OverExposed

Yesterday I was urged by a close friend to go on YouTube and watch a video that she insisted would blow my mind. Thinking that this was going to be some sort of pleasing experience for my eyes, I hopped on the Internet, pulled up YouTube and typed into the search "Gold Everything Trinidad James". To my surprise, this wasn't what I was expecting. The first 10 seconds of the video immediately peaked my tolerance levels and I found myself turning it off before the video could even get started. In that moment, I realized that I was a victim of OverExposure. 

OverExposure is almost like getting a sunburn. You layout with the intent to get a nice golden brown tan. Somehow you end up falling asleep and wake up with a horrid red burn that hurts to the touch and also hurts just to look at. The Internet, in my eyes, is that horrible suntan that leaves you OverExposed and breaks down your tolerance levels. Between the numerous product ads, political drama, celebrity gossip, negativity on social websites and videos depicting a false reality....my mind is fried. I have been so OverExposed to nonsense that my eyes, my mind, and my spirit can no longer stand to process it. Its too much! 

A simple Google search for information leaves us subjected to negativity and useless information that our brains are forced to process. The average Internet user has the potential to see over 5,000+ ads in one day. Do you ever wonder why you are so tired after sitting in front of the computer for a couple of hours "browsing" the Internet? It's because (although you don't intend to) your brain is processing massive amounts of information (ads, pop ups, subliminal messages, images) that comes into your view. This is information we don't ASK to see, yet we are cramming it into our brain on a daily and sometimes hourly basis. While we consume more and more of the web, the web returns the favor by consuming countless amounts of our personal energy. Lets not forget about mobile apps? Have you ever noticed that you have to RE-focus your thoughts after being zoned into a mobile app for just a few minutes?

But all hope isn't gone. We can still choose what we feed our minds. Like that horrible suntan, there is a SPF50 protection lotion for your mind. There is a way to filter out some of the negativity you see on the Internet by doing some of the following things:

• Set your home screen to a website that has daily positive affirmations and daily living tips that inspire you.This will be the first thing you see every time you pull up the Internet.
• Place filters on your social media websites to only see posts from people who have commentary that ADDS to your life and daily positivity. 
• USE the Internet, don't abuse it. Use the Internet on an as-needed basis. Get on and get off. I've seen countless people sit in front of the computer for hours with no real reason or purpose. 
• Kill your boredom with a book! The last time I checked, books don't come with frivolous marketing ads and flashing images to distract your attention.
• Try to prevent using the Internet and watching the television at the same time. It increases your chances of OverExposure ten fold.
• Last but not least, CHOOSE QUALITY content. If your goal is to better yourself, why would you read, watch or be entertained by something that decreases your value and the value of those around you? 

Protect your mind. Your Spirit will thank you for it :)

What is your favorite website for inspiration? Please share in the comment section below.

Check Your Intentions At The Door

All of us have been to a concert, movie, doctor's office, hotel or some place where we have to check in before we can finally get to our destination. Heck, even before you enter a night club they check for identification and if you're lucky, a handsome muscle bound bouncer will even pat you down for weapons.   

This mandatory "check" should also be a prerequisite in our daily personal actions and interactions. Before we act or respond to something we should visit the INTENTION desk to check-in and confirm that all credentials have been verified.

I have been single for almost 5 years now. I have dated men here and there, but nothing too serious. Needless to say, every now and then I get the urge to call an old beau to spend some time or catch a movie. Just in that moment, when I'm about to dial the number, something always stops me and I end up spending the rest of the evening on my couch watching Netflix.  This past weekend the same thing happened and I took a moment to investigate why I couldn't go through with the call. 

MY INTENTIONS. I now understand that my intentions were requiring me to check-in at the front desk. The front desk is where all my life lessons were filed in a drawer. The front desk is where my newly developed spirit was standing with a smile and asking "How can I help you?". The front desk is where I had to show proof that I was no longer the same person I was in the past. 

When I got to the front desk, my spirit advised me that my intentions were not directly in line with the goals I set forth for my life. She pulled an old dusty file from the drawer and reminded me that the person I was about to call had previously proven unworthy of my time. She then asked for my identification to make sure I wasn't returning to the front desk as the person I used to be in the past. After verifying my credentials, she did a quick pat down to make sure I wasn't carrying anything like old baggage, loneliness or low self-esteem in my pockets. She kindly took my cell phone from my hand and hung it up before I could make the call. She told me she loved me and sent me on my merry way toward my destination....Happiness!

All of our actions are driven by INTENT and PURPOSE. It is important to question the intentions buried beneath your actions, especially when those actions are fed from emotion. You then must determine if those intentions will serve a purpose in your life that will add exponential growth and love to your spiritual foundation. If your intentions are not in line with your growth, the outcome will likely be unfavorable. 

