no longer need to circle a conditioned perimeter of sorrow when happiness is within your reach.

It is now time for you to recognise that you are a being possessed of the divine gift of creativity and genius. Your ability to create is not limited to art, music and dance. Rather it is limitless and can change your circumstances, environment and relationships if you but WILL it.

How? Begin with changing your thoughts by changing your negative self perception. Replacing it with affirmative perception like in the examples below...

Have you ever looked in the mirror or at someone else from your ethnic group and seen someone there, who is too black and therefore ugly?

KNOW INSTEAD THAT YOU ARE A BEAUTIFUL EXAMPLE OF EARTH's ORIGINAL BLUEPRINT FOR PEOPLE!

Do you not trust ‘black people to be kind to you, or honest with your money?

KNOW THAT WHILST SOME 'BLACK' PEOPLE MAY BE DISHONEST, INTEGRITY, KEEPING ONE's WORD AND HONESTY ARE THE FOUNDATION VALUES OF MANY AFRICAN SOCIETIES AND ARE PART OF YOUR HERITAGE*

Do you try to act more cultivated around ‘white people, changing the way you talk, the way you eat because of their presence?

KNOW THAT NEARLY EVERYTHING THAT EUROPEANS CALL CIVILISATION ORIGINATED WITH THE ANCIENT GREEKS WHO WERE EDUCATED BY THE PEOPLE OF KEMET KNOWN AS ANCIENT EGYPT. THEY WERE 'BLACK' PEOPLE.

ALSO AFTER THE EUROPEAN DARK AGES (AFRICANS WERE IN THE LIGHT AGES ST THAT TIME)! THE 'RENAISSANCE' OF SCIENCE AND THE ARTS CAME FROM THE MOORS WHO WERE 'BLACK' PEOPLE: THEREFORE YOU DONT NEED TO COPY PEOPLE WHO AT THE END OF THE DAY ARE COPYING YOU

Do you think your African or Caribbean country would be better if it was run by white people, or that ‘black people’ are too greedy to run a country properly?

KNOW THAT YOUR PEOPLE MAINTAINED CIVILISATIONS SUCH AS ANCIENT BENIN (A KINGDOM OF BLACK PEOPLE) THAT WAS DESCRIBED IN 1602 BY A DUTCH NATIVE, DIERICK RUITERS; AN EYE WITNESS WHO IN 1602 SAID THAT: "THE MAIN STREET OF BENIN IS SEVEN OR EIGHT TIMES BROADER THAN WARNE STREET IN AMSTERDAM." WHILST HIS COUNTRYMAN OLFERT DAPPER IN 1668 SAID IT HAS 30 STRAIGHT STREETS ABOUT 120 FEET BROAD WITH INTERSECTING STREETS AT RIGHT ANGLES TO THEM

Do you find yourself fumbling, bumbling and diminished by people with wealth and authority, especially white people? Perhaps you think that the only wealth and authority'black' people have ever had comes from Europe and America?

KNOW THAT AFRICAN STATES WERE THE RICHEST ON EARTH FROM ANCIENT TIMES UNTIL THE 18th CENTURY?* THEY CAN BECOME THAT AGAIN.

Self knowledge is related to self esteem and self value. Both are definitely related to your racial identity and are largely determined by your perception of that.

My children do not let your mind be shackled to worthlessness, entrapment and failure. Do not accept this. It is not your due, not your destiny!  

The truth is that you are Royal and you were born with a tremendous Mighty Elephant power ready to be awakened in your minds

Not only were your ancestors the first human beings, but founded the first civilisations lasting thousands of years; the first religions, the first science, mathematicians and medics were YOUR ANCESTORS. You must learn to KNOW THIS.

Know that genius is therefore your birthright.

Think about this... What do the words genes, genetics, generation, genesis, genealogy and genius have in common? Yes, each of the words starts with the prefix 'GEN' and this is to do with ancestry. A short reflection on how many personal ancestors contribute to your life, will reveal that thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of people make up your lineage. Consider that within all those people over all those GENerations must be a whole spread of GENius! GENius is transmitted GENetically by communication. Some of that is innate and some is epiGENetics (the science which proves that which your thoughts can change your GENes)! Because you can control your thoughts, your GENetic GENius is here and now.

So, I am inviting you on a journey in to yourself. I am inviting you to follow the path of your own story by tuning in to some mighty and also entertaining ways of tapping into the power you were born with.

Our ancestors taught that our mind is part of the divine universal mind, which some called the All Seeing, the All Knowing, the Almighty and which others called God. Today the modern science of quantum physics demonstrates in the laboratory, that the expectation  of the mind of an experimenter can influence the outcome of an experiment! In the past this was called magic! For our ancestors this was just the natural outcome of the principle of the mind. Everything is mind - including this blog which was in my mind long before it was in your hand. Can you recognise that everything around you, from the wheel to the spoon you eat with and the device you communicate with, started off as a thought in someone’s mind first: everything? Once you can understand this you can begin to influence what you have in your environment and in your life by keeping in mind a strong desire for what you want in your life.

