Let’s All Get in Some Good Trouble- Whatever You Believe, Please VOTE!

Happy Soul Food Friday!

This week:

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Together, You Can Redeem the Soul of Our Nation:

Though I am gone, I urge you to answer the highest calling of your heart and stand up for what you truly believe
John Lewis wrote this essay shortly before his death, to be published upon the day of his funeral…

“Ordinary people with extraordinary vision can redeem the soul of America by getting in what I call good trouble, necessary trouble.

Voting and participating in the democratic process are key. The vote is the most powerful nonviolent change agent you have in a democratic society. You must use it because it is not guaranteed. You can lose it.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/30/opinion/john-lewis-civil-rights-america.html

 

President Obama Calls for Voter Protections in Fiery John Lewis Eulogy:
Former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton gave speeches on Thursday at the funeral for Rep. John Lewis, revered civil rights leader and Democratic congressman from Georgia who died earlier this month…
https://news.yahoo.com/obama-calls-for-voter-protections-in-fiery-john-lewis-eulogy-191131999.html

 

And Now for Something Lighter:

(Back by popular demand)

Time to stop watching the “news” and enjoy Mother Nature.

Beautiful pictures help us balance against the bad things going

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Thanks this week go to all conscious leaders like the great John Lewis, and that same conscious leader that lives within you!
Please help get out the VOTE!
Love,
Neville

 

“The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference.
The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference.
The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference.
And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.”

                                                                       –Elie Wiesel

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NevilleB108
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Your Soul Food for Friday July 24 2020: BE An UpStander!

Happy Soul Food Friday!

This week: Be An Upstander
Upstander– a person who speaks or acts in support of an individual or cause, particularly someone who intervenes on behalf of a person being attacked or bullied.

Your Personal Invitation to: “Looking For LOVE in All the Right Places-Keeping the Good Changes This Pandemic Has Spread In Our Lives”- Zoom Webinar: Thurs July 30th 2020 @ Noon to 1:30pm (Limited Spaces So Registration Is Required)

 “When you are feeling blessed you can’t be stressed”

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Last Call for: “Looking For LOVE in All the Right Places-Keeping the Good Changes This Pandemic Has Spread In Our Lives

Let’s discern and keep the good changes that this pandemic has manifested, so we can regain our joy, re-energize our spirit, and grow our love in support of our loved ones, community and ourselves…

Why: Most of us- even the most stress-hardened- are emotionally and spiritually fatigued from months of adjusting to life in a Covid world.

Now: In lieu of a summer vacation to distant places, or even a spa day or retreat, can we give ourselves a mini-stay-cation, with a little help from our friends, to reframe our current circumstance and recharge our spirit (yes even on another zoom call!)?

In Spite of Everything, Can We Find the Gift in THIS Moment?.
What: Join Moshe and Neville as they create the space for us to get real, get clear, and get on, with how we would like to show up in the Covid world.
Together we will explore the current conditions we find ourselves in as well as our habituated responses to them.
In a brave, safe and even sacred space, we will gently challenge our beliefs, reactions and responses so we move into and stay in the growth zone together.
And yes, LOVE has everything to do with it!

We will:

  • Shift from Life is happening TO ME to Life is happening THROUGH ME.
  • Reclaim your Passion, Purpose, and Priorities as you release yourself from the grip of this Pandemic.
  • Practice Straight “A” Gift Giving to someone in your life:  Acknowledgment / Attention / Appreciation and rise up by lifting others

Click HERE to Register for this Free Webinar!

Or, copy/paste the link into your browser: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/113162796972
Note: Attendance is limited, so please sign up soon if you care to join, so we don’t cause any unintended disappointment.

Love All,
Moshe and Neville

“Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile.  
But sometimes your smile is the source of your joy.”
-Thich Nhat Hanh


 

Remembering Our Non-Violent Freedom Fighters:

John Lewis, Towering Figure of Civil Rights Era, Dies at 80

Images of his beating at Sema shocked the nation and led to swift passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. He was later called the conscience of the Congress.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/17/us/john-lewis-dead.html

 

C.T. Vivian, Martin Luther King’s Field General, Dies at 95

A disciplined advocate of nonviolence, he was on the front lines in the 1960s movement for racial justice.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/17/us/ct-vivian-dead.html

 

Good Cops Changing the Culture and System with a “Duty to Intervene”

Duty To Intervene Policies Aim To Prevent Officers From Using Excessive Force:

https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2020/07/20/duty-to-intervene-police-force

 

(HU)-Man UP!