Take a minute to check in at your front desk. You'll be happy you did!

Yo Mama!.....

Yep! I said it... Yo Mama! Now before you go getting all offended and wanting to defend her honor, there are a few things you need to know about Yo Mama.

Many of us wonder why we live out certain patterns in our life. Why we act and react the way we do to certain circumstances. Why we have certain personality traits that we just cant seem to change. Its all because of ......  Yo Mama!

Our true way of being, at its deepest core, took form the moment we were conceived in our mother's womb. Our birth pattern began long before we took our first breath in this world. Depending on the internal and external circumstances in your mothers life during her pregnancy, your birth patterns can be marked by vicarious nuances given to you in the womb. 

I look at my youngest son's way of being and understand how my emotions and actions during my pregnancy with him have embedded patterns into his personal nature. I had a tumultuous relationship with his father which usually initiated arguing, crying and resentfulness on a daily basis. I remember several occasions during my pregnancy sitting in my bed weeping for hours. I was carrying my son in a toxic womb. A womb that was never in peace, always turned upside down and was seldom in balance. My spirit was consistently sending him coded messages that hurt feelings and suffering were the first things he would experience.

As a result, my son's most dominant pattern is his emotional sensitivity. As a young boy he would easily get his feelings hurt and seemed to cry about almost anything. As a teen, he now has deep seeded emotional bond with those he considers family and friends. He still tears up at things that touch his heart and is extremely loyal, even to those that may have hurt him in the past. He loves deeply and grieves even deeper.

When I recognized his pattern and realized I was the source of it, I immediately called My Mama! I asked her about her life during her pregnancy with me, even how she felt leading up to my birth. I asked her about the events that happened during my birth; were they rushing to the hospital, was it planned, were there any complications? Most of all, I asked her how she felt about my father. She was in love, they went to the hospital with no stress or chaos and my birth was seemingly normal. My fathers laid back nature helped put her at ease during her pregnancy and during the trip to the hospital. My mother spent much of her pregnancy working and planning her next move for her career. Which all explains why I don't get flustered about very many things and why I'm so focused on planning out my life. I was born into a love filled, peace filled, relaxed womb.

As a woman, I encourage you to take heed of your personal environment, your spiritual vibrations and your own personal birth patterns. Think about what you will give to your next growing seed. Your unborn child in-vibes every part of your spirit and absorbs every emotion within you. Every thought you have, every feeling you have, every urge you have...you share that with your child. Each child that is conceived has a purpose on this earth. Raising that child in a toxic womb will set forth birth patterns that they will spend their lives trying to overcome before they can truly fulfill their purpose. Why not make their lives a little easier by nurturing them in a peace filled womb; a womb of stillness and balance. A womb of love.

Now stop reading this blog and go have an inquisitive talk with Yo Mama! ♥



What birth patterns do you believe began when you were in the womb?? Leave your comments below.

Out With The Old...

I'm a purger by nature. I don't like a lot of clutter, heck...I barely have anything hanging from the walls in my home. I like open space and a lot of light. So anytime things start piling up.... Its time to purge it out of my sight, out of my presence, out of my life.

2012 has been a year of abundant growth for me. Id like to say I've outgrown my old britches and need a pair of loose adjustable overalls in the meantime. If my life could walk around in the nude...that would be a lot easier too...no restraints. 

In honor of 2012, here are 12 events that have helped me grow, outgrow and purge my life to prepare for not just 2013, but for the rest of my life.  

EYE SEE YOU...
 I started my year by speaking to a spiritual reader. Now, this is not just some  "psychic hotline" type of stuff. She has a gift for seeing beyond what the average eye can see. While I was in Cleveland for a business trip, I spent almost 2 hours on the phone with her learning what would evolve in my life over the next several months. She even told me who my spirit guide/guardian angel is...by name. After a little research about my family, the name she gave me was my great grandmother. Amazing!! She spoke of me taking control of my life, being in a position where I will gain money and power. She said I would marry and most of all...that I should acknowledge myself as the LIGHT WORKER that I am. What is a light worker you ask? Someone who has the ability to see, feel and know beyond what the human eye and mind can perceive. Someone who has a special light within them that nurtures and cares for others at a deeper more profound level than the average human being is capable of. I'm slowly starting to learn that I fit the mold.

