I've never really enjoyed baking until now. Mainly because I am more of a savory rather than sweet person and I love creating rather than following directions or a recipe. Thanks to Claire Thomas from The Kitchy Kitchen website, I have now become a creative baking aficionado. [Read More...]
Read MoreHow many times have you heard people making excuses for their bad behavior or their lack of action about something? Surely, you've also witnessed individuals making excuses for others, whether its other friends, relatives or children of whatever age?
Sometimes, it seems like the world is full of excuses for things. Excuses do nothing but damage ones integrity by causing distrust by others. That's because excuses can either stretch the truth or are just be outright lies. Excuses also make people and others less accountable for their bad behavior or inaction about something, because it makes them become the "victim".
Of course, there are times when there are legitimate "reasons" for things, however an excuse is what results from a person fabricating an untruth. An excuse attempts to let a person "off the hook" from having to be accountable for their actions. After a while, excuses become transparent to others. They become tiring. [Read more...]
Read MoreMending Fences is when someone repairs their relationship with another person after being estranged or hurt in some way. This repair may not bring the relationship quite back to the way it was before but it eliminates, or at least, eases the negative emotions that existed between the two parties.
There are some cases where a new understanding comes about between the parties and the two individuals (or families) come together with a stronger bond than before. It not only depends on what caused the rift between the two parties and the severity of what happened but it also depends on the willingness of both parties to make amends and move forward. [Read more...]
Read MoreThere are many reasons why its good to know yourself and your body.
First, being in tune with how and why you feel a certain way emotionally puts you in charge of your personal growth and happiness.
Secondly, being aware of how you feel physically, puts you more in charge of your health.
Your Emotional and Physical sides of your being, are both important and work together. It's key for them to work together in order for you to achieve the most happiness and joy in life. [Read more...]
Read MoreWhether a relationship is a friendship or a romantic one, there will be times when an argument or some other occurrence will test your relationship. Because of this, there are times, that one or both people in the relationship will need to decide whether to give the other person a second chance and hold on to the relationship or to sever ties and end it.
It's up to you to decide what you want to do and nobody else. However, you need to live with your decision until the next time that something comes up to challenge the relationship again. [Read more...]
Read MoreMany of us place so much unnecessary pressure and stress on ourselves in a lot of ways. One way a lot people do that is by feeling that they always have to do everything "by the book" or in other words, strictly according to the rules. These rules can be set forth upon us by society or self imposed from being creatures of habit.
Living your life according to so many rules can make you feel stifled, uncreative and at a loss when you need to think quickly in a pinch.
When you learn how to improvise or think outside of the box, you release your creativity. To improvise can mean doing, making or producing something with what you have. It could also in a way mean taking a situation and making the best of it. [Read more...]
Read MoreI'm sure we've all experienced this at one point or another. You finally get into a great routine of some sort- moving ahead on goals or a project full steam and something interrupts your momentum. This could be only for a short time or maybe longer, but this interruption causes a setback for you.
After a setback, it can be hard to get back to the point you were at before. For some people, their momentum is lost forever and then they can become frustrated to even try again. This can happen in so many facets of our lives, but this post is focused on ones goals to not only look better but to also feel better and lead a more healthy lifestyle.
When we've finally gotten ourselves into a nice momentum towards achieving our fitness goals, we feel excited and motivated to keep it up. We're eating properly and we have a regular fitness routine in place. Things are going smoothly and then BOOM, everything gets disrupted- sometimes even to a screeching halt. [Read more...]
Read MoreSome people get in the way of themselves in life. They get in the way of their own happiness, joy and satisfaction in life. They also get in the way of true enjoyment and even finding love. They do this, many times, by taking themselves too seriously.
Taking oneself too seriously can range in severity from mild to extreme. On the mild end of the range it can be getting frustrated or angry at yourself when you make a mistake or something just doesn't go the way you wanted it to.
In the middle range, it goes further where you dwell on it longer and it can effect your mood or general disposition. You might also put unreasonable expectations upon yourself and as a result of not fulfilling them, you become unhappy and your health can suffer. [Read more...]
Read MoreIn my last post, I gave you a list of things you can do to help a person to grieve. Those were things that are very beneficial to people in their time of grief to process their loss and to be able to move forward with their life as effectively as possible.
Today, I am listing 9 things to avoid doing to or saying to a person who has just lost someone very dear to them and is in the process of grieving. Again, I speak from personal experience and I have received the same sentiments back from people who have shared similar experiences to mine. [Read more...]
Read MoreA while ago, a very close friend of mine asked me how she could help her boyfriend to grieve the recent and very sudden loss of his family member. Having been through the grieving process several times myself, I was able to guide her with some techniques that helped me during my times of grief.
So I've compiled a list of ways that you can help someone to grieve. In a couple weeks for my next post, I'll list some things to NOT say to or do with a person who is grieving.[Read more...]
Matthew Alan is truly such an inspirational person. I am blessed because we have a mutually inspiring and supporting relationship. Over the last several years, he has really been able to sing more in public and has blossomed with his singing talent.
Check out my short interview with him to announce his first ever solo cabaret performance. Knowing how talented he is, I'm sure he will be national in no time and I'm betting global. ;-) [Read more...]
