

Big Sean continues to open up about his spirituality, mental health, and how he manifested his career. Over the years, the Detroit rapper has been open about his battle with depression and anxiety and has praised holistic practices such as meditation as well as therapy. He also is a believer in manifestation and the law of attraction and how he was able to use those lessons to obtain success. Back in 2019, he released a video about manifestation where he said, “If I want it and I believe I can have it, then that’s my reality.”
He also did an interview with Jay Shetty’s podcast On Purpose with Jay Shetty a year ago about manifestation that was such a big hit with fans that he’s back for another purposeful conversation. In the March 2022 episode, the “Play No Games” rapper dives even deeper into manifesting abundance, success, and happiness. Here are some highlights from the hour and a half-long interview.
Big Sean on How Meditation Lifts Your Vibration
“I change my meditations up frequently. I do mantra meditations sometimes and sometimes I do just guided meditations that are specifically for me. Maybe for that week, things that I, not necessarily trying to accomplish but things that I put in my consciousness. Things that I want to approach right, but most importantly it gets me right for the day. It’s like taking a shower after you work out and you take that shower and feeling fresh. That’s what it does for my consciousness, my energy and things just flow better.”
“I literally feel like I’m lifting my vibration up to a higher place of just to be successful and it all starts right there for me. You can’t do it right or wrong way. There’s no right or wrong way in doing it. The fact that you take the time out to just be with yourself to breathe. Your mind is going to race all over the place sometimes. Sometimes it doesn’t, sometimes it does. You bring it back to your breath, you bring it back to whatever you’re listening to, and just the fact that you took that time out to breathe and spend that time on yourself, you’re gonna feel an incredible difference every time.”
Be Specific With Your Intentions
“If you are specific, well then always make sure in that specification that you put and more or I’m open to whatever possibilities are also available, whatever options there are if you are specific because we can be specific somewhat, but you can’t be too specific and leave it there. You can say I want to have the number one podcast that talks about mental health and all these things but the specification of that is even bigger than that. Everything you do is way bigger than that, but you’re open to all of those expansive options. I just hope that people realize that whatever you want in life–first of all, wanting something is acknowledging the lack of it.”
“So, remember in our last interview I talked about how God gives you what you ask for so I kinda don’t say I want anything anymore, I say 'I desire,' or 'My intention.' I don’t say I want it because I’m just acknowledging over and over that I don’t have it and I don’t want to match that vibration of not having it anymore. So instead it’s this is my intention, my desire, and I put myself vibrationally on that frequency already having it already being there and that for me works I don’t know if that works for everyone else, but try it. If life isn’t going exactly how you want it to which is 99% of us in this world, try it that way.”
Self-care is Service
“The whole purpose of self-care is the complete opposite of being selfish. It’s service to the world so when you’re overwhelmed with all the anxiety of what’s going on, you’re overwhelmed with your personal problems and the world’s problems and things seem to be too much, we all go through this, the most important thing to rely on the faith that everything is going to be okay. When you put your best foot forward, the extra steps to take care of yourself to bring your best foot forward you realize, we talked about it last time, that the reason that we’re in this moment in the first place is ‘cause we have the ability to change this moment.”
“The great part about being in any situation whether you’re up or down in life is that it’s an amazing opportunity and you have the ability to change every situation. So, when you have that faith. I talked about that invisible bridge to have that faith and walk across and you don’t really see how you’re gonna get across, but you know it’s there and you step off that clip and unto where you don’t see anything and you still haven’t fallen. That’s what faith is and that’s what we have to have in each other and society and realize the more conscious we are the more we work on ourselves the more steps we’re taking to get to the other side of things."
Have Faith and Trust in Divine Timing
“These things, when they even happen you realize, I in the first place should never be mad at a timeline because how can I be mad at a timeline or something not getting done or a deadline when I’m on God’s time. I’m moving at God’s speed. I’m not moving at my speed. I can set my intention, give my attention to that intention in hopefully getting something done. It may get done earlier. I may want to finish something in April and it may get done in February. I may want to get something done by April and it may not get done till next April.”
“Who knows? Because it’s unknown but when we embrace that unknown, which a lot of us, it’s hard to do ‘cause we always like to think about what’s the worst that can happen instead of what’s the best that can happen. I had to change my whole mindset to think, okay, what’s the best that can happen because I don’t even want to attract what’s the worst that can happen. That’s such a normal saying. That saying is wack. I had to flip it over to what’s the best that can happen because I have 100% faith.”
