00:00Hi, I'm Lisa Nichols, and I want to welcome you to the Essence Wellness House.
00:10You know, when we talk about a super sister soldier, we talk about who she is in moments
00:17like this, who she has become, and more importantly, who she's becoming.
00:22During these times, we want to make sure that we are taking care of ourselves.
00:27We're so apt to take care of everyone else in this global unsettling time, this global
00:33time of transition, this global time of creation of new possibility.
00:38She, you, I, we're always taking care of everyone else.
00:42We make sure that we have the capacity to hold those around us.
00:46Well, I want to pause you for a moment.
00:48Just as we begin to ramp down, I want to make sure you're taking care of you.
00:52I want to make sure that you're committed to serve others, not from a bone dry cup and
00:59not from a half full cup, but from a overflow.
01:02Matter of fact, that you're no longer serving anyone from that cup.
01:06You actually serve everything from, serving them from your saucer.
01:09I want to make sure that as we look at what does super sister soldier look like?
01:16It looks like recognizing when it's time to set healthy boundaries around us, protecting
01:24our boundaries, protecting what's necessary.
01:27It's, it's understanding the Ida B.
01:29Wells and the Rosa Parks and the Shirley Chisholm's and the Maya Angelou's and the Angela Davis and
01:34the Michelle Obama's and all of those amazing women that we've looked up and we've been inspired
01:39by that every single one of them have had to take a moment and say, hold on, who am I becoming?
01:47Not only who have I been, who am I now, but who am I becoming?
01:52And how do I best get to her?
01:54How do I help her show up?
01:56How do I midwife my own future me?
01:59How do I do that?
02:01Whether she's lacing up her boots, whether she's lacing up her Converse or whether she's
02:06polishing her stilettos, a super sister woman, a super sister soldier, a super sister friend,
02:14mother, auntie is who we've always been.
02:17I want to make sure that you understand that as we come together and as we stand in these
02:23times and as we show up, the woman we've always been honoring the woman we're becoming,
02:31there's going to be some times where, where it's almost like you go to the doctor and the
02:35doctor says, I can make it better, but this might hurt before it gets better.
02:39I might have to stick you in the arm.
02:41I might have to have you do something.
02:43We're in times when you may just need to go through something, go through a difficult
02:48conversation, go through some solitude time, go through some prayer time, go through standing
02:52up for who you know and what you know to be right.
02:56But as super sister soldiers, we always emerge from the other side.
03:01So I want to invite you that as we're going through these times, as we're standing in
03:06these times, sitting in these times, praying through these times, make sure you're serving
03:09you first, make sure you're at the front of your own line.
03:14You will always have a line, super sister soldier.
03:17You will always have a line of people, issues, projects, protests, wrongs to right.
03:25You will always have that line.
03:28But what I want to invite you to do, sis, is make sure you stay at the front of your own
03:35line that you commit to in the days, the weeks, the months to come that I will show up and I
03:43will serve and I will serve big and I will fight hard and I will stand tall, but I will
03:48show up, serve and stand for me first because then I can love you from my overflow.
03:55Because when you're loving and serving from a half empty cup, you begin to feel drained,
03:59you begin to feel tired, you begin to feel frustrated.
04:01But when it gets bone dry, you get resentful.
04:05You get downright angry.
04:07You get mad.
04:08You get depleted and you get depressed.
04:11And so as we, as we, as my friend says, as we, uh, cape on and clock in, I want to make
04:22sure that you are taking care of her.
04:24I came to pour into her.
04:27I came to remind you that you woke up enough, bright enough, smart enough, young enough,
04:33wise enough, brilliant enough, beautiful enough, black enough.
04:35You woke up enough and that today there's nothing to prove, nothing to protect, nothing
04:40to hide, defend, nothing that makes you more whole than you already are.
04:47I showed up to make sure you, as you are giving life and giving breath, you breathe first for
04:56yourself.
04:57I showed up.
04:58I showed up to remind you that when you step into the room and you have a tendency or desire
05:03to turn your light down a little bit, just so no one feels uncomfortable about who you
05:08are, that you say, wait a minute, hold on, been there, done that.
05:11Let me keep my light on.
05:12Let me keep my light on.
05:14And I'll invite you to get comfortable with my life.
05:16Just, just a little bit for my super sister soldier.
05:20As we navigate through these times, as we navigate through these times, not just of uncertainty,
05:27please don't get it twisted and think it's just uncertainty.
05:30We're navigating through these times that are transformational.
05:35Transformation does not come served with warm cookies and milk always.
05:40So I just want to stop by super sister soldier to remind you of your non-negotiable faith,
05:52your unwavering spirituality, your I know like I know like I know.
05:58I want to remind you of your get up, not your ability to avoid being knocked down.
06:04We already know that that happens, but I want to remind you of your get up.
06:08You get up like nobody's business, not like a horse, not like a stallion.
06:14You get up like an Arabian knight, super sister soldier.
