Nurah Speaks

Improving outcomes and the conditions of our people requires Unity, Faith and Leadership.  Unity as a concept is easy to understand if we are discussing sports, music and social (status) organizations.  But Unity is very difficult for the most of important of missions including family, education and changing our communities.

Individualism is the antithesis of Unity and is an impossible tool for success.  Our bodies are a perfect example of Unity.  The heart does not work in separation and selfishness from the other organs of the our body.  The heart pumps blood to the other systems that is returned to it oxygenated by the lungs.  Without our lungs functioning, our heart fails.  If our heart fails, our kidneys fail. Our body is a system of co-dependent organs working collectively in service of the whole.

Individualism is not a tool to make the greater body of our people successful.  Unity is always the basis for success.  But we also must rid ourselves of the barriers to Unity-jealousy, suspicion, laziness, selfishness, self hatred.

If you would like to engage with the Nurah Speaks podcast, submit your listener questions or topic suggestions to [email protected].  Listeners can also learn more about Nurah by visiting her website:  NurahSpeaks.com.

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Remember, don’t just Join the Movement, Be the Movement!

Reading beyond the headlines, also known as ‘ClickBait’, is necessary in the age of sensationalist news and misleading links.  The reasonable expectation is that the headline is a snapshot of the article’s content and context but this is not always the case.  Now it seems more often than not, it is teaser that absolutely contradicts the article itself.  

In other cases, the accuracy of the article is a crap shoot.  Truth can easily be lost in the political and social interests of the writer and publication.  

Wise advice for us all is to study the author.  Before reading any book or article and listening to any speaker, pundit or podcaster-first study the author.

What is his background, mission, position, affiliations?  What is she from, what else has she written, what is her expertise and what does she value?  Knowing the author can give a hint at where the writer or speaker is leading us.

One should hope to be acquainted with truth when reading or viewing reputable news outlets but even then it is prudent to seek out other sources and always hold onto a little skepticism.  Understand that this is what this outlet or writer wants me to think but what has been edited, omitted or misstated?  

If you would like to engage with the Nurah Speaks podcast, submit your listener questions or topic suggestions to [email protected].  Listeners can also learn more about Nurah by visiting her website:  NurahSpeaks.com.

Follow Nurah Speaks @NurahSpeaksPodcast on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

To bring Nurah as a speaker at your next event, email [email protected].

Remember, don’t just Join the Movement, Be the Movement!

If you are chasing your haters you are moving in the wronnnng direction!  Make your Lord your exclusive object! Fear only the Lord and serve Him with truth! 

By however you define the Perfect Universal Ruler, that is of Whom we should be seeking our guidance and our favor.  Chasing anything else like adoration or fanfare can be a distraction.  And keeping up with your haters and persecutors is a misdirection.

Those of you in the trenches of service, those of you doing work making meaningful change in the lives of people, those of you sacrificing time, resources and energy and rest-it is not for praise and glory.  Rather, love of your people and your commitment to your diety compels your work.

So!  Be not weary in well-doing!  

Doing good work has it challenges and its critics but faint not for in due season, you and those you touch shall certainly reap!

If you would like to engage with the Nurah Speaks podcast, submit your listener questions or topic suggestions to [email protected].  Listeners can also learn more about Nurah by visiting her website:  NurahSpeaks.com.

Follow Nurah Speaks @NurahSpeaksPodcast on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

To bring Nurah as a speaker at your next event, email [email protected].

Remember, don’t just Join the Movement, Be the Movement!

The principle ‘Clean Glass, Dirty Glass’ teaches us that we do not need to condemn a dirty glass.  Instead, set a clean glass next to the dirty glass and the people can make their own choice based on the evidence we put before them.

This principle is intended to make us understand that condemnation of what we believe to be an inferior program, an ineffective methodology or an inadequate leadership, teaching, coaching, parenting or business model is really unnecessary. 

Where we are really challenged is in demonstrating what we say others should be doing.  Talking is always the easy part.  Establishing the superior results others can see, feel, touch and experience is something else.  In fact, this is the real work.  

Unless we have something to show, our talk alone cannot lead anyone to anything.

If you would like to engage with the Nurah Speaks podcast, submit your listener questions or topic suggestions to [email protected].  Listeners can also learn more about Nurah by visiting her website:  NurahSpeaks.com.

Follow Nurah Speaks @NurahSpeaksPodcast on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

To bring Nurah as a speaker at your next event, email [email protected].

Remember, don’t just Join the Movement, Be the Movement!

This episode is dedicated to the imprint that my Aunt Beauty has made on my life and the way we can impact the young people adjacent to us. 

