Feeling worthy is a state mind. When I stepped outside my comfort zone, and took the first step toward my dream, the changes started to break. Small bits of the courage to live my dream began to manifest.

There is such joy in that first step when you realize you are moving forward and those small voices begin to lose control of you. It is a process that takes time. You will have some failures, but that is alright. You have learned away it doesn’t work, so try another. The main thing is to continue to move forward until you find your abundance.

Until next time, stay safe, and keep the faith.

Everyone has dreams, but not everyone makes their dreams into goals. You may have a few of these too. What are the reasons you tell yourself late at night to put the shutdown on making them a reality? These reasons are beliefs that you have, but that doesn’t mean they are valid reasons.

• Not Enough Time

Everyone is busy these days. When someone asks how you are doing, you probably respond with “Busy.” But that might not be the truth. Everyone has the same twenty-four hours in the day. For a week or maybe two, keep a time ladder of how you spent your time. It includes sleeping, preparing and eating meals, social media, getting ready for work, cleaning your house. Take a good look at how you spend your time, and you might realize you have more time than you realize.

• I Don’t Have ‘X’ Talent

It doesn’t matter if you want to write a book or paint a picture. You have the talent you need to start. You may not have been born with the natural ability to paint. It doesn’t mean you can’t learn more and practice.

• After ‘X’ I Will Do It

“Once I get through this (insert tough project at work), I will start training for that marathon.” “After I lose twenty pounds, I will take a salsa dancing class.” Why are you waiting? Maybe that marathon training will help you work through the stress of that project at work. Perhaps salsa dancing lessons will allow you to realize that your body is worthy of fun and sexy movement no matter your weight. If you have a goal, go for it now.

• I’m Not Good Enough

What ruler are you using to measure your “good enough”? You are always good enough to go after your dreams and goals. If this is an internal dialogue, you need to work on liking and loving yourself first. If this belief comes from external sources, consider those sources and why they are attempting to hold you back.

• ‘X’ Person Has it Easier

The grass is greener where you water it. Walk a mile in someone else’s shoes. Many sayings sum up that you don’t know what someone else is going through. Do not assume that someone has it easier and can achieve their goals while you cannot. That person may think you have it easier or better.

Self-limiting beliefs can be a slippery slope. They can also keep you from even trying to reach your goals. Take time to examine your reasoning and develop better beliefs to counter the negative ones.

Until next time, stay safe, and keep the faith.

I am fortunate to be one of the speakers at the Speaker’s Conference. There are a number of impressive speakers speaking at this event. Dr. Patricia Rogers is the host and organizer of this event.

Dr. Rogers put on many live events before COVID hit. She is not a woman who lets life get her down. She immediately learned all she could about hosting events on zoom, and the rest, as they say, is history. She puts on great events, and always has top notch speakers. She has become known as the Visibility Strategist Queen.

This is going to be another fantastic event with wonderful speakers with great messages to share with you. You can purchase your ticket at https://suitupandshowup.eventbrite.com. It is a two day event on February 24th – 25th from 3 pm – 7 pm EST.

I am excited to be part of the program! I know you will find great value in attending this event. See you there. Until next time, stay safe, and keep the faith.

Today we observed Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday. I heard two speeches this morning on how he affected their lives.

I am ashamed to say I was not aware of most things happening in the south. I was more concerned with my stomach asking when I would have food and going to the library for my next book.

I watched the police, firemen, citizens, and the dogs as they turned the water hoses onto the black men and women and the dogs eager to attack.

It is difficult for me to think about those horrific times in our history. It is even more challenging to believe we as a people could treat another race that way simply because of their skin color or the shape of their eyes.

I was living in Illinois at the time of Dr. King‘s assassination. I saw white women with tears in their eyes, white men walking around in stunned disbelief, black men shaking their heads at what had happened, and black women crying.

I believe we were all shocked that such a thing could happen. It is a day I will never forget. It was the day I became an adult legally. The day I turned twenty-one.

Over the next few weeks, I noticed some subtle changes in how people at the nursing home treated each other. It is terrible only the death of a good person that we begin to see what they have tried to teach us all along. We must not let their deaths be in vain.

When I think about the past and how things were, I know we can not let it happen again. I remember, but I don’t dwell on it because I can not change what has already happened. It is my and your responsibility not to let it happen again.

We are great together. We are the garden of flowers—all different shades and colors, and beautiful. We all bring something unique to this world, and our world would significantly diminish if any of us were no longer a part of it.

I paraphrased a quote by Dr. King this morning. I was a little off. Dr. King said, “I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.” and I said, “I choose to love; it takes too much work to hate.” Choose love, and let’s make this world a better place to live.

Until next time, stay safe, and keep the faith.

Critical thinking is essential to using your overall experience, background, common sense, and other attributes to become more aware of how your efforts for success are spent. When you have barriers to the critical thinking process, it can seriously harm your ability to move forward.

When you’re aware of these barriers, you can better overcome them and focus your thinking on moving forward rather than getting stuck behind a wall – unable to move forward.

Here are five barriers that can impede the critical thinking process:

1. Thinking in Black or White – Some people ignore a situation’s complexities by assuming there’s only one way to solve a problem. The problem is placed in a category, given a label, and that’s the only way that matters. Thinking in black and white comes from our need to have certainty in our lives, but it’s false logic to assume everything is one way.
2. Thinking with the Ego – Egocentrical thinking without understanding others’ wants and needs. It limits your thinking to only your point of view and doesn’t have room for others’ ideas. This thinking process is embedded in our psyches, and it sometimes takes deliberate effort to overcome it.
3. Social Thinking – The drone mentality of social thinking only lets us see things in the way of the popular point of view – or the way that our spouse, companions, parents, and friends think. Thinking outside the box is almost impossible when you have a barrier of social thinking, and it can significantly impede the critical thinking process.
4. Authoritative Thinking – Just because someone in authority says it’s true doesn’t mean it is. You’ve likely been swayed at one time or another by political leaders who say one thing is valid only to find out later that it was a lie or a misleading way of thinking. The authority could be a person, peer group, institution, or anything that makes you think that they’re right because they’re in an authoritative position.
5. Judgmental Thinking – It’s usually done in haste when judging something or someone based on moral evaluation. Based on our past in some way or the way we were raised, educated, or other values and mores. Judgmental thinking is usually non-rational thinking and can block understanding and insight about a person or an issue.

It’s crucial that we recognize our barriers to the critical thinking process and replace those barriers with rational and reasoned thinking and then make a concentrated effort to avoid them.

Until next time, stay safe, and keep the faith.

You are essentially who you create yourself to be, and all that occurs in your life is the result of your own making. – Stephen Richards

When I first read the above quote, I thought no way! I would have created a much better me! However, after reflecting on some of my decisions throughout my life, I recognize that quote is accurate.

I am today the product of all the decisions I have made. I wouldn’t say I liked many of those decisions, and many were out-and-out mistakes. They were all learning opportunities. Thankfully, I learned and did not repeat the same errors.

To grow, you make mistakes, and you learn from them. If you are not making mistakes, you are not living. You have become stagnant, and that is not living or enjoying life.

I love life, and I continue to learn and grow. When I know new things, I share them with others. That is, I share when they ask. Or when they read my blog. That’s asking.

The point is, think about who you want to be and start creating that individual. But remember, who you create, must remain faithful to the inner spirit.

Until next time, stay safe, and keep the faith.