Read MoreWe all know just how hectic and stressful one's morning can be. We have to deal with things like waking up before we really want to, too little sleep, getting things ready for the day and handling our personal hygiene routine. In addition, we may have other family members and pets to care for.
Lucky for you though, here are some easy things you can do to make your mornings less hectic and running more smoothly: [Read more...]
Read MoreHappy New Year, everyone!!! Hope your Holiday season was amazing! Mine certainly was for sure.
I've been asked a lot why I seem like I'm never in a bad mood. The answer to that is easy. It's basically because I don't let myself get into a bad mood. I just don't want to waste any amount of time being in a bad mood instead of a good one. However, when I was much younger it was hard for me to do that.
Over the years after surviving some powerful life altering experiences, I realize how important life is and thus, I don't take any second for granted. I brush off whatever I possibly can when it happens and try to not let things affect me in a negative way. [Read More...]
Read MoreWe all want to be feel happy inside and lead a happy life. Sometimes though, we can unknowingly get sidetracked and before we know it, we're not feeling the happiness we want to be feeling. There are many ways to help yourself to feel happier inside, but for the moment, here are three quick ways you can help yourself feel happier today.
1- Filter Out The Negative
There's plenty of negativity in the world that could affect us if we let it. The trick is to not let it bring us down and jeopardize our happiness. To start, if you filter out some of the negativity you subject yourself to, in both the Media and Social Media arenas, you'll see a big affect on your state of mind. Seeing scary headlines on television and in news headlines along with negative posts from people on Social Media not only can jeopardize a person's self esteem, but it can create feelings of fear and submission. [Read More...]
Read MoreHave you ever asked yourself, "When is my life ever going to calm down?", "Why can't I just get along with people? Or "Why don't people like being around me?"? If so, you need to take a good look at yourself and see if you are the reason for your chaotic and conflicted life.
Some chaos or conflict comes naturally in life. In small amounts, it can be a good thing that shakes up the routine or gets important issues out into the open, but in greater amounts, it is destructive. It's a strange phenomenon, but some people just seem to subconsciously crave and create a lot of chaos and conflict in their lives.
These same individuals complain endlessly about how chaotic, hectic, crazy and conflicted their lives are, but as soon as it seems to calm down or become more peaceful- they create more. They do this because subconsciously, they crave chaos and conflict because they don't know how to handle life without it. [Read More...]
Read MoreSome people seem to feel the uncontrollable urge to be "brutally honest" nowadays in voicing their opinions about things and other people. They do it without any regards to how badly it can make others feel. They sometimes even go so far as to brag about how brutally honest they are.
Basically, this whole Brutal Honesty thing is just an excuse to be tactless in how one says something to or about others without respecting their dignity. It's an excuse to be downright mean and hostile.
Perhaps it came about with the birth of social media. People feel that they can say whatever they want to, because there is a sense of anonymity. People can be brazen and be tough on-line in ways that they would be afraid to be in person. People who have self esteem issues feel it makes them feel better about themselves to belittle others. [Read more...]
Read MorePeople respect those who are true to their word. It's a sign of integrity and character to mean what you say and to do what you say you're going to do. On the flip side, people lose respect for those who do not keep their word and thus disappoint others.
Here are some ways that you can be true to your word and build and hold onto lasting relationships:
Don't say you'll do something if you can't.
If someone asks you for a favor asks for volunteers to do something, don't say yes or volunteer unless you will actually follow through and fulfill your obligation. How many times have people said to you, "Sure, I'll help you" and then when the day comes, they're nowhere to be found? [Read more...]
Read MoreIt's important for us to remember to be good to ourselves. However, many of us find it hard to do that because we're so busy being good to others and end up forgetting that we need to be good to ourselves as well. Some people think there's no time to think of themselves, but in fact, there is.
There are indeed benefits when we're good to ourselves including lower stress levels, better mental and physical health, more happiness and thus more ability to be there for others. When we feel healthy and happy inside we can fully enjoy life and be more resilient to whatever life brings us. So here are a few easy things you can do to be good to yourself:[Read more...]
Read MoreHow many friends can you think of that aren't a part of your life anymore? I bet you can think of a good amount without much effort. I'm also sure you'll add to that list in the upcoming years.
The reality is, we make some friendships over the course of our lifetime that we don't retain forever. There are many reasons for this, but it's important to realize that its just a normal part of life.
We make new friends all the time. Some of the friendships we make are, by nature, temporary. Other friendships are a bit longer lasting. We also have a select amount of friendships that last for many years or even a lifetime. These the the best ones!
We make friends at our jobs, in school, during a training class or a party, and when we move to a new neighborhood. We make friends at various social events and even through other friends. Some of these friendships don't last because of a variety of reasons including: [Read More...]
Read MoreI regularly have the opportunity to video record Matthew Alan- an amazing up and coming singer in the Bucks County, Pennsylvania area. He is an inspiration to me in many ways and particularly with his very impressive singing ability and his growing following.
I will be posting more performances of Matthew as he continues his rise in popularity. He tells me how much I inspire him as well, to expand his talents and live doing what he finds joy in doing. [Read more...]
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