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DearSelfLove: Kaysia Baker explains why self-love is so important to her

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BY GLORIA O’KOYE

Love!

One of the most cherished and despised feelings that had been ingrained in us since the beginning of humankind. It has often been mistaken for infatuation and other emotions. It is often the cause of a person reaching their breaking point. Books, famous quotes and sayings, TED talks, love gurus, and much more profit so much on giving advice and tips on achieving love and healthy relationships. There are also online tests and readings on compatibility, personality, and love languages to understand how you give and receive love.

When we usually think of love we think of others. We forget that the most important love we need to maintain is the love we have for ourselves.

When you first heard the word ‘self-love’, what are the first thoughts that come to your mind? Does this word hold weight in your daily life, or is just another trend that society is hyping up but not understanding the word in-depth? What are some self-care practices that promote self-love? Is it a night out with your friends? Turning off all your devices and reflecting on nature or in a quiet place indoors? Is it listening to meditations or doing breathing exercises? There is no one way when it comes to showing love to YOU!

However, self-love is usually marketed and/or misunderstood as something that is always positive and joyful. It barely talks about the not so pretty parts such as the hurt and tears of rebuilding a strong and healthy relationship with you. We try to focus on the good parts of the healing journey, but there should be an emphasis that it is not easy. It also needs to dive deep into the ugly and to express thoroughly that to draw out the beauty of self-love, we must come face to face with the truth and what we tend to push under the rug. The journey to self-love can be unpredictable and there may be times you will take one step forward and ten steps back, but the most important thing is that you made progress.

Everyone has their own experiences, interpretations, and perspectives when it comes to self-love, and I also want to let everyone know about a powerful individual that has been doing great and necessary work within our communities. I want to give thanks to this beautiful soul as they share more about their story and what they are currently doing to promote self-love. Through the storms and tribulations, they were and still are continuing to outshine any obstacles to shed more light into this world.

“My name is Kaysia Baker and I am a twenty-seven-year-old mother to a beautiful one-year-old. I was born and raised in Toronto. Both of my parents emigrated from Jamaica in the early 1980s.

As a child of immigrant parents in Canada, I was well aware of the hustle it took to become someone in this world. My mom provided my sister and me with the best she could as a single parent, I would go on to say she succeeded. When I was younger, my mother would strive to make sure we were involved in many extracurricular activities from girl guides to swimming lessons. Our summers were eventful and holidays were always memorable. My mother always encouraged us to try new things and to explore the world around us.

Education in our home was always pushed as a marker for success. With that being instilled in me as a young child I would always push hard to become successful. I did meet many challenges with that in high school, but I eventually got my act together in college. I graduated from Humber College in 2016 from the Early Childhood Educator Program. Working with children has always reminded me to never lose sight of the child in myself and to always remain joyful.

I started DearSelfLove in January of 2019. The page was created to simply keep me inspired while I inspire others on my journey! When I first began the page I was at a point in my life where I desperately just wanted to heal from a lot of painful experiences.

Before DearSelfLove I was always in and out of a healing journey. I was reading the right books, gaining the right knowledge, surrounding myself with somewhat of the right people. I was frustrated and impatient at the fact my healing wasn’t happening fast enough. At the time I was going to continue to live my life the way I was until a special person in my life named Nathan Baya, offered me the idea to run a page and provide positive and inspirational content.

At first, I was hesitant and afraid, then the idea grew on me and I took a chance. I am so glad I said yes that day! This page has allowed me to express and heal in a multitude of ways. If I knew the power of loving others amid my brokenness would heal me, I would have said yes years ago.

In the year and a half that I have been running this page, the one challenge that I have faced was during pregnancy. During my pregnancy, and a bit of a time after, I took a hiatus from the page itself. I was having a hard time connecting to myself which spilled over into connecting with others. I am a woman of integrity and truth. With that I felt as though it wasn’t right for me to share positivity with others from a place I didn’t truly feel myself. I gave myself time and when the time was right I came back to what I knew I had the capacity of doing.

I knew that meant making new choices that reflected my personal growth. Now I am taking DearSelfLove day-by-day and speaking things only of my heart to share with others. I want to remind others the journey is never linear and it is never perfect but it is always for you! 

Self-love to me means knowing you have good, amazing, bad, and crappy stuff about you but you CHOOSE to love all of that about you regardless. It means knowing your worth and walking in that!”

I want to thank Kaysia for pushing this wonderful initiative and continuing to thrive in all she does. Please continue to support her and the DearSelfLove page by following DearSelfLove Instagram, participating in upcoming events, comment and share among your networks!

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Forgetting isn’t just something to be annoyed about, it’s a smart way to survive

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Photo credit - Press Foto

BY KHADIJA KARIM

Have you ever forgotten someone’s name, or where you left your phone and thought, “Why can’t I remember anything?” Forgetting might feel frustrating, but it turns out that forgetting things can actually be good for you. Experts believe forgetting might be an important part of human survival and could even have benefits.