The more I think about it, the antidote for much of the injustice we see in this world is fostering a cultural shift that eliminates bystanding from the norm, regardless of who is being marginalized, downtrodden, and especially those who are unable to stand up for themselves.
This goes far beyond race relations and includes gender disparity particularly violence against women.
Here is a presentation I created some time ago on how men could be allies with no more bystanding.
It has applications in many aspects of the equity, diversity and inclusion conversation and systemic changes that include personal responsibility for all.
Liberty and Justice for all will require accountability from more of us to make these positive changes stick!

 

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Standing Up for What You Value @ Work:

Mission Fed has always been committed to diversity, equity and inclusion for our members, employees, community partners and the communities we serve. This commitment is core to our Mission: Earning trust, investing in our membership’s success, and caring for our community.

Dedicated to the credit union foundational principle of ‘people helping people’ and ‘serving the underserved’, both financial performance and social purpose are priorities. We are committed to creating financial inclusion and financial autonomy for ALL San Diegans. We pledge to being part of the solution for our member-owners and extended community by providing financial literacy, education, and empowerment. We are committed to listening, learning and modeling actions that create positive change in our local communities.

With respect to our employee base, we are reflective and representative of the diversity within our local San Diego community. We purposefully seek out, support and partner with nonprofit organizations that share Mission Fed’s purpose-driven commitment in the community.

We recognize there is much more to be done, both internally as a not-for-profit organization, and externally within our community, to advance a more just and equitable society. We all have accountability and responsibility to end social and racial injustice. Together, we can co-create a better world that serves everyone equally.

Mission Fed is a firm believer that a kinder world is possible, and we’re here to make it happen.

By uplifting our community and sharing good to one another, we are spreading the much-needed positive message via our new television spots.

Spot #1: Lift Up San Diego

Over the past few months, we’ve learned a lot together, including the power of community. Let us continue to lift up each other up to lift up our San Diego community.

View spot here: https://youtu.be/OOe044P1NMI

Spot #2: Kindness Costs Nothing

Kindness costs nothing but means everything. Mission Fed is here for our members and the San Diego community. Let’s continue to work together to help our community.

View spot here: https://youtu.be/vNe_ZMNl8ns

I remain proud to work in an industry that focuses on people over profits and for an organization where “people helping people” is more than just a nice phrase, it is the mindset for everything we do.

 

Thanks this week go to Steve S, Moshe E, the Mission Fed Team and Upstanders Like You Everywhere!
Please pay it forward.
Love,
Neville

“The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference.

The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference.

The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference.

And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.”

–Elie Wiesel

 

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NevilleB108
Follow me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nbillimoria

 

Your Soul Food for Friday July 17, 2020: In Spite of Everything, Can We Find the Gift in THIS Moment?

Happy Soul Food Friday!

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This week:

  • 3 Reasons I Wear My Mask
  • 10 Signs of a Highly Evolving Person
  • Your Personal Invitation to “Looking For LOVE in All the Right Places-Keeping the Good Changes This Pandemic Has Spread In Our Lives”- Zoom Webinar Thurs July 30th 2020 @ Noon PST: How to Discern and Keep the Good Changes that this Pandemic has Spread in our Lives, so We can Regain our Joy, Re-energize our Spirit, and Grow the Love.
  • Spotlight On the Community: What We Are Doing As An Organization to Serve Our San Diego Brethren

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10 Signs of a Highly Evolved Person:
Can You Relate to Any of Them?
Being an evolved person in our society doesn’t mean you just live according to social expectations.
If you are committed to becoming an evolved person, here are some things that suggest you’re making substantial progress in this life-long process.
https://www.learning-mind.com/highly-evolved-person/

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Your Personal Invitation to “Looking For LOVE in All the Right Places-Keeping the Good Changes This Pandemic Has Spread In Our Lives”
Zoom Webinar: Thurs July 30th 2020 @ Noon PST with Moshe and Moi:
How to discern and keep the good changes that this pandemic has spread in our lives, so we can regain our joy, re-energize our spirit, and grow the love.

