Live Your Best Life

This past weekend, I attended a women's retreat held by a colleague.  Our first assigment was to look through magazines and rip out pictures, words and statements that spoke to who we are, what we do and what we want more of in our lives.  The assignment was eye opening because the pictures that spoke to me where scenes of water, relaxation, travel and reading.  The words "Live Your Best Life" and the following quote spoke to me, "If you're ready to find real fulfillment, now is the time to start your journey." Over the weekend, I was constantly pulled to what needs to be done to live my best life. The exercises that we participated in spoke volumes. 

Also, yesterday was the 3rd anniversary of the death of Michael Jackson. It does not seem like it has been that long, which reminded me that time is moving swiftly.  So I asked myself again, what do I need to do to live my best life?  We only get one chance at life so we have to make the best of it by living our best life everyday.

So my assignment to you is to find what needs to be done to live your best life.  Pull out old-new magazines and rip out pictures, words and statements that speak to who you are, what you want and what you need to live your best life?  Create a collage of these pictures and words so that you can visualize your best life.

Lessons I Learned While In Europe

Last week was an experience of a lifetime for me because I took my first overseas vacation to Europe.  I have to say that I really enjoyed the experience because I got to see so many historical sights and also experience more of the beauty of God's creation.  Who would think to create such beauty out of stone and the blue of the Mediterranean Sea.  The opportunity to visit The Colosseum, St. Peter's Basilica, the Sistine Chapel, The City of Pomeit and the cruise down the Almafi Coast was amazing.  I was able to bask in the beauty of God.  I also learned some lessons that I would like to share:

1. The music of the 70's will make all nationalities dance and sing together.  They had a Dancing in the Streets 70's party on the cruise and everyone was dancing together to "Love Train", "YMCA" and "Brick House", etc.  The Wobble was played another night and so many people ran to the dance floor to Wobble together.

2. You are you wherever you are.....so regardless if you are at home in your comfort zone or outside your space...you will be you whereever. 

3.  Fear is a part of life but it doe not have to drive you.  While on the flight back home, God shared with me that it is okay for me to have some anxiety about the take off of the plane but I can not let it drive my experience of the plane ride.  Leading up to the trip, I experience dread about the long plane ride because I have anxiety about plane rides.  The actually ride was smooth.  If I had allowed fear to drive me I would have missed the beauty of the Almalfi Coast and the French Riveria.  Also, I would not have experience Nice and Florence whiteknuckled with my friends if I had played it safe.

I would like to share with you a picture of God's beauty>

Lessons I have learned....

The other way on my way to work, I was thinking about some of the lessons that I have learned over the course of these 45 years.  There are a few that I wished that I had learned earlier in life and really put them into practice. 

Lesson One:  I am Lacrecia Vernise Dangerfield and there will never be another one so I must be authentic in who I am.  This is a lesson that I wish young ladies would learn well before they are in their 40's and stop trying to be who someone else wants them to be.  A friend posted on Facebook that when we are not who we are called to be and do not do what we are called to do then the universe is not in alignment.  I did not get comfortable in my skin until I was 40 and it was true what Oprah said...you just don't give a damn what others think at 40. 'Somedays are better than others but I am a great person to know and if you don't take the time to find that out - your loss.

Lesson Two: Do what makes your heart sing.  When I started the journey to finding the calling on my life, I was in my 30's.  I majored in Business because that was where the money was and I thought I liked accounting. I know that I walked the journey for a reason because I have accepted that I was born to lead and that I had to expand my definition of leader.  I was working with my coach this week and she had me to list characteristics of leaders that I admire and then she asked my questions and it pointed back to who I am.  Also I would have started my own business a long time ago because I like to beat my own drum and use my spiritual gifting to get it done.

Lesson Three:  Life is short and I only will get this journey once.  God has truly showed me His favor in my life. I have seen those younger than me leave this earth.  I have to make the best out of this journey and live each day to the fullest and in purpose.  Dreams do come true and if you write it down it will come to you.  I get the opportunity to experience a vacation that was on my list of places I would love to visit.  God truly orchestrated the path and journey out of nowhere. 

These are just 3 of the lessons that I have learned...I will share more along the way.

What have you learned about life?

Passion: What Makes Your Heart Sing?

