STOP! LOOK! LISTEN! Revelation, Transformation, Metamorphosis

We all get angry or upset from time to time. Your trigger response to upset can be damaging your health and you may not be aware of it.

Remember the words to the old school tune that went like this, “Your alone all the time, does it ever puzzle you, do you ask why you seem to fall in love and out again, do you ever really love or just pretend, it’s never too late, too late to Stop! Look! Listen to your heart and what it’s saying.”

Well this works in every instance of your life every moment of everyday when the day is leading off a negative direction, you are cranky and your tolerance for drama is nonexistent. A chain of events can start with one incident and your response to it. Once you get and set and go off there is no turning back, you start looking through the lens of negativity at everything, as you move through the moment additional baggage is collected along the way.

It all happens so fast, you begin to sweat, your heart is pumping faster and now something chemical is going on in your body. You reach for caffeine, sugar, or a tobacco because your body is screaming for it.

Stop! Look! Listen! Again now Breathe! Again and again for as long as to takes to gain your composure before you lose your lose your job or damage your relationships maybe hurt someone’s feelings. You know you don’t want to be this way – it is a cycle you have been stuck in for a long time and now it threatens your health.

It does not matter, you could be young or old, rich or old, hot or cold this is the road to ill-health. Your mind says “remember the God in you” and be kind, don’t hurt relationships that you cannot repair. Be kind to yourself and put things into perspective.

Before you abuse yourself and pick a donut, a cigarette or another soda, STOP! Realize the revelation that is in your face at this moment. YOU are in control of your response to everything in your life. You may be taking your life into your hands at this moment! This could be damage that is a “trigger to behavior that will lead you to compound health issues.

Revelation is the process of something being revealed to you – and even if you ignore it – the truth is “in your face” at the moment.

Allow yourself to be “Transformed by what the moment is teaching you, LOOK! at what you are doing to yourself. Take this moment to create a new behavior instead of going into a tailspin like a hurricane uprooting and destroying everything. Allow the punishment to fit the crime by connecting with the part of you that has reasoning and control. In the moment you feel that you cannot the control switch that turns off the anger and frustration spewing forth from you.

Pray! Laugh! Breathe! Repeat your favorite affirmation! Go into another room or outside and breathe! Get your heart rate under control! This could be a life and death situation for you because the way you deal with emotion and the upsets that show up in your life can be killing you. Make this a healing moment that can resolve these upsets so they do not continue to be a repeat performance of the same thing over and over again.

The LISTEN! part means to experience a metamorphosis to a new state of mind. This profound moment of change will be the new behavior you will develop and reduce the damage to you biologically speaking.

It will work if you give it a chance to change how you have programmed yourself to react instead of respond gently to life’s challenges. Remember the acronym “RTM” and you can stop the triggers that may be damaging your health.

Give it a try! You will begin to feel better and have more energy for the things that really matter. I am a living testimony of “RTM” because I love myself and I love my life so I want to be around to enjoy it. I am not ready to be “sick” and “disabled” by my own behavior. If you want your life to work and to feel good everyday make a new choice to STOP! LOOK! AND LISTEN!

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Filtering Life through Substance Abuse

We love, we laugh we sleep
We work, we cry, we eat,
Life is challenging enough just to get through the “everyday” routine and “rhythm” of living with joy and gratitude without filtering life through the use of alcohol and drugs.

Drugs and alcohol seem to cloud and confuse issues and magnifies things to extreme proportions to the point of spiraling out of control. When children are in the picture this makes it even more difficult to put things in perspective.

The recent interview with Whitney Houston on the Oprah Winfrey show revealed some interesting aspects to me about being rich and famous.  I have often wondered how people who have fame and fortune cope with life when they have all the resources available to them.

If they seem depressed, they can get help; If they use drugs or alcohol, they can get help; If they do anything in excess, they can get help…they have resources. Now the privacy thing is another problem because they cannot do anything without it being leaked by some money grubbing nobody in their camp or an aggressive journalist stalking them.