Most of us, even the most stress-hardened are emotionally and spiritually fatigued from months of adjusting to life in a Covid world.

In lieu of a summer vacation to distant places, or even a spa day or retreat, can we give ourselves a mini-stay-cation, with a little help from our friends, to reframe our current circumstance and recharge our spirit (yes even on another zoom call!)?

Of course we can!
Let’s find the gift in this moment.

Join Moshe and Neville as they create the space for us to get real, get clear, and get on, with how we would like to show up in the Covid world.

Together we will explore the current conditions we find ourselves in and our habituated responses to them.
In a brave, safe and even sacred space we will gently challenge our beliefs, reactions and responses so we can grow together.
And yes, LOVE has everything to do with it!
We will:

  • Shift from Life is happening TO ME to Life is happening THROUGH ME.
  • Reclaim your Passion, Purpose, and Priorities as you release from the grip of this Pandemic.
  • Practice Straight “A” Gift Giving to someone in your life:  Acknowledgment / Attention / Appreciation and rise up by lifting others                                                   

To Register: Click HERE
Or copy and paste this link to your browser: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/113162796972

 

Your Mission Is Our Mission:

Here is an interview with “yours truly” about how we as an organization are supporting our hyperlocal San Diego community, including generating over $400,000 (the equivalent of 2 million meals) by and for our fellow San Diegans with the San Diego Food Bank

https://cloudcast.us/drew-schlosbergs-spotlight-on-the-community/mission-federal-ramps-up-community-outreach-during-covid-19/

Thanks this week go to Dan L, Peter D, Drew S and every one of you helping others in these challenging times…

Please stay safe, well and resilient!
Love,
Neville

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Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NevilleB108
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“Each morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.” ~Buddha

 

 

We Can ALL Use Some Help Over the Finish Line from Time to Time, Oxygen for Your Soul, & Red, White And The “Blues”

Welcome Back to This Week’s Edition of Soul Food Friday!

This week:
Let’s inspire (breathe life into), encourage (put courage into) & enthuse (fill with the divine) one another every day!

“You rise by lifting others.” –Robert Green Ingersoll

 

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We Can ALL Use Some Help Over the Finish Line from Time to Time:

Now these are real champions of the human spirit and I wept with the profundity of their ability to keep their eye on the prize!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OOjME8SoU0

“When you are feeling blessed you can’t be stressed”

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Can We help?
Save the Date- Your Personal Invitation to “Looking For LOVE in All the Right Places-Keeping the Good Changes This Pandemic Has Spread In Our Lives”- Zoom Webinar: Thurs July 30th 2020 @ Noon Looking For Love in All the Right Places
How to discern and keep the good changes that this pandemic has spread in our lives, so we can regain our joy, re-energize our spirit, and grow the love.

Most of us, even the most stress-hardened are emotionally and spiritually fatigued from months of adjusting to life in a Covid world.

In lieu of a summer vacation to distant places, or even a spa day or retreat, can we give ourselves a mini-stay-cation, with a little help from our friends, to reframe our current circumstance and recharge our spirit (yes even on another zoom call!)?

Of course we can!
Find the gift in this moment.

Join Moshe and Neville as they create the space for us to get real, get clear, and get on, with how we would like to show up in the Covid world.

Together we will explore the current conditions we find ourselves in and our habituated responses to them.
In a brave, safe and even sacred space we will gently challenge our beliefs, reactions and responses so we can grow together.
And yes, LOVE has everything to do with it!
We will:

  • Shift from Life is happening TO ME to Life is happening THROUGH ME.
  • Reclaim your Passion, Purpose, and Priorities as you release from the grip of this Pandemic.
  • Practice Straight “A” Gift Giving to someone in your life:  Acknowledgment / Attention / Appreciation and rise up by lifting others

 

Registration details next week…                                                                                                                                                            “Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile.

 But sometimes your smile is the source of your joy.”

– Thich Nhat Hanh

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OXYGEN FOR YOUR SOUL:

Truett Cathy asked, “How do you know if a man or woman needs encouragement?”
He answered, “If they are breathing.”

