Focus, Consistency & Change

The first month of the year is almost over. That means a lot of the resolutions or goals people set for the new year will soon be forgotten. 

Not me. I’ve been meaning to share my words for the year for the past month but just couldn’t get around to it.

December 2015, I  came across this exercise of choosing one word to live by for an entire year. 

My word for last year was positivity. Despite the many challenges I faced, I kept a smile on my face and kept the spirit of positivity alive.

This year I’ve chosen three words:

Focus

I’m a little bit of a scatter brain. I always come up with these great project ideas, start and take forever to finish. Or, sometimes I just have too many projects on the go and lose focus. Or, I’ll set a finish date for one and end up making excuses as to why I can’t finish it, extend the finish date and it still doesn't get done. 

Well,  enough is enough. Not this year. I’ve already taken baby steps with simple projects and now I'm ready to move on to my bigger projects. I'm excited for all that I will accomplish this year all because I’m going to focus on one thing at a time. 

Consistency

There’s a few things I want to be consistent with this year. Being on time for my appointments (yes, I still struggle with this), cleanliness (no, my house isn’t a pigsty but I’m not a stickler about my house being dust free 24/7) and being consistent with my savings.

Change

This one was a debate because I absolutely hate change. I won’t be mentioning the changes I would like to see at this time. Instead I'll be praying about them because only God can answer my prayers.

Even though it’s the end of the month,  it’s not too late to pick your word (s) for the year. Join me and let’s make 2017 the best year yet!

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Thanks for reading and keep smiling :)

365 days of Positivity

A couple of weeks ago, I was trying to figure out what my goal for 2016 would be. I came across several posts about picking three words for the year. The purpose of the exercise is to incorporate those words into your everyday life and let it become a part of who you are.

Instead of choosing three words, I decided to choose one: Positivity.

While I consider myself to be an optimistic individual, I tend to struggle to stay positive when things don’t go my way. I’m a control freak. Not being able to solve my problems drive me absolutely crazy.

God has really been testing me over the past few months. Some days I'm positive that He's going to work things out for me and other days I'm not so sure. 

I’m tired of my moods flip flopping. It has been destroying me. I knew I needed to change.

My word finally came to me on New Year’s Eve. Regardless of my current situations and all the situations to come, I’ve made up in my mind to make a conscious effort to become a more positive person in 2016.  

How will I do that? Well, I’ve joined the One Word 365 community. I’ll be able to follow those who’ve chosen the same word as myself and see what they’re doing to stay positive all year round.

What’s your word for 2016?

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When you get a chance, please visit my friend Tyrone’s blog. His posts are insightful and very thought provoking. See his blog here.

Thanks for reading and keep smiling :) 

My Happiness Project: Organization

I’m now in month three of my Happiness Project.

Last month’s resolution was Health & Fitness: to maintain a healthy weight and diet by exercising and eating right. I completed my first month of P90X and the 30 day Squat challenge. This month I will continue with P90X, I’m going to do the 30 day Arm challenge and sign-up for the Ajax Women's Boxing Boot Camp.

My resolution for this month is Organization: to keep all areas of my house tidy at all times – especially my kitchen. 

Anyone that comes to my house expects my kitchen to be a mess with all of the baking I do. Anytime I bake, I have a bad habit of leaving the dishes for a day or two…or three…or four! When I do end up washing them, it takes me at least an hour. If I tackle them right away, I could easily cut that time in half.

Since I’m a bit of a scatterbrain, I created a weekly schedule. I have a bad habit of trying to work on five projects at a time and never get any of them done. By creating this schedule, it will force me to focus on one task at a time.

Finally, I decided to create a meal plan for the entire month. By doing this, it will force me to buy groceries, cook and eliminate all of the last minute fast food orders.

Back in January, I did a piece on “All this Clutter!” I made a 21 day resolution to clear all of my clutter.

I went from this:

To this:

I’ve been living a clutter free life for the past 34 days!

Sometime this month, I would like to learn how to play Chess again. I haven't played since Grade 3. If you know of anyone that would be willing to give me a few lessons, please let me know.

What goals/resolutions have you made for this month?

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Thanks for reading and keep smiling :)

My Happiness Project - Health & Fitness

Last month I started My Happiness Project journey. My January resolution was Spirituality: to spend more time with God through prayer, daily Bible reading and scripture memorization. I started off strong and started falling off mid month. It’s a new month and I’m ready to try again.

This month’s focus is on Health & Fitness: to maintain a healthy weight and diet by exercising and eating right. Last week I started my P90X workout. I’m also going to be doing the 30 day Squat Challenge. Time to get this body Summer ready!

I'm finally going to put my sewing machine to work this month by signing up for sewing classes. It's time to start making my own clothes since stores don't make clothes to fit the shape of a Black Woman. This is the perfect skill to learn just in time for Summer.

Guess what? I survived 34 days without candy! This candy fast hasn’t been as bad as I thought it would be. Read My Candy Addiction for the full story.

What goals/resolutions have you made for this month?

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Thanks for reading and keep smiling :)

My Happiness Project

Like most, at the end of every year I create a bucket list – a list of things I would like to accomplish the following year. Every June I review my list and realize that I’m nowhere near accomplishing my long list of goals. By the end of the year, I'm lucky if I'm able to cross off 5 items. I always told myself that there was always “next year”.

Last month, I came across “The Happiness Project” by Gretchen Rubin – a book about her twelve month resolution plan to happiness. Every month she made new resolutions with the hopes of keeping them for the entire year. I thought this was a pretty realistic way of accomplishing my goals so I decided that as of January 1^st, I was going to start my own happiness project.

For the month of January, my focus is on Spirituality – to spend more time with God through prayer, daily Bible reading and scripture memorization.

One of my goals has always been to start a blog.  It’s something I’ve wanted to do but didn’t have the time nor was I ready to commit. Now I’m ready. I finally turned my dream into a reality.

Special thanks to my sister, Winter, who inspired me to start blogging.

Will I be happier by the end of 2015? Who knows. Every year I like to try something new and this year it happens to be “The Happiness Project” – tackling my dreams and goals one month at a time.

What resolutions have you made this year?

What steps will you take to accomplish them? 
    

Visit on Thursday for "My Candy Addiction".

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Thanks for reading and keep smiling :)