Resources, meaning money and access to whatever they desire to do or see on any given day. When you have “money” the illusion is that all of your problems are solved and life is great.

Recently we have witnessed that even very wealthy people use “pedestrian” methods to cope. Life id challenging no matter how much money you have and how you deal with life on life’s terms determines the outcome.

The number of deaths caused by drug overdose and/or a combination of prescription drugs and over-the-counter drugs is over whelming.  The illusion is that they can afford the best medical care and could be really healthy if they chose to be.

Drugs and alcohol seem to be the coping mechanism for a large majority of people in spite of access to the best care. The antics of Kanye West was, in my opinion fueled by alcohol and probably a few blunts in the limo as a prop to party or to cope with anxiety and depression.  Personally I believe that Kanye is still grieving the loss of his mother and will be grieving for some time. How he grieves is what we witnessed when he jumped up on stage recently after swigging Henny straight from the bottle.

Whitney and Bobby as a couple became a “train wreck” fueled by drugs and alcohol; Michael Jackson’s life was it seems held together with the use of prescription pain medication and drugs that were too powerful for everyday use; Gerald Levert and his brother both used a combination over-the-counter drugs and prescription drugs.

So how does an “ordinary person”  cope with life’s challenges? What is the glue that holds our lives together? What do you do to get through the day or a challenging week? A challenging day? A challenging moment?

When you stay up too late watching cable; eat the wrong foods; try to get the kids off to school; get the laundry done; cook dinner; pack lunches; pay bills with no job; cope with losing your home and your job; fight with your spouse/partner; wonder where you teenagers are after midnight; not want to hear your neighbors fight; have no food in your house; no transportation; not feel like catching the bus or walking; get tired of the media picking apart the President; want your grown ass children to get together; put your husband/man/woman out; stop getting your ass kicked by an abusive partner; get the homework done for yourself and your kids; stop listening to gossip; deal the illness of a parent/spouse/sibling/child; etc, etc etc.

How do you cope: take the poll…

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Change the World, make it a better place – Tribute to MJ

What I remember most about Michael Jackson is that he desired most to “change the world and make it a better place” for everyone!

Through the expression of his gift, the words in his music, the movement of this body, he expressed his love for everyone.  He was and will always be the most talented artist to live in my lifetime.

The media has done a terrible job of sharing information about Michael and the private affairs of his life. The media has sensationalized this story and milked it for all it’s worth by reporting it like gossip instead with taste and accuracy.

Just like the way the media scrutinizes every move The President makes, they have reported on aspect of Michael Jackson’s  life in a negative way, his children, his money, his family, his career and his impact on the world.

They reported and told only half truths. As I surfed through the channels to see what each station was reporting, they all said the same thing over and over again. They interviewed his father and painted a picture of him as a disgruntled old man with a chip on his shoulder as estranged from his whole family, especially MJ.

They asked probing questions about the marriage between Katherine and Joe Jackson; they asked if he beat his children; they wanted to know if he ever saw MJ before he died.  It felt so intrusive and offensive for reporters to ask questions that are clearly no one’s business.

Why does the public have such a fascination with the life of someone after they have died? What do we hope to gain by rummaging through the remains of their life? Does it help us to understand them or why they died?

We could show more love to people when they are still alive and walking among us. Most of the world loves MJ and will defend his honor with great intensity. We would never accept anything negative about Michael, no matter who says it or how they choose to prove it.

No one reported on his skin condition or his real health issues. The focus was an addiction to prescription drugs or stories that sparked more questions about his credibility and stability as a man, an artist and a father.

We may never know what really was going on in MJ’s life. The footage of the upcoming London Tour showed a man of great stamina and focus getting ready to give his fans what they wanted most, “just another part of me” – a line from one of his songs.

I have great respect and admiration for the closeness and connection within his family as they are bound together by the strength of Katherine Jackson. Family values will always be the greatest strength of any family. A family that sticks together is stronger that when they are divided.

