Refuse To Lose

M and I saw the Kings of the Mic Tour last night. 

De La Soul came out and gave a solid performance.  I mean really - nothing less was expected.

Public Enemy came to the stage next - Chuck D in gym shorts - PE TOTALLY wrecked shop - as usual.  The energy that these guys give in a performance is CRAZY!  Congratulations to them for their recognition by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Flavor Flav's retiring of "the Clock Necklace."

Next up was Ice Cube with his West Coast vibe.  I loved his use of the video screen showing throwback NWA photos with Easy E prominently featured. 

And of course, the headliner was LL Cool J.  And you know I love me some lip-licking, bare-chested LL (except that he kept his shirt on.)

However, he gave a solid performance, mixing old hits and new releases.  LL Cool J is still hard as hell.  I could see the same passion and energy as he ripped across the stage last night as I did the first time I can remember watching him perform over TWENTY YEARS AGO. 

As it happens, the LL cut that I enjoyed the most was his single, "Whaddup" with Chuck D of Public Enemy. 

A part of the lyrics say:
"I'm taking mine.  Now, it's time.
Hungry.  You've been told.
I've been fightin' for my dream my whole life."

And how true is that?  We have to take what's ours.  We must be actively involved in reaching our goals.  Our accomplishments to do come from desire alone.  It takes action NOW.  Realizing that we must act in this moment.  We must stay hungry for our success (in whatever way it is defined.)  We have to keep fighting for our dreams - always. 

The next line says:
"But this day to day grinding gets old."
And we will get tired.  And things will come up.  They day in/day out grind will wear on us.

But within that hook is the encouragement:
"I've got so much trouble on my mind. Whaddup? Refuse to lose."

That is exactly what we must do.  Stay focused.  Keep grinding.  Persist past persistence.  Do not accept temporary setbacks as failures.  See them as opportunities to learn and keep moving towards your destiny.  Refuse to lose.  Stay winning.

 

 

Miracles and Blessings

***

Remember their sacrifice.

Today is Memorial Day.

We pause in remembrance of the sacrifices of the military service members of our great nation.

In the words of Lee Greenwood,

"And I'm proud to be an American,
where at least I know I'm free.
And I won't forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me."

Miracles and Blessings
***

Enjoy Your Weekends.

It's the weekeeeeennnndddd, baby!

Thank God it's Friday.

It's Friday and it's my Friday.

Regardless of what days your weekend falls on, please enjoy them.  Life is to short to not enjoy your days off.  Whether it just be two days of rest or two days of adventure, make sure you find a way to bring enjoyment to the end of your week.

Miracles and Blessings...

***

Set SMART Goals

The information included in this entry comes largely from an article written by Duncan Haughey, PMP and is a good breakdown of the acronym of setting SMART Goals.

Once you have determined what direction you want your life to take, turn your attention to developing several goals that will enable you to be successful.

Goals should be SMART - specific, measurable, agreed upon, realistic and time-based.
 
The acronym SMART has a number of slightly different variations, which can be used to provide a more comprehensive definition for goal setting:

S - specific, significant, stretching
M - measurable, meaningful, motivational
A - agreed upon, attainable, achievable, acceptable, action-oriented
R - realistic, relevant, reasonable, rewarding, results-oriented
T - time-based, timely, tangible, trackable

Setting SMART goals will help take our vision and break it down into smaller, manageable steps to create a reasonable plan of action.  This way, when you look at your big dreams you won't feel overwhelmed by the path that you will need to travel to get there.

Miracles and Blessings
***

Live. Laugh. Love.

Live life to its fullest.

Laugh at all the things that don’t matter.

Love with all that you have and more.
 
Miracles and Blessings.
***

Embrace The NOW!

I live in the NOW.   I live right here in this moment, in this breath, in this exact space in the time of my existence.

We so often get caught up in nostalgic remembrences of the past or eagerly, excitedly anticipate things to come in a tomorrow that is not promised.

And while that has its time, place and even purpose, I continually strive to remain present.  Seizing this moment.  Living life fully on this day.  Because I know that each day could be the last day of my life, I truly want to live each day as if it's the best day of my life.  And it is, right here, right now.

Miracles and Blessings
***

Have BIG fun.

"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."

You cannot go, go, go and never take a moment to sit back and get some rest.
It is not healthy to stay on the grind ALL OF THE TIME.

You must have some downtime to relax, reflect, rejuvenate.  Otherwise, you will run yourself ragged, burn yourself out.  Then, you won't be any good to anybody.  You must take care of self first.  And a part of that, is allowing yourself sometime to just step back.  Have some fun!

Get away from your normal routine, the daily grind from time to time.  Do something pleasurable, something you enjoy, something that makes you laugh!

Miracles and Blessings
***

Make everything better.

"I want to make everything I touch better."

I was at one of my besties' house recently and we were watching an old Oprah interview of Will Smith and his family.

During the interview, he tells the story of his grandmother and that one of the things that she told him was that she wanted to make everything she touched better.  He says that she followed that by touching him on the hand and then saying to him, "There.  All better now."

That was a sweet, cute little story told by a marvelous actor in an entertaining way.  But, it is the embodiment of how I want to live my life - in a way that everything I touch and every person that I encounter, every situation that I have a hand in is better for having come into contact with me.

Miracles and Blessings
***

Just stop worrying.

My grandmother was a simple woman.  She was raised a sharecropper's daughter and grew up in the simple times of rural Alabama during the Depression.  She had to leave school in the sixth grade so that she could help out in the cotton fields.

One thing that I remember fondly about her is that she hated picking cotton.  I can still hear her talking about how she hated to be out in those fields.  But one thing that her existence taught her was the value of not only working hard, but also working smart.

From the examples she set, I learned that you have to hustle to get ahead and she always had a hustle - whether it was loaning money through items that people pawned to her, picking fresh garden goods on halves, collecting aluminum cans for money, managing some rental properties she owned.  I truly learned about multiple streams of income from a woman with no formal education.

Of all the things that I learned from her, what sticks with me most was her refusal to worry and her mottoes when it came to worrying.  There are two specific things that she used to say about worrying.

"Ain't no use worryin'.  Worryin'll kill ya."

"If you gone pray about it, don't worry.  If you gone worry about it, don't pray."

Miracles and Blessings
***

Speak your prophecy.

The words that you speak today will be your prophecy for your tomorrow.

That being said, you better be damned certain that you are speaking positive things into your life and the lives of those around you.  Positive self talk has as much power as negative and wrong thinking.

Talk about your reality in a positive way.  Talk to your friends and your family (especially if you have children) in a way that builds them up.

The sing-song rhyme says "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt them."  Oh, yeah...uh-huh...okay.  Well maybe not your bones, but they will most certainly destroy your psyche, tear down your self esteem and eat away at your self confidence until nothing good can easily come from what is left inside of you.

So be attentive to how you speak, listen to the words that are coming out of your mouth.  Are they words that are positive and hopeful and that speak positivity?

Speak life.  Speak prosperity.  Speak success.  Speak health.  Speak wealth. Speak good relationships. Speak favor.  Speak blessings.  Speak wisdom.  Speak with laughter.  Speak with expectation.  Speak with love.  Speak with good.  Speak prophecy.

Miracles and Blessings
***