Straight up now tell me!

Spring is upon us - what a joy! But I'm not feeling so joyous about this upcoming weather change. Let me tell you why. During the latent hibernating months, I was on a mission to workout super hard. Unfortunately, I sat working aside and as the dust clears I'm pushed to go again. Thanks to 007 (my beau) he encourages me, creates workout plans, and suggest awesome reading material for me. Not to mention I just received a treadmill at my place for free! No excuses at this point. I must get ready for summer for goodness sake, I'm a summer baby; I have to be sexified during those months. Okay so when does the conversation turn into action? Now! No, I'm serious - no BS. When you are sick and tired of being sick and tired you take the insane route and just run head first with your arms up screaming at the top of your lungs like spongebob "I'm Ready, I'm Ready!" Maybe I'm a little dramatic but the jig is up -there's no short cuts, becoming fit is a combination of dieting, detoxing, monitoring your eating habits, creating new ones, and the last one (drum roll please) EXERCISING. The thing we all love to avoid. Well, let me just tell you. There's no getting around it - I tried. I remember so vividly during my junior yr at Winston-Salem State University living in these really nice apartments that had a club house with pool access, theater room, and gym. I actually lived directly across the street from it so there was no excuses for me to walk over to use the facility. Well long story short, I worked out (minimum 30 mins on the treadmill) twice a day morning and night. When I say that I was not only my healthiest but I was at a great healthy weight. I didn't look "sick". I just looked very healthy. My point is this - I know how it feels to shed that extra weight that you don't need and it turns your whole life around.

Because I can't go back in time and grab that body back, it's time to put in some work. Thanks to 007, I am now reading "Super Shred" by Dr. Ian Smith. (Yes, I just skipped the first book and went straight to Super Shred) I purchased the book from walmart and after reading a few pages I was sold. I also read plenty of the testimonials on Amazon as well. With this particular book, it all boils down to sticking with your meals and the times you eat in conjunction to working out. What I love about the layout of Super Shred is how it gives you your grocery list and suggested items to buy then it goes into what times you need to be eating etc. I haven't quite finished reading it - actually I'm nowhere near finished but you "multiple book readers" know how that goes. With the exception of my school-related text books, Super Shred will be my primary literary choice of text because I have to get it in by any means necessary. There's not an excuse I could possibly render at this time that should keep me away from challenging myself to commit to a healthier way of living. Last year I wasn't eating as much meat as I'm consuming now to the point people were thinking I was vegetarian. Bottom line, I've got to get back in the habit of making correct choices and create the time to prepare the meals I need to eat.

I'll be following up to update progress while I'm going through these 4 weeks. Good thing is, I won't be doing this alone which is key! I have a good friend joining in and I am sure this will help the both of us with motivation. Our main excuse (which is probably yours as well) is "we don't have time". As busy busy business women, we don't have time! We don't have time to fall into a slight depression due to low self esteem. I'm telling you, I have been there. We've had our moments but no matter what is going on in our business world, if we are working towards a healthy body then that's going to put you, me, and anyone else in a healthy state of mind which in essence will reflect a healthy business and brand!

Thus, creating time is just a matter of rearranging and rescheduling and strategically planning out your day to include a workout and time to properly eat multiple times a day. It won't be easy but it will be worth it (at least that's what I read from the testimonies).

Until next time, 

YaSheeka xoxo

REFLECTIONS OF 2012

Peace & Love readers! 

I had the pleasure of being on the guest panel of Divas Boss Lady's show on yesterday via BlogTalk Radio. There were other outstanding guest on the show as well so please take the time to listen because this will give you some great motivation going forward into 2013!! 

Much Love xo

Coach YaSheeka 

                                                                    Listen to internet radio with Divas Boss Lady on Blog Talk Radio

Save The World

After I save the world, who's going to save me? 

It's true, alot of us have this super hero mentality - and for some of us it's written in our DNA so we can't help it. We want to be the ones who help and "save" the masses from their self destruction - from our point of view. I am guilty of this myself. However, I have come to the realization many times over and over again that it is I who need to save myself and it will be through my shared testimonials that others can then become inspired to ask for help. Maybe I shouldn't say help because for some, the word "help" is associated with other terms such as weakness or neediness. This in return prevents people from reaching out in fear of appearing to "need help" but help is merely a verb which means to make things easier for someone to do something by offering aid.

The key is to make it easier on yourself.

If you really sat back and reflected on choices and decisions that you have made in the past - could you have asked for help? Would it made it easier to just ask for help? Situations that occur within our life can be very challenging indeed and everything isn't meant to be "easy" however, you have total control to choose to make it better.

What makes us think that EVERYONE needs our help more than ourselves? Very interesting. No one needs our help more than we do at this very moment. Responsibility rest on our own shoulders.

This is how we save the world - by saving ours first.

