Happy New Year 2014

May the year ahead bless you and those that you love with all the happiness that your hearts and hands can hold.  May you rise to meet your destiny and never function consciously beneath your potential.  May this be the year that you step out boldly, without the approval of others,  to accomplish what your souls calls you to fulfill.  May you find truth, joy, health and happiness and may you recognize the beauty and blessing in each encounter that comes your way. Be the offering of Love...the gift of Love.....the answer that the world awaits. Happy New Year ~ Love, Peace, Joy and Light....May your bloom in Gratitude!

Kwanzaa

Kwanzaa is a week-long celebration held in the United States and also celebrated in the Western African Diaspora in other nations of the Americas. The celebration honors African heritage in African-American culture, and is observed from December 26 to January 1, culminating in a feast and gift-giving. Kwanzaa has seven core principles (Nguzo Saba). It was created by Maulana Karenga, and was first celebrated in 1966–67.  Kwanzaa celebrates what its founder called the seven principles of Kwanzaa, or Nguzo Saba (originally Nguzu Saba—the seven principles of African Heritage), which Karenga said "is a communitarian African philosophy," consisting of what Karenga called "the best of African thought and practice in constant exchange with the world." These seven principles comprise *Kawaida, a Swahili term for tradition and reason. Each of the seven days of Kwanzaa is dedicated to one of the following principles, as follows:

• Umoja (Unity): To strive for and to maintain unity in the family, community, nation, and race.
• Kujichagulia (Self-Determination): To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves, and speak for ourselves.
• Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility): To build and maintain our community together and make our brothers' and sisters' problems our problems, and to solve them together.
• Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics): To build and maintain our own stores, shops, and other businesses and to profit from them together.
• Nia (Purpose): To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.
• Kuumba (Creativity): To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.
• Imani (Faith): To believe with all our hearts in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders, and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.

'Tis the Season all year long

'Tis the Season to be Jolly! Yes, this is what we're constantly hearing....the narrative doesn't change, but have we changed? Have we grasped the true meaning of this delightful season? Have we learned about 'Giving' in the deeper sense? Do we give, because we want to feel good about ourselves or are we giving because someone is truly in 'need' of the gift that's being extended?

We don't have to wait to wrap what's needed throughout the year just at christmastime.  Change the narrative and allow each and everyday to be the season, the day, the week, the month, the moment to be jolly, where you extend your service, your gift, your offering of your time and resources, the moment you identify a need.

Yes...'Tis the Season to be Jolly.....but let that narrative reign throughout the coming year; Each time you recognize or sense a need and you're in a position to gift someone/satisfy a need.....Be Love in Action....continuing the true meaning of Christmas Each Day....Every Single Day! - Merry Christmas...Season's Greetings.....Happy Holidays!

Keep it moving....Learn to Ignore

Every little thing that shows up in your life, doesn't deserve your full attention.  There are occasions when you must simply "keep it moving"... don't pause, don't justify it, don't makes excuses, grant apologies or give it the benefit of a doubt....There are people, places and things that you will need to simply ignore, if you plan to experience Inner Peace and fulfillment in this lifetime.

There are circumstances designed for your growth, because the interaction and ability to learn to respond, rather than react will be necessary, but you must become an expert at recognizing what is a 'teachable' moment and a real opportunity for growth versus just some bs that doesn't deserve the space, nor energy of your valuable time.

Learn to Ignore things that simply Do Not Matter...that bring Nothing to your life nor to the life of others whom you might serve, nor does it contribute to your growth or peace......Recognize it quickly and simply: Keep It Moving! bg

Make it happen....persevere

You can't just get excited about the vision, the idea....what you've scribbled on paper or detailed and outlined in a nice, neat business plan.  You must eventually put those ideas into action.....Get Busy...make it happen....make it a reality....persevere!

“ In the realm of ideas, everything depends on enthusiasm; in the real world, all rests on perseverance. ”— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Memorial service for Nelson Mandela

"Madiba’s passing is rightly a time of mourning, and a time to celebrate a heroic life.  But I believe it should also prompt in each of us a time for self-reflection. With honesty, regardless of our station or circumstance, we must ask: How well have I applied his lessons in my own life?" - President Obama 




Watch President Obama speak at the memorial service for Nelson Mandela: http://OFA.BO/J4W77c
CSPAN COMPLETE SERVICE: http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/NelsonMand

“ The heart’s memory eliminates the bad and magnifies the good; and thanks to this artifice we manage to endure the burdens of the past. ” — Gabriel García Marquez

R.I.P. Nelson Mandela

Rest in Eternal Peace/Paradise/Freedom ....Warrior, Statesman and Beloved former South African President and iconic Leader of the anti-apartheid movement, Nelson Mandela has died at age 95....Eternal rest....now at peace....Life well-lived - well done....good and faithful servant! ... Condolences to his beloved family, friends and all who knew and loved him for his courage, sacrifices and contributions......His life was not in vain....to be forever cherished. Peace, Be Still...... I celebrate his life - Thank You for displaying grace, dignity, compassion, courage, forgiveness and love! He changed an entire nation and made a profound impact on the consciousness of the globe and all of humanity.  May his life and legacy be remembered.

- “For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” - Nelson Mandela

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” - Nelson Mandela

“ You can employ men and hire hands to work for you, but you will have to win their hearts to have them work with you. ”— William J.H. Boetcker

Make a difference...

A memory of the presence of someone in your life or you in theirs...that changes the atmosphere; the powerful, positive, life-changing energy of presence that is never forgotten and honestly anticipated, when a life has made a difference and changed the course of a future, a moment, an outlook.

 “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” ― Maya Angelou

Rosa Parks helped change America 58 years ago today...

Lest you forget: 58 years ago today...Dec. 1, 1955 - Rosa Parks rode a Montgomery city bus and refused to get up and move to the back of the bus so a white man could take her seat, as she was expected to in that era of segregation. She was arrested, and in the process, helped launch a new era in the American civil rights movement.

Parks was a seamstress in Alabama and a civil rights activist, but she said after the incident that she had not pre-planned it. She was convicted of violating a law mandating segregation on city buses and fined. She appealed as civil rights activists organized a boycott of Montgomery buses — coordinated by the Montgomery Improvement Association of which a 26-year-old minister named Martin Luther King Jr. was president — that lasted 13 months. It ended when the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to require segregation on public buses.
Rosa Parks became known as “the mother of the civil rights movement.”