06:19I want to remind you of your humanity.
06:23I want to remind you of your love.
06:26The way you love, nobody quite loves like you.
06:30The way you have compassion and empathy and grace, unlike anyone else.
06:37Sometimes it just takes a sister to remind you of who you've always known yourself to be.
06:42I'm just stopping by to do a little bit of that.
06:46The way you hold, the way you pull the family, the man, the woman, the children, the world to your bosom
06:56and let them all feed on your strength.
07:02The way you're able to serve the world, I want to invite you to press pause and serve you too.
07:15I want to invite you to remind people how you want to be loved,
07:21to remind yourself that loving me is an open book test.
07:26Let me keep my book open.
07:28Let me keep my book open.
07:32I want to remind you that you are, have always been born with everything you need.
07:42Mocha skin, full lips, round hips and kinky hair, just enough.
07:48You're just enough of everything for such a time as this super sister soldier.
07:58Or should I say divine mother, earth, mother of earth, goddess of creation, sister to all,
08:09keeper to your brother, super sister soldier.
08:17Sometimes it just takes a minute to be reminded of not just who I have always been,
08:24not just of my Maya's and my Angela Davis's and my Shirley Chisholm's and my Ida B. Wells
08:31and my Harriet Tubman's and my Rosa Parks, but my now, my Lisa, my Diane, my Eva, my Esther, my now.
08:41So that I can catch a strong glimpse of my future.
08:46See, your future belongs to you and nobody, but you, no one can shape it quite like you.
08:51No one can tell your story, but you, no one can write your story like you.
08:56And oh, by the way, I don't care what chapter four look and felt like.
09:00I'm invested in your chapter 24.
09:03What you going to write, sis?
09:05How is it going to be?
09:07How will you love or how will you let yourself be loved?
09:13How will you forgive?
09:15Oh, is this not a time for you to see how do I forgive?
09:20How do I navigate the waters of anger and hate and frustration and sadness and forgiveness
09:26and compassion and empathy to healing?
09:29How do I, because, oh, by the way, super sister soldier, you don't get to the back of the line.
09:38You live at the front of the line.
09:42Even when you're physically standing in the back, everyone turns their head so that they
09:48can see what you're doing, who you're being.
09:52See, your essence screams so loudly.
09:54Your essence screams so loudly that you don't even have to open your mouth, sis.
10:02Your being screams.
10:04Your pores screams.
10:06When you sweat, you sweat leadership.
10:08You sweat guidance.
10:10You sweat swag.
10:11You sweat obedience.
10:12You sweat spirituality.
10:14So you can keep quiet and leave.
10:16You can keep quiet and be seen.
10:18And so I invite you, super sister soldier to lead, lead yourself first, lead yourself first
10:31in the space of saying yes to the things you love, not to the things that other people
10:37love for you to love, the things you love.
10:39Say yes first to you.
10:43Say yes first to downtime, quiet time, meditation time, prayer time, dot, dot, dot, being with
10:51me time, just me time.
10:53Say yes first.
10:54Say yes first to creating multiple revenue streams so that you can have all the revenue
11:00you need because good people should do well.
11:03Because when you do well, you'll simply do more good in the world, sis.
11:08Because that's who you are, super sister soldier, whether it's with soldier boots on, whether
11:20it's in your Converse or your Nikes or your stilettos or your red bottoms or your whatever,
11:26your sandals, you are a super sister soldier, whether it's in a boardroom or at the beach.
11:38Whether it's at a conference or in the kitchen, you lead.
11:46And so I just want to pour into you.
11:48I want to remind you.
11:49I want to remind you that you are brilliant and you are bright and you are unapologetically
11:58everything you need.
12:00That you are the pillar.
12:03You are the pole.
12:05You can have the question and you also are the answer.
12:11That no matter what it feels like when you lift up everyone around you and somehow it feels
12:20like they forget that you might need lifting up too.
12:24I want to remind you, super sister soldier, you have a right to be lifted, to be celebrated,
12:34to be honored, to be acknowledged, to be respected.
12:40You have a right.
12:43Your voice is everything we need.
12:46That the vibration coming out of your throat is everything we need.
12:52When you speak, you command our attention.
12:57When you whisper, you earn our listening.
13:01When you sing, your songs last for generations.
13:06And when you, black woman, super sister soldier, when you rise from a troubled time, when you
13:20stand in the questionable moments, when you insert yourself in the gap of clarity, when you
13:32require the best parts of you be born so that we can move through troubling and trying times
13:40as this, when you do that, you call forth the best part of us.
13:46You require us if we're going to stand, live, and breathe in your space.
13:52You require us to find the best parts of ourselves so that we can complement your greatness.
14:01So I just stopped by to remind you, super sister soldier, that you were born everything you
14:13needed to be for such a time as this.
14:19I hope you've enjoyed the Essence Wellness House.
14:25I'm your sister in prosperity and in possibility, and I love you.
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