**On Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012 - I interview Angela Brooks of www.angelabrook.com on another episode of my talk radio show Soulful Essentials™

We touch on these very concepts so be sure to tune into WMRN at 9:30PM EST

**If you are reading this after 12/5/12 click here to listen to the archives via iTunes.

Evolution Acceptance

What if I told you that there's nothing about you that needs, fixing, correcting, changing, improving, enhancing, or bettering? What if I told you that you're perfect just as you are...as perfect who or what made you? I guess the question that may arise then is, to which "you" am I referring; the you looking into the mirror or the you staring back?

Curiously, the Truth about who we are and what our purpose is in being here in this life has an odd way of hiding itself in plain view; right before our eyes and if we only took the time to delve a little deeper, just beneath the surface, we'd find all that we need and more.

For instance, I like words and I see how one word can reveal or unveil things we don't always perceive at first glance, and, profound truths are often found in simple words that we use each and every day! Take for example the word Individual. Break the word individual down and you get "Indivi" as in indivisible...unable to be divided, and "dual" as in two! So, when we put that together we see that the word we use to refer to a single person actually means the two that cannot be divided! Each and everyone of us consists of two parts that cannot be divided! Once we become aware of what these two parts are that make up who or what we are...once we see how these two aspects of ourselves connect and interrelate, we can then make sense out of everything within us and around us!

The truth is, there are several words used to describe the dual nature of man, or the two aspects of ourselves, and we can look all the way back in time and see examples of humanity grappling with or expressing the comprehension of what that two-fold nature of man consists of and how it's expressed, such as spirit and flesh, divinity and nature, energy and matter, god and devil, good and evil, heavenly and earthly, conscious and unconscious, yin and yang! There are many more, but those will suffice. We must admit, there is certainly a difference between who we are in the world, or how we present ourselves to the world, or how the world perceives us, versus who we think we are, or who we know ourselves to be, or who or what we deeply sense ourselves as being! There is a difference...a big difference!

Fundamentally, there is a part of us that never slumbers and never sleeps, a part of us as individuals that is infinitely intelligent, that knows without needing an explanation, that is always awake, always aware, always alert, always busy, always working, always conscious! This part of us is infinitely creative, capable of feats that man has not yet even imagined. You sense this part of yourself, you know that such a part of you exists, you feel it! You know that it is capable of engineering the life you were born to lead, but what happens? We ignore it! We put it on the back burner, we muffle it, muzzle it, dumb it down, dope it up, cut it, mute it, strangle it, and drown it out in favor of the other part and so many people leave this earth without ever having the opportunity to experience it because they never grow in awareness enough to Accept it!

The other part of us is going to school, is learning, is adapting, is thinking, toiling, talking, acting, fronting, pretending, doting, fearing, desiring, yearning, longing, hoping, dreaming, wishing and so on. In a word, there is that other part of ourselves that is Evolving!

My point is this, we don't need to change who we are, we need to ACCEPT who we are! We don't necessarily need "self improvement," rather what we really need is self acceptance and in that self acceptance we evolve and when one is evolving...when one is a conscientious, awake, aware, alert, responsive, and responsible partner and participant in their own Evolution, it is a gross understatement to say that he or she has improved or is improving! How can you ever feel the pain and torment of neglect when you Accept who you are; ALL of who you are? How can someone or something that has improved be compared to someone or something that has evolved? What would you rather do, improve or evolve? Who would you rather receive acceptance from, someone else or from within yourself? When someone improves, it basically means that whatever has been improved is, for the moment, made more efficient for whatever the purposes are, but when someone evolves or is evolving, they are transcending! All improvements have an expiration date and is dependent upon something alien to itself to maintain the improvement, but when you have accepted and committed yourself fully to an evolutionary process then you are no longer bound to a terminating timeline and you are driven from within and that drive is anchored unto something that is eternal and ever abiding! When you accept your evolution as a process that is driven by genetics and guided by awareness NO circumstance can alter or change the gains you've made! Your accomplishments become all your own. Patience becomes a pleasure rather than a vice!

Look no longer upon yourself as someone or something the needs to be improved! Begin looking at yourself as yourself by accepting yourself and surrender to the process of your own evolution! You are not a backswing that needs tweaking, or a house that needs remodeling! Technique and repetition will fix the former and an interior decorator and a second mortgage will handle the latter.  But you, dear soul, are not a backswing nor are you made of wood and stone. You are a living, breathing, thinking, feeling, sensing, intuiting, learning, and most importantly Evolving life form. The higher you evolve the more light you embody! The more accepting you are of yourself the more you'll value who you are as well as who made you! You honor your origin by accepting your destiny which is to be your self in greater and greater measure!

In this world of form, EVERYTHING is constantly changing! What does not change with the changes, what neglects to accept the nature of change, eventually dies, but, what forever lives on is what is forever adapting: The only thing that continues to adapt is what is intelligent or cognitive enough to evolve! YOU, however, ARE, so to bring an end to self-destructive rejection, step into Evolution Acceptance!

Embracing A "New" You!

