Online Dating in the Black Community...

Ok, yea it's me again with another tirade of what's on my mind! I suppose because I'm single and although happy in my singleness not necessarily content being single! In the midst of it all, I refuse to not be joyful! Wow, I actually lost my train of thought for a moment...I'm definitely going to have to work on me and this single thing!

Today I would like to discuss the methodology of dating and I'm wondering if we as African-American's have embraced recent technological advances concerning dating! Don't misunderstand what I'm saying! I know that we use technology to find a “hook up” partner and someone with whom to “screw” on a regular but I'm talking about using the same medium in order to find...”THE ONE!”

Now, if we really seek after what is true we will understand that communities that are culturally rich (like ours) usually are more reliant on conventional methods when it comes down to meeting and finding a long-term RELATIONSHIP! So basically what this boils down to is unless we're moving to another city, it is very difficult to meet other singles who are new to the black dating scene so to speak! With that being said though, why is it that we can't open ourselves to the possible opportunity to use online prospectus in order to improve our successes of establishing long-term planned monogamous committed relationships?

Now, if you're in your late 40's or 50's plus, I definitely wouldn't have any issues with you all not accepting dealing with the internet dating, my mom really just learned how to use the computer for more than paying bills and checking email! However, the rest of us who have fought against this concept of turning to technological advances to help within our efforts we put towards dating! We need not regret what is going on in these advances but we really should take a closer look and see it as a change for the better!

FACT: Choosing someone who is compatible is troublesome and we are going to make MANY mistakes along the way! So what is the problem with using the online communities! Based on that very fact, many dating sites have an analysis that one must feel out to help us wad through some of the it'll get rid of all the screw balls but, you have a much better chance through there than we would have meeting them at the ummm CLUB?! Honestly speaking meeting someone online is not always less complicated than meeting someone in life but as with all things both have positives and negatives!

Of course now we deal with the fact that almost all people who have turned to and rely on online technology can be somewhat secure that those people that they meet are in the same situation and are probably using this medium because they themselves face the same issues that you do. I'm sorry but for me, that point alone gives us both a commonality with which to grow into something more stable and serious! We're obviously both tired and we are wanting something more than what we've been getting so the last resort, we have both come to using technology as a final frontier!

Now...the other rules of dating in the black community still apply, don't get that twisted! You need to find someone who is really searching for a solid match, make sure you get to know one another before deciding to spend the night, make sure you have OTHER things in common besides being online as a last resort and sexual fit, and BE CAREFUL WHEN BEGINNING A NEW RELATIONSHIP!

Of course the black dating community is the same as dating any other however you get to retain your rich cultural identity to help you lay a solid foundation for you developing love!

SO GET OUT THERE, SIGN UP, AND GET TO DATING!

Dr. Tanya A. Alkhaliq - Author | Speaker | Minister | Life Redesign Expert

Tanya Alkhaliq is an intersex black woman who is a Life Change Expert with an emphasis in intersex issues and counseling while specializing in self-identity development, relationship issues, gender and sexual understandings, spiritual reformations, career choices, young-adult developmental issues, and issues pertaining to fear.

PLEASE CONSIDER ADDING DR. "T" WITHIN SOME OF YOUR SOCIAL NETWORKS

Blog Feed

Relgious Blog Feed

The Harvest Group

Phoenix Outreach Services

Temple El Shammah

Assemblies of the True and Living G-d

Follow Me on Twitter

Personal Facebook

I Need a Change w/Akilah Michaels - Facebook

Temple El Shammah - Facebook

My Blog

My Religious Blog

Hook-Ups: Where do you Lay?

I know this is probably going to sound crazy but since today is sexuality day, I figured, I speak about hooking up with someone you meet “out and about.” You know the old story, we meet at the party (or elsewhere), he’s physically and intellectually just what you need (you know this because you’ve conversed with him LOL), and he’s looking at you like you are the only person he wants to “screw” for the evening (wow the preacha said screw)!

Of course that’s not what happens…but wasn’t it a great thought until he asks you a few days later as to why you didn’t “hook up” and fornicate until you were both too tired to move! This is where it gets interesting to most…most people will say either “I don’t know” or that good old song…

“I DON’T HOOK UP!”

I honestly don’t think that people are attempting to be so holy but the question of “hooking up for a one-night stand” is just not appealing to many people anymore!