Be Rich Within Yourself
“You can be rich in money but it’s conditional. That money goes, you’re not even rich anymore. If you take all of the money away from me or anyone around me, my family, we’re at a point where we were rich before we had money. Because of the rich practices that we were taught which is to take care of yourself early on which is a lesson I put on a back burner and went through and experienced life and life was hitting me and beating me up. I had to take a step back and reaffirm the things that I already knew but really strengthen them up. That is being rich for real because money is conditional and that is the energy we assigned it."
"It’s the currency of our countries and living the way we live but time is the currency of our universe and love is the currency of all. Love is God. I know I’m kind of rambling, but I just want people to get that because when you judge someone else, you’re just wasting your time. You’re really just giving someone else your energy that’s so valuable. You can be building a mountain with that energy, you can be building your future or career or something else, Instead, you’re worried about somebody else or tearing somebody else down and it doesn't make sense. It’s so easy to do though.”
Find Your Happiness and Writing a Book
“Make everything you’re doing fun because we’re here for such a short period of time and when we see somebody pass away that’s close to us or someone we idolize, our heroes or family members or friends whatever just you gotta realize that I work but I gotta make this fun because that is the key to happiness, right? And that is to me, that’s real success is when you’re happy so you gotta have fun with whatever you’re doing and if it’s not fun you gotta make it fun or do something else. Even if it pays your bills or anything you gotta –if you just approach it like that, something that may be depressing to you can completely change. That job you may have been working on, I’ve been doing this since I was 11 years old by the way making music, and obviously, I want to do other things with my life.”
“I want to write a book because I’ve learned so many lessons from you, Deepak, I get to sit with Sadhguru, my mom especially, I get to sit with Jhene (Aiko). I get to sit with all these amazing, I get to sit with Marie Diamond. I get to sit with a lot of people who know so much and I know that that’s one of my life purposes is to put that information into, and all the experiences I been through, all the testaments I’ve seen, and all of the magic I’ve witnessed in my life that’s the reason I want to write a book. I’m not doing it because, oh it’s a cool thing for your career to do I feel like I have to write a book because it’s one of my missions for humanity.”
How To Manifest ABUNDANCE, SUCCESS, & HAPPINESS Into Your Life | Big Sean & Jay Shetty
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Adrian Marcel On Purpose, Sacrifice, And The 'Signs Of Life'
In this week's episode of xoMAN, host Kiara Walker talked with R&B artist Adrian Marcel, who opened up, full of heart and authenticity, about his personal evolution. He discussed his days transitioning from a young Bay Area singer on the come-up to becoming a grounded husband and father of four.
With honesty and introspection, Marcel reflected on how life, love, and loss have shaped the man he is today.
On ‘Life’s Subtle Signals’
Much of the conversation centered around purpose, sacrifice, and listening to life’s subtle signals. “I think that you really have to pay attention to the signs of life,” Marcel said. “Because as much as we need to make money, we are not necessarily on this Earth for that sole purpose, you know what I mean?” While he acknowledged his ambitions, adding, “that is not me saying at all I’m not trying to ball out,” he emphasized that fulfillment goes deeper.
“We are here to be happy. We are here [to] fulfill a purpose that we are put on here for.”
On Passion vs. Survival
Adrian spoke candidly about the tension between passion and survival, describing how hardship can sometimes point us away from misaligned paths. “If you find it’s constantly hurting you… that’s telling you something. That’s telling you that you’re going outside of your purpose.”
Marcel’s path hasn’t been without detours. A promising athlete in his youth, he recalled, “Early on in my career, I was still doing sports… I was good… I had a scholarship.” An injury changed everything. “My femur broke. Hence why I always say, you know, I’m gonna keep you hip like a femur.” After the injury, he pivoted to explore other careers, including teaching and corporate jobs.
“It just did not get me—even with any success that happened in anything—those times, back then, I was so unhappy. And you know, to a different degree. Like not just like, ‘I really want to be a singer so that’s why I’m unhappy.’ Nah, it was like, it was not fulfilling me in any form or fashion.”
On Connection Between Pursuing Music & Fatherhood
He recalled performing old-school songs at age 12 to impress girls, then his father challenged him: “You can lie to these girls all you want, but you're really just lying to yourself. You ain't growing.” That push led him to the piano—and eventually, to his truth. “Music is my love,” Marcel affirmed. “I wouldn’t be a happy husband if I was here trying to do anything else just to appease her [his wife].”
