Book Reflection: “When we are unhappy with ourselves, we feel threatened by every female that walks by.” -Sister Dr. Ava Muhammad, Naturally Beautiful
Are you envious? Have you ever been envious? Do you base your self-image on comparisons of yourself to other people? These are questions that we must be honest when answering with ourselves. In order to overcome feelings of inferiority, we have to view ourselves correctly. When Allah created you, me, us he made no errors. It is through our own misperception of self that we feel feelings of envy, inferiority, and even superiority. When we feel that someone owes us something, we can even go to the extent of harming someone else for what we feel belongs to us. Putting the pervious sentence in its proper context, if our spouse decides to step out, our anger and immaturely directed toward the woman. Yes be hurt, but know that Allah has something better for you and don’t mellow in your own pity.
Courting Allah: As a woman, what does our relationship with Allah (God) look like? Our relationship with Allah as individuals is personal, however, our relationship as women with Allah is different, collectively. Focus on your relationship, develop a relationship with Him and understand how He views you as HIS woman/girl. We do not belong to man, we belong to Allah (God). What does it mean, personally, to accept your own and be yourself? If you don’t know what that looks like, think over it. Write it down. We are all on this journey called life. Our journeys look different. Without interference, opinions, or criticism, figure out what that means to you and how it looks for you. Lastly, what is your signature and what are you creating? What will or can stand in place of you to represent you? Dr. Ava Muhammad says in Naturally Beautiful “Our signature is our creativity.” Although the question posed may seem simple but if we are not and have not come into our talents or that ONE thing that makes us different from everyone else, it will be a tough question to answer.
Maintaining Peace: How does it bring you peace when a Brother is speaking on The Teachings of The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad? Does a brother’s view or perception of The Teaching of The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad bring you peace? If not, have you considered why or asked yourself if you’re able to receive a man’s perspective? Considering that our natures make us think totally different, our perceptions should bring us some sort of ease when we are striving to live in accord with these teachings.
C’mon Sis: Are you living in present time? As difficult as it is, we must always be honest with ourselves. Failing to do so, will have us stuck in a mental time warp. Lasting for months if we continue to deny the reality of our lives and lie to ourselves. As black people we tend to put on this facade that we’re ok and everything is fine. When in reality we are suffering. Then, it isn’t until a problem becomes too big that we are forced to really deal with the lie that we have been telling ourselves. Honesty is indispensable.
Self-Care: As scientists of this world, we have the ability to “fix” our impediments. Now, we are not condoning surgery or some microwavable quick fix. However, we do believe getting down to the root of the issue or whatever dissatisfaction you have with yourself and doing what needs to be done to properly fix it. There’s no need to complain about something we can fix. And, if it’s something that we cannot fix, we need to fix our view of that thing that cannot be changed.