Of course there will always be one or two rebellious individuals that will go their own way for their own reasons. Families don’t have to agree on everything to still be a strong unit together and there is no evidence of his family warring against each other.

They protect their privacy as they should – because they are not required to prove anything to the public. Celebrities give us the part of themselves they want to share, I respect that.

This will only the first of many more articles that I plan to write about my favorite artist.

I grew up listening to the words to his songs when the Jackson Five told the story of young love and school-girl crushes.  My very first date was to listen to my “Maybe Tomorrow” album.

Michael Jackson and his musical talent have impacted my life and the lives of my children and now my grand children. They love him almost as much as I do.

The death of Michael has left a hole in my heart that I fill daily with his music, pictures and videos.  Every lyric, every song or expression and of course every movement is so much more significant now.

I am one of those persons that is still feeling the sting of Michael Jackson making his transition. “Gone too soon”, Accident or what?

Every time I think of him, which I do often, I cry because I can still feel him. He is still with us.

We cannot listen to what the media is spinning about Michael. We know him in our hearts and we can feel him in his music.

No matter what anyone says, he is and always be the most phenomenal talent the world has ever seen.

In my attempt to write about Michael Jackson I came across this video. It is hard to let him go. There is so much to say. So much to share.

Check out this video and see how it feels to love MJ. Click on this link! Please

We Can Change the World – Tribute to Michael Joseph Jackson

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It Takes Courage to Raise A Child

Happy Fathers Day

Every Day!

It’s all about Dad it our turn to celebrate the fathers and dads for being so vitally important to the strength and well-being of the family.

Without them we are missing something that cannot be replaced which transcends the boundaries statistical labels and stereotypes.

Today in the African American community the statistics are discouraging about fathers missing in action and also in the household. Family values are implanted through the strength of the father in the family unit.

Thankfully there are many men that do their absolute best when it comes to the being a role model and leader in the family. Not all families resemble a mom and dad living in the same household with their children. Some families are blended, some families live in separate homes and children shuffle back and forth to spend time with both parents.

These are the men that are not always acknowledged for their moral fiber and commitment to demonstrating a work ethic and teaching by example. They remind us that being a good father goes beyond statistics or societal labels.

Some parents can live apart in partnership and work together for the benefit of the child or any children they have. Separation does not have to mean drama and chaos for the children because the most important objective is the well-being of children.

Dad’s are working it out and doing their part to be available by setting up a household that provides the same or similar comforts the child would have at home with mom.

It is everyone’s responsibility to reduce the absence of fathers in the home by being supportive and patient. It takes courage to raise a child for anyone man or woman in these challenging economic times.

The report is spread over the airways that black men are not responsible, have negative attitudes and self destructive behavior.

The Spoken Word Blog;

In the black community, fatherhood is endangered and this crisis is one of the most important issues of this generation.

Unemployment leads to poverty and frustration which can lead to abuse or domestic violence, crime and incarceration. It resembles a domino effect for a child in this cycle which contributes to the struggle of single parent homes.

The statistics state that it is a social crisis in the black community that over fifty percent of households are women.

Not every child fails in a single parent household with an absent father; President Barack Obama stated during his campaign;

“I know what it means to have an absent father, although my circumstances weren’t as tough as they are for many young people today.”  “. . . We must also admit that programs alone can’t replace parents; that government can’t turn off the television and make a child do her homework; that fathers must take more responsibility for providing the love and guidance their children need .”

It takes courage to raise a child to be a father that instills family values positive character and confidence. Fathers show in our lives in our grand fathers, uncles, brothers and extended family members that provide male leadership.

Fathers, keep doing what you do because I am on your side. I raised my children with the help of my family. Their father was around just not in the same household and they all turned out as descent people.

Support is important, so let us all support fathers today and every day. They are a valuable source of strength in our community.

Happy Father’s Day to all dads!

