Souls of My Sisters

I'm proud to be a contributor to this wonderful book and movement, and if you live in or near Little Rock, ARK., I'd like to suggest that you check out the following event this weekend! It sounds like it should be a soul-inspiring event for all women and a great bonding experience in particular for book club members and adults that mentor young teen girls. This conference should be well worth your time! Enjoy!


Saturday, October 13, 2007
"Woman In The Mirror" Empowerment Conference
9:30 AM - 2:30 PM
Main Library, Darragh Auditorium
100 Rock Street
Little Rock, AR

The Watershed Human Development Agency, Inc. and D2NINE.com are pleased to present the 2nd annual "Woman in the Mirror" Women's Empowerment Conference. The conference is based off of the Essence Magazine national best-selling book "Souls of My Sisters" by Dawn Marie Daniels and Candace Sandy.

This book was among the launch titles for Kensington's Dafina Books imprint in 2000 and is now in its 15th printing. The book, which struck a responsive chord that continues today, takes an intimate look at the contributors' personal stories and the tools that enabled them to create success and find inner peace. Since its publication Dawn and Candace have been honored with both the Amazing Women Award and the Golden Pen Award, presented by the National Black Writers Alliance.

In early 2008 an update of SOULS OF MY SISTERS will be released as will SOULS REVEALED, which presents reflections along with tips and prescriptive tools encouraging readers to expand their spirits and to discover their own place for inner healing.

For more information, call 501-952-0858.


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The Woman in the Mirror

excerpt from Souls of My Sisters
by Dawn Marie Daniels and Candace Sandy

When you look in the mirror, who do you see? A woman of substance, beauty and intelligence? Do you see yourself as healthy and able? Do you see the truth, or do you see the lies that you've come to believe?

Why do we believe the lies? Just as easily, we can believe the truth- God made all of us powerful beings. Instead, we allow ourselves to be hypnotized by the daily dose of negative stereotypes and media images. How we perceive ourselves determines the quality of our health- mental, physical, spiritual and emotional. Whatever we believe about ourselves, good or bad, is what will manifest in our lives. If we are wondering why our lives are unfulfilling or why our bodies feel sick and listless, all we have to do is look at our beliefs and self-perceptions.

We have listened to the opinions and lies of others. We have chosen to believe them, and thus, we perceive ourselves negatively. We believe the lies because we do not know the truth of who we are. Before we blame others for our woes, we must look at the heinous of lies- the lies we've told ourselves. If you do not care about the truth of who you are, any lie will do.

Sisters may roll their eyes and pay lip service to being self-determined(after all, "we don't take no stuff"), but when it comes down to it, we are controlled by what we think and say about ourselves. The proof is in the recent discovery that black women have among the highest rate of depression in the country. We already lead the race in obesity, diabetes, hypertension, certain types of breast cancer and other ailments. At best, our false beliefs and self-perceptions leave us feeling unfulfilled. At worse, they are killing us.

If we can believe a lie, then we can believe the truth. The truth will not be handed to us on a silver platter, however. We're going to have to fight for knowledge or self. It will be like the salmon's upstream journey. Society tries to move us away from self-knowledge, not toward it. A woman who is in full possession of her mind, is responsible for her thoughts and actions, and is unafraid of bucking status quo is a dangerous woman. Such a woman is a force of nature. She creates a whirlwind of change in individuals, communities and systems just by being herself.

But despite all the self-help books and psychobabble, many of us are not happy with our lives, We know something's not quite right because the activities in our lives do not quite sustain us. They do not fulfill us. So we get busy trying to fix things: we go back to school, we launch a "man search", we work harder for longer hours. So what? We make a few more cents, get a little sex and we are still nagged by self doubt. Surely this can't be all there is to life!

Until we do the hard soul work that will serve us in the long term, when we look in the mirror, a stranger will continue to stare back at us. We spend more time getting to know our lovers and friends than ourselves. And since we really don't know who we are, we're suckers for all kinds of stories. This is the danger of living an unconscious life: people can define you, label you, and talk about you, and not only will you care, you'll believe them.