He who experiences the unity of life sees his own Self in all beings, and all beings in his own Self, and looks on everything with an impartial eye. —Buddha

Yesterday we had the privilege of lifetime, to be conscious of a pivotal point in the history of the world. Yes, it was that big!

On the surface we witnessed a man of African and American descendants assume the most powerful political position in the world. We witnessed the spirit of a nation rise over the circumstances of it fears. Yes, yesterday was that big. Congratulations world we are awake! At least, awaken to the reality that form and function are separate; that is, it’s unimaginative to think that because of the package, the content is no good. We lifted these anchors of prejudice and hope reigns.

So now here we are, the party is over, the clean up crew has served us well. It is time build; to answer a call placed by the man we have manifested to represent us to each other. You see, Barack didn’t work his magic. There was no charismatic voo doo (or obeah if you are Jamaican). In this day, at this time in our evolution, our collective consciousness created the way for Barack to emerge as the spokesperson for love, unity, and service with the latter being the manifestation of the former.

The call that Barack bellowed was to go and serve each other; that we are our brothers and sisters keepers—a knowing that struck me in the most profound way upon completion of my book Reminder to Self. I realized that all we have ever done, all we will ever do is serve each other. The teacher serves the student and the student serves the teacher; the parent serves the child and the child serves the parent; the President serves the people and the people, the President. Even disservice is service. We become resilient and develop survival mechanisms in the face of disservice. Eventually we leverage disservice for service (the disservice of slavery has now produced a President, arguably the leader of the free world.)

If what we have done has always been service, then a call to service is a call to consciousness. A call to mindfulness where we do what we have done with a new understanding. An understanding that the outcome of how we serve will affect our brothers and sisters. An understanding that we manifest joy or pain. That is, upon the many faces of the people we serve, we place a smiles or frowns; tears of joy or tears of pain. And we know that joy is better.

The call to service doesn’t require radical shifts necessarily, it simply requires responsibility. It requires that we release goodness of thoughts and deeds. And it requires that we begin right where we are. The journey of a thousand miles begin with one step but let me offer three. The first step is to be where you are. Magnify yourself if where you are is where you want to be. The second step is to know where you are. Get in to where you are or get out of it. Finally, the third step in your thousand mile journey is to begin where you are, it’s the only place from whence to start. If we consciously serve with our gift, talent and abilities, then we have answered the call of our new President.

None of you truly believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.

Muhammad (c. AD 571—632) in a hadith

I was getting up out of bed this morning uncertain of how to fulfill a commitment to write a blog per week. I write out of pure inspiration-that’s why it took almost three years to write my first book. I learned some other things about inspiration; it’s a good way to procrastinate for example. But I was helped by my wife this morning. She told me of her mother’s friend who had a near death experience. Apparently he was unconscious for a long time and when he regained consciousness he gave an account of meeting Jesus who asked him asked him, “Did you love others and did you love yourself?”

That’s what it comes down to, are you loving others as much as you love yourself? Better still do you love yourself as much as you think you love others? By the way, you can’t really love others more than you love yourself-it sounds noble but it’s not possible.

I don’t know much about near death experiences other than what I’ve read but  I do know  that people’s experiences and accounts are real and the wisdom they bring back are life lessons for us to live by. In the first chapter of any book there is a dialogue on self-love. Self-love is love dissected into three parts; self, others, and God. If you love yourself and love others, loving God is taken care of. (Here is where super religious people either tune me out or get, well, righteous). But I know what I know until I know different.

As we start a new year we have ideas about what we’d like to accomplish or at least begin over the next 365 days. If those goals don’t include loving the self and loving others, their achievement will be empty. I have come to discover that the formula for success is pretty simple; master your craft and serve people with it in love. And, here is where I went wrong the first go-around, serve your family, friends, and community with the same mastery and level of commitment that you serve others for money.

We must be mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually fit to serve at our peak. We are lights in the darkness of mere being; we must shine to illuminate our path and the paths of others. The cumulative effect of the achievement of well-balanced goals is joy. Joy doesn’t come from pain. Our goals must be as beneficial to those we serve at a minimum, as they are to the self. What good will you do for self this year? What good will you do for others? How will you know the difference? Look at your goals will they add the betterment of the human experience or will they worsen it? Are you mindful about this?

As for me, last year I was liberated from what I had to do so this year is about what I want to do, and what I want to do is live from my truest self through writing, speaking, and coaching and in doing so, help you live from your truest selves. May God grant you opportunities, guidance, and wisdom to pursue your greatness always in the service of others.

So that you can be consistent and whole in all your experiences

Many of us think of integrity as honesty. While honesty is a part of the definition, it is only a small part. Integrity is the transference of our character, values, beliefs, and attitudes to all of our experiences.

What do you know about yourself? Do you change depending on your surroundings, or are you consistent with your sense of self regardless of the circumstances? When your self is integrated, you are the same as father as you are an employer; you are the same as friend as you are a doctor; you are the same as homemaker as you are a janitor. You are never defined by what you do; what you do is defined by you.

When you practice self-love, integrity is a character that is developed naturally. The essence of self-love is choosing to be true to self always. If you are true to self always, then you are true to others always, and that’s integrity.