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Judge Sotomayor – Shaped, not Defined by Ethnicity

Of course our heritage shapes our perspective, isn’t that what makes up the diversity of the world?  While skimming through the articles, sound bites and pouty commentary of the “talking heads” of the networks, I see the same scenario that has played out for decades since the origin of government.

A strong confident woman in a profession historically dominated by white males, Judge Sonia Sotomayor is described as domineering, demanding and exacting, with some lawyers over the years criticizing her as outspoken and temperamental on the bench because her demeanor is not the typical description of what role a woman holds in society.

Growing up in the South Bronx to a working class family in the Bronxdale Houses, a massive brick housing project with a diabetic condition requiring her to take insulin injections most of her childhood. What kind of demeanor would you have if your have been taking injections most of your life?

When we picture a housing development or projects as it is called, we imaging run down buildings with dark hallways that smell of urine and inhabited by drug dealing gang members. Most public housing was built in the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s, to provide a decent place to live for the working class family in a community with a sense of pride.

From the projects of the South Bronx to the dormitories of Princeton and Yale Law School is a stark contrast and a world apart, “I have spent my years since Princeton, while at law school and in my various professional jobs, not feeling completely a part of any of the worlds I inhabit.”

Next to her Princeton yearbook photo, she chose a quote from Norman Thomas, a prominent socialist who ran for president six times: “I am not a champion of lost causes, but of causes not yet won.”

Should judges decide cases purely on close readings of facts and law, excluding their own frames of reference?

“Our gender and national origins may and will make a difference in our judging,” Sotomayor told the audience at the University of California at Berkeley that day in October 2001. “Personal experiences affect the facts that judges choose to see. . . . I wonder whether by ignoring our differences as women or men of color we do a disservice both to the law and society.”

Driven by her own ambitions and unexpected great generational timing, Judge Sotomayor represented woman as an accomplished Latina lawyer during a time in our history when bureaucrats sought to diversify the white power structure by promoting more blacks, Latinos and women.

The following are a few comments about Judge Sonia Sotamayor from supporters and critics;

The Manhattan district attorney, Robert M. Morgenthau, who recruited her from Yale Law School, said the comforts of corporate law held no great attraction for her. And Ms. Sotomayor’s lifelong struggle with diabetes lent a sense of urgency.”It made her think, ‘I’m not going to be around forever, I have to keep moving,’ ” Mr. Morgenthau said. “I remember talking with her about how much time each day, about an hour, she spent giving herself shots of insulin.”

And Senator Imhofe (R) is concerned that she may not be able to resist the “undue influence” of her race and gender.  Is it like demon possession or something?  The goblin of Hispanic womanhood threatens to render her a hapless zombie conjuring from the spirit world glamours of quotas, hostile workplaces, and bilingual education.

The argument of conservative legal thinkers is that Sotomayor, is an able lawyer, but not “not that smart and kind of a bully on the bench,” as one former Second Circuit clerk for another judge put it. “She has an inflated opinion of herself, and is domineering during oral arguments, but her questions aren’t penetrating and don’t get to the heart of the issue.”

In 1995, for example, she issued an injunction against Major League Baseball owners, effectively ending a baseball strike that had become the longest work stoppage in professional sports history and had caused the cancellation of the World Series the previous fall. She was widely lauded for saving baseball. Claude Lewis of the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote that by saving the season, Judge Sotomayor joined “the ranks of Joe DiMaggio, Willie Mays, Jackie Robinson and Ted Williams.”

Circuit judge Jose Cabranes, who would later become her colleague, put this point more charitably in a 1995 interview with The New York Times: “She is not intimidated or overwhelmed by the eminence or power or prestige of any party, or indeed of the media.”

Her life story represents the great promise of the American dream –

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What are you doing to prevent teen pregnancy?

Young women are making the choice to become sexually active at an alarming rate and even more disturbing as young as age nine.

We live in a sexually charged society with messages of sexuality threaded into every media outlet possible and what is intended for adult entertainment is viewed by children and teenagers. Children and teens imitate what they see in popular culture.

