Brenda L. Henry, PhD, MPH
Founder and Principal
Weekly Reflections
Each week, this section will contain a new question and quote for you to reflect on to help deepen and support your practice of acting from love, for yourself and others.
November 13, 2024
There are those of us who are content to assimilate or whatever, but there are those of us who want to maintain the culture our ancestors died for…We have the right to be who we are.
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~Madonna Thunder Hawk~
How have you assimilated to try and fit in? How can you fit in while still maintaining your culture and identity?
November 6, 2024
Life will go on as long as there is someone to sing, to dance, to tell stories and to listen.
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~Oren Lyons~
What traditions have been passed down to you that hold a special place in your heart?
How do you keep those traditions alive?
October 30, 2024
Strong alliances can thrive even where disagreements exist, but they cannot thrive where free and open communication is shut down.
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~Sharice Davids~
When have you found yourself in a situation where open communication was not allowed? How do you make sure your voice is heard and that others feel comfortable communicating?
October 23, 2024
Your silence will not protect you.
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~Audre Lorde~
When have you thought staying silent would protect you? What would you do differently if given the chance?
October 16, 2024
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
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~Albert Einstein~
When have you tried to solve a problem with the same approaches that gave rise to it? What did you have to shift in order to solve it?
October 9, 2024
To make a great dream come true, the first requirement is a great capacity to dream; the second is persistence.
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~Cesar Chavez~
Where have your dreams taken you? What dreams have you been able to realize with persistence?
October 2, 2024
Enamórate de tí. De la vida. Y luego de quien tu quieras.
(Fall in love with yourself. With life. And then with whoever you want.)
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~Frida Kahlo~
When did you first think about loving yourself, your life, and who you love? What are some small ways that you could show yourself and your life more love?
September 25, 2024
We started our lives as perfect reflections of love, but learned to reflect love in imperfect ways.
​
Don Miguel Ruiz
and
Barbara Emrys
How have you reflected love in imperfect ways? What healing practices would help you reconnect with your perfect reflection of love?
September 18, 2024
Not settling for less is one of the most direct ways for you to embody the principle of self-love.
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~yung pueblo~
When was the last time you felt that you settled for less? What things can you do for yourself to help you enbody the principles of self-love?
September 11, 2024
No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.
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~Nelson Mandela~
What did you learn about people who did not look like you, worship like you, and love like you growing up? What would we need to change so that everyone is to taught love?
September 4, 2024
When I dare to be powerful - to use my strength in service of my vision - then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.
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~Audre Lorde~
What fears have you overcome to pursue your vision? What allowed you to overcome your fear?
August 28, 2024
You never know how strong you are, until being strong is your only choice.
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~Bob Marley~
What challenges have you had that required you to be strong? What have you learned about your own strength?
August 21, 2024
Truth comes when your mind and heart are purged of all sense of striving and you are no longer trying to become somebody; it is there when the mind is very quiet, listening timelessly to everything.
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~Bruce Lee~
What allows you to quiet your mind and just listen?
What truths have you uncovered?
August 14, 2024
The number of times I have fallen down is the number of times I have gotten up.
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~Jenni Rivera~
​
What has led you to fall?
What has motivated you to get back up?
August 7, 2024
For we are leaders of inclusiveness and community, of love, equity, and justice.
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~Judy Heumann~
What do you lead with? What can we do to encourage others to fight for inclusiveness, community, equity, justice and love?
July 31, 2024
Healing and social change are not, in fact, unrelated. To pry them apart is to exacerbate the issue. They are inexplicably linked, braided together, interdependent processes of transformation.
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~Prentis Hemphill~
What would change if you approached healing as a practice? What are the moments in which healing happens for you?
July 24, 2024
I am a drop in the ocean, but I'm also the ocean. I'm a drop in America, but I'm also America. Every pain, every confusion, every good and every bad and ugly of America is in me. And as I transform myself and heal and take care of myself, I'm very
conscious that I'm healing and transforming and taking care of America.
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~Larry Ward~
What steps have you taken in your journey to transform and heal? What effect has your transformation had on those around you?
July 17, 2024
I call for solidarity among all who love justice, all who love life, to create a revolution that will empower every single human being to govern his or her life, to govern the society and to be fully productive of life quality for self and for all.
​
​~Justin Dart~
What would it take for you to stand in solidarity with others? What would a revolution where every action comes from love look like?
July 10, 2024
It’s time we closely examine and adjust our collective view of ‘Love.’ Justice is one of Love’s offspring.
