Create your own box!

Recently I saw a video about a woman named Meghan Markle. By marrying Prince Harry, she will be the first ever bi-racial member of the royal family. She talks in an interview and about growing up and always being asked "what are you?' People were always confused by her family and asking questions, as her mom is African American and her father is Caucasian. She then mentions having to do a mandatory census for school and it asks you to check a box coordinating with wether you are white, black, Hispanic, or Asian. She had to check one box, and was didn't know what to do. She knew she was both black and white, and how could she have to pick just one. Her teacher seeing her confusion said t check Caucasian, so she asked why she said that, and the teacher responded with thats how you look.. But that didn't sit right with her. She left the box blank. Later as she explained this dilemma to her father he said something so powerful. He said draw your own box, and always be your true self.

Her fathers words are so powerful and so true. We don't need to define ourselves as one box. And don't let people tell you what box you belong to. Don't ever limit yourself that way! Know whats TRUE about you, who you are and create your own beautiful box!

Happy & You Know It

Kindness

I am doing 2 posts today. One to make up for last month and one for this month.



This one is short. Watch the video and remember your kindness can make a difference!!

Powerful Women Inspire

I had every intention of writing this on Mothers Day.  Writing about Motherhood. That day has since past. It was a beautiful day spent with my Mom, her sisters,and my grandma. It was bittersweet as it was the last Mothers Day with my cute grandma.
As I sat in the room with all of them I took a moment to look at each one individually. They all parent different but they all do it with LOVE!! It was amazing to see these strong, beautiful, amazing women who have helped shape me. Memories came flooding back to time spent with each one. It is truly amazing that women can empower each other with out even realizing it.
Look at the women in your life. How have they helped you? How have they empowered you? Sometimes it isn't always rainbows and unicorns. Sometimes it is through tough life lessons. One thing for sure is you are gathering information on how to become the woman you need or want to be.
I want to take a minute and talk about the kindness and love I was taught. I was always taught to be kind to everyone. Include them, love them, and help others. I have watched my own mother love when it wasn't being reciprocated. I have watched as she has served others, expecting nothing in return. I have watched as she has sacrificed her time, knowing she was needed else where. I could write a whole page on her amazing example to me. This was taught through her Mom. Now I am teaching my children. All these lessons have shaped me to be who I am. Does that mean we are 'perfect"? No way, it means we are trying. It means that we are making this world a kinder place. One action at a time. It means we are teaching how to love, be kind and give back to this amazing world!!

Are mothers the only women that inspire? No, there are countless women every day that inspire. Take a look around your community. Teachers, Nurses, Coaches, Doctors, Local women involved through pageants, Law Enforcement, etc. Look deeper at the women behind the scenes of local programs. Everyday we are around women who are working to inspire us. To help us see and reach our true potential.To help spread kindness!!

I am going to give you all a little challenge, This next week look around at all the women in your life. Write down a few things that they have done to help you . Write them a message telling them how their example has helped you. Give them a hug! Pass kindness around! Do something to help inspire someone in your life. You never know who you may inspire. You never know you may be the one thing that person needed!!

PS don't forget to give the men in your life a hug this weekend either!!! Happy Fathers Day to them!! That is a whole other post on how Dads inspire us.

BE HAPPY

Being negative disturbs your interaction with your environment, affecting your ability to perceive, remember, and reinforce existing or create new neural connections, while being happy improves your ability to be more cognitively alert and productive. Other than being much more fun to be around, being happy:

• stimulates the growth of nerve connections.
• improves cognition by increasing mental productivity.
• improves your ability to analyze and think.
• affects your view of surroundings.
• increases attentiveness.
• leads to more happy thoughts.

Happy people are more creative, solve problems faster, and tend to be more mentally alert. 

Your thoughts form your character, how you operate in the world, how far you travel mentally, physically, and spiritually. You are what you think you are, and all of your actions proceed from thought. Your inner thoughts will always be reflected in your outer circumstances, because self-generated changes in your life are always preceded by changes in the way you think about something.

As far as your brain, every thought releases brain chemicals. Being focused on negative thoughts effectively saps the brain of its positive forcefulness, slows it down, and can go as far as dimming your brain's ability to function, even creating depression. On the flip side, thinking positive, happy, hopeful, optimistic, joyful thoughts decreases cortisol and produces serotonin, which creates a sense of well-being. This helps your brain function at peak capacity.  Optimistic people tend to have better moods, to be more persevering and successful, and to experience better physical health. 
In addition, optimists:

• Lead happy, rich, fulfilled lives
• Spend the least amount of time alone, and the most time socializing
• Have good relationships
• Have better health habits
• Have stronger immune systems
• Live longer than pessimists

What does all this mean? It means that what we think, do, and say matters; that it affects who we become on the outside, the inside, and in our brain. Mostly, it means that you can retrain your brain to be more positive.  (Susan Reynolds Prime Your Gray Cells)

You have the ability to be anything and everything that you ever wanted to be.  Choose wisely.  
Remember that it takes less muscles to smile than to frown and that one smile will make all the difference in the life of someone else.  That someone could be you.  So slap on that beautiful smile and don't worry-be happy!

 

Believe you are good enough!

Believe you are good enough, because you are!

Dreaming to Reality

One of my biggest pet peeves is when people just hope their dreams will come true. Like we can just sit back and wish upon a star and BOOM! Dream come true. That is NOT how it happens, but work its what makes it happen. Ive always been obsessed with sports. Any sport I've tried it, and I probably loved it. But swimming and water polo, those are for me! I quickly fell in love, and knew I wanted to be part of both for as long as I could, but I knew if I wanted to pursue sports I needed a lot of hard work. Growing up my grandpa, a very wise man taught to do your best, and then some. To push yourself and then push a bit more. Ive always tried to live that, and when times got tough in sports I relied on that. Coming first and leaving last are great things to do, and that really pushed me, but then I pushed a little harder and added my own extra workouts, I dug as deep as I could, and I saw the pay off. I peaked at my all time fastest in college as I applied these things. My sprinting ability improved and my distance and endurance became stronger than I had imagined possible. I realized if I would've just aimed for the goals I thought I could reach and not go that and then some yard, I wouldn't have reached this potential I didn't know was possible for myself.  I realized what this quote states. If we choose to be brave, to do something maybe we think is a little too hard, or that scares or pushes us a bit, but is something we really believe in, if we put in the work, and then some, our dreams truly can become reality.