Own Your Own Power

There's always something to be grateful for. When we are grateful, we surrender and trust. When we decide to be grateful for what has shown up in our life, when we loosen our grip and go with the flow, that is gratitude. That's not giving up. It's allowing the space for the highest good to appear, believing that what will come with the flow of the universe will serve you. Gratitude is acceptance that we can handle what comes and that we are good enough for it. Embrace gratitude, let it engulf you. Gratitude is contagious. Everything may not be going right but everything isn't going wrong either. We open ourselves to life by grateful. If you are breathing, say thank you and embrace gratitude as a daily practice. Hope you enjoy this edition of the Own Your Own Power Podcast.

We can pause and go with the flow or approach change kicking and screaming. But change is change, some changes are good and some changes are dramatic and twist us to unexpected places. But just like we can't stop autumn or winter from coming, we can embrace change in a way that makes our lives flow. Allow time for your mind, your brain, your body to embrace the change and then consider what's next. This podcast episode offers some thoughts on rolling with the flow of embracing change.

Sometimes as adults we're caught up in focusing on yesterday or worrying about tomorrow. But young children see life more simply and I think being reminded of some of their perspectives can help us be calmer, be our best selves, embrace the here and now. Children are living much in the past, where as adults we see disappointment, they're not living in the future, where as adults we caught up in anticipation and worry. My podcast edition focuses on some excellent motivational thoughts from a grandniece that I recently spent time as she's preparing for a new school year: Have a great day, Be yourself, Do good each day, Try your best, Love yourself, and be a good friend. I hope you will listen and will find the perspectives can make your pause to embrace here and now, thus better able to own your own power.

Embracing ourselves means we’re surrendering to who we are and unloading who others want us to be. I read a quote from Charles Bukowski, “Can you remember who you were, before the world told you who you should be?” So, today, whenever you are listening to this podcast, pause to surrender to who you are. Pause to embrace you. Stop right now in your thoughts and choose to take off the face of who others have been telling you to be and remind yourself of who you are. My message in this podcast is also that we can surrender the burdens that life has put on us to uphold someone else’s standards. We can surrender to so many ideas and ideals shaped and fashioned by someone else who isn’t living our life. By doing this, we are owning our own power to embrace who we choose to be. Don’t bring too much of the baggage from yesterday and past moments with you as you move through life. Erykah Badu sings a song titled “Bag Lady” and the lyrics are about this concept. The song came out many years ago in the year 2000 but the words are worth revisiting: Bag lady, you gon' hurt your back Dragging all them bags like that I guess nobody ever told you All you must hold on toIs you, is you, is you

Life is full of choices. It may be full of hardships too, but we have choices when those hardships come. As we hear in Langston Hughes' poem: Well, son, I’ll tell you: Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair. It’s had tacks in it, And splinters, And boards torn up, And places with no carpet on the floor— Bare; But all the time I’se been a’climbin’ on, And reachin’ landin’s, And turnin’ corners But even then, when I let go of focusing on restrictions, what not to do, but rather what to do … particularly when I choose to do good rather than harm me or others, that’s when I fully embraced joy and that’s when I embraced a universal presence that encompasses God and all beings. Don’t let anyone steal your joy. If you’re going to allow someone else to control your emotions, you’ve already lost. So, the thing about joy is to truly be in control of yourself. You must know who you are and get comfortable with yourself to really embrace joy.  This edition of my podcast focuses on some simple strategies to embrace joy. Joy isn’t complicated. The presence of joy comes from simple approaches to how we see ourselves, how we see and treat others, how we own our emotions, how we give our energy to what we do, the gratitude we have. With tacks and splinters, still climbin & reachin even when there ain’t been no crystal stair … turn the corner and embrace joy. Always own your own power and you will win in all ways.

The word “EMBRACE” is a word that evokes action, that makes you think, that makes you feel something. So, in this new year and throughout the year, I want to encourage you to really, really feel and to really do things deliberately that seize times to be joyful and happy. To embrace times for yourself, those you love and those you want to help. Gallup's 2022 survey says unhappiness has risen globally, with several factors contributing to it. This podcast shares reasons to make this year a reason to embrace happiness. Toni Morrison's last work, The Source for Self-Regard, spanned four decades of her works and distinguished knowledge from wisdom ... this podcast discusses embracing wisdom. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a champion for many things and now is a time to embrace the challenges he left us with, including hope and love.  A new Boston monument to him is titled, The Embrace, and the artist is on point in why he chose his design. As you move into 2023, embrace is a theme for each of us to embrace life, change, happiness, wisdom, social interactions, human connections, and love. Listen to how to get started.

I'm thinking about several gifts and people this time of year. The combination of purpose, love, generosity, and empathy make for the best gifts this time of year and all year. The people who are on my mind include my mother (whose passing happened 10 years ago), words from Oprah and Chadwick Boseman about purpose and words from Michelle Obama's book on "The Light We Carry." My podcast touches on Chadwick's comments on living our purpose, the gifts that I learned from my mother's life of generosity and love, how Michelle Obama's thoughts on empathy show us that "I see a little of you and you see a little of me" and more thoughts of the gifts we give all year long. I hope you will enjoy it. 