With so many suffocating in pessimism today we need encouragement, optimism and faith to provide us with oxygen for our souls.

The word encourage means “To put courage into.”

We all need to encourage and put courage into ourselves and others.

Today let’s:

Attack This Day with Enthusiasm – The word enthusiasm comes from the root word “entheos” which means filled with the divine. Let’s tap into a greater power and strength to keep going. Faith in God doesn’t make life easier. It makes you stronger.

Feed the Positive and Weed the Negative – Your mind is like a garden. You need to weed the negative and feed the positive each day to create a fertile environment that produces amazing fruit. The more you feed yourself with the positive the more you can feed others. If you don’t have it, you can’t share it. Weed, Feed, Share!

Be Thankful – You can’t be stressed and thankful at the same time. When you are feeling blessed you can’t be stressed. Think about what you are thankful for right now. Write it down. Think about it throughout the day.

Talk to Yourself instead of Listen to Yourself – Don’t listen to the fear and negative thoughts that fill your mind with Doubt and Discouragement (two of the 5 D’s). They are lies that try to hold you back and keep you from living your destiny and purpose. Instead speak truth to the lies. The truth is you are here for a reason. You are here to do great things and you have greatness inside of you. The truth is you will prevail through this time.

Live and Look Forward – Your vision is greater thank your circumstances and your purpose is greater than your challenges. Stop looking backwards. Your life isn’t there anymore. You can’t change the past, but you can find focus, optimism and peace in the present to create your future. Stop looking at the negativity on the screen and look up to the heavens. Then look out into your future and think about what you truly want to create. If you can see it you can create it. If you have a vision you also have the power to make it happen.

Someone told Zig Ziglar that motivation doesn’t last to which he replied, “Neither does bathing. It’s why you have to do it each day.”

Encouragement works the same way. We are facing a difficult time. There’s a lot of pain and suffering. The struggle is real but so is your power to overcome.

Remember to encourage and put courage into yourself and others each day. Don’t worry about the future. Just encourage yourself daily and give your soul the oxygen it needs to be fully alive and thrive.

Stay Positive!

 

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Red, White And The Blues (1A NPR):

The blues grew out of the Black experience in the American South. It generated jazz, R&B, rock and roll, rap – virtually every piece of modern music.

We’re spotlighting blues recordings selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry. These recordings have been chosen for their historic, aesthetic or cultural importance to American society.

On this holiday weekend, we celebrate America’s birthday with music from John Lee Hooker, Howlin’ Wolf, Memphis Minnie, Jimi Hendrix and others.

And we hear from legends like BB King, Angela Davis, Dan Aykroyd, Maria Muldaur, Vernon Reid and many more.

https://the1a.org/segments/red-white-and-the-blues/

 

Thanks this week go to Isabelle A, Moshe E,  Larry H, and our NPR stations for getting me over the finish line this week!

Pay it forward with Purpose.
Love,
Neville

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NevilleB108
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“If you treat an individual as s/he is, s/he will remain how s/he is. But if you treat one as if s/he were what s/he ought to be and could be, s/he will become what s/he ought to be and could be.” Goethe

 

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Enjoy your Independence AND perhaps take a moment to reflect on our Interdependence

Happy Independence Day Weekend!

“Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow.

The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.” ~ Abraham Lincoln

Here we are in 2020, with the World struggling, America hurting, and many Souls suffering.

As we celebrate the character of our nation, expressed in our independence and liberties- inalienable rights we hold sacrosanct- we might want to also attend to our immutable responsibilities to one another.

Liberty and Justice
Liberty AND Justice for all
INDIVISIBLE- with liberty and justice for ALL

This one vid emotionally captures the best reflections of the American Spirit.

 

Enjoy your independence AND perhaps take a moment to reflect on our interdependence.
We need each other!

Justice is what Love looks like in Public

Cooperation is the thorough conviction that nobody can get there unless everybody gets there–Virginia Burden

Thanks to Larry H for the link, pay it forward and Love ALL!
Neville

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“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”— Benjamin Franklin

 

 

 

 

Isn’t she awesome?  And she’s only 7.