Independence....

I got up this morning feeling disheveled as I sometimes do in the morning. I stumbled out of bed to go to the bathroom. I came out of the bathroom still feeling stunted from sleeping so late and I walked into the second bedroom and laid in the bed with my hubby and doggie....all of us still wanting to go back to sleep. A few moments later, I got up, leaving my two guys and went downstairs to make a cup of tea. I opened the blinds in the living room, the curtains in the kitchen and I got my cup to make some tea. I opened a pack of my famous organo gold ganoderma green tea (the best tea around), and I dunked my tea bag in the water as I walked over to turn on my lap top. While I waited for my laptop to boot, I sat at my desk looking out our large sized bay window and the sun is shining. I steered at the blue sky and trees slowly swaying in the wind and I started to feel awake. Slowly I started feeling all the parts of my body coming together, transitioning from sleepy to awake.

With each sip of tea I felt better and more awake. Suddenly my stomach started growling and my mind immediately reverted to the hamburger and bbq wings in the refrigerator left over from yesterday's bbq at my friend Kim's house. I was all set to eat but then I realized that I didn't take my probiotic formula that my holistic dr has prescribed for me. I got up from my chair with some trepidation and took the pill so that I can wait the 15 minutes before I eat. I put my hamburger and wings in the convection oven (we no longer use microwaves...but that's another story) and I went back to my seat and continued sipping my green tea.

As I waited for my 4th of July kibbles to be warmed, I logged in to my favorite site facebook (of which I've renamed narcisistbook). I read all the status updates, checking out all the people who are giving you minute to minute updates of what they are thinking, where they are going and what they are doing. As much as I talk about it, i'm just as addicted as the posters. As I scroll down and look at pictures, and read the updates, I feel like a pervert looking at porn, but I can't stop myself....it's addicting.

Suddenly I heard the "ding" from my convection oven and I looked over at the clock...20 minutes had already zoomed by, i couldn't believe it. I popped out of my seat, took out the food wrapped in a bundle of foil, tranferred the contents on to a plate and put some mustard on my turkey burger. I walked back over to my computer with 4 wingettes and 1 turkey hamburger on my plate...not necessarily your ideal healthy breakfast!. I started to scarf down my burger and went back to narcisistbook...burger in one hand the other hand manuerving the mousepad on my laptop all while filling myself physically and mentally with crap...but isn't it sometimes nice to eat and surf mindlessly on the internet? :-) Stay with me people, I'm going to make a point.

As I continued to surf, my bright yellow dream board called me. I looked over to my right at my vision board of all the things I want to accomplish in my life and suddenly I felt nauseous! I wanted to vomit all the unhealthy food I just ate and I wanted to shut down narcisistbook. I stopped everything I was doing and I looked over at my board, the places I want to go, things I want to own, things I want to accomplish and my guilt took over. I looked at the big red X on the top right of my narcicistbook page and clicked on it with the mouse....in light speed the page was gone. I promised myself I would workout for at least 1 hour and I got up and emptied half a container of blue berries in a cup, washed them off and chased the unhealthy foods with something healthy. I decided that for the rest of the day I was going to do positive things toward my life goals.

What i learned today? When we surround ourselves with positive messages and influences, we find that we become more aware of our actions, more aware of the time we waste and more aware of what we are doing to our bodies. Most of us are not equipped with mentors in our lives who are constantly there to lead us in the right direction, but if we use pictures, positive affirmations, goal setting, positive books and dvd's we will find that those methods help us just as much as a physical person would. Write notes all around your home as constant positive reminders. Write them in your car, in your house, at your job and one day you will see a miraculous change in your life. When we have been conditioned to think a certain way for years, it's very hard to break bad habits, but if we keep those constant reminders around us, it's amazing how a daily mental shift can have long lasting positive results.

Tomorrow is Monday, July 6, the start of a new week. Don't wait for the start of a new week to make changes, start now and set your week off right. There is no better time than the present. If you've been wanting to workout, get up, get dressed and go workout. If you've been wanting to travel, go research destinations, if you want to save, start working on a budget to save....your dreams start with action and action is right now.

Stay focused on your dreams because without dreams, our lives can easily become a day to day mindless bundle of just existing.

BE blessed.

Effort

This morning I heard something on the radio that was very powerful and I thought I would share it with you all.

