Confidently You

Category: Mindset

  • Everyone Deserves to be Lead Well (IMC 2023)

    Everyone Deserves to be Lead Well (IMC 2023)

    Hi there gorgeous!!! This past week was just a fun and fulfilling week for me. John C. Maxwell said, “Everyone Deserves to be Lead Well.” He is right! You, me, and everyone else in this world deserve to be led well.

    I was blessed to have the opportunity to attend our August International Maxwell Conference in Florida. It is where all Maxwell Certified Team Members meet every March and August. Our mentor, Chris Robinson said, “Stay close to the fire” which motivated me to make a commitment and join again this year and I am grateful that I did.

    The Maxwell Leadership Group is Dr. John C. Maxwell’s (Papa John) Legacy. As of today, we have 48,000 members around the world who are certified in the path that they have chosen. Each and every member are promised that they will be led well through this organization and we have been.

    The faculty, the mentors, and Papa John himself always over-deliver. The International Maxwell Conference (IMC) alone was perfect proof of it. It is a three-day event for members to meet, learn, network, and grow together.

    For the most part, we are all led well because of the following things:

    • We have an assigned “Growth Day” for all members and non-members of the organization. This day is full of motivational keynote speeches from well-known speakers and our mentors. It is also a day where we can network and add value to others outside of the organization.
    • The second day and third day is more intimate since it is exclusive for members only. There more teachings are done, along with other activities specific to the lane of our choice and status of membership.
    • New relationships are built and strengthen the relationships that we already had. I have met so many new people at this conference that I have built friendships and if not family. Sometimes the notion of being in a cult comes to mind. It may be true or not, but I must say the energy was just electrifying and motivating.

    I am writing this blog post because I wanted to give you a brief update on my life and at the same time, give you a snippet of my growth journey. With this though, I wanted to challenge you today with these questions:

    -What are you doing today for your personal growth?

    -How are you leading yourself or are you being led well in your environment?

    -What can you do to improve your current environment?

    -Are you surrounding yourself with like-minded people who can help you in your own personal growth?

    Feel free to respond in the comments below with your answer and I’m excited to hear from you.

  • The Power of 5- How to Manage your time?

    The Power of 5- How to Manage your time?

    Hi gorgeous, time management has been huge for me and it started a few years ago. Managing your time not only gives you the feeling of fulfillment, but it also alleviates unnecessary stress in your life.

    Don’t prioritize what’s on your schedule, schedule your priorities.

    Stephen Covey (7 Habits of Highly Effective People)

    How do you manage your time? As Stephen Covey noted, “Don’t Prioritize what’s on your schedule, schedule your priorities.

    In this post, I will share tips on how I’ve learned to manage my time over the share in hopes that it can help you too,

    How to manage your time?

    • Make a list of all the tasks you need to do
    • Prioritize each task based on their importance
    • Choose 5 from that list
    • Put it on your calendar for the day
    • Repeat

    Make a list of all the tasks you need to do

    One important task in managing your time is writing down all the things that you need to do. This activity alone relieved me of the stress of thinking and remembering what needs to be done. I found that if I do not make a list of all the things that I need to do, it gives me anxiety. There is also this tendency of forgetting what the tasks are.

    Yes, writing the task down and being able to see them creates a sense of order and peace in my mind.

    Try this, and let me know in the comments below how it is for you.

    Prioritize each task based on their importance

    Another way of effectively managing time is prioritizing each task. Being intentional and prioritizing each task helped me become productive. And if all tasks are of equal importance, I highly recommend doing the hardest task first. This technique helped me tremendously.

    Choose 5 from that list

    Though you may want to finish all the tasks on your list, it is best to break them down into bite-size pieces. I heard of “The Power of 5” years back which is prioritizing 5 tasks each day. This number does not feel overwhelming when prioritizing tasks yet it takes a good chunk out of your task to be productive. So, go ahead gorgeous, you just need to take care of five things.

    Put it on your calendar for the day

    Our mentor, Dawn Miller said, “If it is not on your calendar, it does not exist.” And yes, I have lived with this.