HAVE WE GONE…MILD - and deciding to give up our wild ways for a more stable “non-relationship” or maybe a MARRIAGE (oh heck no)?!?!?!?!

If we take an objective point, we can honestly say that much of our appetite for marriage and that “happily ever after” is simply a response to our dissatisfaction with our every weekend random hook up with somebody who we may or may not know! Adding to that, the shameful feeling involved with what happened last night. I honestly don’t believe that we feel ashamed of what we did but moreso the shame of how dissatisfied we feel in the morning when we have to go back to our “regular” lives!

There’s a song…
It's morning, And we slept the night away, It happened, Now we can't turn back the hands of time, Yes we've stolen this moment…A new day, Brings reality and we both go our separate ways

At one point, the hookup empowered people to examine desires and take action to fulfill those desires without the strings of attachments, no last names, and a “in the moment” sexual encounter that makes a powerful social statement about who we are and that we are free to do as we please!

I honestly feel that the purpose of the hook-up has been lost on us and we’re trying to turn what’s supposed to be a “quick screw and bounce” into the beginning of a relationship! These type of mechanics were never meant to infuse LIFE and a connection…that’s why it’s a HOOK UP!

It really doesn’t matter whether you believe in marriage or monogamy understand that CONNECTION is essential to humanity. We require the presence of other people just for our well being, and not just any individuals, we have to have some stable fixtures in our lives! Those bonds we have to people help to regulate us psychologically and emotionally!

So the problem is we are experiencing the crisis as a direct of using a SOULLESS and HEARTLESS hookup to satisfy a need that emanates from the soul: the need for connection. We try to escape our loneliness and replace it with sex and to build up into something that has NO foundation.

So what is the point…know that there is a reason for all things and on a spectrum between “hook-up” and “serious committed relationship” there are many phases that we can use to shape and satisfy our needs for love and connection.

(I AM IN NO WAY ENDORSING NEITHER TELLING ANYONE THAT HOOK-UPS ARE RIGHT OR WRONG, I AM SIMPLY MAKING A STATEMENT ABOUT HOOK-UPS AND DO NOT WISH TO BE INUNDATED WITH EMAILS SAYING THAT I’M NO TYPE OF PREACHER TELLING PEOPLE TO HOOK-UP, THAT IS NOT WHAT THIS IS ABOUT. THIS IS ABOUT STATING A TRUTH AND GIVING RISE TO WHAT SOCIETY IS DOING REGARDLESS TO HOW A PREACHER FEELS)!

Dr. Tanya A. Alkhaliq - Author | Speaker | Minister | Life Redesign Expert

Tanya Alkhaliq is an intersex black woman who is a Life Change Expert with an emphasis in intersex issues and counseling while specializing in self-identity development, relationship issues, gender and sexual understandings, spiritual reformations, career choices, young-adult developmental issues, and issues pertaining to fear.

PLEASE CONSIDER ADDING DR. "T" WITHIN SOME OF YOUR SOCIAL NETWORKS

Blog Feed

Relgious Blog Feed

The Harvest Group

Phoenix Outreach Services

Temple El Shammah

Assemblies of the True and Living G-d

Follow Me on Twitter

Personal Facebook

I Need a Change w/Akilah Michaels - Facebook

Temple El Shammah - Facebook

My Blog

My Religious Blog

Be Still and Know - Silence the Mind

FOCUS FOR TODAY
Be Still and Know - Your mind keeps disrupting with its mental noise and quenches the Spirit and what G-d is doing in you because you keep listening to its negative hurdle filled analysis of what is going on around you! It's not about the circumstance but the one who controls them!

LEARN TO SILENCE YOUR MIND – We all go through life trying to find our way and we often say there is too much “noise” but that noise emanates from your own mind! This is further established when you decide to “talk it out” for the purpose of comfort and to talk yourself through the issue, the problem with that is that we are talking to and comforting our troubles making it easier for our troubles but causing more stress to assert itself into our life!

Understand that the FOCUS FOR TODAY is “Be Still and Know” and as a part of being still we me learn to be quiet while curling up in the stillness of life! Silencing the mind is best achieved by being in a place that is naturally in a state of silence. Usually the best time is early in the morning or just before going to bed, however, if you begin to practice the artform of silence, you'll come into the reality that ALL times and ALL places are suitable for silence!

