Gratitude Day 18

On Day 18 of 30 Days of Tessism gratitude grows from within.

Gratitude:  Today I am grateful for the strength to keep moving forward no matter how many times I stumble or get knocked down.  Theoretically, failure is a very necessary step toward success.  The faster you fail, the sooner you can learn your lesson and move onto success.  The only problem is that failure just doesn’t feel good.  Well at least not to me.  Maybe that’s something I should work on.

It hurts and many times, I’d rather just retreat somewhere and never have to deal with it again.  Yet somewhere, the strength bubbles up in me to keep at it in spite of the discomfort.  I am clear this is not all self-generated but comes equally from the support of people who truly believe in me.  I am grateful for all these things that converge to keep me pushing past “nos” and “impossibles” to create this extraordinary life.

Gratitude Day 7

Today, Day 7 of 30 Days of Tessism, I’m thankful for what didn’t work out.

Gratitude: What I’m grateful for today has been difficult for me to appreciate and I’m glad I finally can.  I am grateful for my failures.  Without them then I could not say that I have lived.  They have provided invaluable lessons that are the foundation of much of my success today.

We don’t like to fail but failing can be a good thing.  It tells you what doesn’t work and points you in the right direction toward what does.  Now, I’m hurrying to fail so I can get on with my experiment in success.  I’m grateful for failure because it is my path to greatness.

What are you grateful for today?

Challenge Day 30: Score!

I swear I have the 30-day challenge blues.  After pushing day after day, I’m pretty sad that there is no more challenge left and that sucks the wind out of my sails.  Funny since I expected Day 30 to be the day to end all days where I would stand atop the mountain of my achievement and look out with puffed chest congratulating myself for daring the impossible.

I’m sure that I have the blues.  Now that there is no challenge each day, what will I do with myself?  Haha!  Anything and everything. The interesting thing about challenges is that they beget challenges–a sort of challenge-addiction.  Tomorrow or later this week, I’ll ruminate about lessons learned.  In the meantime, let’s get on with our last challenge!

Today’s challenge: Take stock of the last 30 days.  How did you do?  What did you do well?  What did you not do well?  What would you like to continue to work on?  How did it go?  What did you learn?
I’ll be sorting through the lessons learned on this journey for days to come but in the meantime, here are the stats of what I attempted this month:

• I blogged for 30 days straight
• I gave up complaining for 29 days
• I asked for what I really wanted instead of complaining for 28 days
• I practiced being peaceful for 27 days
• I brought gratitude to every situation for 26 days
• I gave up being right for 25 days
• I made sure I did not give up for 24 days
• I began clearing out my home for 23 days
• I committed to finishing things for 22 days
• I found something to celebrate every day for 21 days
• I attempted to write a novel for 20 days
• I meditated at least 3o minutes a day for 19 days
• I infused my actions with passion for 18 days
• I cleared my mind for 17 days
• I took time to reflect for 16 days
• I declared daily affirmations for 15 days
• I practiced exquisite self-care for 14 days
• I burst out laughing every day for 13 days
• I asked for help for 12 days
• I was impeccable with my word for 11 days
• I didn’t take it personal for 10 days
• I assumed nothing for 9 days
• I did my best for 8 days
• I let it go for 7 days
• I forgave for 6 days
• I had compassion for 5 days
• I stopped being late and procrastinating for 4 days
• I went with the flow for 3 days
• I wantonly wanted for 2 days
• And today I took stock of what I did

My closest friends can attest to the wonderful peace I gained in these 30 days as well as the struggle it was to complete these last few days.  I know I couldn’t have done it without them or you.  I also know that I’m not quite done yet.

While I was able to challenge myself to different things each day, I haven’t gained mastery over anything new.  I have an experience of what it is like to live a revolutionary life but I still have work to do.  Each day of these 30 days of challenges revealed so much about myself to me.

The greatest revelation is that this month was a buffet of challenges for me to choose from and work on extensively in the near future.  All the challenges have been interrelated.  They are all pulling for the same transformed, galvanized life.  The next step for me is mastery.

