A century ago, my hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma, was engulfed in a riot, also called a massacre, that left an entire swath of the city known as the “Black Wall Street” burned, its residents either killed or displaced.
One hundred years later, I want to look at our history and then forge ahead to our future. I believe that the future leads right to success. We’ve talked about the problem for a century now. I believe it’s time the soul of a nation is healed.
When people look at the past, we often do things out of tradition, like beautiful Memorial Day celebrations when we remember those who gave their lives in military service. We also do things out of history, recalling events both good and terrible, like that two-day rampage in our city. Sometimes we do things reflexively, reliving something that is long past but can also raise emotions of fresh umbrage at the injustice. It’s those negative reflexive feelings that point to an unhealthy soul.
We need to adopt a healthy perspective about life that will keep us from drifting on the waves of emotion. To be healthy in our souls, we need to think differently and react effectively.
Our souls are like a utility. They’re like electricity. You can’t see it, but the soul makes things happen. We act the way the soul has programmed us to act. Everything about your life—past, present, and future,—passes through your soul. It's because of a sick soul that many people are stuck. They have a heart, they have a passion, they have a love, and yet they are in trouble because their soul is in trouble.
When it comes to healing a nation’s soul, the only way forward is to heal a person. By healing an individual soul, one person at a time, we can be healed as a nation. To do this, we must go through a process of elimination.
First, we need to eliminate race from being our focus. When you focus on race, it keeps you out of the race. According to Martin Luther King Jr, and the Bible, humans are all one race, one blood, and made in the image of God. This is what I believe, too.
The second thing to eliminate is negative emotions that cause us to quit. Anyone who lives as a victim will never be a victor.
The most binding prohibitive of soul success is table-talk. Stoop talk. No matter what we learn in school, or how much we excel on the job and in our communities, we have invited in these silent authorizers of our emotions and behavior.
The kind of table talk I mean is that which is intended to make us feel inferior. It makes us believe there’s nothing superior about us. It’s, “Don’t act smart, boy.” With girls, it’s a double dose because of our gender. “Girl, don’t answer that. A man don’t want smart.” From this table-talk and stoop-talk, we make vows that become the silent engineers of our souls. They fuel our emotions and frame our thoughts.
I was raised in New Jersey in the 60s at the tail end of the Jim Crow era. We lived through riots and did a lot of stoop talk. My family, no matter what, couldn't keep a job and couldn't get along. We talked and talked but never had a rational argument of, “This is what we’re dealing with, and this is what we need to do.”
“The problem” that never got addressed, is that we were conditioned to fail. No matter how many billions of dollars were thrown at “the problem” in the last hundred years, we have still not dealt with a format of failure that has been programmed inside. And if you don't train the inside, the outside is going to fly.
We can do it. We can succeed. We can have “power to the people” if we know what power is. Success is not racist. Success has no favorites. Success is an equal opportunity rewarder or punisher.
To be successful as a nation, we need to regain our souls. To have a healthy soul as a nation, we need healthy souls as individuals. To be healthy as individuals, we need to stop being victims, eliminate negative emotions, and eliminate saying that things are the way they are only because of race.
After the way I grew up, I should not be a success today. But I am.
So this is my emphasis. You can take it or leave it. We need to turn the corner as a nation. We need to move into a future of success and prosperity for all our citizens. When we heal our souls, the nation’s soul can then be healed.
Dr. Paula Price is one of the most dynamic multi-faceted thought leaders of this generation. As a speaker, author, talk show host, inventor, and minister she challenges her audiences to "Think Differently and Live Powerfully," a phrase that epitomizes the significant impact she makes in the lives of those she touches. Dr. Price focuses her primary efforts on helping people to prosper and be in health even as their souls prosper. As a Soulologist, many are drawn to her products and services to learn the secrets of cultivating a "Soul of Success," Dr. Price's own special brand for soul healing and human development. This platform also allows her to provide a unique approach to training executive leaders through her Omni Executive Services company that specializes in professional leadership coaching.
With over 30 years’ experience, Dr. Price is one of the most sought-after leaders, advisors, and educators on her subjects. In addition, Dr. Price currently manages her own consulting firm and assessment company, is the author of over 50 books and manuals, including The Prophet's Dictionary, serves as the President of Price University, the host of her own international TV program, “Taking IT on with Paula Price” and oversees The Congregation of the Mighty in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Visit her site at www.drpaulaaprice.com.
Follow her at @drpaulaprice.
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