    Again, I have practiced the activity of putting things on my calendar which takes the stress away. But if it is not on my calendar, I would highly likely have forgotten about it. So, be very gentle with yourself in this process. Write the list down and put it on your calendar. Notice that I am not assigning a time to each one. This will be a task in itself. If you have masculine energy and need more structure. Assigning how long each task will take you is perfect. But for feminine energy, it is more of knowing what to do and basing your energy on which or how long each task will take.

    Repeat

    There you have it, how to manage your time! And repeat. Doing this process over and over again gives you the capability to build it as a habit. Not just a regular habit but an effective and fulfilling one.

    Alright gorgeous, I challenge you to apply these tools and please message me and share the impact it has done on you. As always, if you find value in this post, share it with others, it’s the only way for us to share the knowledge.

    Have a beautiful day!

  • 3 Techniques to Gain Freedom from Your Mind

    3 Techniques to Gain Freedom from Your Mind

    In observance of the Fourth of July as America’s birth of Independence, I would like to share “Techniques to Gain Freedom from Your Mind.”

    Do you know that the human brain can process 11 million bits of information every second? But our conscious minds can only handle 40-50 bits of information every second? (npr.org)

    This is a lot of information to process yet, our focus is only on that bit of information that our conscious mind can handle.

    Now, have you been in a situation where you’ve said something you did not mean to and wish you had not?

    All of a sudden, you play that scenario in your head thinking of ways on how you could have done it differently.

    Then you slowly inflict self-blame. And (you may not be doing this, but you may) to a certain extent called yourself names, like; “You’re so stupid!” You can’t do anything right!” There is no hope for you!”

    This is called self-sabotage. I have done this multiple times in my lifetime and I will be honest it does not feel good. I used to go through this downward spiral. To a point where all the confidence I had left within me just flew out of the window. Then I will be stuck in my own mind. Captured and incarcerated with no sight of freedom,

    A place, I promised myself that I will not come back to and a place I don’t want you to experience. So, here are the techniques I have gradually used in order…

    To gain freedom from my own mind

    • Meditation
    • Focus on what you want
    • Tell yourself, “It’s okay!”

    Meditation

    If you have been reading my past posts, you know that I did not like meditation. I even said that meditating makes me think about food. And it is true. That is because I did not know any better. I did not know that there are different types of meditation. The form of meditation that worked well for me was “Guided Meditation.” Because of this, I learned to focus my thoughts more on what I wanted.

    There are different types of guided meditation; meditation for sleeping, relaxation, and calmness. Click on the hyperlink to listen to an example of them.

    These meditations are what I have used whenever I have trouble sleeping, or I feel overwhelmed. This also resulted in being my reset button whenever I go through a downward spiral on scenarios that I could have done differently.

    And what it did for me was, it made me feel free, it quieted all the noise that was in my mind and gave me this peace.

    You can find these meditations online on any platform that you use to listen music to.

    Focus on what you want

    Focusing on what I wanted, made me feel free. Let me ask you, when you focus on what you do not want, how do you feel? Helpless right?

    Shift it and focus on what you do want. You will use the same energy anyway. Might as well use that energy in something that is positive for you. This technique has given me freedom and had me thinking of the possibilities for me instead of what I lack. Try it, I promise, it will have a huge impact on you too.

    Tell yourself, “It’s O.K.” It will set you free

    I will be brutally honest, life will throw curve balls at you. People will judge you to your core. Some of them will make you feel miserable and inadequate. Please don’t add to that. Knowing you as my reader, you are a cheerleader to others. Always there to support, and give other people what they need.

    Be that person to yourself too. At least, set yourself free from your own judgments. Set yourself free from all the negative talk within yourself.

    Be your biggest cheerleader and tell yourself, “It’s Okay!” Because it is! We live in a society where making mistakes is not acceptable. But little did we know, that making mistakes, failing, yet getting back up again is part of the process.

    It would be a disservice to you and to others if you beat yourself up.

    There you have it gorgeous, the “3 Techniques to Gain Freedom from Your Mind. I challenge you to apply these and let me know how it has impacted you through the comments below.

  • Being “Different” is not a bad thing!

    Being “Different” is not a bad thing!

    Hi there gorgeous. I must admit, it feels like it’s been a while since I last drafted a blog post. And for this blog post period, I wanted to share that being ‘different’ is not a bad thing!