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You Don’t Have To Choose: How Black Women Can Care For Others Without Self-Sacrifice
One of the primary instructions we receive before a flight takes off is to prioritize putting on your life vest first if there’s an emergency, even before assisting others. It’s funny how this rule rarely translates to the daily routine of women.
As women we are taught, directly and indirectly, to put others first. Whether it’s our romantic partners, kids, parents, friends, or even our jobs. Mental health survivor and founder of Sista Afya Community Care, Camesha Jones-Brandon is challenging that narrative by using her platform to advocate for Black women and their right to self-care.
Camesha created the organization after her struggles with mental health and the lack of community she experienced. The Chicago native explains how she created Sista Afya to be rooted in “culturally grounded care.”
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“So at my organization, Sista Afya Community Care, we focus on providing mental health care through a cultural and gender lens,” she tells xoNecole. “So when we think about the term intersectionality, coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw, we think about the multiple identities that lead to certain experiences and outcomes as it relates to Black women.
“So in the context of culturally grounded care, being aware of the cultural history, the cultural values, and then also the current issues that impact mental health outcomes.”
Words like “strong” and “independent” have long been associated with Black women for some time and many of us have begun to embrace the soft life and are using rest as a form of resistance. However, some of us still struggle with putting ourselves first and overall shedding the tainted image of the “strong, Black woman” that had been forced on us.
Camesha shares that while there’s more and more communities being created around empowerment and shared interests like running, she still questions, “are Black women really comfortable with being vulnerable about sharing their experiences?”
Being vulnerable with ourselves and others play an important role in healing the instinctive nature of always being “on” for everyone. “I'm currently facilitating a group on high functioning depression, and yesterday, we talked about how when Black women may be struggling or have shared their concerns with other people. They may be minimized, or they're told to just be strong, or it's not so bad, or I went through something worse back in Jim Crow era, so you should be thankful,” she explains.
“So I think there's a challenge with Black women being able to be honest, to be vulnerable and to receive the support that they need in the same capacity as how much they give support to other people. So that is probably a very common theme. I think we've made a lot of progress when we talk about the superwoman syndrome, the mammy stereotype, the working hard stereotype, the nurturing stereotype. I think we're beginning to unpack those things, but I still see that we have definitely a long way to go in that area.”
I think there's a challenge with Black women being able to be honest, to be vulnerable and to receive the support that they need in the same capacity as how much they give support to other people.
Roman Samborskyi/ Shutterstock
While we’re unpacking those things, we know that we’re still women at the end of the day. So as we continue to serve in various roles like mothers, daughters, sisters, and caretakers, we have to make caring for ourselves a priority. Camesha reveals four ways we can still care for others without abandoning ourselves.
Trust
First things first, trust. Camesha explains, “Some of the burdens that Black women have can be linked to not feeling like you can trust people to carry the load with you.
“It's hard because people experience trauma or being let down or different experiences, but one of the things that I found personally is the more that I'm able to practice trust, the more I'm able to get my needs met. Then, to also show up as my best to care for other Black women.”
Know Your Limitations
Another thing Camesha highlighted is Black women knowing their limitations. “The other thing that I would like to bring up in terms of a way to care for yourself is to really know your limitations, or know how much you can give and what you need to receive,” she says.
“So often, what I see with Black women is giving, giving, giving, giving, giving to the point that you're not feeling well, and then not receiving what you need in return to be able to feel well and whole individually. So I really think it's important to know your limitations and know your capacity and to identify what it is that you need to be well.”
Don’t Take On A Lot Of Responsibilities
Next on the list is not taking on so many responsibilities, sharing herself as an example. “The other thing is taking on too much responsibility, especially in a time of vulnerability.
“One thing that I personally struggled with was being so passionate about community mental health for Black women, and saying yes to everything and taking on so much responsibility,” she reveals. “That affected me to do well in serving Black women and then also impacting my own well being.”
Practice Self-Care
Lastly, she notes the importance of practicing self-care. “The last thing is really practicing regular self care, regular community care, so that it's embedded into your daily life. So for me, having prepared meals, going to the gym, getting eight hours of sleep, spending time with friends and family, all of those things are part of my self care that keep me at my best,” she explains.
“Then community care, leaning into social networks or social groups, or spending time with other interests or hobbies. That's a part of my community care that keeps me going, so that I can take care of my needs, but also to be able to show up best in care for others.”
Find out more about Camesha and Sista Afya Community Care at communitycare.sistaafya.com.
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