Hopping Along with Oneeka Williams - The Year of Positivity! A Short Message About Love -- And Share Not Today Negativity!

 

I first met Oneeka through her persona, Dr. Dee Dee Dynamo! Dr. Williams is a role model and mentor for children, supporting her desire to encourage a career in science! Her series, features Dr. Dee Dee, who travels to planets across the universe! I loved all of them and quickly realized just how much Dr. Williams was both concerned and involved with children, especially Black children, reaching for all that they can be! Check out my reviews here at Book Readers Heaven...

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So, I hope you had a  valentine day with those you love and are loved by! When I saw the Facebook post on Valentine's Day, I responded and immediately asked if I could share her words through Book Readers Heaven and she graciously  agreed...  Check out Oneeka on Facebook! 

Through Dr. Williams, I learned more about an issue that has always bothered me: Women should submit to their husbands...   1 Corinthians 13. I have seen how many men treat their wives! And it is not as Jesus would do! I remember a woman who went to a church many years ago, praying, publicly for her husband, who never attended church, nor even seemed to be aware of his wife's strong faith...  Then I met women who could not do anything without their husband's permission...even going to a movie with a female friend... Even now, in the chaos of today, there is a battle being wrought, isn't there? Banning books, white fragility, (but that's on another page...), and just how badly respect for women has been lost or ignored! 

I knew early in my life that I would be one who strongly supported the rights of women, joining professional organizations to learn more, then turning to organizational groups that worked to enhance the rights of women--Council for Women's Concerns, The Staff Council, and more... 

Even when a pastor asked me to lead a weight-losing group at church, I challenged him, asking whether or not he really wanted a single professional woman leading a group that was mostly married women... He handed me a book. I read it since he asked me to... When I went back to church, I asked him solemnly, "When can I move in?" He looked at me and asked what I meant. "Well, this book tells me that the church was to take care of single women who could not financially support themselves, without a husband--yes, it was that old a volume, or was it?! So I went on to ask..."So when are you and the church going to start taking care of me, financially? Well, I admit, I couldn't finish, without laughing...and he laughed too... But then, it really wasn't a laughing matter was it? The church has not really been kind to women in many ways, I have found... So I was thrilled when Dr. Williams did a little literary research on the meaning of the word submission...

 

22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

 Whenever I had heard speakers about "submission of wives..." they never went beyond that basic statement... So I had gone on to read the "entire" scripture! My argument then became, to instantly move on to what the role of the husband was... He was to love his wife as Christ loved the Church...Specifically, he died for us! All of us! Of course, not ever proceeding into marriage had left me, maybe speaking, my own interpretation... Not so, for check out the following reference by Oneeka Williams!

 2022 - The Year of POSITIVITY! !

Sparking Optimism 

 Cultivating Abundance!

Celebrating  the 30-year wedding anniversary count down

#PositivityPearls!

Do submission and love go together? 

Is submission important in a relationship?

Am I submitted to my husband? Is my husband submitted to me?

A few years ago, the leader of the women’s ministry at my church asked me to lead a workshop on submission at the women’s retreat.

Many of my friends had difficulty reconciling the request, as submissive would not have been an adjective that they applied to me! Truthfully, I was also scratching my head as to how I would pull this off!“Submission” has had a negative connotation in relationships and when I asked my husband if he thought I submitted to him, his answer was a resounding NO! The traditional expectation of submission was not important to him. But what of the many other women who had a different experience in their marriage?I went DIGGING! I had to understand where the word came from. What I found gave me and every woman in my workshop LIFE!

The Greek word for “submission” is hupotasso which means to “get under and lift”.

It does not mean obedience!I could redefine the traditional understanding of “submission” to spotlight the Power and Partnership that was baked into its original intent.
POSITIVE PARTNERSHIP…When my husband is weak, I am strong, and I get under and lift!(AND)
When I am weak, he is strong, and he gets under and lifts!
I am empowered in our relationship! WE ARE THE WIND UNDER EACH OTHER’S WINGS!

WE ARE SUBMITTED, ONE TO ANOTHER (Eph 5:21)
So YES!!! SUBMISSION and LOVE do GO TOGETHER!!!#positivitycatalyst #Mindset #IslandofPositivity

I've always enjoyed what I call a broad spectrum of self-help books. They can be life enhancing, inspirational, or even daily scripture/article books... One thing I like about getting this type of book in electronic form is that I can read at my own time frame and easily return to my place in the book. I picked two of these books this week and wanted to share a little about the one by Dr. Williams...

“Owning our story can be hard but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it. . . . Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light.” —Brene Brown

How many stories do you keep hidden?

What would you do if you knew your stories had the power to heal yourself and others? You would probably start shouting at the top of your lungs to anyone who would listen. I’m beginning my shout today! How about you?

