Beautiful Michigan!!! ;-)

I just had to write this post.

For a few weeks now, I've been reading people's Facebook statuses and having conversations with several friends and customers at Timbuktu Cafe regarding living in Michigan. So many people are totally disgusted with living in the state of Michigan.

A common mantra is, "There's nothing to do here. Michigan is sooo boring." Well, that's really not a true statement. I think that the better statement is something like, "I'm so boring or uncreative, that I can't find anything to do in Michigan."

Let me share some wisdom with you. I've lived in 4 countries and 4 U.S. states and travelled to 26 countries and over 40 U.S. states. I've never lived in or been to a place as rich, fascinating and warm as Michigan is. BUT ... you can't appreciate it unless you are (1) open-minded, (2) creative and (3) humble.

I wasn't always able to appreciate the beauty and wealth of experiences that Michigan had to offer either until I lived in and travelled to other places.

Yesterday morning, LaDonna and I were invited up to Torch Lake to visit a friend's farm that he bought 10 years ago that he has been building into a sustainable living environment. We jumped in our car and rushed up there as fast as we could to get the experience.

I thank God for LaDonna because she has the same spirit that I do which embodies: (1) open-mindedness, (2) creativity and (3) humility.

We arrived at his 80 acre property with the most incredible views of Torch Lake. For years, when people talked about Michigan's lakes and other bodies of water in Michigan, I would start to brag about how beautiful the water was in the caribbean (e.g. St. Thomas, Puerto Rico, Cuba, etc.). But, yesterday, I was humbled by how beautiful the water color was up at Torch Lake.

We expanded our context yesterday and we learned so many new things.

My friend has all kinds of natural springs and burpers, weepers, etc. on his property. LaDonna and I got to stick our hands down in the water and feel the water pressure of a natural spring source pushing up from the ground. It was amazing.

Later, our friend took us to a friend of his' house that has a greenhouse and farm on the property. His friend is a holistic healer and many other things that are just incredible. He showed us one of the most incredible greenhouses that we've ever seen. He also grows his crops using vibrations based on rods and lays. A lot of it was way over my head, but it was just incredible listening him speak about it and after a couple of trips, I think I would understand it more.

He also took us in his home and taught us some amazing things about holistic healing and probiotics. All of which was new to me.

Riding around up at Torch Lake we saw chickens, turkeys, deer (that would just stop and stare at you standing still), horses, cows, and all kinds of fish. It's an amazing place and I highly recommend it.

For lunch, my friend's girlfriend made us homemade Arnold Palmers and scrambled eggs with fresh red peppers, fresh onions and fresh mushrooms. It was the most delicious egg dish I've ever eaten.

The entire experience was totally exhilirating and I'm on a new natural high from it.

If you want more out of Michigan, BE more. Michigan may be "boring" to you because of who "you are". In order to change that feeling, you might want to change yourself.

I love Michigan. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else!

It's the Little Things

LaDonna and I are out on our 2nd road trip of 2009. The first one was to visit my godson, Savion, and his mother (one of my best friends), Sierra in Miami, and my little Spelman sister, Erin, and her daughter, Brianna.

This trip LaDonna had to display a medial research poster at a Pediatriacs Conference in Baltimore, MD, so we decided to leave the conference early and go to visit her goddaughter, Mikayla, and her mother (LaDonna's bestfriend), Nadine in Portsmouth, VA. We all left from there yesterday and are now in Jacksonville, NC near the naval base where Nadine works.

I've totally fallen in love with Mikayla - she's such a bright, shining star! And ... I just genuinely love children.

Anyways, this morning, Nadine went to work and Mikayla spent the day with us. I took her bike riding in the parking lot of their condo first, and then we went on a quick roadtrip. We were looking for a park, but found a really nice and quaint, zoo - Lynnwood Park Zoo. When we got there, it didn't look like much, but when the guy at the ticket booth started to explain everything that was in the park, he had such a passion that he excited our curiousity.

The rest of trip around the park was interesting and fun. Mikayla is 3 years old and she'll be 4 at the end of July. She really enjoyed all of the animals and was so engaged in the entire experience.

We got half way around the park and met the zookeeper and he brought out some animals for her to hold, touch, pet and feed. It was a great learning experience for her and opportunity for us to teach her.

We went around feeding animals and talking about them. Mikayla left the zoo more comfortable and familiar with the animals which was exciting for us and her.

On our way back home, we saw a sign that said, "Southern Strawberries". We decided to just turn around and go and check out the strawberry farm. So, we did. We made a U-turn and headed down the street where it said to go.