    I know you don’t need this but I will give it to you anyway. I am giving your permission to be different.

    Being in a society where being different is not normal. Rejected even. Or sometimes condemned. It can be very scary to come out and let our hair down. Or speak our truth. I know because I have been there.

    I used to hold my ideas within because of my fears. It was scary for me to be judged and rejected. Even being treated differently. I conformed with my environment and blended in.

    I did not like conflict and confrontation. Which is why I have bottled the emotions, thoughts, and ideas inside me.

    If you have been following me for quite some time, you know that I had developed a black hole in my chest. A metaphor that is. I had this image of a black hole which felt like it was consuming me. I was turning into someone that I know I am not. So, I did one of the most difficult tasks for me to do – I asked for help.

    I asked for help until I found the right person to help me. I hired a coach whom I resonated with. It was a great experience. I had the realization that I was losing myself because I was living for everyone else but not for me.

    In my blog post, “Impeccable reasoning behind the question, why not you?” I shared four reasons why you should be working towards your goals. Those four reasons are my driving points when I was starting my journey. Because of it, I have pushed myself beyond what I thought were my limits. And I would encourage you to read and apply the teachings in it.

    Why is being different not a bad thing?

    Now, going back to the subject at hand, this blog post is called, “Being ‘different’ is not a bad thing. It is not! You are reading this blog post because deep down you are a visionary. You are that generation who wants to break the cycle. Therefore you have the desire to make a difference, I get it. I happen to be that person in my generation.

    I believe that we are created unique to our nature. It is up to us to realize and learn that we have that power.

    A good quote from Oscar Wilde is a perfect quote for this post.

    Be yourself, everyone else is already taken

    Oscar Wilde

    As I said earlier, I did not like confrontations and conflicts which this why I went with the flow. But I realized that I was keeping myself in the dark. I was losing myself. And I don’t want that to happen to you.

    You may not agree but to me, you are a visionary. You are created to break the chains or the cycle in your family generation. And yes you are probably connotated as someone ‘different’. But lean in when I tell you that it is not a bad thing. And let me tell you why…

    Being ‘different’ is not a bad thing:

    Different is not a bad thing because we can make the world better

    It is not a bad thing because we look at things from a different perspective

    Not a bad thing because we aim to make a difference

    Different is not a bad thing because we can make the world better

    I say this wholeheartedly, YOU can make the world better. To be honest, the word “world” is a metaphor and you can apply your definition.

    I would use the invention of the computer. For example, the computer was first called, the “Difference Engine” by Charles Babbage. He entertained the idea of a potential machine that can automatically calculate data. Today we have this wonderful tool that we widely use called Computer. You see, the people who are willing to challenge the norm are the ones who make a change in this world. It doesn’t have to be the entire world, it can be one person’s world or yours!

    It is not a bad thing because we look at things from a different perspective.

    Someone who thinks differently goes against the waves. There are so many things that I can share on this thought. I host masterminds and fell in love with the process. A mastermind is presenting an idea and listening to people with different perspectives. This is to explain their point of view or share their thought about the idea. This way, each person from that group will have a chance to listen to the idea and dissect it. It is a combination of people’s point-of-view to come up with a better idea hence it is called Mastermind. This activity is meant to go out in the world with a thought process in consideration of other people’s point-of-view. They say two minds are better than one, in this program you will have multiple minds working together as one. Brilliant right?

    Not a bad thing because we aim to make a difference

    Yes, “different” does not mean bad. The people who think differently are the ones crazy enough to make the difference. It doesn’t mean that we are difficult. Merely it means that we are challenging the common beliefs and want to know if there is a better way. It is not defying what it already established, more like wanting to improve it.

    Again, going back to the computer invention analogy. If Charles Babbage did not think outside the box, we will not have computers today. If Albert Einstein thought of how many times he has tried and tested the creation of lightbulbs as a failure. We will be living differently today. Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, and if he did not, our form of communication today will not be as quick and efficient.

    There you have it gorgeous. Being different is not a bad thing. So, don’t dim your light because you have a different idea from everyone else. Do not hold back from thinking about what others may think about you. I promise you, when you start speaking up and letting your voice be heard, you will attract your true tribe. And when you do, it will be the most empowering environment you will be a part of.