Sharing my stories with you has been such a healing journey. I believe you will also find the healing path in your stories by journeying with me through mine. Even in the toughest of times, you will learn to craft your own stories in a way that heals hearts, restores bodies and minds, elevates you above your circumstances and empowers you to take action. I truly believe I was born on the Island of Positivity!

Does that mean that I have been shielded from negativity? No! Despite the number of times that life’s problems have steamrolled me, with the help of God’s amazing grace, I have picked myself up, dusted myself off, squared my shoulders, assumed a defiant stance, sprinkled in some spunk, and said, “Not today!” Not today, fear! Not today, worry! Not today, anxiety! Not today, insecurity! Not today, defeat! Not today, negativity!

Negativity is like a villain hell-bent on stealing every good thing in our lives, but we can fight back and protect our birthright. We are often held captive by our problems because we think that problems and negativity are partners. They are not! We know problems are a part of life, but when we allow them to marry negativity, they become a formidable couple that can come at us so ferociously that we buckle under the onslaught. How many of you have had days when you have…

Felt so overwhelmed by problems and circumstances that you crawled back into bed and shut down? Felt exhausted, afraid, and alone? Felt so diminished and devalued by toxic relationships or environments that you became physically ill? Looked at a world where the odds seemed stacked against you and felt discouraged about the future? Felt like you were working hard, but the harder you worked, the more stuck you became? Wondered how you could find the positives when the world seemed to be drowning in a sea of negatives? I’ve had those days! Are you shocked? A successful, Harvard-educated urologic surgeon and award-winning author with everything going for her, has felt this way too? How can that be?

Let me tell you. Training and working as a female surgeon in a male-dominated world meant that I had my fair share of those days. No one is exempt from tough times. It’s part of being human. What do we do during those times? Do we throw up our hands in defeat? Or, do we get out of bed and declare with some attitude and some spunk, “Not today, negativity, not today!?”... There is power in awareness. 

Imagine 5 Habits of Positivity as armor, to not only protect your health but also to add pep to your step and confidence that drives your hand up to negativity, indifference, envy, feelings of inadequacy, self-doubt, and judgment. A shield that helps you to not only cope, but also hope and believe that: 

There is always a solution; I just have to work to find it. (HOP #1) 

I can convert a limit into an opportunity. (HOP #2) 

I’m going to hold on to the positives and discard the negatives. (HOP #3) 

My purpose is uniquely designated and linked to how I can help someone. (HOP #4) 

I can always find reasons to be thankful and believe that there are no limits. (HOP #5) 

I wasn’t born reciting these Habits of Positivity. As I looked back on my journey to becoming a urologic surgeon, award-winning author, and Positivity Catalyst, I realized I was using the Habits without knowing. That was likely why I didn’t remain discouraged and disenchanted. When I dissected each of the situations that I describe in this book—and so many more—common coping themes emerged. Those themes all revolved around finding some vestige of positivity, pushing myself out of bed, squaring my shoulders, and being intentional in saying “Not today” to negativity. 

And why does this matter? Because we have to take part in building a kinder and more caring, inclusive, equitable, respectful, and healthy world, not only for ourselves but also for our children. We are only as strong as our weakest links. As long as we allow negativity’s offspring (hate, discrimination, racism, misogyny, xenophobia, bullying, all forms of abuse) to grow, they will continue to weaken our society, prevent real social justice, erode innovation and progress, and hinder economic development. 

We have to eliminate the places where limited thinking and negativity thrive. We can do this by creating Positivity Scaffolds one habit at a time. It starts with you! When you create your Positivity Scaffold, you can build everything in your home upon it. The effects ripple out like a pebble dropped into a lake to touch your family, coworkers, community, city, state, country, and the world. The more conscious you become of practicing these Habits of Positivity, the more you will connect to your unlimited inner power. 

I don't know about you, but I need to be more positive during this time of deep division in America. It has been hard to see what has and is happening, without becoming worried for the future. Yet, deep inside, I "do" know that God is in control--even while I strive to act, I find myself being pulled back to depression and frustration. 

Dr. Williams writes in such an upbeat way that readers can't help but get excited again... She lights a spark of optimism that allows us to feed on her spirit to be positive and not give in to all those feelings that are being purposely incited these days--lies, prejudice, hate, fear, and all things negative that hammers on our emotional stability.

The key for me was that Dr. Williams will be sharing her own stories! How often, when somebody does that, it clicks our own memory of how we reacted to a similar situation. Was it demoralizing at first? Perhaps, but if we are who I think each of us is, we soon strive to move forward, to find important positive words to help us...

What is provided in this book is a formula, a platform of habit building... I've known that we had to make changes through habits... But we often fall back, don't we? I'm ready to try again... Are you?