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~Bernice King~
What does your view of Love encompass? What other forms of action are offspring of Love?
July 3, 2024
Freedom is not given; it is taken by those who have the courage to demand it.
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~Pedro Albizu Campos~
What freedoms have you had to fight for? When was the last time you displayed courage by standing up and demanding your freedom?
June 26, 2024
No pride for some of us without liberation for all of us.
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~Marsha P. Johnson~
What does liberation for all of us look like to you? What steps can you take to help make liberation a reality?
June 20, 2024
We have to do it because we can no longer stay invisible. We have to be visible. We should not be ashamed of who we are. We have to show the world that we are numerous. There are many of us out there.
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~ Sylvia Rivera ~
What parts of yourself have you been hiding? What would open up for you if you made yourself visible?
June 12, 2024
Love takes off the masks we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.
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~ James Baldwin ~
What masks are you currently wearing?
How would you shed them with love?
May 29, 2024
You must learn to get in touch with the innermost essense of your being. This true essence is beyond the ego. It is fearless; it is free; it is immune to criticism; it does not fear any challenge. It is beneath no one, superior to no one, and full of magic, mystery, and enchantment.
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~ Deepak Chopra ~
When was the last time you were in touch with your innermost essence? What did it feel like? What can you do to stay connected to your essence?
May 22, 2024
The body knows. When your heart sinks. When you feel sick to your gut. When something blossoms in your chest. When your brain gloriously pops. That's your body telling you the One True Thing. Listen to it.
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~ Cheryl Strayed ~
When was the last time you listened to your body? What was it telling you? What can you do to listen to your body more often?
May 15, 2024
When you bring your whole being to the table, it increases your offering.
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~ LaTosha Brown ~
What parts of your being have you not brought to the table? What would your offering look like if you brought your whole being?
May 8, 2024
I am sorry that the only way we have been taught to heal is to hurt.
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~ Alok Vaid-Menon ~
What examples do you have of healing in the absence of hurt? What conditions need to exist to allow healing to happen in the absence of hurt?
May 1, 2024
Liberation is conceived by our imagination, carried in our hearts, and birthed through our revolutionary madness.
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~ Alice Wong ~
What does a liberated world look like? What contributions can you make now to make that world a reality?
April 24, 2024
When you put love out in the world it travels, and it can touch people and reach people in ways that we never expected.
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~ Laverne Cox ~
What love are you putting out in the world? How has the love that someone else put into the world without your knowing touched you?
April 17, 2024
Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love.
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~ Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. ~
How have you leveraged power to advance justice? How have you leveraged justice to correct things that stand in the way of love?
April 10, 2024
Because love is an act of courage, not of fear, love is a commitment to others. No matter where the oppressed are found, the act of love is commitment to their cause - the cause of liberation.
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~ Paolo Friere ~
How have you acted from a place of love for the oppressed? What can you start doing now to contribute to liberation?
April 3, 2024
Each of us will have to make choices that allow us to be the largest versions of ourselves.​
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~ Julia Alvarez ~
What choices would allow you to be the largest version of yourself? What is keeping you from making those choices?
March 27, 2024
We do not think ourselves into new ways of living, we live ourselves into new ways of thinking.
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~ Father Richard Rohr ~
What changes have you been thinking about that you have not acted on yet? What actions can you begin to take that are grounded in love?
March 21, 2024
As long as we are not living in our full humanity, we cannot create a world for humanity.
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~ Tarana Burke ~
What aspects of your humanity are you not living into? What supports do you need to fully live into your humanity?
March 15, 2024
We all have the capacity to heal - and to create room for others to heal.
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~ Resmaa Menakem ~
What healing work do you need to do in order to fully embody a love ethic? What supports do you need to engage in your healing work?
March 6, 2024
Your ability to love another person depends on your ability to love yourself.
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~ Thich Nhat Hanh ~
What does love for yourself look like? What do daily acts of love for yourself entail?
February 28, 2024
To love and be loved is our birthright.
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~ Valerie Kaur ~
Who influenced your understanding and expression of love?
February 21, 2024
We need to learn how to practice love such that care - for ourselves and others - is understood as political resistance and cultivating resilience.
~ adrienne maree brown ~
"How would we organize and move our communities if we shifted to focus on what we long for and love rather than what we are negatively reacting to?"
February 14, 2024
To truly love we must learn to mix various ingredients – care, affection, recognition, respect, commitment, and trust, as well as honest and open communication.
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~ bell hooks ~
What would our world look like if we all acted from a place of love? What supports do you need to start creating that world now?
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