We got to the farm which wasn't very obviously labeled. Inside, we could see the strawberry fields and we could also see that they raised bees and made honey. So, we took Mikayla in fields and taught her how to pick strawberries. We picked a whole basket full and then went back to the main tent and purchased them.

I gave Mikayla $2.00 to pay the farmer and he gave me the change. While paying for the strawberries, I saw a signed photo of Dakota Fanning sitting on the counter with a few news article clippings that had Queen Latifah, Dakota Fanning and others in them.

Apparently, Queen Latifah and the rest of the crew came to this strawberry field to train on how to raise bees and make honey for the movie: Secret Lives of Bees. Can you believe that?!

It's just these little moments like this in a child's life when you decide to expose them to new things that make all of the difference.

Tortoise and the Hare

While working at the store during the days, I have been rereading some of the books that I have read in the past. The book that I am currently reading is "Retire Young, Retire Rich" by Robert T. Kiyosaki.

He retells a fairytale that his rich dad used to repeatedly tell him about the tortoise and the hare. If you don't know this fairytale, the tortoise and the hare decided to run a foot race. Of course the hare started out with a jump start and was off and running. The tortoise started out slow and deliberate. (Here's the link: http://www.storyarts.org/library/aesops/stories/tortoise.html).

As the hare raced along the trail, the tortoise paced himself and just continued deliberately down it. Eventually, the hare winded himself and decided to stop and rest. Soon after he fell asleep, the tortoise came and passed him by. Finally, the tortoise finished the race before the hare and the hare couldn't believe it.

He said that Rich Dad said that many of his friends had passed him by very quickly and laughed at him at his deliberate pace. Later in life, he surpassed all of their accomplishments and accolades. He said that he was proud to be a tortoise.

I read this last week and really didn't think much of this story because as a child, I used to sit and thank of ways that I could have been the hare and still won! But, there's a deep lesson to be learned from the fairytale.

LaDonna and I left out of town and are now in Portsmouth, VA visiting her best friend, Nadine. We went to church with them at the Grove Baptist Church and they had an amazing service.

When the preacher began his sermon, he had us read scripture, 2 Samuel 23: 8-10. His message was "Stand your ground". The scripture lesson is about King David and his three soldiers and the final chapter is about one soldier that was fighting the Philippians. The Israelites gave up and ran away from the battle, but this one soldier stayed and fought and fought.

When the fight was over, his hand had cramped around his sword to the extent that he couldn't let it go. In other words, even after the fight was done, he wasn't able to hold onto anything else the way he did the tool that saved his life.

His points were:

1. Stand believing in God. Don't give up because the race is not given to
the swift or strong, but he who endures until the end.

2. Stand believing in your purpose and divine ability. If God is for you,
who can be against you. (Ephesians 6: 16-17)

3. Stand committed to reaching your goal.

Now, I couldn't ignore this message repeated to me from a totally unique source.

People used to ask me, "Why did you come back to Michigan? Why did you come back to Pontiac? Why did you start Timbuktu Cafe, now, in the middle of a recession?" The best I can tell them is that God directed me to return. He told me to continue my purpose in this life, "To teach and to spread love". What better place to do that then back in my hometown?

Also, about the tortoise and the hare. A close friend of mine asked me back in 2001 when I returned from California and was living at my mother's house and waiting for my condo to be constructed, "Sean, don't you feel sometimes like, 'I should have my BMW by now?'"

That question kinda shocked me coming from that person. I realized, "you don't know me anymore", but I didn't say. I went away and came back a different person. I went out into the world as a "hare" and they think of things like, "Getting rich quick ... getting BMW's ... etc". But, I returned from going to Morehouse College, living in Japan for 2 years, going to law school, and living in London ... a tortoise.

Also, in the year 2000, I took 18 trips! You think I couldn't have bought a BMW?!

But, what I was doing by travelling, learning foreign languages, learning to dance salsa, going away to college, living abroad, travelling to Africa and many other places was to "expand my context" and "fill it with content". Most people do not take the time to do that. I spent years experimenting, exploring, learning, and expanding until I was able to return home again - renewed.

T.S. Elliot said, "We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time."

Now, I have a strong sense of purpose of divine ability. So, I know that I'm doing what I am supposed to be doing. Moreover, just keep an eye on me if you want to see what a tortoise can accomplish if he maintains his course at his own pace - I will endure until the end.

S-U-C-C-E-S-S

I've got an interesting story about success.

At the age of 8 years old, everyone around me started telling me, "You're so smart, you can be a doctor or a lawyer." Well, I didn't know much else because in Bloomfield Hills most of the wealthiest people were doctors and laywers. Matter of fact, in the Black community that was true. So, I made a choice, "I want to be a lawyer".