Have you ever thought about how often you're looking down instead of looking up. It may be more often than you're aware. Looking down at your phone, iPad, computer in your lap, or as you walk. As Autumn continues, this season of change and evolution is a good time to step back, see the horizon, take a leap and soar high, actually look up and look at ourselves. When no one else is looking, it matters the most that we're honest with how we're living up to our own standards. Be your own validator. You may fool other people but you know the truth about how you measure up. Take the doubts and fears and breathe courage into them. Like the might oak tree whose branches reach outward and upward, look up and stretch yourself.

Recently we heard Serena announce she wasn't retiring but rather was looking at this next part of her life as an evolution. When I retired from my main job several years ago, it wasn't retirement from life, it was a huge change for me but I evolved into a new segment that brought excitement, some unknowns and plenty of fulfillment. I heard the term rewirement from a women aged 70 who started a new career as a fashion model at that age. She even talked about using different colors in her attire changed how people saw her. What I know is that this part of my life has been greatly fulfilling as I've rewired to focus on my passions, the treasures God has given to me and serve a purpose. This podcast talks about this. Hope you will take a listen.

My husband's Aunt Fannie recently said "I'm in my own shadow" and I've been thinking about what that could mean. I think it inspires confidence, living your own life, not needing others to tell you how to be but rather looking within for your guidance. Taking life's experience and deciding who you are, not what others prescribe for you. There's some consistency too in looking at advice from Maya Angelou, the way Paul Newman & Joanne Woodward lived, my parents, and an author for Black youth literature named Jason Reynolds. All in all, when we are standing in our own shadow, we don't cower to others, the sun must be shining in order for there to be a shadow and we can stand up to who we want to be. Take a listen for more on this topic.

What do you reach for to fill you, to refill you when you need a burst of energy, when life's challenges have hit a bump in the road or you just need to get re-charged. When you want to go beyond your current circumstances or even just make it from one day to another. Some thoughts on four simple substances that any of us can utilize to fill our minds and bodies, our life's cup, for the journey we're on. When you partake of these regularly, you will be nurtured with endurance for many of the challenges that come. Own your own power.

That sounds like an odd question but did you tell your heart to beat today? I didn't tell mine and I don't think you did either. If we do what is natural, what we have been gifted to do merely by having life, our heart will simply beat without being told to do so. Telling it to beat is a distraction just like thinking you have to tell the sun to rise. Taraji P Henson recently told graduates of Howard University to choose faith over fear, hope over cynicism, love over hate. She said fear makes you spin your wheels. We each have the capacity to worry about things or let them just flow as they would like the waters in a river. This episode of my podcast talks about how to do that.

Social media platforms are influencers forming our Digital Tribe that impact what we think, how we behave, what we do and what we don't do. It's happening consciously and sub-conciously. It's not just FB, IG, TikTok, Twitter but also Netflix, Hulu, ESPN, and HBO. How often are you leaving the Echo Chamber of your Digital Tribe so you're not living in George Orwell's 1984 of the Thought Police to be sure you know your own truth. Social media can suck you in. This podcast helps you consider how much their influencing your personal space and what you can do to step back.

Artists aren't afraid to add to their canvases, we shouldn't be either. We can start with a canvas on any aspect of our life and make adjustments at any time just like artists do. The only constant in life is change. We can change the shading, the colors, the proportions, even the people in our lives ... just hold on to core principles of who we are. My father told me years ago, "hold onto unchanging principles in changing times." I think artists accept that and just like spring brings fresh starts every year, so too can we bring fresh canvases to our lives at any time.

There are times when you acting quickly on your feet can really be great. However, when it comes to our emotions and responding to other people or situations, pausing and giving yourself a chance to gain perspective is highly recommended. I had managers early in my career give me that advice, along with my parents. In my 35-year working career, that advice served me well. And a three question poll to myself also came in handy in deciding whether to proceed with what I was going to do or say about someone: is it kind, is it true, is it necessary? If I couldn't answer yes to all three, then I shouldn't proceed. Life might have less trauma if we give ourselves perspective and ask those three questions.

Rege-Jean Page, actor in Bridgerton, said one of the great things about life is that if we keep moving forward, we discover that we can define who we are, and how we want to live our lives ... basically how we choose what we want our future to look like. Future is an attitude.  You may not always get the most ideal of every situation, but you can look at what comes and do your best with it, it's all a matter of attitude. Philosopher Henry David Thoreau said "it's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see." This episode offers thoughts to encourage you to have an attitude that moves you forward.

History is a subject we think is fact based but do the victors write it or can you? Maybe it's time to own your own story as well as recognize the stories of the lesser-known pioneers. "To be afraid is to behave as if the truth were not true" - Bayard Rustin. Make your own footprints and handprints so the truth of history shapes a path forward for you and others.

Life is a series of moments and I believe we keep ourselves in the game of life by focusing on the moments rather than being overly focused on the score at one particular point in time. Jesus said, "Be like a servant waiting for the return of the master." That requires your total alertness in the NOW. When you have a ball thrown at you, catch it first before you start running down the field or the journey will be pointless no matter what the scoreboard reads.

Guiding yourself to the North Star of your best self, whether we use the inner child of what to be when we grow up or the passion of a young entrepenuer or a 60-something, let your internal compass steer you to a place of smooth terrain.

Tasting and savoring aren't quite the same, hear the difference and how to utilize one of them with suggested essential ingredients for living a life that connects you to what is important to who you are and what you can become.

Want to be a better you, do more, impact greater, achieve higher...it all happens when you own your own power.

Starting a new year is when many people think about what to let go of, I think we should hold on to a few things and see what EMERGES. Some thoughts and musings to inspire you.