Gratitude: I am grateful for that I could complete this month of challenges when I’ve done nothing like this ever before

On the horizon: More results, lessons and mastery…the journey – to be continued.

This is the way the world endsThis is the way the world endsThis is the way the world endsNot with a bang but a whimper.1

Challenge Day 10: Celebrate Great

As of yesterday’s post, I’ve broken my record of the most posts in 1 month (9 in April when I first started blogging).  In spite of technical difficulties uploading posts at times, I have written every day since I started my challenge.

10 days into my 30 days of challenges and I feel a bit lost.  Although I’ve had major breakthroughs, I’m fixated on the instances where I fall short.  Eight victories have no power over one glaring failure or two.  While I know, conceptually, that these shortcomings can and will be converted to successes, it sure doesn’t feel like that right now and I’m ready to spend the rest of the month under my blankie.  Who came up with the idea of challenging yourself every day this month?  Let me speak to her supervisor…

After my latest fit of discomfort, all I can do is read this month’s entries. I read about each challenge and I’m assured of the intention of this journey: create an unrecognizable life. I have not been perfect but I’ve been in action. I notice that each day, I’ve done something that made a difference. The challenge today is clear.

Today’s challenge: Celebrate something great every day no matter how seemingly mundane.

Save the self-criticism and perfection for when you’re working on your triple axel for the next Winter Olympics.  For everyday life, find something great in you and celebrate.  It’s pretty easy to go over the day and think of the things that you wish you could fix.  You can’t go back and change a thing.

Go ahead and note what you need to improve but don’t stop there.  Don’t end a day without acknowledging the awesome things about you that you take for granted.  Stop being numb to the incredible things you do in a blink that can be difficult for most people.  Take a moment and simply celebrate.

I will celebrate and use it as fuel for my tomorrows.  I will store celebration to sip on when I get stuck.

Today’s victory:  Posting here consistently past where I usually stop.

Gratitude: I am grateful for the clean slate of every day and the strength to give it my all.

On the horizon: Tying loose ends

Birthright

Church @ CCC w/Pastor A.R. Bernard a few weeks ago provided an abundance of inspiration that I’d like to share:

Lesson: Plant Seeds Now

“He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.”  (Ecclesiastes 11:4)

Don’t wait for ideal conditions.  Only sowers reap. That is the antidote to my chronic procrastination of which I may never be cured.  Whenever the procrastination shows up, I can hold this verse up against it and melt it away.

Lesson: Determination

“Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.  And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.  But he answered her not a word.  And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.  But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.   Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.  But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs.  And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.  Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt.  And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.” (Matthew 15:21-28)

When your faith is strong, no adversity, unkind word or gesture will turn you from your plea. No pride. Nothing.  Just faith.  It doesn’t matter what people think.  Doesn’t matter if they push you aside.

Determination and resolution are keys to success.  Successful people are willing to take risks.  Successful people accept failure.  They do not avoid it.  They review and examine failure and adjust to see how they can win.  If you are afraid of failure and, especially, rejection, you will never experience success.

People who are easily offended are not truly successful.  Imagine how distracting the naysayers would be as you climb to your pinnacle if you actually listened.  You wouldn’t make it.

At the end of your life, God would rather see the cluttered pages of your trying rather than the blank pages of your giving up.  Life is a fight for territory.  When you stop fighting for what you want, what you don’t want will take its place.  What will you let inhabit the territory in your life?

Live by faith.  Take action in the face of no agreement and adversity and claim the success that is your BIRTHRIGHT.

So right here, in front of every-none, I claim YOU.  I claim you exactly as my birthright and yours demands.  And YOU I claim exactly as I dreamed you.  And THAT exactly as I need it.  And EVERYTHING exactly as I hoped, dreamed, prayed for.

That is my birthright.  Success is MY birthright awaiting my claim.

This is not simple, wishy-washy, hopeful positive thinking.  This is my declaration, the promise of a Naija warrior, child of lights, survivor, conqueror.  Count on this.  Mark my words.