I began practicing meditation back in 2014 when I embarked on what I would consider my spiritual journey. Meditation became a part of my life, a part of my daily routine, the reason I handle life situations in a mindfulness way. I spent four years ways away from Corporate America, and knew that if I ever came back, I would incorporate meditation into whatever environment I worked in.   

Photos Taken By: Carrie Porter

I developed my love for nature when I moved to Texas in 2013. I'm originally from Chicago where the land is flat, there are tall buildings everywhere, it's really busy, and you only get to experience nature in good weather between April-October. When I came to Texas I loved feeling closer to the sun, seeing so much green, trees everywhere, hills on the highways, and witnessing so much beautiful land. It took me a few more years, 2015 to be exact, to truly appreciate all aspects of nature that would turn out to be healing for my mental health. 

I developed a love for journals when I was a teenager. I believe every girl was given a journal at some point in their younger years. It was like the universe knew that we would benefit from expressing ourselves outward. People knew that we would be the gender to express ourselves through a pen and paper. I have 5 journals in my room right now. I accumulated them at different moments in my life over the last few years. Each journal I have has a powerful, relatable image on the cover that was like a magnetic field that had the ability to draw me to purchase it. Whether I was at a book store, attending a lecture, or shopping at a retail store, I've been attracted to journals and find so much value in them. 

​I've always had a desire to write my own book. The one thing that stood in the way of me accomplishing my goal was that one dreaded word: FEAR! Fear of failure. Fear of what others would think of me. Fear that I would overwhelm myself because I just didn't have enough time. A variety of fears and insecure thoughts prevented me from taking a leap and writing my book. That was until January 15th, 2020. I made the decision to stop getting in my own way. I made the choice to pursue every goal I desired, and live life without regrets.

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Let's face it, life brings us so many challenges and obstacles that may affect our peace, joy, and overall happiness. During these difficult times in particular, we're battling COVID, rise in unemployment, loss of lives, and trying to adjust to our "new normal". Due to these unfortunate circumstances it's more important now than ever to be in control of your mental clarity, have healthy and positive interactions, and focusing on your overall happiness. We still have children to raise, employees to mentor, family members to be there for, and a beautiful life to live. While it's not always easy, I try to be as happy as I can more often than others so that I can spread joy to as many people as possible during my daily interactions. I'm going to share with you 5 ways you can increase your happiness so that you impact others in more ways than you know. 

Throughout our lives, we will set many goals. Some goals are bigger than others and will take more time to reach. Then there are short term goals that are far more easier to reach. If you think about some of the goals you've set for yourself this year alone, how many have you accomplished? How many of those goals are you still working toward? Now ask yourself how many of those goals you've given up on already? We're midway through 2020, and I've accomplished a great amount of goals I listed on my vision board back in January, but I still have a few I'm focusing on right now that have been more challenging. With that being said, don't get discouraged if you have to regroup, refocus, and get back on the train to reaching your goal. In this blog I'll give you my steps in the best ways to approach and accomplish your short term or long term goals. 

Self love is loving you for who you are, choosing to be happy, surrounding yourself with positive people, and engaging in environments that add peace and joy into your life. Self love is knowing your worth, valuing your attributes, and not allowing others to treat you less than you deserve. Self love can deteriorate as you turn over your power and confidence to others. It decreases as your interactions in negative environments increase. It decreases as people who lack good intentions enter your life, and you accept treatment that is unkind. It decrease as you start viewing yourself through the lenses of others. As you compare yourself to others, you will most likely decrease the love of self. As days, months, or years go by, you may find yourself unhappy and lacking the most important ingredient to you experiencing a fruitful life: Self Love. 

​Why is it that we find it easier to blame outside sources for negative experiences that we have had, and focus on how "they" made us feel. We focus on how "they" controlled that outcome or that situation. We focus on how mad, angry, and upset we are with "them". We spend weeks, months, and sometimes years carrying buckets of painful emotions around with us hoping that outside person or source will make us feel better about the situation or experience. "They" should make the changes and help fix us. What if I told you that a simple solution could help you begin the healing process?  What if I told you you can start the process of emptying that annoying bucket of pain by identifying your role in the situations, and why holding yourself accountable can assist you in mental freedom..

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Self-Love is choosing you first. Self-Love is not accepting treatment that you don't deserve. Self-Love is holding yourself to a higher regard and standard that is filled with love, joy, and respect. Self-Love is knowing that happiness, confidence, and self appreciation comes from within. Self-Love starts with you, not an outside source. Self-Love can come and go, and come again based on a variety of factors throughout our lives. Those factors may include: Loss, Abusive Relationships, Self-Esteem Issues, Unhappy Childhood, or spending time in environments or around people that are over critical and negative towards you. Whatever reason or point in your life that you may have experienced a Lack of Self-Love in, I'm hear to tell you that you are not alone...

​Without Communication, how would we navigate through the world? Not only is communication important, but effective communication is even more important. Whether we're communicating with our family members, employees, or our co-workers, how we communicate determines the outcome of that conversation. Our goal is usually to teach, mentor, lead, express a message, or explain something to someone. Ultimately, we want that message to be received. When communicating effectively we should keep in mind these 4 areas to focus on: Listening, Body Language, Being Precise, and Being Open-Minded.