During this time of year, many of us spend our days counting down to the end of the year with a myriad of thoughts about what “could have been.” You know how it goes: the blaring reminders on TV, radio, and even at holiday parties that you’re single, couldn’t afford the best gifts or the pricey plane tickets to fly across country to be with family.

What I’ve learned over the years is that no matter who is not there, what money we may not have, or how far away our families may be, there’s something bigger that we can always rely on to give us the love we all desire.

There are many clichés about the holidays and the “real reason for the season,” but in its truest essence, God’s greatest gift to us is the unconditional love that remains available every day of the year. God’s love for us is real, tangible, and  everywhere we go. He tells us in Romans 8:37-39:

Yet amid all these things, we are more than conquerors and gain a surpassing victory through Him Who loved us.  For I am persuaded beyond doubt (am sure) that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things impending and threatening nor things to come, nor powers, Nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  How great His love is for us! It surpasses all heartbreak and deficits that we have encountered throughout the year.

Don’t have that special someone to shower with love and gifts? Consider showing love to those in need who aren’t as fortunate as you.  Money is tight and can’t give gifts? Bake some cookies or other sweets, bag them up, and share with friends and family!  Can’t get home for the holidays?  Use Skype to see the bright and shining faces of those you love!

A shift in perspective keeps the most perfect love of all at the forefront and teaches us to lean on the blessings we have. Enjoy the holidays and feel the love from the one who sacrificed the most for us!  Cheers.

Everyday should be a day where we pause to give thanks and enjoy the gift of giving,nhanging out with family, and our friends.  During this season of giving thanks and giving to love ones, I wanted to take another moment to share some of the things I am most thankful for.  I realize the reason for the season is not about what gift I can give and Santa but the birth of “my” savior.  I never want to lose sight of that because I realize that everything I have belongs to him and that I am nothing without him.  For that I am SO grateful!

1. Family/friends

I am very thankful to share the holiday season with my husband and our children, my dear mother and sister and of course my nephew and only niece.  This year despite wanting to spend the Christmas holiday someplace warm we have
decided to stay put and take a New Year’s get-a-way if schedules allow. Needless to say I will enjoy this year’s season shopping, eating and catching up with my closet friend and sharing love. I am naturally a giver but I am very glad that
I realize that all gifts don’t cost money such as love, grace & mercy!  I would take those three things over anything money can buy, how about you?

2. Health

Sometimes I play superwoman, against my better judgment.  I don’t always get as much rest as I should, and the inability to slow down has left me super-sick several times.  Last year was filled with many challenges, personal growth, and major life changing decisions, time to sit still and heal in many areas of my life. I am so glad I was blessed to take time to take care of “ME” realizing that if I am un-healthy I am no good to anyone.  I now embrace good health, exercise, healthy eating habits and beauty that is within.

3. Accomplishments

Like many I get so caught up on focusing on what I want to do and haven’t done yet, I forget about all the things that I have. This month as I sat with the vision board and list of resolutions I created earlier this year and circled all the things I had actually done.  I am blessed to have a published book (Sistership) that has been available for over 6 years and doing well, a website (Sistahology.com) doing very good!  I had an opportunity to work on the political front this year and have an impact and bring awareness to issues in the community in which I live.  Turns out, I’m farther along than I thought.  You probably are too!

4. Failures

No one lives a life where “All they do is win”.  We all have ups, and yes, unfortunately downs.  We usually beat ourselves up over them, but there’s another way to look at it.  Failure could be an opportunity to learn a lesson, build our character and try again.   You’re only failing when you fall down and stay down. These are words of wisdom and I
live by these values daily.

5. Self-esteem

I’m a listening ear for lots of people who are trying to work through dilemmas in their personal lives.  The root cause
of so many of them is hurt.  People who build their confidence hurting others, and people who don’t have the confidence to walk away when they encounter the former.  I didn’t always know when to say when, set standards, or identify flags early on.   Now that I can, I’m living a much better life, and very thankful for it.

What are you most thankful for?  What non-monetary gift are you giving during the holiday season?  Cheers

Every crisis is temporary.  No matter what the challenge, God is the answer, No matter what the need, God is the fulfillment.  I promise myself to always remember this, he hasn’t failed me yet!

As I look forward to another birthday, I have grown in so many ways.  I have enjoyed some time off from my daily routine a time to sit still and breathe and deal with matter’s of the heart.  What a blessing that was for me at this stage in my life.

One of the joys of getting older is gaining wisdom and confidence.  I promise myself to be accountable and responsible for who I am and all that I still want to become. I know that no matter how much I grow and accomplish there is always work to be done, and I am not perfect.

I realize life is good everyday that I am blessed to wake up and embrace it!  For that I am so grateful.  Cheers!

Your perception of who you are has a great influence on your emotional and spiritual well-being.  Research shows that we tend to act in harmony with what we perceive ourselves to be.  This simply means you’re not going to liveany better that you believe.  This is why it’s critical to possess a strong sense of self so that you’ll see yourself as empowered and able to be in charge of every area of your life.

Make room for the things you desire and want to achieve.  By preparing yourself and, if necessary, be fearless about taking a path that has been less traveled to achieve.  Don’t let anything stand in your way or compromise the quality of your life and those experiences you what to know.  All things are possible.

Cheers!

As we enter the week of Thanksgiving, we should all look and think back over the last 11 months and take a moment to acknowledge all the things we have to be “Thankful” for.  If you are blessed to read this posting you have been blessed with the gift of life and vision.  For me this has been a trying year in so many ways but I am reminded by the scripture that says “in all thy ways acknowledge him and he will direct my path”.  And I am a witness that the word is right.   I had to really acknowledge the gift of acceptance, and letting go.  I realize that people come in your life for a reason, season or a life time.  And I am very thankful that God blessed me to just “LET GO” of so many people, situations and circumstances, replacing those things with the gift of “I don’t care”.   I can truly testify that I am FREE and it feels SO good. 