    Share this blog post if you find value in it! The only way to spread the word is to share the blog post with others!!!!

  • How to switch from Victim to Victor Mindset

    How to switch from Victim to Victor Mindset

    Are you tired of feeling like a victim? Feeling helpless and wishing that things would change? Well, you’re in for a treat as I will share three ways how to switch from a victim to a victor mindset.

    I am sharing these three things not to question you, or belittle you. At least have trust that I am sharing these three things because I wanted to empower you! I have full confidence in you and that if you have applied these three things first, you will be on your way to having a victor mentality.

    How to switch from a Victim to Victor Mindset

    1. Accept that life is hard
    2. Realize that things happen for you not to you
    3. You always have a choice

    Accept that life is hard

    Life is difficult – Don’t make it harder for yourself

    John C. Maxwell

    It was a weird thing to hear this quote from my mentor John C. Maxwell, Life is difficult, don’t make it harder for yourself. I am not going to lie, there have been many occasions when I had a victim mentality. Questioning why everything has to be so difficult. Why can’t I just have an easy ticket to success? And my favorite, Why am I doing this?

    Those are moments of weakness. But when I heard Papa John’s quote (yes, we call Dr. John C. Maxwell, Papa John), it changed the direction for me. Life is difficult, that is the reality. If it was easy, then we wouldn’t appreciate life. If it was a breeze, then we wouldn’t see the value of living life.

    So, I challenge you to make a decision today to accept that life is difficult. Once you have accepted it, then everything else is easier. Again, it’s not how many times you get knocked down, because life will throw curve balls at you. What matters is what you do once it’s in front of you and this is what makes you a victor. Feel free to read my post, “Self-belief is all you need” to enhance this theory.

    Realize that everything happens for you not to you

    Life is simple. Everything happens for you not to you.

    Byron Katie

    This was huge for me.

    My victim mentality was so apparent before that I always ask myself, “Why is this happening ‘to’ me?!?”

    You can relate to it but let me share that my dear you are not a victim. I wish I remembered where this knowledge came from. But I have learned that ‘lessons in life will be repeated until they are learned.’ You can read that again.

    You may be wondering what it means. Well, it means that every hurdle, difficulty, or challenge you face in life will keep repeating. Until you learn the lesson behind it. Which is why the quote by Byron Katie was very powerful.

    Let me give you an example. You experience this fear of getting hurt in a relationship because you were hurt in the past. Yet, you noticed that you keep attracting the same type of men who ends up cheating on you or hurting you. In this scenario, you will keep attracting the same type of men until you learned a lesson. The lesson could be; having more self-confidence. Knowing your boundaries, and being clear about the type of relationship you deserve.

    So, I challenge you. If you encounter a problem that keeps repeating itself, realize that there is a lesson behind it. It is a matter of recognizing it and being curious about what the lesson might be.

    You always have a choice, choose to be a Victor

    I wanted to give you a reality check, YOU.ARE.NOT. A.VICTIM! Another trait of having a victim mentality is accepting that you are a victim. But gorgeous, I am here to tell you that you are not. And at the end of the day, You can choose! Instead of being a victim, you can choose to be a victor.

    You always have a choice of path to take. It’s up to you if the path that you are currently on is something that you wanted to settle in. Or if you are willing to make a change.

    I get it, I do. You may be saying that it is easier said than done Ernie. Remember the first step? I said, Accept that life is difficult. It will always be difficult, but you have a choice to stay in misery; depressed, unmotivated, or stuck, that you are in. Or you can choose to rise up from that occasion. Seek help, motivate yourself, or help yourself to feel unstuck. My advice… choose what is good for you!

    So, there you have it gorgeous! Ways on how to switch from Victim to Victor Mindset. And if you found value in this blog post, please share it with others, it’s the only way we can spread the knowledge.

    Always remember be…

    Bold

    Radiant

    Confidently You!

  • Tough love is sometimes all they need

    Tough love is sometimes all they need

    Hi there again gorgeous, today I am reminded of this lesson, “Tough love is sometimes all they need.”

    My good friend Steve Steele shared this quote with me…

    The moment you rescue or enable a person, it stops their personal growth, care for them enough (love) to let them struggle.

    Steve Steele

    If you have been reading my blog posts long enough, you would learn that my greatest passion is helping others. There is nothing wrong with it, right?

