Saturday, December 25, 2010

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Week-52--5-Ways-to-Redefine-Success-in-the-New-Year.html?soid=1101915620165&aid=w4HTYRbW0Iw

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Week-52--5-Ways-to-Redefine-Success-in-the-New-Year.html?soid=1101915620165&aid=w4HTYRbW0Iw

I absolutely love this lady and I thought you all would get something from this.

Happy Holidays!!!

Monday, November 8, 2010

"Its Not About Where You Start, Its Where you End Up and How You Got There"

I heard Lou Holt say this at the "Get Motivated" Seminar this past week and it really struck a nerve with me. My mind immediaely went back to many of the negative things I heard growing up. Now, let me just say, I had a pretty good home life growing up. I was raised by my grandparents and in the church. We (my cousin and I) were provided with a lot of love and material things. But growing up with very strict, santified grandparents, sometimes understanding was not there. So going through life as a kid, then a teenager was hard for me. I liked boys, I wanted to go on dates, to dances, football games, etc. But I couldnt because "saved kids dont do those wordly things". When I had certain feelings or questions, I was automatically doomed to hell cause "good saved little girls weren't supposed to feel like that".

From there, I started hearing members of my family say. "Ya'll watch Sylvia, she's fast". Someone even told me when I was around 14, "Girl, you aint gonna never be nothing in life, all you think about is boys!" I heard all kinds of stuff. Well, I did go on to grow up and rebel. I wanted to be normal. I couldnt talk to anyone who would take time to understand. All everyone around me understood was church. That was it. Peroid. Case closed. Thats all they wanted to uunderstand.So I was looked at as this fast, disobedient, hard headed black sheep of a teenager. A few other things stemmed from that could have easiy negatively affected me even now but......ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!!!!!!

I am now 32 years old, happliy married and a mother to the 3 most beautiful little girls I have ever seen. With the help of God, day by day I am accomplishing goal after goal on the way to fulfilling my dreams. So far,I have been to 4 places on my bucket list of places to travel to, I've begun exposing my children to new cultures and places, my family and I moved to Atlanta to change our lives and advance in my career (one of my biggest and scariest goals ever!!) I have recieved my cosmetology license, finshed school in pursuit of recieveing my cosmetology educators license (should know if I am actually licensed tomorrow...please pray) and now I'm working on finishing my Bachelor of Business Administration ( I have 9 more classes left!!!)and I have so much more to go!!

The point is, I am living my life and living my dreams and though nothing is always perfect, I am happier than I have ever been and I'm not even through!! The sky is truly the limit!!!

Some may look at where you are now; maybe youre depressed or divorced, or maybe you had a hard childhood, an abusive mother or father,an abusive husband or boyfriend, maybe you had a child or children early in life...regardless, it doesnt matter. Your beginning circumstances mean NOTHING. You decide what you want out of your life. You are responsible for your own dreams. Dont give the past power over you! Dont allow sexual abuse, rejection, lack, etc take over your life! God is the author and finisher of you and if your past circumstances were created to finish you off, then why did God allow you to still be here?

Until next time!!

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Development........

Hello Everyone!!

I know it has been a while since I have posted last and I apologize. God has taken me to some different levels in my life, and while going through these various stages, I felt it best to be quiet because my words would be much more effective once I came into a better understanding. So, here I am.............

This brings me to the subject I chose for this entry. Development.This word is a lot more powerful than it sounds because if we let this happen in our lives, we can go places we have only dreamed about. (As I write this, my hands are shaking and stomach is turning flips.) This is where I feel I am in my life. God is developing me into all the things I have asked him to make me. Webster's definition of development is: "To lay open or unfold by degrees or in detail; disclose; reveal. 2. TO OPEN UP AND EXPAND THE POSSIBILITIES OF."
Did yall catch that last part? Really? To open up and expand the possibilities of!!!!!!!!! That gave me chills!!! Lets explore this a little deeper:

The development of a baby to adulthood
When a baby is born, he cannot feed himself, he cannot clothe himself, he doesn't even look like what he will become! The baby has to go through several transitions before he becomes an adult. He has to be taught, he has to grow, his food changes from milk to meat, his body changes, his mind changes, his face changes, his heart is broken.......but one day, he is a man! Are these transitions easy? No! But he becomes a man!

The development of a caterpillar to a butterfly
The caterpillar starts off as a (yuck) worm (with a bizillion legs). But, it at some point, builds a cocoon, stores itself away in it for two weeks (sometimes longer) and comes out as a beautiful colorful butterfly!

The development of a architectural drawing, into an actual building
The architect has an idea, sketches it out, sometimes dozens of times until he is satisfied, he builds a small model of the structure and then presents it to the client(s), after given the okay, a building team has to be hired to make the architect's model a reality. After months and months of building, inspections, weather delays, etc, the structure is finally complete!