Family values can have a positive impact on the choices that teens make when it comes to sexual activity.  Decoding the sound-bites and image for teens is important.  Watch what they watch and listen to what they say about it. Don’t think they are not exposed, everyone is exposed.

How can a young person make a decision to not become sexually active when the images they see daily and hear in music, commercials and advertisements say that to be accepted, popular and beautiful you must be sexually attractive?

Puberty is age 7 to 11 when girls and boys are shaking off the identity that has been defined by their connection to parents and family group.  Innocence fades, the magical begins to disappear and they begin to identify with their own responses by the defining themselves through their connection with others outside of the family group.

The magical way that children think up to age seven begin to disappear or overshadowed by the biological changes in the body from puberty to the state adolescence. The old saying in the black community “you are smellin’ yourself” means that you are attempting to act in grown up ways when your are still just a child that does not understand grown up things.

I watch the six-graders on the playground at my grand-daughter’s school kiss, touch and grope each other with not attempt to hide it. They are very interested in sexual activity or at least what they can get away while waiting to be picked up by mom or dad. The parents stop and blow their horn, they seem to be pre-occupied and never notice the huddles in the corner.

We are in a desperate situation with teen pregnancy in the African American community. In a recent article on Black America Web it was stated that the United States has the highest rates of teen pregnancy and birth in the entire developed world and that 3 in 10 girls will get pregnant at least once by age 20?

How man young women do you know personally that has gotten pregnant before their 20^th birthday?

This is everyone’s problem and we all must get involved actively to advocate abstinence and caution. Mothers and fathers need to talk to their teens about the critical time to make the right decision before they have sex. The consequences are too great and when you are caught up in the moment, it is difficult to STOP and consider the consequences.

Information is powerful if you have the right information. This is Teen Pregnancy Prevention month and the end of the academic year just as we go into the summer months, talk to your children about making intelligent choices before they make a mistake.  There are many things to consider, like STD’s, HIV/AIDS, Herpes, Mono and the most severe consequence, an unwanted pregnancy.

Make sure you and your teens have the right information by doing the questions on the web sties dedicated to teen pregnancy prevention.Sit down with your teens and discuss the myths and misconceptions they may have about sex and relationships.

The follow questions are a sample of what is available online;

Myths About Getting Pregnant

MYTH: A girl can’t get pregnant/ a guy can’t get a girl pregnant if:
1.you have sex standing up
2.you have sex in a hot tub or a swimming pool
3.you jump up and down immediately after sex
4.It’s your first time
5.the girl pushes really hard on her belly button after sex;
6.the girl makes herself sneeze for fifteen minutes after sex

Get Serious about discussing the facts and don’t assume that they already.  It is a mistake to allow your teens get their information from misinformed teens like them.

This problem is everyone’s responsibility.

Check out the following web sites for more information.

http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/national/

http://www.seventeen.com/

http://www.stayteen.org/quiz/widget.aspx

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Honoring Mama, Don’t just give lip service, mean it and demonstrate it

“The wind beneath our wings so we can soar the greatest heights of our capability” that is what a mother does. She teaches us to trust our ability not just to fly, to soar!

What are you doing in your life right now this very minute that reflects what you learned from your mother? The values that you live by are the one you learned from whoever raised you.

How did you turn out as a fully functioning adult living, loving and learning making a positive contribution to the world?

Family values will always be the most important to mothers because it determines what kind of citizen did you turned out to be. Mothers want to raise individuals that become great leaders and people that do positive things that leave an impact on the world.

Mothers will always keep the light on for you and pray that you are protected in all things. Where else can you get a warm clean place to sleep with access to cable and the internet not to mention hot meals and free laundry for little or nothing?

It is a mother’s mission in life to provide safety, energy and possibility for her babies, her offspring, her seed and the many other children she nurtures that are not hers.

You are the person that she carried safely in her body and gave birth to; her energy assisted in your arrival to the earth realm because you survived birth; once you are here the possibility of your life and all that you are destined to become is what the journey of motherhood is all about.