    Helping other people gives me this feeling of fulfillment. That if I can help someone with their struggles, it would be one less stressed, unhappy, or struggling person in the world.

    I had this realization a few weeks back that I am always jumping to help someone who is struggling. But at the end of the day, I learned that when I do, I am disabling this growth. I am putting a limit on their growth. Hence why my friend Steve had to stop me and said “Ernie, you have to love them enough to see them struggle a little.” This is called “Tough love.” Why do you think that is?

    They will never learn

    This fact can be applied to your family members and your co-workers. Remember my blog post, “Reasons why personal growth has to start within?” There I shared that growth has to start within you. So, if we are always helping others. Running to cater to their needs. At the end of it, they will never learn on their own.

    You are probably rolling your eyes right now and saying, “Ernie, it’s not that easy.” And you are right, it is not. Take it from the woman who loves to help someone else.

    The Butterfly Story

    Let’s learn from “The Butterfly” story. There was a man who saw the butterfly struggling to come out of its cocoon. The man grabbed his scissors and cut the cocoon off so that the butterfly can easily come out. By doing so, he noticed that instead of flying, the butterfly struggled and crawled with its weak body. The guy had good intentions but as nature has it, the butterfly is meant to struggle a little bit to get out of the cocoon so that its body can undergo the process and have the ability to fly. This is again, “Tough love.”

    They will never take action

    This is a big one. When you are always coming to the rescue, there is a huge chance that the person will not take action.

    Source here:

    I love this quote by Aang, from The Avatar, which is one of my favorite TV series and movie years ago. Yes, I am revealing my age here. But anyway, we have to give “Tough love” sometimes. Because if we do not, the people we are trying to help will not have a chance to sit down and think of what action(s) they need to take to learn. We all learn at our lowest points. When placed in situations that require us to make a change, we tend to get out of our comfort zone.

    So, there you have it, “Tough love” is sometimes all they need. We need to care for them enough to see them struggle a little bit but with our guidance. For your own sanity though, comfort yourself in knowing that you will be there when push comes to shove.

    I cannot wait to hear your thoughts about this blog post. Until next time. Remember… Be bold, radiant, and CONFIDENTLY YOU.

  • The Leader you aim to be is in YOU.

    The Leader you aim to be is in YOU.

    Hello, there gorgeous! Today, I wanted to share an outstanding achievement with you and also help you realize that the leader you aim to be is in you.

    I must say, I look forward to building these blog posts for you every time. I have my ‘deep focus’ playlist in the background, as I lean back and let my fingers type away.

    I am happy to announce that my co-host and I are launching our very first radio show through Voice America Business Channel. We named the radio show, The Leader’s Edge.

    To be honest with you, this next chapter of my life is just surreal for me. Because imagine all I wanted to do is become an International Motivational Teacher, and now here is a platform that can help me do that.

    The mission of our radio show is…

    We want to attract, motivate, inspire, and add value to aspiring leaders and/or seasoned leaders, who will in turn multiply value to others. We want to be a catalyst for the transformation of these leaders to change the world around them!”

    – The Leader’s Edge

    Now, you are probably saying, “Ernie, I am not a leader. I don’t have a leadership role at work.” This is where the teaching starts.

    According to my mentor, Dr. John C. Maxwell, “Leadership is influence. Nothing more, nothing less.”

    If you have influence, you are a leader. There are different types of leaders which is something that we will not talk about today. But to some it all up, if you are influencing someone, then you are a leader. That could be, influencing your family, your co-workers, and/or yourself.

    You see, the hardest person to lead is ‘yourself’ because you tend to make yourself last. Analyze this for me, I challenge you to assess your actions toward yourself. On days, that you want to do something but decided to stay home instead. Giving and helping others but when it comes to doing things for you, you turn away. This is because we are conditioned that taking care of ourselves first is selfish.

    I am here to tell you that it is not. And to be honest, leading starts with YOU. Just like what I had shared in my previous blog post, “You are authentic, just the way you are.” It all starts within you.

    Our vision

    Our radio show’s vision is to show our audience, YOU, the work, that happens in a leader’s life behind closed doors. The personal growth that they have to go through and still going through in their leadership journey.