Now, if you've read my earlier posts, you know that I started programming computers when I was 6 years old. People find that hard to believe but ask around. People that knew me when I was a child will tell you that I was always tinkering around with my computer and creating.

Programming was always a hobby for me and quite frankly it's where my epiphanies started. I should revisit VISION and the importance of technology here because its important.

I grew up watching a LOT of tv. Surprised? I used to brag that 70% of what I know, I learned from TV. Now, the tv shows that I used to watch were shows like: The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Good Times, The Jeffersons, etc.

But, some of my favorites were The Love Boat, Fantasy Island and Magnum P.I. I used to lay in bed and imagine myself on the Love Boat or Fantasy Island. I used to be able to clearly visualize myself in these situations. I would visualize myself riding around Waikiki in a Ferrari 308GTS and solving crimes!

I say this to say that what watching TV did for me was help me to change my context (or my reality). I was able to imagine different realities that were incredibly different from my own. I was also able to imagine what I would look like, feel like, act like in that reality. I think that was a powerful force of tv in the 80's.

Now, I believe that the internet has the same transforming power. It has the power to give an inner city poor school child a Harvard education or transport them to other countries and realities for free! That's impressive.

I always loved to program computers because I imagined a future where computers were part of everything. It didn't hurt that I watched shows like Star Trek, Lost in Space, Buck Rogers and Battlestar Gallactica!

Anyways, from the age of 8 (when I decided to be a lawyer) until 1999, I did everything that someone who wanted to be a lawyer was supposed to do - in school. I took every law-related or political science class. I was very passionate about being a lawyer - VERY.

In high school, we used to be riding around in the back of our friend's van drinking wine coolers and they would be like, "Sean, what's the 4th Amendment? What's the 8th Amendment?!" And, when I answered them, one of them was like, "Dang, Sean, you the 'Judge'!" Then, several people started calling me "Judge" and I even went as far as to wear a scales of justice on my gold rope chain.

Anyways, once I returned from Japan and went to law school (feeling on top of the world with a renewed spirit of innovation and imagination), I hated it. I hated every minute of law school. It was the most conservative, constrictive, unimpressive and socially demeaning experience of my life. But, it was actually better than the experience I had actually working in large corporate law firms in the summers.

So, by the end of my senior year, I decided that I didn't want to be a lawyer anymore. It was a VERY difficult decision for me because everything I ever said I would do, I did. I was a man of GREAT integrity. So, deciding to change my mind felt like I was betraying everyone in the world - except for myself.

So, I thought long and hard about it. I decided to leave law behind, move to London, England and go back into a career of computer programming.

The thing that scared me the most was what my mother would say. I was 26 years old, but I was worried about disappointing my mother and it was hard.

So, I called a family meeting and sat everyone down in my mother's family room: my mother, stepfather, grandmother, grandfather, brothers, etc. I told them that I was not planning on taking the bar or being an attorney. I also told them that I was leaving the country in a week to get married in Africa to a British woman and moving to London, England.

Suffice it to say, they were not happy for me. After I finished speaking, my mother just said, "ummh" and walked out of the room. My stepfather and grandfather were the only ones that came up to me and told me that they were proud of me no matter what I did.

I remember what I felt when I sold all of my possessions and was sitting on the floor of my apartment in Southfield worried about what was next. I hadn't heard anything from my mother and was leaving the next day. I sat there in silence on the floor - because I had sold everything I had to pay for the move - and I came to a realization.

"In order to be successful, I have to create my own definition of success ... and achieve that."

That was the most freeing epiphany of my life. God was telling me, "you're ok. You're going to be even better." So, I got up off of the floor and Dion drove me to the airport and dropped me off and I left the United States!

In retrospect, I'm so glad that I had the strength and determination to pursue my own goals and objective. I had the opportunity to rewrite my life's plan and I did. It wasn't until I moved back to the U.S. and got my condo and my mother came to visit that she understood why I made the decision that I made. She stood in awe of all of the artwork that I had collected from all of my travels around the world and how nice and organized everything was.

I don't blame my mother for being confused, upset or even mad at me throughout the years for not becoming what she wanted me to be because I realize that that was a byproduct of her reality. Most arguments between two people stem from different realities.

My mother now has an extreme case of Alzheimer's and doesn't recognize me any more. Sometimes I think, what would my life be like if I hadn't followed my own plan and followed hers and she wasn't even there to recognize my accomplishments.

Live the life you want to lead today ... tomorrow is promised to no man!