"Isn't it possible that tradition, custom, a comfortable rut, a familiar life-style, may keep us from the greatest thing life offers? And if so, isn't custom a deadly drug, tranquilizing us, preventing changes that will be wholly for the good?" --Clement of Alexandria

Profiles of Great African Americans is a wonderful book that contains short biographies of 90+ black Americans. Each biography is only 3 or 4 pages long so they are very easy to read.

It was edited by Charles R. Branham, Senior Historian at DuSable Museum of African American History and published by Publications International, Ltd. Check it out.

"Open a book and you are profited." --Emperor Tai Cong

"Believing all books is worse than believing none." --Chinese proverb

Don't give up! Hang in there because . . .

"Sometimes we work and wait and watch for a flowering in our lives, maybe for days and weeks and months, even years; and then suddenly a springtime comes in our lives with a blossoming more glorious than ever our heart could have dreamed of." --Margaret Moore Jacobs

Black Enterprise, Jan, 2000 by Robyn D. Clarke
Here's What It Takes To Achieve Inner Peace

Ever notice how some people never seem to let anything get under their skin? They could have been stuck in traffic for an extra hour, spilled coffee on their new suit and missed their daily report deadline--all before noon--and still manage to exude a mind-boggling level of happiness and calm. Doesn't it make you sick?

Well, it shouldn't. In fact, you'd probably be a lot better off if you had that inner peace that seems so elusive in the daily grind. While remaining stable on the inside when everything around you is bordering on chaos may be a challenge, it certainly isn't impossible.

"Often, there isn't much we can do about our high-pressure circumstances," says Steve Simms, president of Attitude-Lifter Enterprises in Nashville, Tennessee, and author of Mindrobics: How to Be Happy for the Rest of Your Life . "But you can de-stress your mind and emotions."

Indeed, there are a variety of things you can do--taking regular vacations, exercising and getting enough sleep are just a few of them--to keep stress in check. But maintaining a constant state of inner serenity will take patience and practice. Simms offers seven characteristics of internally peaceful people. Incorporate them into your own stress-management routine, and you'll be calm, cool and collected on a regular basis.