QUIET THE MIND....
I was in my final semester of school. Not only was I working everyday, working on projects for school, being a full-time mother and friend....I was also learning that I needed a way to balance all of the tasks I was juggling before I completely lost my mind! I began watching Oprah's Lifeclass and Super Soul Sundays and found that meditation was a means of finding that balance. I will admit, its not the easiest thing to do when you have a million things on your mind. But with daily practice and stillness...I have mastered it. My practice in meditation brought about more patience, more understanding, more forgiveness, more love, more compassion...more of every good thing life has to offer. I began to have what I call Woosah Week. I would cut myself off from all communication with friends, no television, barely any technology....only me, myself and meditation. And lets just say...I am now fully tapping into the SOURCE. A great book I read during my first few weeks of meditation was - STILLNESS SPEAKS by Eckhart Tolle.

MARKETING MAHEM....
Yup...I was in school on top of a million other things in my life. The most important thing was to leave with my degree and some marketing work under my belt. I had been working in the insurance industry for almost 17 years and I knew I would need more marketing experience in order to make a 360 degree change in my career. In January I created an experiential marketing plan for the company I worked for, presented it to the corporate leaders...THEY LOVED IT...but said they werent going to be able to use the idea. While I was a little disappointed, that opportunity gave me the drive I needed to make the leap into marketing. So I interned my butt off for almost 8 months straight in order to build my resume. One thing Ive learned in life... YOU DONT GET WHAT YOU WANT, YOU GET WHAT YOU PREPARE FOR.

CHASING ENERGY..
My dog Chase...a 3 pound Yorkie... always at my feet, in my lap, sniffing my face and "protecting the house". I was in the middle of reading a book called  FREQUENCY by Penny Pierce. She spoke about being able to sense and feel peoples vibrations and energy. Being able to detect it so you can respond/react in accordance with that energy to bring about positive outcomes. I never knew what the energy was that she spoke of until the day Chase passed away. I was so zoned into school work that day, I didnt hear him slip outside the door. Energy. Had I been fully present, I would have noticed that his energy was missing from the room. Energy. The empty feeling of having to pick his lifeless body up out of the road. Energy. My household has been missing something since he left and it still is. Energy.

SMARTY PANTS....
Phew! I made it. I graduated with honors from the University of Tampa. I looked back at the past 2 years and wondered...HOW THE HELL DID I MAKE IT! Living on a part time income, managing my household, nurturing my kids, doing internships.... OMG! I freakin did it! I stepped out on faith one day. Sitting at my desk at work thinking...this cant be my life. The following day I was registering for school. And now, Im at the finish line. WOW! God can carry you through...all you have to do is release yourself from the fear, all the what-ifs, all of the negative thoughts and...TAKE THE FIRST STEP. I received a card from someone after I graduated that said "An educated black woman is the voice of her ancestors. She is the dream that rises from their souls." I truly believe they carried me through this, for without their struggles, I would not have had this opportunity. I am blessed abundantly. 

MONETARY MENTALITY...
I started realizing that my relationship with money was always a come-and-go situation. I watch the money come into my bank account and quickly go out of my hands to pay my bills. It dawned on me that my mentality about money was all wrong after hearing my spiritual adviser  speak about financial success. I looked back and realized that I have been struggling with money since the day I graduated high school. Somewhere in my psyche I believed that I absolutely had to struggle because I was a single mother with a single income. That's what single mothers do right...struggle?? Somehow I convinced myself that my bi-weekly paycheck was the only way I could make money. Im smarter than that right?? Nope. I wasn't. Nobody had ever shown me the ways I could make my money work for me, especially when I was young (in my 20s). So I started trying to find ways to bring in extra income using my "talents". The best thing you can do for yourself is to USE YOUR GOD GIVEN TALENT...the money will soon come.

A LITTLE R&R...
I love traveling...without the kids. Lol But this time I decided to take them with me on a trip to Puerto Rico. It was Julion's birthday and we had a blast. During the trip I learned that it wasnt fair for me to go through my life soaking up the culture from other countries and not to share that with my children. THEIR LIVES NEED TO BE ENRICHED with these experiences too! Julion was preparing for his final year in high school and my gut was telling me to let him fly far far away...as far as he wanted. He needed to see new places, new people, new life. As we sat in a hammock on the beach of San Juan, PR, with our feet up, our eyes gazing at the sky, it finally settled in me that my little baby was going to be a man soon and it was time for me to let him flyyyyyyy.

