Welcome back to another double dose edition of the one and only The Beat Within. This is the only magazine where everyone speaks their truths, and stories without having to be judged in a negative way. Many platforms are on your phone apps to grab headlines. There’s no accountability and people place comments that insult and hurt people’s feelings.
Not here at The Beat, we make sure that everyone is heard and respected. This is a platform where you’re allowed to say anything you want, as long as it’s respectful to yourself and others. We have a new addition to our community from the staff at San Francisco County with some wisdom for your eardrum. He’s a probation officer that’s looking forward to working with all the youth, staff and programs that help out the young people.
He has a lot of game to share with the goals of teaching us how to make better decisions. Without further ado we’re proud to present OG Pause’s first positive message, of many more to come! Thank you OG Pause from San Francisco.
“Even after all this time, the sun never says to the earth, you owe me. Look what happens with a love like that, it lights up the whole sky.” Hafiz (14th Century poet)
I am reminded of this quote by Hafiz when reading the prompt and quote by Alice Walker; “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.”
Often times we find ourselves in comparison and competing amongst our friends and loved ones, simply to be seen and to belong unconditionally. The uncertainty of parity prevents us from living our young lives to the fullest.
What is full? Full is presence. Present for all the moments of your life, pluses, minuses and neutral. The more time we spend worried about the past and continually rehearing the future, the less time we have to embody the positive goals and dreams we set out to achieve.
When we proactively “pause,” we practice the skill of observing our thoughts and experience without judgement. This action creates the conditions for us to realize our inherent urgency, right here and now. Only in the present moment can we choose our power and shift from feeling like an underdog to an empowered author of your own life, reality and narrative.
Walker’s quote illustrates how our limited beliefs and negative thought patterns are the sources of disempowerment, acceptance of unhealthy, risky behaviors and leading to procrastination of your personal goals, wants and dreams.
The solution is to engage in and feel a pro-active pause. Pausing proactively is the act of manually engaging your breath to focus body and mind, in order to make healthy life choices.
Slowing down to the speed of a pause, teaches us where our focus is and specifically our awareness of limiting thoughts such as: “I do not have power,” “I can’t” and “I’m not worthy.”
These are only thoughts, not facts. Nonjudgemental observation is a distinct result of intentional proactive practice, not replaying past moments and rehearsing future plans.
Present. What’s Important Now (WIN)? Here and now equals presence. In this mode we can observe a feeling with curiosity, allowing the feeling to be as it is, instead of harmful self-judging.
You are worthy. You matter and you have it in you, to realize that even in tense, challenging situations, you always have the power to choose your response, your attention (focus) and the next small doable action. The pause informs our moment to power.
The ability to enhance intuition by trusting oneself allows for a shift and transformation initiating youth to vanquish powerless victimhood to deploy effective change by seeing yourself as a supportive peer and community member capable of care. This includes care of self-awareness, self-management, motivation, empathy and compassion.
Proactive pausing throughout your day allows you to recognize the subconscious thinking and thoughts that can derail us. Taking the time, slowing down, staying skillfully mindful exposes the “thinking” part of Walker’s quote.
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” Viktor Frankle (Holocaust survivor).
We support your healthy growth! We see and value you regardless of mistakes. Own your power! You are worthy!
-OG Pause
Thank you, OG Pause for enlightening us all with your uplifting message! The words that you share are the key to your success. Your way of thinking is the passport to your future.
Ladies and gentlemen, it starts in your mind, with your thought process, and the way you respond to adversity. We will all struggle at some point in our lives. It’s not just when you’re incarcerated, but people in the free world experience strife and struggles too.
Some folks hold down two to three jobs, just to pay the rent and barely break even with all their bills and putting food on the table. There are some people that have to get home quickly after they get off work after dark walking through dangerous streets just to make it home safely without being robbed. The worries multiply once you get out. They don’t stop, but that all the struggle and adversity we face should be endured with a grin ear to ear. We want those challenges. We want to overcome our obstacles and succeed.
At the end of the day, we all want to chase our goals and dreams, and have fun with those we love. Don’t let your current situation make you lose sight of future goals and endeavors. If you keep a strong and positive attitude, even through the toughest of times, blessings will come your way.
We want to give a special thanks to all the staff, counselors, editors, workshop facilitators, typist, that made this issue possible. We continue to push strong for the new year of 2026! We will continue to carry out our founder’s legacy with each poem, with each story, and with each collaboration with both youth and adults from all over the world. Long live David Inocencio! And The Beat keeps going and going…