To My Black Boy

Notes to my son

[To My Black Boy @myblxckboy]

Pride can be broken. Toughness has its limits. But a desire to help? No harshness, no deprivation, no toil should interfere with our empathy toward others.

[To My Black Boy @myblxckboy]

Perseverance - The long game.

It’s about what happens not just in round one but in round two and every round after - and then the fight after that and the fight after that, until the end.

Life is not about one obstacle, but many. Perseverance can only be stopped by death or you. We retain the power to decide to try once more. No one else is to blame when you throw in the towel.

[To My Black Boy @myblxckboy]

Amor fati: love everything that happens

We have to learn to find joy in every single thing that happens, good and bad. It is the act of turning what we must do into what we get to do.

You must exercise becomes I have healthy limbs and get to exercise.

[To My Black Boy @myblxckboy]

Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain.
In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat - for he grants sleep to those he loves.
- Psalms 127:1&2

[To My Black Boy @myblxckboy]

Best advice on when to marry:

“Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.”
- Psalms 127:4&5

[To My Black Boy @myblxckboy]

Undisciplined boys become undisciplined men.

Undisciplined men end up in hospital, prison or end up in a grave.

[To My Black Boy @myblxckboy]

Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them.
- Psalms 126:4-6

[To My Black Boy @myblxckboy]

Things can always be worse. Next time you:

Lose money? Remember, you could have lost a friend.

Lose that job? What if you’d lost a limb?

Lost your car? You could’ve lost everything.

We complain about what was taken from us that we can’t appreciate what we have.

[To My Black Boy @myblxckboy]

We craft our spiritual strength through physical exercise, and our physical hardiness through mental practice.

Nobody is born with a steel backbone. We have to forge that ourselves.

[To My Black Boy @myblxckboy]

Remake your body and your life with activity and exercise. Prepare yourself for the hard road ahead. Do you hope you never have to walk it? Sure. But you are prepared for it in any case.

[To My Black Boy @myblxckboy]

@SenecaQuote Speak life into your day. Talk to yourself as you would a friend.

[To My Black Boy @myblxckboy]

@SenecaQuote If more is all you need, that is such a dark and slavish place to be.

[To My Black Boy @myblxckboy]

I lift up my eyes to the mountains - where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.
- Psalms 121:1 & 2

[To My Black Boy @myblxckboy]

Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.
- Romans 8:18

[To My Black Boy @myblxckboy]

8 reasons you haven’t got what you want out of life:

1.Greedy activity
2.Dedication to useless tasks
3.Drinking/drugs
4.Laziness
5.Worrying what other people think of you
6.Self imposed servitude to thankless people
7.Pursuing other peoples money. (Making someone else rich)
8.Going after no fixed goal, tossed about in ever changing plans by a fickleness which is shifting.

[To My Black Boy @myblxckboy]

7 ways to practice discipline can come from:

1. Semen retention
2. Not checking your phone for the first hour in the morning
3. Going to the gym when you don’t feel like it
4. Saying no to things that don’t serve you
5. Waking up early
6. No texting and driving
7. No driving under the influence of drugs

[To My Black Boy @myblxckboy]

Meditation Against Lust

This image before me — it is nothing more than flesh, blood, bone, and skin.
I must remember: it is not the thing itself that tempts me, but the opinion I form about it.

Do I wish to be ruled by my body, like a beast that knows no reason?
Or do I wish to stand as a man, guided by virtue, master of myself?

What is pleasure? A moment’s spark, gone as soon as it arrives.
And what is the cost? The loss of my freedom, the bending of my will, the shame of being conquered by desire.

Better to be free in spirit than to be dragged like a slave by impulses.
Better to walk the harder road of temperance than to fall into weakness.

I was made for greater things — to act justly, to speak truth, to govern myself.
Let reason lead, let nature’s law guide me.
And let me leave this moment stronger than I entered it.

[To My Black Boy @myblxckboy]

Masculinity thrives on:

Tension
Purpose
Delayed gratification

Excess ejaculation removes tension - which can be either a healthy relief or it dulls your edge.