Whatever the circumstances may be, your mother provided an opening for your arrival to the life you have inherited or created. You can’t blame anyone for what you are doing or not doing to soar.

What happens between you and your mother is a phenomenon because it is not only through a birth connection that a mother/child relationship develops.

The mother connection in your life can be a surrogate mother figure that could even be your father or another kinship connection. An older sibling, an auntie, grandparent, or a non-related person that gives you advice can act as you mother figure.

If a parent is missing in our lives, we look naturally to others that fill the parental role. We have been taught how to parent ourselves from the parent of a childhood friend or guardian in a foster home. Someone, somewhere in our lives has shown us a parental connection.

The tragedy of not having a mother connection creates a disturbing life crisis and disconnect from family values which for some wreaks havoc on relationships.

Not learning to develop a true connection with your mother gives you no reference to how to create a connection with another person.

How many people have blamed mistakes on their past experiences at the hands of their mother for the acts they commit as adults?

Motherhood is a journey into the unknown realm with no road map and no instructions based on pure faith driven by love and complete devotion.

When you celebrate mothers remember to be forgiving for any mistakes you believe that your mother made. Remember she did her best while she was still growing and becoming a whole person in her own way.

Many mothers today suffer from illness and depression due to self neglect, stress and uncontrollable circumstances. No mother wants to be a burden to her family.

The person that was the backbone of your family that made daily sacrifices for your comfort and well-being may need you now.  Be available, be open, and be honest in honoring your mother.

Don’t just give lip service, mean it and demonstrate it.

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Seven Tips for Making the Best of Being Fired or Laid Off

If you’re sitting at home and feeling like the world is coming to an end because you have been fired, layed-off or squeezed out somehow of the job you were just beginning to sort of like.

It is painful and your ego is bruised so you spend some time feeling sorry for yourself and being angry.  This is not a good time in America to lose your job!

The stories are depressing and is seems that there is no hope for the economy to recover any time soon. This is the time to get creative with the ideas you have been toying with and never had the time to implement.

You are determined to make the best of this opportunity to do what you have always wanted to do which is to start a web site, or write a book, or become an entrepreneur, perhaps even go back to school or enroll in school for the first time in your life.

You have gone over several hundred times questioning how you ended being the one with no job, one paycheck away from being homeless.  Not you! Not you the planner, the insightful one, the one who is disciplined and does everything with purpose.

Well here you are, you can beat yourself up and live in what Iyanla calls “high gear fear” or you can redefine your circumstances and take control of your destiny.

The purpose of this article is to empower you so you will not find anything here about living in fear should you decide to continue reading. If you are saying yes to never being put into this position again of being fired or layed off, you are about to begin a new journey.

Just to get this out of the way, if you have decided or chosen to sleep late and only put in a minimal effort like a few hours a day working on your goals and redefining your life then this is not for you.

Notice I said decided or has chosen to sleep late. Every behavior is a choice or decision consequently if sleeping is more important to you at this point I encourage you to re-evaluate your intentions and your reaction to not having a job.

No disrespect, you are just not ready with that kind of behavior to seriously change your destiny.  It will take some self examination to determine what your response means. Sleeping could be a sign of mild depression.

Given that possibility or that you finally want to take the opportunity to get as much rest as you can before you find another job.

With that being said there are some important things you need to know before you begin this journey.

Just follow these five tips for making the best of being fired or layed off as a point of departure as you begin the journey to make your dreams come true.

1.  An important factor when you start to make the best of being fired or layed off is saying out loud that you believe you deserve all the best in life.

The reason why this is important is because it prevents you from defining yourself by the details being unemployed.  If you don’t believe you deserve all the best in life, then you run the risk of not being able to receive when good things begin to show up in your life.

2. Another important consideration for making the best of being fired or layed off is to set up a work space where you can put yourself in the correct state of mind to work.