The following video story which you can access here by messaging me on my website www.narrativemindfulness.com - (I'll send you the link)- is a mythical story that holds keys to how we can be limitless.

You are a limitless being, descendant of those  invincible souls who trod the earth in the light of the first dawn, those mighty ancestors who make up your DNA and who lie sleeping in your genes. They loved you so much that they left each of ‘you with a Golden Seed’ for you to plant in the beautiful dark fertile soil of your divine melaniated mind.

Question, did you know that your own story, the story of your life is similar to the stories that you sometimes call myths ? Did you also know that this is because the ‘myths’ are the stories of our lives and therefore your life?Understanding that there are ancient principles in ‘Myths’ and then understanding those principles helps us to understand the whole universe. In fact, such comprehension is like having a magic map to self knowledge… and… self knowledge is also an act and condition of love?

To put it simply this means that myths hold real keys to the treasure chest of ancient African Wisdom, humanity’s first, longest lasting and still very relevant wisdom.

Whilst you listen, keep in mind that  ultimately the hero in this story is actually you… The hero is called Imani and although in the video I call him a he: it is a unisex name so if you identify as female Imani is you too.

Golden Seed Explanation

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Iman’s name is a Swahili name from East Africa which means faith. This is important because Imani has this quality in abundance. What is faith then? It is the ability to fill your mind with the belief that what you want to happen is possible, a strong desire for it to happen and a certainty that because of this it has already happened! Faith accepts no other possibility. Faith is both an attitude and a decision. The story reads: “Imani was ‘an eternal optimist.” Optimism: seeing the good in circumstances, people and things was his attitude. In other words He saw the inner reality of divine abundance, rather than the outer presentation of scarcity. That’s why he expressed gratitude “Thank you my father, it is a true blessing." he would say when he received a dried out fibrous root for his days' meal.” Did you know that gratitude was an attitude, not just a word? Being grateful for what you do have is a sure antidote to depression, an immune booster and a vitamin supporting a healthy mindset.

 Booker T Washington was an enslaved African In America who bought his own freedom: after he  saw his freedom in his mind. He unerring faith that he would be free, that this was possible: for him. An unflinching certainty in the divine truth of his freedom meant that it was true now in his heart and his mind.

Imai's journey is meant to show you that as you hold a strong vision of a reality you really want in the heart of your mind, it manifests in this world too. “Imani found the Golden seed. It is a metaphor for Imani knowing how to see what Imani wanted to be! The salvation of Iré. She made a decision to accept only that in her mind.

What about you? What in your life is like the evil ones? Racism? Sexism? Abuse? For all melaniated people we have the experience of enslavement, colonialism and of being cast as the savages and barbarians of humanity to contend with.

Here's a magic word to destroy the spell: It's called an affirmation you can make your own but here's an example "Black is beautiful, my ancestors were the 1st humans and I am the descendant of genius.’ is a great affirmation. Say it, or as I said, make your own one. Then say that.

Say it regularly: set a time for your practice and then repeat your phrase until you believe it. Affirmations are like magical words for your mind. Like Asé, Asé, Asé O in the story, they help take us from one place to another magically or one mindset to another, which is still miraculous.. choose freedom of mind like Imani.

In short Imani found a golden seed (self belief)

He met a magical elder (Tuning into the divine through prayer or meditation etc)

She used a magic word (affirmation).

He I nstantly transported to different places (visualisation)

She did not give into fear (practiced courage)

He went through many trials (Practiced self discipline)

She acted on the advice of the elder and returned home (practiced self knowledge)

He planted the seed in the sacred grove (practiced faith)

You can do this too! Hero!

 Final word:

In African mythology the heroes always come back to serve the community, sometimes  with magical gifts, but never just for themselves. This is love. African traditional cultures are organised in such a way that the only way to explain them is by the Bantu (an ethnic group that covers the whole of the motherland) philosophy of Ubuntu stated as I am  because we are, we are because I am. Speak to your parents and better still your grand parents. Ask them what used to happen in the village back home in the old days when someone wanted to build a house… They will tell you that everyone  in the village helped to build it. The men would do the actual building the women would cook up a feast and everyone would  celebrate their communal achievement at the end with a party to show their gratitude (love) to each other, to their ancestors wisdom for loving them enough to develop such a caring(love) culture one which would also cherish (love) their children. In your ancestors time the only way a villager could starve is if the whole village were starving. In your ancestors time people use to share (love) their food by eating from one bowl. Your ancestors did many magnificent things. They were not all perfect: they were after all humans, however the philosophy and guiding principles of their civilisations were based on Ubuntu which is another way of saying love in action.