You probably think that remembering everything would be better, right? If you remembered every tiny detail, like what you had for breakfast three weeks ago, or the colour of every car you saw today, you would be overwhelmed. Our brains are constantly receiving information, and if we didn’t forget some of it, we wouldn’t be able to focus on what really matters at that time.

Forgetting helps you clear out information you don’t need, and it helps your brain remember the most useful memories. Think about how hard it would be to focus on important things if your mind was filled with random thoughts. Forgetting helps you stay focused and keeps your mind from getting lost.

So, why would evolution make us forget things? Early humans had to deal with dangerous environments that changed quickly. They needed to remember things that helped them survive, like where to find food, or how to avoid predators. They didn’t need to remember every small detail, like what happened last week. Forgetting information, they didn’t need allowed them to make quick decisions based on what was most important at that moment in time.

For example, if you remember a recent storm, you might make sure to stay inside or find shelter. If you remembered every storm you’d ever seen, it would be harder to make decisions about the present. Forgetting irrelevant details helps you stay on your feet and helps you react faster to new situations. This ability to forget likely helped early humans survive and make better decisions in their everyday lives.

Next time you forget something, don’t be too hard on yourself! Forgetting is a natural part of how our brains work and can actually help you stay focused on the important things. It might seem annoying at times, but it’s helping you make better decisions. Forgetting isn’t just something to be annoyed about, it’s a smart way to survive in a world that’s always changing!

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Blink equity dives deep into the gap between people of colour and decision-making roles in Canadian law firms

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Photo Credit: AI Image

BY ADRIAN REECE

Representation in the workforce has been a topic of conversation for years, particularly in positions of influence, where people can shift laws and create fair policies for all races. Representation in the legal system is an even more talked about subject, with many Black men being subjected to racism in courts and not being given fair sentencing by judges.

The fear of Black men entering the system is something that plagues mothers and fathers as they watch their children grow up.

Blink Equity, a company led by Pako Tshiamala, has created an audit called the Blink Score. This audit targets law firms and seeks to identify specific practices reflecting racial diversity among them in Toronto. A score is given based on a few key performance indicators. These KPIs include hiring practices, retention of diverse talent, and racial representation at every level.

The Blink Score project aims to analyze law firms in Ontario with more than 50 lawyers. The Blink Score is a measurement tool that holds law firms accountable for their representation. Firms will be ranked, and the information will be made public for anyone to access.

This process is ambitious and seeks to give Canadian citizens a glimpse into how many people are represented across the legal field. While more and more people have access to higher education, there is still a gap between obtaining that higher education and working in a setting where change can be made. The corporate world, at its highest points, is almost always one race across the board, and very rarely do people of colour get into their ranks. They are made out to be an example of how anyone from a particular race can achieve success. However, this is the exception, not the rule. Nepotism plays a role in societal success; connections are a factor, and loyalty to race, even if people are acquainted.

People of colour comprise 16% of the total lawyers across the province. Positions at all levels range from 6% to 27%. These numbers display the racial disparity among law practitioners in positions of influence. Becoming a lawyer is undoubtedly a huge accomplishment. Still, when entering the workforce with other seasoned professionals, your academic accolades become second to your professional achievements and your position in the company.

What do these rankings ultimately mean? A potential for DEI-inclusive practices, perhaps? That isn’t something that someone would want in this kind of profession. This kind of audit also opens law firms up to intense criticism from people who put merit above all other aspects of professional advancement. On the other hand, there is a potential for firms to receive clientele based on their blink score, with higher ones having the chance to bring in more race-based clients who can help that law firm grow.

It is only the beginning, and changes will undoubtedly be made in the legal field as Blink Equity continues to dive deep into the gap between people of colour and decision-making roles in these law firms. This audit has the power to shift the power scale, and place people of colour in higher positions. There are hierarchies in any profession, and while every Lawyer is qualified to do what they are trained to do, it is no shock that some are considerably better than others at their jobs. The ones who know how to use this audit to their advantage will rise above the others and create a representative image for themselves among their population.

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“The Pfizer Papers!” Documentation of worldwide genocide

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BY SIMONE J. SMITH

We are living in a world where promises of health and safety came packaged in a tiny vial, one injection was promoted by powerful governments, supported by respected institutions, and championed by legacy media worldwide. Sadly, beneath the surface, a darker truth emerged.

Reports from around the globe began to tell a different story—one that was not covered in the news cycles or press conferences. Families torn apart by unexpected losses, communities impacted in ways that few could have foreseen, and millions questioning what they had been told to believe.

Those who dared to question were silenced or dismissed (the Toronto Caribbean Newspaper being one of those sources). “Trust the science,” we were told. “It’s for the greater good.” As time went on, the truth became impossible to ignore.

