A MESSAGE FROM FOUNDER/EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CYNTHIA BRIAN
Happy New Year to you. How are you doing?
With a raging pandemic and a divisive hostile nation, it’s not the beginning of a new year that we anticipated. Instead of writing a list of business goals that I want to achieve in the next twelve months, I decided to create these resolutions:
Be Kind
Be Inclusive
Be Grateful
Be Present
Be Healthy
Be of Service
Be Loving
It is my belief that if each of us embraces these resolutions, our personal and business lives would become prosperous and happy as we create a more just, joyful world.
The face for nonviolent activism in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King was a minister, husband, and father who for fought for justice for all, not based on skin color but based for all humankind. Although we’ve made some progress in his efforts as Americans, more change is needed. In November of 2021, I had the privilege of visiting the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee, the site of Dr. King’s assassination on April 4, 1968. This globally recognized institution for civil rights and social change chronicled the millions of people who have fought for equal rights beginning with the horrific enslavement of Africans in 1619. Slavery in America lasted 250 years and held captive 12.5 million black people over 12 generations. As long as slavery existed, resistance prevailed.
January 15, 1929 was the date of Dr. King’s birth. In 1983 President Ronald Reagan officially created a national holiday to commemorate his life and work. In the USA, we celebrate MLK Day as a federal holiday which this year will be observed on Monday, January 17th. Sadly, we have become the Divided States of America with many states legislating to turn back the clocks to restrict equality for all. Hate, ethnically motivated terrorism, and white supremacy ideologies are on the rise threatening our very existence. Have we learned nothing from history?
Can we live and abide by the preamble to the Declaration of Independence?
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
As we begin this new year, I encourage each individual to take a deep breath. Ask yourself. How can I embrace these resolutions?
Be Kind
Be Inclusive
Be Grateful
Be Present
Be Healthy
Be of Service
Be Loving
At high school ball games, we chanted, “united we stand, divided we fall.” How true this statement is. I am grateful to live in this great nation that has been deemed “the land of the free and the home of the brave.” Are we brave enough to protect freedom and insure equality for all?
I wish for you a very blessed, happy, and healthy 2022. Please care about your fellow travelers in life by getting vaccinated, boosted, and wearing masks. This is not a political statement. This is a way to embody these seven sacred resolutions.
As we march into the future, let’s live by the resonating words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy to a friend.”
Sending you kindness, gratitude, and love.
I am in service to you.
A toast to the New Year and with love, grateful cheer!
Cynthia Brian
PS: Be the Star You Are!® will be participating in an Earth Gratitude Festival April 22-24, 2022. More information to follow.
Founder/Executive Director
Be the Star You Are!®
PO Box 376
Moraga, California 94556
Cynthia@BetheStarYouAre.org
https://www.BetheStarYouAre.org
http://www.BTSYA.org
DONATE: https://www.paypal.com/fundraiser/charity/1504
by Karen Kitchel
“Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.” Mother Teresa
Wild flowers often appear in unlikely places after someone has scattered some seeds. They may never even know they sprouted. Kindness can also grow and multiply from your one tiny seed.
A stranger hears you say hello. So they smile at the next person they pass. That individual decides to take time to stop and chat with their neighbor about a good book they read. Soon the neighborhood is putting up little free libraries in their community. That’s where a little boy picks up a book about kids living in Africa. He asks his Mom if he can send his allowance to the kids who don’t have books. Amazed at his generosity, the Mom posts about her son’s initiative, and soon there are many kids in Africa learning to read.
And it all started with a simple “hello.”
Karen Kitchel who penned two chapters in the book, Be the Star You Are! Millennials to Boomers Celebrating Gifts of Positive Voices in a Changing Digital World, is the Kindness Coordinator volunteer with BTSYA. She serves meals to the homeless and is a volunteer teacher, writer, job coach, and mentor. www.scatteringkindness.com