In my last post, I discussed Passion and Desire.  I finished reading "The Passion Test" and finally identified my top 5 passions for the present time.  The authors have you list 10-15 of things that you are passionate about and then go through the list to narrow them down to your top 5.  I must say that this was a challenging process for me because I have been trying to put it in the right words and context.  Also I had the belief that it had to be permanent, but as I continued reading the book, the authors suggest that you review your passions every 6 months to see if they have changed,  Another suggestion the authors offer is that when you have to make a decision choose in the way of your passion. 

Currently my top 5 passions are the following:

When my life is ideal, I am ________________________________:

1. living authenically in all areas of my life....spiritually, mentally, physically and financially.
2. spending quality time with family and friends.
3. owning my own business creating multiple streams of income, flexibility in schedule and variety of task.
4. providing enlightment and empowerment to others on how to live their passion and be their authentic self.
5. traveling to different places teaching and learning information to share with others.

Choosing opportunities that will get me closer to my passions are revealing themselves on a daily basis.  As I intentionally pay attention without working hard to create these opportunities mean that they are lining up with God's will.  These things make my heart sing when I am moving forward.

Live intentional and in purpose as you identify your passions and make choices toward your passion.  What do you do that make your heart sing? Pay attention to the opportunities to move and live in your passion.

Passion and Desire

Over the course of the past two weeks, I have been reading a book titles The Passion Test: The Effortless Path to Discovering Your Life Purpose by Janet Bray Attwood and Chris Attwood.  The authors get the reader to list 10-15 things that you believe are most important that would give you a life of joy, passion, and fulfillment by completing the following statement.

When my life is ideal, I am _____________________(starting with a verb).

The key is to narrow your list down to five statements that define it for you.  I have gone through several list to identify my list of passions and it has truly been a task.  Completing this task has brought clarity about who I am, what I want to be and have ( I will share my list later....).

The next point of enlightment came yesterday when I was reading a Daily Stimulant sent by Iyanla Vanzant.  I love to know the meaning of things like words, names, etc.  So in the message the word "desire" was given meaning..."de" - of  and "sire" - the Father.  This made me think more about my Passion List and the things that I desire of the Father.  I realize that passion and desire are different but can go hand and hand.

When my life is ideal, I am empowering others to live their best life.

I desire to live my best life authentically.

So my request of you is to complete the statement....

When my life is ideal, I am ___________________________.

Ask yourself, what do I desire "of the Father"?  (Psalms 37:4)

Authenticity and Passion

Last night, I was watching Oprah's Master Class.  Listening to her story and how she got to where she is was inspiring.  Oprah made the decision not to change who she was when others wanted her to fit a mold that was not authentic to her. I began thinking about what lesson would  I want to share with others from my life.  The lesson that I am learning is that you have to be who you are and to find your passion.  Authentic living is being true to yourself and fitting in your own space.  So many times we create our view of who we are through the expectations of others and find out later in life that it does not matter.  I remember hearing that life truly gets better in your 40's because you learn that the opinion of others is so not where it is.  How do you get to know who you are may be a question that you are asking? 

• What makes me happy?
• What brings me joy?
• What are my values?
• What are my strengths?
• What are my beliefs about life?
• What are you passionate about vocationally, spiritually, physically?

Finding your passion is about realizing what motivates you and gets you flowing.  I am passionate about teaching and learning. Asking myself the question of when my life ideal what am I doing. I list those things that bring me joy and fulfillment and see where I am getting those things in my life.  Now the question to myself is how can I live my passion everyday.  It is time to live passionately and authentically.

Thoughts Are Just Words

I read a powerful statement earlier today....Thoughts are just words strung together.  This statement really made me think about the power of thoughts and how we have to be intentional about what we think.  It also made me think about the old saying, Sticks and stones may hurt my bones, but words will never hurt me.  That is the biggest crock of _____.  The impact that words have on our lives is life changing. Thoughts can bring healing..forgiveness...change.  So if thoughts are words strung together, then we are able to change our thoughts.  We have to be intentional about the words that we string together when we are thinking about our lives and situations.  We can not change our past but we can change what we think about our present which will create our future. 


You may say how can I change my thoughts because I have so many:
1.  Be intentional about thought stopping...when you find yourself worrying or criticizing yourself say STOP.
2. Intentionally change that thought to a present tense affirmation. Remember an affirmation can be positive or negative, so speak the present tense about a situation in the positive. ( ex. Thought: I am always broke.  Change: My needs are satisfied)

It is about intentional thinking...not just letting your thoughts be any words strung together. Remember the following: Proverbs 23:7a says, For as a man thinkth in his heart, so is he......