Find a place where you can sit straight up and have back support while your hands are resting on the top of your thigh or any other position that there will be no tension for the duration of your “silence” time. In addition, you should not cross your legs but to be in a relaxed state as well as this disrupts circulation and the discomfort will be a distraction to your purpose.This is the time that you shouldn't be looking to figure out things but instead it should be a time of quiet silent NON-REFLECTION and total surrender to the divine in you! This should be done 15 to 30 minutes everyday (at minimum) just to sit quiet! In this, you do the very best you can and when the mind creates opportunities for “REFLECTION” see that it is trying to disrupt your quiet time and notice the building blocks of this mental noise, then disassemble this noise by the same blocks in which they are built to settle within a level of quiet surrender!

REMEMBER: There are no laws that govern inner silence so it's not something that is taught, it's just something that you do and it becomes a part of who you are as you experience it's presence.

Once you are situated, close your eyes and let the awareness of life fill your entire being! At this point you want to re-adjust yourself so that no part of your body is seeking after attention!

Now, as your eyes are closed and your body is at complete ease, allow your shoulders to take on the full weight of your head (in other words take all the pressure off your neck muscles and allow your shoulders to simply be relaxed while supporting your head). This is something that you can actually feel happen!

Next, the weight of your shoulders should be transferred to the lower parts of your body. If you are doing this properly you will be very surprised about how much extra bodily weight you unnecessarily support without even knowing that you are doing so! As you continue this process, all of your collective weight should be transferred to the chair you're sitting on!

CONSCIOUSLY TRANSFER THIS WEIGHT – LET IT GO!

Now you can release yourself from all of the unconscious physical stress and tension that you have been carrying around in your life! You should feel a sense of “floating” or “airiness” about your body at this point!

To continue, you must expand this relaxed stated state and increased bodily awareness of the “self” to include your thoughts and emotions! You must induct your mind and emotions into this self-obsorbed state of being and begin to “watch yourself from within.” It is you who must now become objective and impartial to your own thoughts and feelings. Let them do what they do without the slightest concern of their influences. Don't resist their pull, however, do not be drawn into them.

NOTE: If you are just beginning, you may undergo an “emotional breakdown” the first few times as you are not used to really seeing and feeling your emotions without having to interpret. The purpose of this is to get you to the point of non-interpretation and quiet beingness! This could be a very traumatic experience as they really begin to see how they see themselves.

Your goal is detached self-observation and remember that each time a feeling or emotion comes to you, you must realize that you're no longer watching but rather you have become captivated by that feeling or thought and you are allowing yourself to be carried along with it. You must withdraw from it and return to the PRESENT MOMENT of quiet solitude.

In this practice you begin to KNOW what it means to BE STILL! You must experience it for yourself over and over again let go, give up distractions, go deeper within you, watch, bring the awareness of yourself back to the present moment paying no attention to your thoughts and feelings are trying to tell you while you are BEING STILL AND KNOWING!

As you persist and prevail, the struggle to stay aware of yourself in the present moment will make the moment itself change but remember as that moment changes....SO DO YOU!

Should you continue to practice, eventually you will be able to go beyond those prostestations of the mind and your sense of self and your awareness of the present moment will melt away and with the melting away a new deeper sense of silence floods your soul and fills your awareness with itself and then the awareness that the source of this supreme stillness is arising out of your own BEINGNESS.

All things are now washed away and you have arrived at a quiet mind! It is now you can “MEDITATE” on those words both day and night and they will NOT depart but will become an everlasting stream of life flowing from you to empower everyone at all times!

Dr. Tanya A. Alkhaliq - Author | Speaker | Minister | Life Redesign Expert

Tanya Alkhaliq is an intersex black woman who is a Life Change Expert with an emphasis in intersex issues and counseling while specializing in self-identity development, relationship issues, gender and sexual understandings, spiritual reformations, career choices, young-adult developmental issues, and issues pertaining to fear.

PLEASE CONSIDER ADDING DR. "T" WITHIN SOME OF YOUR SOCIAL NETWORKS

Blog Feed

Relgious Blog Feed

The Harvest Group

Phoenix Outreach Services

Temple El Shammah

Assemblies of the True and Living G-d

Follow Me on Twitter

Personal Facebook

I Need a Change w/Akilah Michaels - Facebook

Temple El Shammah - Facebook

My Blog

My Religious Blog

The Harvest Group Marketing