If there's a thin line between love and hate, there's an even thinner line between being and seeming! It was Cicero, in one of his most renown essays, "On Friendship," who wrote, "Esse quam videri," which means 'To be rather than to seem."

Clearly, we are living in an increasingly global community, thanks in large part to technological advances, and now, like the title of Thomas Friedman's book suggests, the world is flattening! The world as we know it is becoming more and more like one global village, the pressure to conform, to move with the herd, is exponentially increasing!

Popularly, the "in" thing is to 'be different,' but the funny thing about it all is many people are, rebelling, pretending to be different, perpetrating as someone or something that they're not, and behaviorally protesting common sense, all in a worthless attempt to appear to be unique! It's still the 'everyone else is doing it bandwagon' mentality, but it's shrouded behind a facade cloaked in vanity. He is not different: he is imitating someone who is! She is not unique: she is imitating someone who is! Once you project this prevailing social pattern you'll easily see that children have inherited and are growing up in a world overpopulated with imitators imitating the imitations of other imitators! What a masquerade!  One word that accurately sums up this blissful ignorance and mindless madness is homogenization! Everything looking the same is the trending norm, seen in,  fashion, dress, speech, music, architecture, education, entertainment, sexuality, and on and on: so much so that originality has become a fading rarity when it should be a cool normalcy!

Ironically, the easiest, most fulfilling, most rewarding, most promising, most empowering, and most liberating thing to do is to BE YOUR SELF! Fake it till you make it they say! Get in where you fit in! Go with the flow! Those are treadmill philosophies because no matter how much energy you put into them you'll pretty much always end up exactly where you started, neither having advanced nor withdrawn, simply exhausted and more than likely frustrated from a rigorous exercise in futility: In short, putting your energy into seeming will get you nowhere fast!

The reversal is this, the main people who inspire us to be greater, empower us to truly be ourselves, who motivate us to realize and maximize our innate potentials are people who simply are who they are. Pardon the expression but, they be who they be. They don't make qualms about admitting, accepting, and embracing who they are, and more than likely, as words to live by they always say the same thing, "Be your self!" It's their originality, their uniqueness, their creativity, and their authenticity, their one-of-a-kind persona that motivates us. Sure, these inspiring people are just like you and I and they've learned from somewhere and someone, but with what they've managed to gather amidst what life has brought their way in the form of people, circumstances, information, environment etc., they went and did their own thing with it.

Finally, I'm not advocating a reinvention of the evolutionary wheel and I'm certainly not proposing you follow conventional wisdom which encourages you to find someone great and emulate him or her. What I am suggesting is that you ARE unique, you DO, have specific purposes or callings in this life, but in order to come into the knowledge of what that especial purpose is, you must see with new eyes, perceive with a new perspective, approach life from a new angle...you yourself must be made new! You have to commit, surrender to being a new you and in order for that to happen, you have to first embrace who you are right where you are! Tired, sleepy, hurt, confused, untrusting, stressed out, misunderstood, neglected, emotionally spent, broke, rich, famous, popular, celebrated or what have you, the journey to being made new begins with letting go of the old that has no place in the now.

When you let go of what is not for you, you automatically grab hold of what is truly for you because energy never dies, it simply changes form! To do this is to be reborn and to be reborn is to die and it all rests upon the awareness of what to hold onto and what to let go of, what is correct for you and what is incorrect for you in your own evolutionary process of self-discovery and self awareness!

This takes practice.  Notice that in the middle of the word practice is the word "act." You don't have to be a bible thumper to appreciate the timeless wisdom in the sayings, "Faith without works is dead and be ye transformed by a renewing of your mind."

It was a process that conditioned you away from who you really are, that stripped you of your "royal and divine" birth rights, your true universal uniqueness, so it will be a process to be made new and this process requires work within and without!

Case in point, I've always noticed, very early on, how the very simplicity of life is what makes it so complex. We have two of almost everything; feet, legs, hands, arms, ears, eyes, lips, nostrils, but, out of the seven windows in our heads, we've only got one mouth with one tongue! I see this as somehow being part of nature's instructions on how to live as who and what we are and that is, walking, working, lifting, seeing, smelling, hearing, listening, watching, and seeing...all of these we should do TWICE as much as we run our mouths! How? Practice what you preach and preach what you practice!

The difference between being and seeing is simple. To seem requires you to try and do something or be something, but being is completely different. Being means getting out of your own way and allowing the magic of everyday life to emerge. To do this you must be present, in the Now! If you get hung up on the future or the past, you'll completely miss the present. If you get caught up on what you don't have, you'll throw away all that you do! Ad if you spend all of your time trying to be who and what you're not, you run the risk of forever losing who and what you really are!

The moment you see that each day you awaken and are still alive is another opportunity to realize your worth, another shot at cracking the combination to your soul's vault and laying claim to the wealth within you and the wealth around you, another chance to, with two hands, embrace the greater you, each and everyday is never the same and that person is forever new!