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We must do more than think pink this October.  The statistics can be very disheartening, while Black women are less likely to get breast cancer; they’re more likely to die from it. Obesity is the second leading contributing factor after tobacco. Some studies showed that women of 40 don’t even remember when their last mammogram was.  Some experts are now recommending women have their first mammogram before 40 and possibly as early as 33 this according to a recent study published in the Journal of American College of Surgeons. To find a center near you please visit Cancer.org.  If you haven’t schedule your first or next mammogram please take time to do so. 

Some small things that will help you stay healthy; walking one to two hours weekly cuts your breast cancer risk by 18 to 20 percent.  Eating smart, research shows that that the greater variety of fruits and vegetables you eat, the more phytonutrients you consume.  Remember to do monthly breast exams, for more information on this please visit ww5.komen.org.  For more information regarding Breast Cancer please visit www.BCRFCURE.ORG.

Cheers to staying healthy!

I  have come to see that loss, pain and sadness are as natural and important to our lives as are the rewards and the times of unthinkable joy!  But somehow we come to adulthood expecting painless deliverance or supernatural intervention as if someone will just appear and save us from ourselves and life.  Not!

It would be wonderful if we could snap our fingers and make everything challenging go away.  Who among us wouldn’t have chased the storms away with a word or blink of an eye?  The reality is that’s just not how things go!  We have to have a plan.  We have to do the work.  Now, here is the good news:  For every problem in our lives, there’s a solution.  We are the most powerful tool we have.  My example is that every week when I sit down to write my blog, it usually comes from the week I have had, something that happened that touched my spirit or maybe just one of my life experiences or just life.  Writing is my tool and way to my understanding, love & faith.  Without writing I don’t know what I would do or be at this point in my life.

Like many of you, I live in a world filled with heavy responsibilities: my family, work, travel, dear friends (I have a few ride or die), caring for myself, my Christian walk, because without him there would be no me, and let me not forget the major task of keeping my finances straight.  And while all these things are happening in my World I am still trying to find a way to make a difference in the lives of others.  We must give back or we cannot and will not be blessed.  The one thing I know is we must trust life, to renew our faith each moment, knowing that the loving and wise spirit within us, surrounding and sustaining us, is calling within us to be better and wiser.

Each day I am learning more how to trust the flow of life, to lean into the sharp points, relaxing into them, inviting them to poke me, and to see what they have come to teach me before they wound me, which is what we do to ourselves when we don’t listen, when we ignore all warning signs of the first poke.  Regardless of our insecurities, and hard lessons, remember there is always love!  Love wisely, love hard!  Cheers!

So many of us are on a mission to recover the part of ourselves we feel we’ve lost, or think we lost.  We want to reclaim our power, our passion, our purpose and, most of all our “joy”.  At times we find ourselves searching and wondering what happened.  We really want to find again the dreams we seem to have laid aside, and we want to feel the sureness of our earlier conviction.

Many times in society we are devalued and our voices dismissed, this can have tremendous impact on our confidence and self-esteem.  Through social policies and in popular culture, in the workplace and often in our communities we are treated with condescension and made to feel inferior.  In some ways this has hurt all women.  The World in which we live is in chaos, out of balance, in part because nothing can work well when half of humanity lives at half measure.  Despite this we are moving towards something new, and we want to have control of our lives and life decisions that impact us and our families. We must remember new ideas shake up things! 

Within us lives intelligence, intuition, creativity and the compassion of our heart.  We long to have love, peace and all the joy we can stand.  The legacy that our name carries is worth the pain of shaking things up in life.  Resisting life, not being who you are, not living what you know is far more painful.  We must release our fear; fear restricts the flow of life.  It can make us depressed and ill.  Faith is the counterbalance to fear.

We speak about faith, and now we must act on it.  Imagine the life you want, the life that does not say “getting by is good enough”.  Our soul seeks peace, balance, and true self-expression.  It should push us to reevaluate our dream, desires, our power and potential should force us to a magnificent, soul-satisfying life that we create and enjoy!  All that you need begins with you.  The life you desire awaits you.  It’s time to shake off the dust of limited thinking and step into our purpose.  Cheers!

Apologies are less about hearing the words “I’m sorry” than making sure someone understands the impact his or her actions.  Before you say anything acknowledge that the other person may not have meant to hurt or upset you.  If you are carrying some responsibility however small, that will put you in a better frame of mind when you approach the other person.

Email is off-limits if you are offering an apology; you should arrange a time for a real conversation, ideally in person, and if that’s absolutely not possible, over the phone.  As with most sticky subjects and situations, you want to avoid the word “you” in favor of “I”.

Remember that you may not hear the magic words “I’m sorry”.  And that’s okay.  Because what all of us really want in these situations is to be heard and understood and to close the conversation with some sort of plan for not repeating the incident or situation.  Cheers!