My First Featured Guest Adilah Barnes

Dear Followers:

My focus today is on eliminating fear. Jesus tells us repeatedly in the Bible, “Fear Not,” and we should not fear anything. God is not the author of fear. Where there is fear, there is no faith. The two cannot exist together.

I find that anger is almost always based on some type of fear. However, fear does not always promote anger, especially if you know how to channel it. I’ve chosen to feature a very special guest who handled her fear positively so it never turned into anger. She overcame her fears through education and hard work, and she never gave up.

Her name is, ADIILAH BARNES. Ms. Barnes agreed to allow me to share an experience she had as a child with you in hopes that it might encourage you, no matter where you are in your life’s journey.

But first to tell you about her,

Ms. Barnes is the author of “ON MY OWN TERMS, ONE ACTOR’S JOURNEY” which was named an ESSENCE MAGAZINE bestseller for 2009. It was also nominated for the 2009 African American Literary Award and the XLIBRIS Publisher’s Author Spotlight.

Ms. Barnes performs in the internationally-toured historical one woman show, “I AM THAT I AM, WOMAN, BLACK”, where she portrays several African American women, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Mary Bethune, Zora Neale Hurston, Lorraine Hansberry, Angela Davis, and Maya Angelou. The show has toured three continents, North America including the Caribbean, Africa, and Europe.

Ms. Barnes is an accomplished actor, educator, producer, author and literary retreat proprietor. You may recognize her from her five seasons on ABC’s ROSEANNE, and recent appearances on the current television shows, THE MIDDLE and COLD CASE. Her other television credits include GILMORE GIRLS, ROSWELL, THE AGENCY, FAMILY LAW, CITY OF ANGELS, ANY DAY NOW, SUDDENLY SUSAN, and MAD ABOUT YOU.

Her film credits include MURDER BY NUMBERS where she played opposite SANDRA BULLOCK, and the award-winning ERIN BROCKOVICH where she played opposite JULIA ROBERTS. She also appeared opposite VING RHAMES in the Hallmark movie, LITTLE JOHN. Her list of credits goes on spanning a 40 year period.

In addition, Ms. Barnes has coached many well known actors, including Toni Braxton, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Benjamin Bratt, Kym Whitley and she is listed in THE ACTOR’S GUIDE TO QUALIFIED ACTING COACHES.

She also co-founded the LOS ANGELES WOMEN’S FESTIVAL, and THE WRITER'S WELL, an international literary retreat for women writers that has welcomed guests from as far away as Ghana.

She is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Cruz where she was elected to serve on the Alumni Council for seven years. I am happy to introduce her to you and feature her as my first guest.

It is almost apparent to see just by reading Ms. Barnes list of accomplishments that she has never let fear stop her. For example, I was surprised to learn that as a child she was stricken with petit mal epilepsy. To this day, Ms. Barnes does not know exactly what caused her to have epilepsy which resulted in her having seizures. At the time no one took her to the doctor to find out what caused them. It could have been because of the cost of medical care, a lack of understanding about the severity of the disease, and/or denial. Instead, she was dismissed as, “having fits”.

When I heard her experience I realized that she had to have had some degree of fear during this time in her life. Not knowing where she would be when the seizures might strike or what she might be doing, must have made her feel very vulnerable. But, thankfully, Ms. Barnes was guided to a Physician’s Desk Reference book and was able to self-diagnose her condition. Knowing there was a name for what she was experiencing gave her understanding and made her realize that she was not alone. Other’s too had the disease.

Ultimately, Ms. Barnes was able to overcome her illness and her fear of the unknown through education. With the support of Project Upward Bound in high school, Ms. Barnes was nurtured and guided to the field of theatre and was able to find her true love and purpose which enabled her to become an actor.

Although it may be typical of most young people to start out with big dreams, it’s very seldom that they fulfill them as she has. Through perseverance and hard work, she sends us all a message that we too can prevent fear from hindering us and pursuing our dreams.

Ms. Barnes says, “I am a testament that it is possible to begin as an ashy-kneed little chocolate country girl and to go on to reach some measure of success. My ingredients have included passion, honoring my God-given gifts, faith, and surrounding myself with those who believed in me.”

For more on Ms. Barnes inspirational journey, please visit her book’s website at www.OnMyOwnTerms.net.