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This is the fourth post from the Black N Love Series, a curation of topics around the Black Community and Love during the month of February.
While love has taken and can take on many forms, two of the best ways anyone (including you) can love someone (including yourself) is with your mind and with your time. Mind: do you give up thinking capacity reserved for self and your own pursuits to identify with and connect with others? Time: what is it spent on and with whom? How open and/or guarded are you with these two? Why? While it is tempting to get wrapped up only in momentary actions and financial transactions, how you occupy your mind and time are highly revealing, particularly in terms of better understanding your mental health and that of others: your emotional, psychological, social, and spiritual well-being.
The product of the dimensions mind by time often influence and dominate your mental health, yet sometimes we fail to see either as stimulating or depressing, connected, or even related to how we interact with those around us. Love yourself in this way: pay attention to the roots of mind and time closely and in-tandem with your fruits- what you do, what you spend. Mind and time are who you are- and they can be change! Your mind and your time are two of your greatest assets, both of which I'd argue are indicators of how loved you feel and what love you give. I am incredibly grateful and often baffled at the love shown to me by my friends and family through the giving of their minds and of their time. When dispensed together, synergistically mind and time are a powerful, conversational drug- precious, dynamic, and frequently satisfying. Mind and time are why many connect.
Mental health is no joke; many people grapple with it and struggle with past trauma before they even realize it (or that they are contributing to it in themselves and others). We all play a part in our connection or lack there of to the people within in our sphere of influence. Talk about mental health dimensions. Pay attention to those around you. We all bear a responsibility, especially if you call yourself a friend. Don't overlook mind and time- you may just learn something about yourself and how you serve others in the process.
As we close Black History Month, I have two takeaways. Many do not want to talk about mental health, which destigmatized is frequently just mind and time. And many more have not wanted to hear the plights, the struggles, the victories not just of others, but of an entire community. And it has provoked me mentally, dead-ending me:
Continued below the jump...
"Why does it matter what someone else thinks of what you do or don't do if you already know your own thoughts are not right to begin with?"
It doesn't. But, we are often so uncomfortable with themselves, it is easier to divert attention away from the callous area closest to the problem. Bring somebody in there with you. Be that called somebody.
"Is it necessary to have someone that agrees with you to open up to and have a dialogue with?"
It isn't, but sometimes it helps and makes you feel more comfortable. What does it cost you to listen? Mind and time that you've borrowed from someone else.
"Can I serve somebody lovingly, the way they want to be loved?"
Maybe- I just may need to sacrifice. Why not?
It doesn't. It isn't. Maybe. All of the questions I posed can be powerfully answered through the giving of mind and time. How will you share your life? It may be the very thing required of you.
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