    Sometimes, leaders, founders, and successful people are put on a pedestal because of what people see as “success.” But has anyone asked, what these so-called leaders or successful individuals have to go through in order to get there? The pain, the doubts, the adjustments, and the failures. All those things happen in the dark. It all happens when everyone has gone home and the work is done.

    So, gorgeous, in your battle, I am here to tell you, that the leader you aim to be is in YOU. It is something that you can unleash, reveal, and hone.

    With that, I would like to ask for your support on our radio show, “The Leader’s Edge”, as we aim to teach you tangible tools on how to lead. May that be leading a corporation or leading yourself.

    If you find value in this blog post please share it with others, because it’s the only way we will spread the knowledge.

    Always remember, be Bold, be Radiant, and be Confidently You!

  • You are authentic just the way you are! – Pep Talk

    You are authentic just the way you are! – Pep Talk

    Hi there gorgeous! Here is another time for us to share a quick moment together as I give you a pep-talk on this blog post, “You are authentic just the way you are!

    A lot of things are happening on the back end lately and I have been quiet on social media. I have been mostly posting my stories regarding events and guests that we are having on our Facebook group called, “Path to your Personal and Leadership Growth with Steve and Ernie”. If you are not a part of this Facebook group, please feel free to ask to join and we will let you in.

    Anyway, back to our topic today about being authentic. According to the Oxford Dictionary, being authentic means, “of undisputed origin; genuine.

    Now, my question to you is, do you know that you are authentic just the way you are?

    You are probably wondering how I know that you are authentic despite not meeting you. Well, I know that you are authentic because:

    You are made uniquely by your creator…

    You are authentic because you are made uniquely by your creator. May that be God, Universe, Spirits, or whoever your creator is, you are created unique and genuine. My faith is in Jesus and his Father created all of us in His likeness. That is why I know that in my heart, I am made authentically by my Creator.

    According to Genesis 1, God created man on the sixth day. Carefully crafted that He created man in two genders, a man and a woman. Both were given life and given a purpose. And you are too!

    You already have it in you to be authentic…

    Since I have been created by God, I am already authentic. But because of our conditioning growing up, our authenticity fades, replaced by doubts, negative self-talk, fear, and limiting beliefs.

    This conditioning is the teachings of our parents. The subconscious and conscious observations that we had adopted. And the values, knowledge, and skills that we have learned over time.

    I have learned in my journey that you are already your higher self or authentic self when you were born. But between the age of birth to seven, your authentic self is tainted and changes over time. But here’s the good news, you can find it in yourself again.

    You can find your own authenticity within you

    I listened to the book by a good friend of mine Ms. Traci Philips, “Looking in”. And in the book she shared her point of view as to how you can have your own authenticity within you but you just have to start looking in. I highly recommend reading it as it also has thought-provoking questions that will help you answer the question, “Who am I?”

    Looking inside of you and working on finding your own authenticity is like peeling layers of onions. There will be discoveries that can hurt you. Amaze you, and even surprise you. But not a lot of people are willing to do the work. We tend to stay on what’s normal, what’s familiar, and what we know.

    So, today I challenge you to look within yourself to regain your authenticity because I am confident to say that, you are authentic, just the way you are.

    I cannot wait to hear your thoughts on this blog post and if you found value in it, please share it with others. It’s the only way we can spread the information.

  • Talk about Easter (From my perspective)

    Talk about Easter (From my perspective)

    Hi Gorgeous! Happy Easter Monday! Today I wanted to talk about Easter and share my perspective with you.

    He has risen! That is what we shout out loud on Easter Sunday. And what we celebrate. But have you ever stopped and asked what easter means to you?

    Some of us practice fasting. Others celebrate it by painting eggs and hosting an egg hunt for their kids.

    I came to my church today at Lifesong. To celebrate with my brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. And the teaching is, what is Easter all about? Our pastor, James, did a fantastic job of preaching what Easter is all about. He answered the question, “How come we don’t have a play of what happened to Jesus at our church?” He said, “Yes we do, we practice baptism.” According to him, it signifies how Christ died on the cross and rose after three days. In his sermon he said, that being baptized means dying and being resurrected. It is dying, because the old you have been disconnected from you as you were submerged under water. And resurrected after rising above the water. A beautiful analogy.