I gave these examples to say that development is a process. It is not something that happens overnight and it is never easy!! Look at your development from childhood to adulthood. Was it easy? The body changes, the heart breaks, the feelings of inadequacy, dealing with your parents!!!!! But what? You are now a beautiful adult! Yes, you are still developing but, the childhood thing is over and now you are on to bigger and better ventures in life. Development is actually a process that continues even after success is reached! And if you continue to open yourself to development, you will break boundary after boundary. Thats the thing I love about development, as long as we allow ourselves to be developed, we can only grow and improve. We can only get better!We will not fall into the trap of mediocrity, constantly finding ourselves falling into the same trap over and over again. The key is allowing yourself to develop.As I stated earlier, development is not easy. In order to get better, sometimes you have to do some things you do not want to do. Sometimes, you have to humble yourself and put yourself in a position to serve, learn and follow. If you cannot do these things, you will never be a successful leader. I enjoy using Sean Combs (P. Diddy) as an example of this. He started out working for free at New York's Uptown Records so that he could learn the business of marketing and music promotion. His job as an intern began with running lunch errands, getting coffee and the like. He didnt come right in marketing and planning huge events. But through hard work, dedication and allowing himself to be developed, he soon became one the top executives of uptown! And I think we all know his stats today. But he first had to put himself in a position to be developed. Need less to say, the person with big dreams and aspirations must own the quality of humility. This has to be recognized and put into effect before anything can be accomplished.

In my closing of this entry, I want to say that I am so thankful to see this happening in my life and I am also thankful to God for helping me to realize whats going on. Many of you are going through the same thing. Youre wondering why your dreams are taking so long to be realized. Youre wondering why everything you do seems to fail. Youre wondering why you feel as though you are at a standstill. My advice? Keep praying! Keep dreaming your dreams and desiring your desires! Stay humble and keep your faith. Last but not least, keep God first in your life and make Him your top priority. Psalms 37:4 says to "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart."Because the caterpillar allowed himself to develop in his cocoon, he no longer has to crawl around on the ground, now he can fly!!!!!


I hope this helps someone!!

Saturday, May 1, 2010

My New Quest!!

Hello Ladies!!

I just thought would share with you all my newest quest. What is it? Weight loss. Yep. Weight loss! This is a big deal for me because commitment is something I have never been good at. But I am starting to see that when a person wans something bad enough, they go for it! So here I am!!

So I started at the end of Feb and I can honestly say that I have successfully managed to lose 11 pounds! Now, the reason I decided to include this in my blog is because I know losing weight is NOT easy!! Yet there are so many of us beautiful women who desire to do so! Day in and day out we read, hear and see secrets and miracle potions promising weight loss. So many pills, plans and celebrities telling us this and that! We dont know what to do!! Then there are the expensive meal plans and equipment. But what do those of us do that dont want to do all that? What do those of us do that cant afford all that? What about motivation? Where do we turn to get strength when we need it? These were some of the quetions I had. And until I just buckled down and decided to do this, I was just wishing and making statements without actually doing anything. Well, if yall have read any of my previous entries you know how I am about going after what I want and this is no different. Nothing really worth having comes easy so we have to do what we have to do!

With that being said, I am and will be posting all the help I can give on this weight loss thing. I will share all the tidbits I learn along the way so that we all can be the women we want to be!
So before I say goodbye for now I would like to share the things that have helped me lose so far.

1. Exercising at least 3 times a week. (walking fast, running or a mixture of both)
2. Eating a lot of fiber!!
3. Eating under 1500 calories a day
4. Taking "Be Hot". This is a supplement from GNC. It makes you burn more calories before and after you exercise!!! It really works!!!!!!!

These are some powerful tips yall! Yall just dont know whast they have done for me!!
Accomplishing this has also helped me to realize my pwer on other things I want in my life. Its amazing how accomplishing small goals can make you feel like you can do anything!

So ladies, I have 36 more pounds to go! I can do this and so can you ladies if it is your desire!

Love yall!!

Monday, March 22, 2010

Good day ladies!!



This post is dedicated to the ladies! As you all know I take my blog ideas from everyday experiences and from issues I or my fellow ladies deal with. One I have been REALLY getting a lot of lately is the inability of many women to put themselves on the front burner. (incuding myself)



Many of us ladies wear a ton of hats. We are lawyers, doctors, nurses, housekeepers, psychiatrists, etc----all before we ever leave the house!! Let alone having outside careers an being girlfriends, daughters, sisters, aunts, etc,etc,etc. Whew!!! Its tiring to just name all the roles we play, let alone what we actually do! Its interesting to me though how we can do and be all these things and not feel deservant of our own TLC!



We all experience this, i.e. feeling guilty when you buy yourself something nice, not taking or making the time to go to the salon (let alone the spa), turning down girlfriend get aways because you cant get away even though you have a perfectly capable man at home (or a perfectly capable mother, aunt, sister, need I go on?). While our families and careers are terribly important , we need to understand that we cannot be the best if we dont take time for ourselves. All the magazines we read aren't teaching us ways to "beat stress" for nothing!



