Celebrate Black Women in the Arts in pictures

In 1995 Black Women in the Arts embarked on a journey to  help  support and promote aspiring Black women artistes to achieve their artistic  goals.  Things were very different back then.  Nowadays there are still life challenges,  that forces them to harden up.   Relationships, work, children, family, , finance, prejudice, discrimination and inequalities all combine to put us under a lot of pressure and the way we are expected to deal with these is to develop resilience and to some extent indifference.   We are evolving all the time  

Artiste’s have taught themselves to be tough and with each blow life delivers to knock them down,  they  got up, dust themselves off and pick up where they left off.   Finding new energies to keep going and following their dreams.  To fulfill the dream and passion of a career in the arts.   Along the way  Black Women in the Arts  have been there to help support  and promote them to achieve their  goal/s.

2000

What you truly desire. Imagine what you could accomplish, if failing wasn’t an option.If there was no fear of being judged and no adverse consequences.

What you truly desire. Imagine what you could accomplish

Some people believe that showing tough love is an important way to ensure that their children are able to take care of themselves in the future. If you were the recipient of this approach on a regular basis, you might even believe that this has had a positive impact on your life.

2005

Perhaps what’s needed is a shift in attitude for artistes.  To be patient, stronger and resistant to the tribulations of life, maybe the answer is to understand that everything that matters in life take time.  That the arts is a  waiting game and is not won by  speed but endurance.

Do something that pushes your boundaries, something that you wouldn’t ordinarily do. Take a calculated risk and allow yourself to crumble a little.

2010

All parents occasionally pick on their children, but when the so-called jokes become commonplace, this can be a huge problem. You do not need to accept this type of behavior just because your parent has always joked about something such as your height or weight.

2015

Tips for increasing employee motivation

Without injuring others or placing your own life in danger, it’s healthy to let go sometimes. You don’t have to be irresponsible to release responsibility and embrace freedom for a change. When life is becoming too burdensome and the weight of obligation and duty seems suffocating, do something that allows you to release yourself from what can feel like a prison. Do something that pushes your boundaries, something that you wouldn’t ordinarily do. Take a calculated risk and allow yourself to crumble a little. Be answerable only to yourself.

Everyone’s parents criticize from time to time.
Everyone’s parents criticize from time to time.

Did you grow up believing that you were not creative, you can not sing a note, dance  draw or write?   If so, you may still be unwittingly justifying this  belief  at your own  creative self expense.

Get in touch with your emotions

Discover how you really feel about things. It’s easier said than done. Instead of maintaining the status quo and keeping the peace.

Instead of following the herd and making the predictable and reliable decisions that you are expected to make, ask yourself.

What you truly desire. Imagine what you could accomplish, if failing wasn’t an option.If there was no fear of being judged and no adverse consequences.

If there was no fear of being judged and no adverse consequences reliable decisions that you are expected to make, ask yourself.

Learning to acknowledge and express our emotions freely may seem like weakness in a culture that requires us to be tough, but in actual fact it takes a strength far more valuable and honorable than living in denial.

  • Use the “Spaced Repetition” technique
  • Try the “Pinch Yourself” hack
  • Schedule learning sessions before bedtime
  • Study the content, not the language

This technique was introduced by Maneesh Sethi, a frequent traveler who mastered four foreign languages as an adult. His approach was based on the fact that negative stimuli massively boost self-improvement.

Soft is the new hard

When you think that a situation requires you to be tough, to stiffen your upper lip and puff out your chest in the face of something difficult or even traumatic, consider if you have another option. Maybe for a change it’s time to wallow in the tragedy of your experience and really feel what it is to be human. Striving for mental toughness may close you off to a world of emotional development and progress that you may otherwise live through if you let yourself open up for a change.

Ways to beat stress at work
Ways to beat stress at work

How you can use this for language learning?

  • Get a set of flashcards for memorizing vocabulary or grammar.
  • Master the hard pinch (it should be quite hard) to activate your body’s threat response.
  • Review a category of flash cards (such as adjectives or group of words). Don’t pinch yourself at this stage.
  • Review the same category, now adding the pinch for each vocabulary word. Spend some time studying the card before moving to the next one.

Softening your perspective towards yourself and others; allowing yourself to experience tenderness and nurturing instead may seem counterproductive, but in the long run, may reap more abundant rewards.

Tough is just bravado. Softening up is a new normal you should try.

You may feel sadness more intensely, or anger. Disappointment, fear, grief. The flip side is you may discover joy like you’ve never allowed yourself to feel before. You may laugh harder, feel more inspired, encounter wonder and awe at things you previously took for granted.

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