Now, I bring more news to light—information that demands your attention and scrutiny. The time to passively listen has passed; this is the moment to understand what’s really at stake.

I reviewed an interview with Naomi Wolf, journalist and CEO of Daily Clout, which detailed the serious vaccine-related injuries that Pfizer and the FDA knew of by early 2021, but tried to hide from the public. I was introduced to “The Pfizer Papers: Pfizer’s Crimes Against Humanity.” What I learned is that Pfizer knew about the inadequacies of its COVID-19 vaccine trials and the vaccine’s many serious adverse effects, and so did the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA promoted the vaccines anyway — and later tried to hide the data from the public.

To produce “The Pfizer Papers,” Naomi, and Daily Clout Chief Operations Officer Amy Kelly convened thousands of volunteer scientists and doctors to analyze Pfizer data and supplementary data from other public reporting systems to capture the full scope of the vaccines’ effects. They obtained the data from the Public Health and Medical Professionals for Transparency, a group of more than 30 medical professionals and scientists who sued the FDA in 2021 and forced the agency to release the data, after the FDA refused to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request.

It was then that the federal court ordered the agency to release 450,000 internal documents pertaining to the licensing of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. The data release was significantly and the documents so highly technical and scientific that according to Naomi, “No journalist could have the bandwidth to go through them all.”

The “Pfizer Papers” analysts found over 42,000 case reports detailing 158,893 adverse events reported to Pfizer in the first three months The centerpiece of “The Pfizer Papers” is the effect that the vaccine had on human reproduction. The papers reveal that Pfizer knew early on that the shots were causing menstrual issues. The company reported to the FDA that 72% of the recorded adverse events were in women. Of those, about 16% involved reproductive disorders and functions. In the clinical trials, thousands of women experienced: daily bleeding, hemorrhaging, and passing of tissue, and many other women reported that their menstrual cycle stopped completely.

Pfizer was aware that lipid nanoparticles from the shots accumulated in the ovaries and crossed the placental barrier, compromising the placenta and keeping nutrients from the baby in utero. According to the data, babies had to be delivered early, and women were hemorrhaging in childbirth.

Let us take us to another part of the world, where research has been done on other pharmaceutical companies. A group of Argentine scientists identified 55 chemical elements — not listed on package inserts — in the: Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, CanSino, Sinopharm and Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccines (according to a study published last week in the International Journal of Vaccine Theory, Practice, and Research).

The samples also contained 11 of the 15 rare earth elements (they are heavier, silvery metals often used in manufacturing). These chemical elements, which include lanthanum, cerium and gadolinium, are lesser known to the general public than heavy metals, but have been shown to be highly toxic. By the end of 2023, global researchers had identified 24 undeclared chemical elements in the COVID-19 vaccine formulas.

Vaccines often include excipients — additives used as preservatives, adjuvants, stabilizers, or for other purposes. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), substances used in the manufacture of a vaccine, but not listed in the contents of the final product should be listed somewhere in the package insert. Why is this important? Well, researchers argue it is because excipients can include allergens and other “hidden dangers” for vaccine recipients.

In one lot of the AstraZeneca vaccine, researchers identified 15 chemical elements, of which 14 were undeclared. In the other lot, they detected 21 elements of which 20 were undeclared. In the CanSino vial, they identified 22 elements, of which 20 were undeclared.

The three Pfizer vials contained 19, 16 and 21-23 undeclared elements respectively. The Moderna vials contained 21 and between 16-29 undeclared elements. The Sinopharm vials contained between 17-23 undeclared elements and the Sputnik V contained between 19-25 undetected elements.

“All of the heavy metals detected are linked to toxic effects on human health,” the researchers wrote. Although the metals occurred in different frequencies, many were present across multiple samples.

I am not going to go any further with this; I think you get the picture. We have been sold wolf cookies, very dangerous ones. These pharmaceutical companies must be held accountable. I am proud of anyone who has gone after them for retribution, and have received it. Regardless, in many ways, there is no repayment for a healthy life.

REFERENCES:

https://ijvtpr.com/index.php/IJVTPR/article/view/111

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/health-law-and-business/why-a-judge-ordered-fda-to-release-covid-19-vaccine-data-pronto

https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender_category/toxic-exposures/

Pfizer’s ‘Crimes Against Humanity’ — and Legacy Media’s Failure to Report on Them

55 Undeclared Chemical Elements — Including Heavy Metals — Found in COVID Vaccines

 

Public Health and Medical Professionals for Transparency

FDA Should Need Only ‘12 Weeks’ to Release Pfizer Data, Not 75 Years, Plaintiff Calculates

Judge Gives FDA 8 Months, Not 75 Years, to Produce Pfizer Safety Data

Most Studies Show COVID Vaccine Affects Menstrual Cycles, BMJ Review Finds

Report 38: Women Have Two and a Half Times Higher Risk of Adverse Events Than Men. Risk to Female Reproductive Functions Is Higher Still.

 

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