Many of us claim we want to be successful, yet we put in very little effort in the things we do. We often look at ourselves and compare ourselves to others wondering why we are not where we want to be or why we are not doing as much as the other person, could it be that we are lacking effort? When I say effort, meaning putting all we have into our dreams on a daily basis. Sometimes we focus on things that matter least and put very little effort in the things that matter most or should matter most to us.

If Success was easy, every person you meet would be successful...with success comes very hard work and EFFORT! If you are unhappy with where you are, start by looking at your present situation and asking yourself...is this something I want to put in maximum effort on a daily basis? Is this something that makes me happy or passionate? If it's not, effort will come very hard.

When you wake up in the morning, to be truly successful you have to walk out of your door with excitement or attack what you're doing with excitement to maximize your success. When you go to bed at night, you should be exhausted from maximizing your effort on your success.

Success to everyone is different. It doesn't have to mean you are making a million dollars a year b/c money doesn't always define success. However, happiness, joy, fulfillment, excitement, enjoyment in the things you do is want makes a person want to maximize their effort.

So I ask you today....are you putting maximum effort into your daily life or are you just existing, putting in very little effort and getting back very little results?

Life gives you back what you put into it!

A new year is dawning

I've been encouraged by many to start a blog. Blogs are a great way to share with the people you care about and anyone who just wants to receive and share information. I hope this blog will serve as inspiration and enlightenment to whomever that reads it. I hope and pray that 2009 will be a year of great prosperity for everyone.

As we draw closer to 2009, I wanted to reflect back on 2008 a bit.

The presidential election was one of the most exciting times in history. For the first time ever (in my lifetime), I saw people of all ethnicities coming together for a common goal and the result is we now have an African American as our President...President Barack Obama! Even more, the power that Mrs. Michelle Obama and their children will bring to the white house is priceless! I feel so blessed and fortunate to experience a time like this in our history. This occurrence alone makes 2008 one of the best years in our lifetime! Sure there were hard times, the economy sucks and people are losing their jobs. The good news...those things are cyclical and temporary and I have no doubt the market will bounce back. However, a Black man becoming president is something we will all cherish for a lifetime!

Many of us have also experienced personal tragedies, losses and upsets and many of us have seen a year filled with hope, promise and prosperity, this is the natural rotation of life and we ALL have a balance of good and bad moments. Every year isn't going to be a great year for everyone, but I will say this, your outlook on life determines what kind of year you will have. I like to learn from my experiences and I'm always working on getting better. Every year of my life is cherished because the good and bad make me who i am and I wouldn't want to change that for anything. Every year I try to extend my reach a bit further and challenge myself a bit more. If at any point i failed to accomplish something, I continue to re-evaluate my goals and dreams and carry them over until they are accomplished. Some goals you have to let go and add new ones and some goals will take longer than a year, so be patient with yourself.

Going forward into 2009, it can be a year of prosperity for all if we are willing to stay positive and put in the work it takes to become successful! However, as I've said before, success isn't just material, financial or having what some will consider a "good job." Success has to do more with the energy that you give people, the friends lives that you light up, your willingness to give and help others and the respect and admiration you get from others b/c of the good person that you are.

If you walk around being negative, unpleasant and cutting, it's going to be very hard for people to gravitate toward you. If that is an area you are lacking in, maybe it's something you can work on in the coming year! Success means absolutely nothing if you don't have friends and family that wants to share in your joy. Sometimes it helps to take the focus off of self and put your focus into something of a worthy cause. Recently when I went to New Orleans to volunteer my time, it was one of the most invigorating things I've done in a long time and something i plan to continue to do!

Decide to make 2009 your year. Plan accordingly. Work out a budget and try to stick to it, write out your goals and plans, you will see that writing them and looking at them often will help keep you on track. Wish others well, it only benefits you and remember whatever you put out to others is what you get back. Try not to be too quick to judge because you never know what is behind a person's actions and you never know when you will be in a similar situation. Life has a way of throwing curve balls, so stay humble if you are enjoying a time of good fortune...NOTHING is guaranteed!

With that, I want to wish you and your family a very prosperous, healthy and productive 2009! Celebrate with your loved ones, pray often and have gratitude for all your blessings.

Peace, Love and Blessings!