How do I become an Encourager & NOT a Hinderer?

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Happy Wednesday Family! I want to share something with you that has been on my heart for quite sometime and especially during this season. We have a lot gong on in our lives and world and the last thing we need to hear is more bad news or something negative in our space. I’ve set and let this marinated with my spirit and begin to take inventory of myself and really ask myself, am I encouraging my brothers and sisters? Am I being a light in dark places? So I want to share with you the difference between the two and how we can always be on the encouraging side of the table for everyone.

What is an Encourager?

The root word here is Encourage and it means to inspire with courage, spirit, or confidence. It also means to promote, advance, give approval to or foster.

So when we make it our business to encourage someone we should be lifting up. We should be able to shift the perspective for what’s going on currently. A true encourager will see the good in the bad. For example, If someone calls and ask you for advice. First thing we tend to do is listen to the story and try to solve it. That’s nice for some things but sometimes people are just looking to be heard and mostly just need an ear to vent. So we must be careful with what were actually promoting in these areas. What are we actually encouraging and approving? Or are we disapproving, judging and ready to gossip about the fresh news we just received.

How to Encourage

A true encourager will listen and sympathize and will wait until they get permission to say what they really want to say. I’m sure you have those friends who want to tell you what they would have done and how you should have done it, but usually never have anything to back it up with experience because they’ve never had that issue or problem but can tell you how to do it. That actually does more harm than help and it doesn’t inspire courage or gives hope for what to do right there in the moment.

The Encouragers’ Cheatsheet

1. Be quick to Listen and slow to speak

Be the friend who can listen before expounding or mouthing off what you would have done.

2. Sympathize. Show up and show interest, and Pay attention

Maybe your friend has just started a new project or business. SHOW UP. Like that status, share their page. Write a comment on their post.

3. Support in anyway you can.

Sending a note or a text of inspiration could do our loved ones well. Life is hard and sometimes we can feel all alone, but just sending out a quick reminder to sometime will give them courage and confidence to carry on.

4. You can use the word “Encourage”

You can use this word as your conclusion… For example, I want to encourage you to keep your options open for any job that might come your way because your work experience speaks volumes. Your friends or peers will hold on to that.

Say no to being a Hinderer

The root word is hinder and it simply means to cause delay, interruption, or difficulty, to prevent from doing, acting. Ooooo and this is a big one. The verb definition is to be an obstacle or impediment.

Saints, are we being an obstacle? Are you being an interruption to someone’s vision or dream? Do you know that we do this when we throw our opinions freely around the place. I remember the saying, “If you don’t have anything good to say, then don’t say nothing”. They were talking about hindering. This is simply what we do when we give our harsh opinion on something or somebody and especially when we were not asked to give one. It’s so easy to fall in the slip up of being on that side of the table.

Being a musician and a classical pianist I’ve seen many performances and heard many performances. Some were good and some were not good. I’ve even had some bad ones myself but every time and almost every time I could remember the crowd and audience clapping and applauding someone for their efforts on their performance whether it was bad or good. I look back at it and am reminded of those moments being an encouragement for the artist or pianist. In their mind they probably are feeling the worst, shaky, doubtful, but the audience sees and hears a different perspective. We see the courage that it took to sit at that piano and take us on a musical journey. So instead of delaying, instead of preventing someone’s dream or hard work Let’s Encourage!

I just wanted to give us something all to think about. We only grow from staying a student. Once we stop becoming students, we stop learning.

Thank you for reading, Be Blessed!

Why Do I Workout?

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Happy Wednesday Everyone! I Pray you are all doing well. I wanted to share something that has been dear to me for quite sometime. You got it, Health! I’ll say it one more time for those who are just tuning in but I just turned 31 and I’ve really been ramping up things a bit in my life. I really want to be the best version of myself that I can be in this life time. During the pandemic I’ve heard and read a lot of people talking about self care and overall just taking care of yourself. When I turned 30 I feel like the check engine light came on. 30 told me that you’re getting a lil older and it will require you to do a bit more than what you were doing in your 20s. You know when you’re young that’s your excuse for everything. I’m young, this won’t bother me. Like skipping meals and breakfast. I’m young, I can go through out the day without eating like it’s an achievement only to find out you could be damaging your metabolism. So I want to share with you the “why” behind my workouts and what my goals are. I hope this inspires you to get up and move, so that you can live a healthy life.