A few things I am thankful for, God grace & mercy, good health, family, a few good ride or die friends, love, being in love, being loved by others, peace, and all the joy God has allowed me to experience in my life.  Fully realizing that I could be homeless, jobless, loveless, friendless, lifeless, but, all I can do is think about God Grace………. And when I go there I am completely satisfied.  I realize I don’t have to chase love, chase friends or family, I am not chasing anything but my spiritual life and the opportunity to get it right and keep it right.

I ask that you take some time today in stillness and record at least 5 things you are thankful for, and give thanks today and every day for all things.  If the things you are chasing are not bringing you love, joy & peace, stop chasing.  I pray you & your family embrace a blessed Thanksgiving Season.  Cheers!

It’s not always easy to face ourselves and the unwise choices we have made along the way.  At times I still resist.  But not facing what is hurting us doesn’t diminish the pain.  I have not always had the strength to face my own troubles.  There are many days when I think about the bad choices I made.  But, I am always reminded of God’s grace & mercy.  The lessons I have learned regarding choices that I have made in my life is that we are all allowed to make bad choices and mistakes the real problems is when we don’t learn from those bad choices and mistakes.  No one is perfect.  When I have found myself at this place in my life I have one prayer and that is “God don’t let me make the same mistake again and let me learn the lesson you wanted me to”. 

Often we keep our mistakes in life a secret because we fear being judge or abandoned or fear losing love.  We must get to a place of being thankful for who we are and who we are destined to become. 

Remember no matter how difficult the situation, our question must always be:  What has this issue come to teach me?  Whatever is happening to us at this moment is a potential source of wisdom, sent to wake us and remind us that our power is equal to every moment.  To live from a place of serenity requires total trust in our higher power; it’s that walk-on-water type of faith and belief in self love.  Cheers!

At times weall feel like weary travelers unsure of which way to turn.  The road to the summit isn’t straight and smooth.  It twists and changes course, with unpredictable events around each bend. Not every wanderer is lost.

If we haveunwavering faith moving steadily towards our intentions, all that threatens us along the way will go into hiding or be revealed as the imposters they are.  And trust me there are a lot of imposters out there. That’s because faith insists that we stop casting ourselves in the role of victim.  It reminds us who we are and what we came here to do.  We have to stop giving our power away.

Sometimes we get alienated from this inner power and trust.  I’ve sometime wandered off course, unsure of my place, feeling stressed, and depressed. At these times I remember this: Everything in our life can be a pathway to God. We have to trust life, trust each moment, trust ourselves.  I know now that each wandering experience was a necessary one.  I needed to examine my life more deeply until the inner roadblocks, my fears, my hurts, the strain of not following my heart suddenly became illuminating.  The way to clarity and healing is to ask ourselves at each step, is my energy aligned with my intention? Am I placing my feet along the right road?

Trust your heart and keep stepping, and know that the best is yet to come.  Cheers!

When you’re on a mission of value, God gives you a special blessing.  You are divinely guided.  You are surrounded by a high power at the highest spiritual level, it protect and guides you.  It disarms any enemy and attracts all you need to be successful.  Have a mission of value, a mission that serves others, one that adds love and light to life and put that life goal first.

Whatever your aspiration is, ask yourself, Is this something I love doing? Will it benefit others?  When you can answer yes to these two questions, you’ll have found your mission of value, and every obstacle in your path will be cleared.

But, you must do your part.  You’ve got to get up each day with every cell in your body thanking your higher power for your life and your mission.  You’ve got to keep your eye on the prize.  It’s easy to be distracted.  The challenge is to be in it but not of it while remaining focused on fulfilling your mission.

Equally challenging is trying to remember that dysfunctional people bring their pain and dysfunction with them wherever they go.  Aware of this fact you separate the act from the actor, and let no one take you off your path.  They will try.

Passionate and focused, centered in faith and love, serene inside and protected.  This is you, a sistah on the move, a sistah on a mission who can easily brush aside any obstacle to fulfilling the goals you dedicate your life to.

Cheers to your mission!

Every day, do something to simplify your life, and you will be happier, healthier, kinder, a person that lives in the moment and not worrying about the next.

Our hectic lives are calling us to learn how to live more simply while still achieving what we need and desire.  But living simply isn’t easy when we’re addicted to excess, believing more and bigger and faster are better.  There’s no peace in perpetual pursuit, no room to experience the sweetness and joy of living when we’re constantly doing.

Monitor who and what you give your time and attention to.   If you value spiritual growth, family time, building up a savings and staying healthy, then the work you choose to do and how you spend your spare time should support those objectives.  Otherwise you are surely more likely to find yourself in the mall instead of at the gym or evening and weekends working instead of spending time with your family and friends.

Start prioritizing.  Put fewer things on your daily schedule and choose a more realistic time frame for each task.  Believing we must do everything right now puts us under pressure.  By making these adjustments you’ll be less stressed, enjoy life more and complete projects with more time to spare.

When we simplify our lives we become one with time we see clearly which activities we should eliminate, how to do things more efficiently and what can be handled by others.  And we don’t take on a task until we see how it serves our highest purpose.

Remember, every day do something to simplify your life!  Cheers to a better YOU!

No one who has achieved greatness got there by following an easy path laid out by others.  They did it by creating their own vision, destiny and striving to achieve, then surpassed it.

Now that the laid back, chilled moments of summer are behind us, it’s time to do a little bit of hibernating and renew our focus.  During this time think about what you want to accomplish, set clear, realistic goals, and then take steps towards your goals every day.

YOU are standing on the foundation of something spectacular!  Cheers.