BLOOD. We may not all be blood brothers/sisters but we need to treat each other as if we are. The knowledge you have, share it with the world. You see your brother/sister struggling, give them a helping hand. At the end of the day we all have the same human blood coursing through our veins.
DNA. We all have DNA that is 99% the same from one another. In that DNA we have the ability to be strong, resilient, intelligent, caring, curious, loving, and social. But we also have the ability to be weak, frail, ignorant, abusive, dismissive, and antisocial. It is up to us to choose what we are. To choose to be Strong.
YAH. For some of us it’s god/gods, for others it’s faith. Whatever you believe in it’s important to know that you have to believe you are capable of accomplishing whatever you wish to accomplish. If you do not believe, then you can not achieve. Belief is important and action is just as important. Faith without action is a dream not a goal because you cannot accomplish anything just by thinking about it.
ELEMENT. You have to battle the elements to reach your goals. The elements are anything that is meant to distract you from seeing what you are meant to see or from being who you are meant to be. At the same time you must be in your element, the world you see for yourself, don’t conform to try to fit in, be authentically you.
FEEL. How you feel about something is how you will see the world. You can either have negative or positive thoughts/views. The way you view the world will often shape your actions. Want to change your world? Then change how you feel about it which will then change your behavior. Controlling yourself is the only thing you can control.
LOYALTY. We need to be loyal to ourselves. If we truly love ourselves then we need to treat ourselves that way. If you have certain goals you want to reach and constantly sabotage yourself, I would question your loyalty. Tell me who you loyal to.
PRIDE. Letting your pride get in the way of you becoming better is a common practice. Often we are so hardwired to not ask for help and to figure everything out on our own because our pride won’t let us admit that we need help. Ask for help, it does not mean you are weak, it means that you are strong and wise enough to know that you could use a hand.
HUMBLE. Remaining humble after accomplishing anything is key if you don’t want to be an a-hole. More importantly remaining humble allows you to continue to learn and grow in the future.
LUST. We all have our vices. Usually those vices can get us into “trouble”. Whether it’s cookies, chips, or whatever we like to over consume. Learning to flee from lust can be pivotal to feeling in control of ourselves again.
LOVE. If we truly love something than we need to work relentlessly for it. If we truly love ourselves than we need to show it in our daily actions.
XXX. We all grapple between decisions to make. We know some decisions to be good and some to be bad. However, sometimes it is in our minds to do the bad based on the conditions. Stressful day at work, someone cut you off in traffic, maybe you haven’t eaten in a few hours. These conditions are triggers for making the “bad” choices. Working to keep these triggers at bay will make it easier to make the “good” choices going forward.
FEAR. Allowing our fears to cripple us is one of the biggest obstacles to overcome and also one of the most common. Fears are often warranted, however using courage to face them can be the most rewarding things we do in our lives. Tackle a fear today.
GOD. Remembering that we are all a product of our environment is important to understand. We never accomplish anything on our own. We always need others and have always had others who have helped us get to wherever we are.
DUCKWORTH. Show everyone love and you never know how it can help you in the future. Everything in this world really is a butterfly effect, so any act that isn’t kindness has a chance to change the world for the worse.
Click here to listen to Kendrick Lamar's latest album which inspired this post.