I choose to workout because it helps relieve stress. This is actually scientifically proven that working out can help the body deal with stress. I always feel like Superman after a good workout. I feel like I can conquer anything that comes at me and it really gives me tunnel vision for whatever I’m focused on or for those things I have to get done, like writing this blog. Every workout isn’t the same and will not be the same. Your body will respond differently every single day. There’s days I want to just chill but those are the days I perform my best. I always think how would the successful people such as Bill Gates and Steve Jobs get anything completed if they only did everything based on feelings and how they felt for that time. In life we will have to do things we don’t want to do like lacing up those shoes and hitting the pavement but when I think about how I will feel after I’m done. The motivation sets in and pulls me in.

Lastly, I choose to workout because I’m always inspired by something. For my spiritual folks, the Lord really speaks to me in the shower and at the gym. Weird I know? I’ve been in the gym and zoned out creating an idea and would forget where I am or will forget that I’m on my 2nd mile. It’s spiritual for me. The constant assurance that God is in control and has all power gives me more strength to finish and go through my workout. I also feel as I’m working out thy I am staying ready for my destiny and purpose or even the door that God blesses me to go through. I would hate to not be ready due to being out of shape from not being a good steward over my body/temple. Let that marinate.

So that’s why I do it. I hope this gives you a push to get up and get out there. Don’t wait for the new month or Monday. Let your new month and Monday be today. Don’t put off what you can do today for tomorrow. I love you all, Be blessed.

Combatting Procrastination

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Hey Fam! I just wanted to encourage you on this beautiful hump day. I always want to inspire and uplift someone in anyway that I can.

So I celebrated year 31 this past weekend as some of you may know who follow me. Since my 29th birthday I am always put into this of picking myself apart and wanting to know if I did enough or why am I in this place and such and then once my birthday pass some of that anxiety leaves. Why? I don’t know. Maybe because the new age has set in or something.

One of my goals for this new chapter is getting things done in a timely fashion. My birthday was on Friday and I already started this on Saturday. When I tell you that I am the king of Procrastination, I have the t- shirt, and next to the definition in the dictionary you will see my name and link to my facebook! I am so serious. I even remember being in college and waiting the last minute to type a paper even when the paper was assigned a month ahead of time. I would sometimes even get up hours before it was due to complete it. I even carried this to driving. I would leave out just in time to get where I was going so that I could speed smh.

So something started to happen when I turned 30. I’m not sure if a light bulb came on or something, but I became overwhelmed and stressed out with rushing to get something done at the last minute. Why not get it done now and out the way? Why put more on me than I can handle. I went back to the source and found out that it was in my time management. I even heard a preacher preaching on Procrastination and how it could be a form of Pride to God. When I heard this I was stunned. Basically he stated that you say that you can do something later, you are indeed saying that you have some type of God sovereign knowledge of all things and time. You are assuming time on God’s time and not being God. Listen it’s Subtle but we do it. As we see how precious but fast life can go. We don’t know how much time we have on this earth or with our love ones. When you think about calling that friend or texting your cousin, DO IT. He also said the only moment you know that you have is the moment that you have at this present moment. When I heard this perspective I was a little torn and immediately repented because I was thinking that this is just me and this is the way I operate and that it is ok.

So I walked away with this perspective and it’s being doing me well. Now I’m not going to front and say that I get everything done when I want it but I have gotten a lot better with getting the things I need to do in a timely fashion. I want to share 3 things that has helped me get through procrastination and it could possibly help you too

1. Use a calendar and create a to do list

If you haven’t done this then you are in for a treat. There is so much gratification for checking off your list of things that you have to do. I would make a list of things to do a night for the next day and would start early on them. So get you a notebook and start getting stuff done.

2. Kill off distractions and stay focus

Sometimes you need to put the phone down and log off of social media. I currently have a timer for my phone and IPad for facebook. It will only allow me to use facebook for 1 hour a day. Which is not hard to do lol. You start watching someone’s live and another vid, like heart that, and boom you’ve spent 3 hrs on fb. So dial it back. Map out and see where you are spending the most time. If it’s Netflix, or tv then dial it back so that you can get what you need done. With less distractions you will be able to stay focus.

3. Reward yourself for small victories

The greater reward that I find in getting things done is the fact that you don’t have to have anything on your plate or mind. Of course we are always thinking and moving but if you get done what you need to do in a timely fashion without rushing, you will have more time to do something enjoyable that you like to do. Reward yourself. I would often reward myself at the end of the week if I got everything done by a getting a slice of cheese cake. Binge watching a new show on The Weeknd because I had a good week of getting things done. Kinda like how our parents did us a kids. If you get all A’s on your report card you’ll get a new video game, but first you got to do the work. Make up your own plan and stick to it. Before you know it you’ll be kicking procrastination in the rear. You got this, go do it!