I walked into a library recently and was flooded with the nostalgia of my first library visit as a very young child.  Aunt Beauty had taken me, my brother and cousin and I absolutely LOVED it.  To this day, I still love the library and I continued the tradition of visiting the library while raising my own children.

This was just part of her impact on my childhood.  This and other memories still resonates with me even decades later and forces me to consider way ways that I impact the young people who are around me.  

It is something of which we should all be mindful.  

What do we want our influence or persuasion to be in the lives of youth that they can extract years later in who they will become?

If you would like to engage with the Nurah Speaks podcast, submit your listener questions or topic suggestions to [email protected].  Listeners can also learn more about Nurah by visiting her website:  NurahSpeaks.com.

Follow Nurah Speaks @NurahSpeaksPodcast on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

To bring Nurah as a speaker at your next event, email [email protected].

Remember, don’t just Join the Movement, Be the Movement!

Reciprocity is a principle that supports the courteous elements of society.  The mutual exchange of kindness, support and manners establishes trust and balance in all interpersonal relationships.  

Reciprocity is not keeping score but it is giving back in equal or similar measure that which has been given.  When reciprocity is withheld, an imbalance can manifest that can create mistrust and destroy bonds.

It is a principle that we all should understand and practice and we teach our young people the same.

If you would like to engage with the Nurah Speaks podcast, submit your listener questions or topic suggestions to [email protected].  Listeners can also learn more about Nurah by visiting her website:  NurahSpeaks.com.

Follow Nurah Speaks @NurahSpeaksPodcast on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

To bring Nurah as a speaker at your next event, email [email protected].

Remember, don’t just Join the Movement, Be the Movement!

An abundance of good comes from giving.  And with so many ways to give, we have no excuse to forgo making meaningful impacts in our community.

Whether it is time, skills, or resources-giving has a way of helping the giver just as much as the person(s) being helped.  Your confidence and self esteem will grow, you’ll have more joy in life and you will have more gratitude.

Charity is a universal principle across most religions and philosophies because there is just something very right and rewarding about being unselfish.

If you would like to engage with the Nurah Speaks podcast, submit your listener questions to [email protected].  Listeners can also learn more about Nurah by visiting her website:  NurahSpeaks.com or reading her blog by clicking this link.

Follow Nurah Speaks @NurahSpeaksPodcast on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

To bring Nurah as a speaker at your next event, email [email protected].

Remember, don’t just Join the Movement, Be the Movement!

“Kill kill kill, pill, pill, pill, money for sex, sex for money, money over love, money over love!”  

Music for urban listeners can be summed as explicit content containing harmful language promoting violence, drug use, and the objectification of individuals.  Since music has the ability to influence attitudes and behaviors, one should question why lyrical content exposing drug and alcohol abuse, self hatred and violence is produced en masse for the urban listener. 

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If you would like to engage with the Nurah Speaks podcast, submit your listener questions to [email protected].  Listeners can also learn more about Nurah by visiting her website:  NurahSpeaks.com or reading her blog by clicking this link.

Follow Nurah Speaks @NurahSpeaksPodcast on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

To bring Nurah as a speaker at your next event, email [email protected].

Remember, don’t just Join the Movement, Be the Movement!

Most discussions on mental health seem to focus on how to improve our mental health, ways to heal, ways to cope and manage.  What I see often ignored is what contributes to the erosion of our mental health.  And frankly, normalized aspects of our own culture degrade the mental wellness of our people.

If we take a careful inspection of our media, our families and our education, we find aspects of each that create anxiety, grief, fear, alienation and insecurity.  Couple this with the availability of degenerate food, drugs, alcohol and toxicity in our air and water, we must accept that there is more than a person’s singular traumatic experience that impact the mental welfare of our communities.  

The saying goes, ‘That an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”  We should apply this idiom to our mental health.  So let us identify the causes of mental strain as we promote healing.  In a future episode I will talk about some of the preventative measures we can take to support our mental health.

If you would like to engage with the Nurah Speaks podcast, submit your listener questions to [email protected].  Listeners can also learn more about Nurah by visiting her website:  NurahSpeaks.com.

Follow Nurah Speaks @NurahSpeaksPodcast on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

To bring Nurah as a speaker at your next event, email [email protected].

Remember, don’t just Join the Movement, Be the Movement!

How do Black people measure their own progress in America?   What metric are we using; what is our gauge to assess progress?  This can be a difficult assessment if there have been no clearly established markers.

All of this and more are explored in this REWIND episode of Nurah Speaks.

If you would like to engage with the Nurah Speaks podcast, submit your listener questions to [email protected].  

Follow Nurah Speaks @NurahSpeaksPodcast on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

To bring Nurah as a speaker at your next event, email [email protected].

Remember, don’t just Join the Movement, Be the Movement!