I have been writing my poetic memoir. It is due to my book editor and copy editor in three weeks. So I am a busy little bee.... Today I wrote about my 15 BAP Commandments. Check them out below. Let me know what you think.Excerpt from That Which Awakens Me by Ananda Kiamsha Madelyn LeekeCopyright 2008 by Madelyn C. Leeke.For me, a BAP is a woman who is:B - BeingA - AtP - PeaceBeing At Peace with who I am and who I am becoming as I walk Mother Earth clothed as an African American woman is a lifelong process that calls me to discover, embrace, and accept my whole self ... the stuff I like and the stuff I hide from... my fears, anger, mistakes, shame, guilt, weaknesses, and emotional wounds ... all of my multilayered complex identities.As I have walked the path of Being At Peace, my BAP experience has deepened. I have discovered that BAP has several additional meanings. My discoveries helped me develop my 15 BAP Commandments. See below. I use them as personal intentions that remind me how I have chosen to live.Do you have a set of personal commandments that you use to guide your life?Ananda's 15 BAP CommandmentsBAP Commandment #1B – BeingA – AtP - Peace is the greatest gift I can give to myself and othersBAP Commandment #2B - Becoming anA - AuthenticP - PersonBAP Commandment #3B - BeA - Aware of myP - Power, Passions, and PotentialBAP Commandment #4B - Bring myA- Absolute best self to theP - Playing field of lifeBAP Commandment #5B - Brilliantly shine myA - Amazing light so that itP - Produces goodnessBAP Commandment # 6B - Blessing the world withA - All my gifts and talentsP - Puts value in my community and Mother EarthBAP Commandment #7B - Begin right where IA - Am to give myselfP - Permission to speak my truthBAP Commandment #8B - Break downA - Any barriers that hold me back throughP - Prayer, meditation, and affirmationsBAP Commandment #9B - Be my ownA- Advocate for health, healing, wellness, creative expression, safety, fulfilling relationships, satisfying career choices, and financial responsibility byP - Practicing self-care, self-love, self-empowerment, and self-disciplineBAP Commandment #10B - BoldyA - Applaud and give thanks for my own efforts and the efforts of others withP - PraiseBAP Commandment #11B - BaskA - Always in the land ofP - PositivityBAP Commandment #12B - Bear in mind thatA - my Attitude directly impacts myP - Presence in my own life and the lives of othersBAP Commandment #13B - Be willing and able toA - Apologize for and forgiveP - Past, present and future actions that hurt, harm, and wound myself and othersBAP Commandment #14B - Battle with no one, not even myselfA - Ask Creator for support and wisdom on how toP - Put things in orderBAP Commandment #15B - Basic kindness and compassionA - Are mine as long as IP - Pause and live in the present moment with mindfulness and an open heartMy intention is to allow my spiritual practice to frame my existence as a BAP ... a woman Being At Peace ... a woman Becoming an Authentic Person who offers herself compassion and forgives as she overcomes her fears, heals her wounds, learns from her choices, improves her communication and relationships skills, trusts her intuition, releases emotional patterns and choices that no longer serve her greater good, takes responsibility for her actions and choices, speaks her truth, and lives as Creator made her to be one breath and one step at a time. It is a journey that I humbly walk with Spirit and the ancestors leading my way. My prayer is that I always live my best life knowing what Lorraine Hansberry wrote:“…life has within it that which is good, that which is beautiful and that which is love. Therefore, since I have known all of these things, I have found them to be reason enough and—I wish to live. Moreover, because this is so, I wish others to live for generations and generations and generations.”
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