    One of the people who was baptized today said that she wanted to be baptized because she sold her house and everything in it. She realized that she has been investing in the wrong house. Her baptism today signifies her down payment in heaven and she will continue to invest in it.

    I was baptized on September 11, 2022, at the same church. My reasoning was it is my commitment. I know I wanted to become an International Motivational Teacher but in January of last year, I had an epiphany as to what my deeper purpose is. My goal was to become a river of God’s words and His works to others. I didn’t have the full message until the first week of September. Once, I had the confirmation, baptism was my blessing. It is my commitment that everything that I will be doing moving forward will honor my Creator.

    And Easter to me is a great reminder. Year after year, it is a reminder of His sacrifices for me. It is a reminder that His death on that cross wipes away all my sins. And despite all the bad things and the mistakes that I have done in the past, He is still willing to sacrifice His own life and blood for me.

    Every year during Easter, I always watch the movie “The Passion of Christ”. It never fails to make me cry and feel grateful. Easter Sunday is when I celebrate His resurrection, proving that He is the true son of God.

    So, today, I would like to challenge you, to answer on the comment below, “What does Easter mean to you?

  • It’s all about the “Present”

    It’s all about the “Present”

    “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift of God, which is why we call it the present.”

    Bill Keane

    Have you ever lived in the moment?

    I wanted to take this opportunity to highlight this word, and this blog post is all about the “present.”

    You are probably asking, what do you mean Ernie?

    I love the quote by Bill Keane, “yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift of God which is why we call it the present.” But do we live it?

    We all have a tendency to think of the past. I am sure you have as I do too. If not the past, we worry about the future. We worry about things that haven’t even happened yet. So when do we live today? When do we live in the “now”?

    Today, I wanted to share with you why living should be in the now.

    It’s all about the present

    Living in the past will not make you happy

    Worrying about the future will not help you

    Living in the present will propel you

    Living in the past will not make you happy

    The past is where we will find our memories. Memories of happiness. Memories of sadness. Sorrows. Struggles. Pains. The list just goes on. But most of all, the past is where most of our regrets start.

    It is from past experiences. Mistakes. And decisions that we regret things.

    Regret in a relationship with a partner thinking that you could have done better.

    Regret in mistakes thinking that you could have been more honest. Or decisions, where you wish you could have listened to your gut or your emotions and chosen differently.

    A few years back, I was always in my head. Thinking about the past. The mistakes I have done. The relationships I’ve been on. And the path that I have taken. I would always play the scenarios in my head and think of ways where I could have done it differently. Then I would go on this downward spiral. Beat me up. And even lose sleep. It was not healthy.

    I eventually got tired of feeling this way and seek for help. I learned how to deal with my own thoughts. Which I now use when I go back to my old ways. I shared it in my blog post, “Quick ways to handle the inner voice in your head”. I recommend you read it and apply.

    So gorgeous, stop living in the past. Yes, reminisce about it, but don’t live in it. Take the lessons you have learned with you and live with the thought that you did what you could with what you had.

    Worrying about the future will not help you

    Yup, worrying about something that hasn’t happened is a waste of energy. First, of all, tomorrow is never promised. Things can happen between now and the future. And there are always variables and curve balls that can change it. Which are things you can’t control.

    Steve Harvey said, “If God showed you what you need to go through, you would have never gone through them.” And that is the truth. It is in the journey that we learn how capable we are.

    Worrying period will not help you too. We all have a tendency to worry about a lot of things. This is because of a certain fear that we feel. But according to the mindset mentor Rob Dial Jr, 85% of your fear never comes true, and only 3% out of a hundred can happen or may happen. See the odds? Yet we waste so much energy thinking about it.

    Living in the present will propel you

    It definitely will, why?

    1. Because you have control over what you can do today.
    2. You can think of the situation and take action right away.
    3. Your actions today will determine your future

    See gorgeous, living in the now. Being more focused. And being mindful is very important. We cannot react to something that had already happened. And we can’t make decisions about something that has not happened. It is in the present where you can take action. It is in the present where you can make a decision. And now is the time to choose to be happy.

    Please share this blog post if you find it valuable. It’s the only way we can spread knowledge.