A NATURAL STATE OF MIND....
August 23, 2012 - The day I finally chopped off my relaxed hair and began wearing my naturally curly/kinky coils. I thought my ego was going to spontaneously combust once it realized that my straight silky weave had been taken out and what was left of my relaxer was gone. But to my surprise, my ego didnt flinch. My pride was still in tact and my vanity seemed to be skipping around in joy. Me and my hair were finally happy. I decided to go natural after I had been burned pretty bad with a relaxer. I called myself giving my scalp and hair time to heal from the disaster and somehow it turned into my journey of going natural....A JOURNEY WELL WORTH TAKING. Its kind of amazing how healing takes place in many forms. My scalp was just a representation of my old wounds and current pains. I gave it time to heal and then cut away the remaining tattered ends to allow a stronger healthier strand of my life to grow.

ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE...
...and I laughed. You know how sometimes you have to laugh just to keep from crying? Just to keep from having a complete melt down, you just laugh at the twisted irony that unfolds. That was me in September. Sitting on my couch laughing as they came and towed my car away...not just towed...REPOED! For 2 years I had been working part time and going to school full time. A major struggle indeed. I had been borrowing money from friends, taking out loans from my 401K and doing small marketing jobs just to keep my boat afloat. My credit went from really great to really horrible after the first year. Into the second year I was paying the bills that HAD TO be paid and "puttin somethin on" the rest of the bills. It was like holding up a mountain, trembling and shaking trying to hold it up until everything was done. As soon as I crossed the stage and got my degree...everything around me came crashing down. As I sat on the couch giggling.. I SAID THANK YOU.  Ohhhh what a relief!! To no longer have that burden anymore.   And then it hit me...what else was I trying to hold on to that made my struggle harder than it needed to be?? What else was I trying to salvage in a time when all I needed was the bare necessities?? It came to me - friends, my job, my so-called man, my pride. The real truth about hell breaking loose in your life is that you will either smolder in the ashes...or you will rise from them like a phoenix.

ITS TIME TO GO!!.... 
So after getting my car repoed, I had another moment at my desk where something was pressing me to make a move. Not because I had my degree. Not because I wanted a career in marketing. Simply because I was no longer happy. I hadn't been happy there in years and I knew it. But you know how we are with our old fashioned thinking..."If you have a good job, you stay because good jobs are hard to come by". Unfortunately my relationship with my job was like a dying relationship with a man. He's a good guy, pays the bills on time but you're simply not in love him anymore. The thrill was gone. Not to mention that the same company who said they wouldn't use my marketing idea back in January ended up using the idea in July and then sending me a $2 sippy cup in September as a form of their gratitude. Seeing how I spent the last two years allowing God to lead my path. I listened when he told me it was time to go..and after 17 years....I left in October. Funny thing about FAITH...IT MAKES YOU FEARLESS.  I took flight and never looked back!

WOOSAHHHHHHH......
The year moved pretty quickly. By November I had gotten my degree, lost my car and left my job. As soon as I left my job... marketing work came pouring in and opportunities came knocking on my door. The road bump I had hit back in September was proving to be a necessary part of my forward progression. Things were rapidly getting better and better in my life and my spirit said STOP! So I did. In the middle of everything going great...I went on a 21 day stillness fast in order to observe my new life and where I was headed. I had to align my way of thinking, acting, and being with the path that was beginning to unfold in my life. The more still I was, the more things fell into place. People were coming into my life that are surely going to be pivotal in helping catapult me and my career into a successful future. Most of all I learned a wonderful new word from Deepak Chopra - SYNCHRODESTINY - which means harnessing the power of everyday coincidences to help you realize your long held dreams. What I know now...Nothing is a coincidence when it comes to my dreams! Im getting EXACTLY what Ive been preparing for.

No Single Raindrop Believes It Is To Blame For The Flood

LACK OF RESPONSIBILITY....
What I learned this year is this: I will no longer hold myself responsible for the insecurities, iniquities and insufficient self-esteem of others. Ive spent a great part of my life pacifying and trying to fix things for other people and their lives. The time Ive spent doing that has distracted me from my path on many levels. Dont get me wrong... I truly am a light worker. But what I know is that people will continue to obsessively repeat patterns in their lives until THEY CHOOSE to release themselves. Nothing I say or do will change those patterns. I can only offer my advice and possible solutions and then set it free. I can only pray for people and do what is within my means to help. A part of releasing myself from old patterns is to allow people to be EXACTLY who they are without trying to fix them or change them. Unconditional love and understanding is all they truly need. That is the only thing I am responsible for...loving people beyond any limit. The only thing that I VOLUNTARILY CHOOSE to give of myself is.....Love.


2013 is just an extension of past years and past lives that I have lived. It is not a "new year" to do or start anything over that hasn't already begun in my life. Its merely another threshold that is being crossed like many more to come throughout the years. I look forward to sharing my blog and hearing your comments and sharing my SELF with you through my Voluntary Vulnerability.

Thanks to NatalieCeleste for inspiring me to start my Vlog :)