Stress is the leading cause of many ailments women face daily ( headaches, migranes, hair loss, overeating, heart conditions, heavy periods, etc). In order to be our best selves we just have to put ourselves first sometimes. And you cant leave it up to your family or your job to allow you time. Sometimes you have to take it! The importanat thing is make time for yourself and if you dont see how that can be possible, think of all the times you have had to make time for a family member, a child or think of those times you had to go to work during your off time. You had to make time then, so do the same for yourself. Aren't you worth it?



Great ideas for pampering yourself :



- get a manicure or refill during your lunchbreak

- check into a great hotel solo that boasts a great spa and enjoy ALL hotel amenities

- send everybody away and indulge in a fragrant and relaxing bubble bath

-have a girlfriend night! The best rest and relaxation is sometimes gotten in the company of your best girls! (Not to mention free therapy!) Order some home pedicures, pop the cork and have a blast!

- go to websites like honeycat.com and lush.com to get some great "pamper yourself" products (these are 2 of my favorite sites)

Create your own ides and take pride in showing love and appreciation for yourself. If you dont show love and appreciation for yourself, how can you expect others to?

Until next time ladies!!

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

A Little Down in Your Spirit?

Hello All!

So right now, I'm feeling a little down. I am feeling like I am not up to par with where I should be. I am feeling unorganized and out of sorts. (Mind you, I realize that this isnt my normal kind of enry but I somehow felt the need to come this way today, so bear with me.) In the midst of my feeling this way, I am wondering what lesson I am supposed to learn from this.

Well, I am always disappointed in myself when I let life TEMPORARILY get the better of me but let me say this: Its ok to feel bad sometimes. Being human means we are not always gonna be happy and upbeat, its just a fact. But it is in times like this that we must go into a deep mode of thought. While in this mode, we need to not only figure out the problem but the answer to it. We must also think about GOD and His word. In these times we need to fall on the promises of God. He has promised "never to leave or forsake us". He has also promised to be "an ever-present help in our time of need." David said in Psalms 23 that, " The Lord is my shepherd and I shall not want." I could go on and on but the bottom line is, no matter where we are in life, our God is there too. Whether its your fault or somebody else's God is there and unlike people, God doesnt leave our side when we mess up or get in messed up predictaments. He is there and will always be there.

So if this blog entry has found you in this state of mind today, please reflect on what I have said and be thankful. Why? Because we can do and overcome anything because of our ever-present God!!!

Be Blessed!!

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Important For Anyone with a Vison!!!

"Write the vision
And make it plain on tablets,
That he may run who reads it

For the visionis yet for an
appointed time:
But at the end it will speak, and
it will not lie.
Though it tarries, wait for it;
Because it will surely come,
It will not tarry.

Habakkuk 2:2-3

Monday, January 11, 2010

Have You Forgotten?

I love listening to other ladies talk. As strange as it sounds, I love when a bunch of ladies sit around and vent. Believe it or not, it is a sort of therapy to just..........get it all out. You would also be suprised at what we learn from each other when we just.........talk.

It was during one of these times, that I heard a very driven young woman talk about why she stopped doing hair. You see, doing hair is her absolute passion. She usually cant speak a single sentence without bringing up something concerning hair. As talented as she is, she said that she will "no longer be a hairdresser". When asked why, her first answer was that it was too stressful, then she said her money was never steady. I knew that if she kept talking she would give us the real reason, which..........she did. "Ya'll, lately nothing has gone right. People have been complaining, new things are coming out everyday, my confidence is off, I just cant do it anymore!"She was overwhelmed! Circumstances rattled her confidence and she allowed her dip in her confidence to take her eyes off of her vision and down to her problems.

This scenario reminds me of the bible story where Peter attemted to walk on water to Jesus ( Matthew 14:24-33). His vision was to walk on water to Jesus but as he walked, he lost focus on his vision and began to focus on the winds and the storms. As he lost his focus, he began to sink! But my favorite part of the story is the fact that Peter wasnt afraid to yell out "Lord, save me!" The very moment Peter yelled for Christ, was the very moment Christ saved him from drowning! The whole act was of faith to begin with! The very act of walking on water was unheard of! But Peter's faith and fixation on Jesus made it possible! As long as his eye was focused on Jesus he walked but the very moment a distraction came, he lost focus! Jesus made everything possible from the time he stepped out of the boat but he breifly "forgot".

Have you forgotten? Have stressful times taken your focus? A dip in sales? No previous successes? Somebody told you you couldnt or that you were not worthy? Has your self-esteem taken a beating? Please. Dont for get where you are going and who is getting you there! And dont be afraid to YELL out for help!! He is waiting to help you!! He is waiting to pull you up and out and calm your storm.

This is 2010 yall! The Lord didnt bring us this far to leave us now!! We can have it becuase God told us it is ours!!! Don't let any body's mouth, fear, low self- esteem, lack of money, ..........Don't let any of these things stop you this year! Yell out to your Saviour to help you and He will!

To the best year yet!!!!