It’s critical that you set up a work space because it conveys the message that you are in work mode. Sit in front of your computer and write, research, prepare a business plan, look at the licensing requirements for your business is important to discipline your focus.

3. When you decide make the best of being fired or layed off the misconception is that family members will support your efforts of casually surfing the internet playing games, shopping, or amusing yourself as working on your goals.

Try explaining that to the bill collectors or family member that may be supporting you while you make the transition and recover from how the recession is affecting you.  Get a grip, if you are over the age of 18, no one should be supporting for longer than 60 to 90 days if they can afford it.

Many times we take advantage of family members that have income and allow them to pay the bills while we lick our wounds and fake like we are trying hard to support ourselves. This lacks integrity, which is not a great character trait to develop as a business owner.

4. Instead of complicating your efforts to make the best of being fired or layed off, take the time to be honest with yourself and your family members.  Talk with them about how much time you can realistically be supported without making a contribution to the household.

If it is not possible for you to live with family without a contribution at all, don’t become a sponge keep your self respect in proper perspective and truly make a sincere effort to do your part at home while you look for ways to generate income. You will find that there is less tension if you do the dishes in the sink or take out the trash without being asked.

5. What you need to do now is create a routine that will keep you on track depending on what industry you take on, whether it is starting a blog, writing a book, becoming an entrepreneur, or going to school.

So if you really want to make the most being fired of layed off this the opportunity of a life time to do the things you have always wanted to do. After you have wallowed for an appropriate amount of time and whined about how unfair life is, get busy and start redefining you.

6.  Utilize the skills that come natural to you and what have learned from your last place of employment or other jobs. Make an assessment what was functional and efficient about the operations, not the behavior of the people.

Your skills and abilities can benefit you in organizing your blog, book, or business and even help you decide what to focus on in a degree program.  Do what you are good at because the motivation will com naturally and you will enjoy doing whatever tasks are necessary to achieve making the best of being fired or layed off.

7.  Don’t get discouraged, creating a business takes time so be prepared to work harder for yourself than you did when you worked for someone else.

The reality is that the operations of a business are the most important step in making a reality. This is not a get rich quick scheme, it will be rewarding only if you put in the work.

Follow these tips to as a starting point. Keep it simple and go one step at a time. Don’t skip through the process, as the African proverb states; “Eat the elephant one bite at a time”.

The elephant is in the room and no one wants to talk about it.

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Ten observations about Easter – The season of penance and prayer

Do we Christianize Pagan Culture?

Easter is the most important holiday for Christians who commemorate the Death and Resurrection of Christ and days following his crucifixion.

It believed by Christians that Jesus, the son of God, died for everyone’s wrong-doings and then came back to life three days later to defeat death and evil: so if you believe in Him you will live forever in Heaven.

1.     Lent is the forty-six day period just prior to Easter Sunday and it begins on Ash Wednesday as the first day of Lent. The name comes from the tradition of putting a small cross of ash on the forehead at Ash Wednesday church services. This is a sign of confession and helps people to remember that they rely on God for forgiveness from their sins.

2.    Easter was originally a Pagan Festival practices for several hundred years. This seasonal celebration was not called “Easter.” prior to the fourth century. The early Christians took over the festivals and turned the pagan festivals of new life to mean the new life that Jesus gave the world when he rose from the dead.

3.     Christians observed Pascha, Christian Passover, in the spring of the year. Adapted from Jewish Passover, Pascha was a festival of redemption. As Jews, these early followers of Jesus celebrated both their liberation from slavery in Egypt, and their new liberation from the power of death itself.

4.     Mardi Gras (French for “Fat Tuesday”) is a celebration, sometimes called “Carnival,” practiced around the world, on the Tuesday prior to Ash Wednesday. It was designed as a way to “get it all out” before the sacrifices of Lent began. New Orleans is the focal point of Mardi Gras celebrations in the U.S. Read about the religious meanings of the Lenten Season

5.     As Christianity spread throughout the Roman world, however, the celebration became more and more a distinctly Christian one. But there also developed some disagreement about when and how the holiday should be observed. One of the principal reasons for organizing the council of Nicea in 325 CE was to set a firm date for the celebration.

6.     Council of Nicaea was convened by Emperor Constantine issuing the Easter Rule which dictated that Easter shall be celebrated on the first Sunday that occurs after the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox.

7.     As a seasonal celebration of surviving the harshness of winter the European pagan festival of ‘Ostara’ celebrated new life called “The Return of Spring Festival” came to be known as “Easter,” a name derived, from “Eostre”, or “Eastre” the Mother Goddess of the Saxon people in Northern Europe.

8.     The Symbols reflect definitive elements of pre-Christian religious practice converted  and incorporated into the Easter traditions.

• The Easter Bunny originated with the pagan festival of Eastre  honoring the Goddess, Eastre,  and worshiped by the Anglo-Saxons through earthly symbol of the rabbit.
• The Easter Egg predates the Christian holiday of Easter.  The exchange of eggs in the springtime is a custom that was centuries old when Easter was first celebrated by Christians as a symbol of rebirth in most cultures. Today, children hunt colored eggs and place them in Easter baskets.
  

9.     Palm Sunday is the first Day of Holy Week. It is when Christians remember how Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey. It is called Palm Sunday because the people were so happy to see Jesus and knew that he was very important, so they took branches from the Palm and Olive Trees that lined the road. They waved them in the air shouting ‘Hosanna’ (which means ‘God Saves’ in Hebrew) and put some of them on the road to make it easier for the donkey to walk on the rocky road.

10.    Easter is a season rather than just a day in other cultures and religious practiced a seven-week season called Eastertide.  It is a period of fifty days beginning at sundown on the eve of Easter Sunday and lasting for six more Sundays until Pentecost.  Interchangeably referred to as Eastertide, or the Easter Season, or Paschal Time.

Tradition holds that Jesus “ascended” to God on the 40th day after the resurrection. On the church calendar this day, always a Thursday, is referred to as Ascension Day. In practice, the Ascension is sometimes “transferred” to the sixth Sunday of Easter. The season officially ends on Pentecost Sunday, which Christians think of as the “birthday of the church.” This holiday celebrates the presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church and indeed, the world.

Feel free to add your comments to this POV. My goal is to educate and present information that allows for a larger frame of reference to the events we practice. Before anyone goes and calls me names because these specific facts and tidbits of inforamation is not what you know to be the truth, leave your comment and be mindful of the season.

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The Path to Happiness and Prosperity – TeleSeminar

April 23 @ 7:00 pm EST

Regisitration is now closed, stay tuned for the next Teleclass coming in May 2009!!!

This seminar is only for people who believe in prosperity!

Great!  Since this includes you, read on.

Recognize  prosperity and correct your views about money.

Gain the tools you will need to discover what is blocking your prosperity and change your views about money and wealth.

Examine the  milestones we experience in life that influence our attitude and values around money.

Believe that you deserve the best and can receive it.

We all want to pursue happiness by living a comfortable life and having all the things we want.

Do you find that prosperity and wealth stays just beyond your reach?

How do you get in your own way?

• We can see prosperity when someone else has it.
  
• Is there a difference in having money or wealth?
• What does prosperity mean to you?
• What are your symbols of prosperity.

Send in your Prosperity Questions in advance to network@aafamilyconnection.com

Facillator:  Omitunde,  mentor and creator of African American Family Connection “Kitchen Table Wisdom for A Stronger African American Family”  ®

AAFC empowers families locally, nationally and globally to establish and reclaim a presence as a viable positive force for change. http://www.africanamericanfamilyconnection.com

The Teleseminar will be April 23rd, 2009

Start time 7:00 p.m. EST (East Coast Time)

AAFC Conference Line:

(Sign in Ph  and Access Code Sent after Confirmation)

So put the kids to bed early, get yourself settled and join us.

Register early to reserve your place now!

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