Embrace the Power Within You

Embrace your inner power and overcome life's challenges. Every obstacle is an opportunity to grow and become the best version of yourself.

Life can be a journey filled with challenges, but within you lies an incredible power – the power to overcome, to thrive, and to find your purpose. It’s in those moments of struggle that your inner strength is revealed, and your resilience shines. Remember, life’s most beautiful stories are often born from the pages of adversity. Every setback, every obstacle is an opportunity to grow, to learn,…

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We won!

We won! ‘Coming Home’ won 2nd place in the Cover of the Month contest. While I know the cover is pleasant, this win had little to do with the cover and more to do with me being in the right place at the right time in my life. In a nutshell, it means I was fortunate to join a class, university where people stick together to make things happen. I was lucky to have the popularity and enthusiasm of…

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You Are Fabulous!

In Life, You Have Three Choices: Give Up Give In GIVE IT YOUR ALL! Life is a struggle! There I said it… We all go through good times, where everything is going well, maybe not perfect, but well. Then we have those terrible times when unexpected things just happen. It’s all a part of life. When the bad times pop up unexpectedly, we do what we have to do to take care of the situation. However,…

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Success and Failure ....

Success and Failure ….

We all tend to run after this word called ‘Success’. It has and will always have, so much importance in our life. We many times drain ourselves like hell to achieve it. To reach that stage we sacrifice a lot, maybe parties or outing or food (at times) or playtime or sleep etc etc…. We also hear people say that ‘success is the sweetest thing that anyone has ever tasted’ or ‘the feeling of…

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Behold

“Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. Isaiah 12:2” “Behold” means see with the eyes of your spirit, grasp and have fellowship with it. In other words, the Prophet Isaiah is telling us that if we can only see with the eyes of our spirit, grasp and have fellowship with the Lord, we will come…

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THE TREE

Part 1. SEEDS:I saw a tree,Which yields fruits and beautiful to uphold. It mathematical area was not comparable.I exclaimed, oh how glorious! Oh how wonderful!! The wind blew and its hair waved.I said, peace, peace, peace I longed to have such peaceI could not stop looking, so I got closer and asked, what is your secret?She said, I was a seed like you, the smallest among all my fellows,With no…

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Don’t get too cosy I sit in my chair and I wonder why, I wonder should I even try? Try as I might, I can't get up,

Why you MUST keep going when you want to give up

Why you MUST keep going when you want to give up

Welcome to the happiness blog. In case you are visiting for the first time, please do not forget to follow. Each post on this blog has a single objective- to make your everyday life happier. Nobody said the journey is going to be easy but then you are on a journey and you wanted to find happiness. That was the goal- to find your happiness. Now, you have thoughts of giving up. Why? Why would you…

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A Damsel's Discovery

A Damsel’s Discovery

This morning I have decided to link you to Joyce Meyers.

Joyce talks about depression and not giving up on life.

I thought this was a wonderful sermon from her.

https://joycemeyer.org/todaysshow

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greasy

When Enough is Enough

When Enough is Enough

I have recently found that I am very good at taking on more than I can handle. If my past month of silence on here is anything to go by, you know I got in a little over my head.

It’s very easy to get caught up in multiple things at once, and although it’s possible to do more than one thing at a time, you’ve got to learn when enough is enough.

There can be several signs that you’re taking on too…

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Where did I go wrong

Everytime I saw something in my parent’s marriage that I didn’t like I always thought to myself that I’m not gonna have a life like that.

Guess the joke’s on me. I don’t have a life like them I got things even worse. Right about 2 – 3 months into marriage I understood that life’s over. Where I come from, we sacrifice everything and anything just to make it work and by we of course I mean the…

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AND I REFUSE TO GIVE UP.

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Rest

massage (SMR)

hiking – active recovery

foam roller (SMR)

Injury / Discomfort, unfortunately go with the territory when it comes to exercise.  Please, don’t give up!  When starting any kind of physical activity, you will experience muscle fatigue.  It stinks, but it’s normal. Depending on what activity you’ve decided to start with, you’re working muscles in a way they’re not used to.  Even if you’re extremely active, for example an avid runner, when you decide to try an alternate activity, say a boot camp or HIIT class, you’re going to hurt the next day.  There’s actually a few approaches that may work to prevent you from giving up.  1. Rest day 2. Active Recovery 3. SMR (Self-Myofascial Release) – I actually like to partake in all 3 suggestions.  

REST DAY

A rest day is the most difficult.  I mean seriously, who can actually do nothing all day.  It’s just not realistic for most of us.  The only time I take a complete rest day is the day after running a marathon. I typically catch up on Netflix shows and movies.  Even that is difficult to do.  Life goes on and lying around watching TV is just not something most of us can do. But, if you’re really sore and you can completely take a load off and rest, do it!  Your body will thank you. Please note, sitting at a desk in front of your computer is not considered rest.  Sitting is terrible for you and will only make you hurt worse.  Especially your back, shoulders/neck & butt/thighs – basically every part of your body.

ACTIVE RECOVERY

Active recovery is best.  I do this on a daily basis.  It just means doing an alternative activity every day if possible or the same activity differently.  For example, I usually do a long run on Sunday mornings of 10 plus miles, therefore Monday mornings I will focus on yoga and abdominal work to give my legs a break.  Some excellent active recovery activities are yoga, hiking, walking, swimming, cycling and using lighter weights.  It depends on the intensity of your work out.  For instance cycling is pretty intense if you’re going for a long ride working on speed and hill climbing.  Therefore, your active recovery the next day may be an easy run with a good amount of stretching afterwards.  You be the judge on what you feel is best for your body.

SMR (Self-Myofascial Release)

SMR (Self-Myofascial Release) is basically fitting in a massage if you can or simply breaking out your foam roller.  If you have the time and money to get a massage weekly, go for it.  It’s great for your muscles, joints and mind.  I wish I could get a massage weekly.  I prefer deep tissue for 60 – 90 min. to really get the knots out.  I go to Balance Massage Studio in Delmar NY.  Denise, the owner is very accommodating and able to fit me in, usually last-minute when I feel I really need it.  I like to go a few days before running a marathon and then again 1 week after running a marathon.  Generally, I rely on my foam roller to get the kinks out.  It’s a bit tedious and I really have to make a conscious effort to do it at least twice per week.  My goal is to do it every other day, because it’s so necessary.  Especially when die-hard marathon training begins in July.  I’m running a marathon in October, so foam rolling is necessary to help prevent injury.  Injury is more than muscle fatigue.  It stinks, and will prevent you from following through with your goal race which you’ve worked so hard to accomplish.  Nobody wants that feeling of defeat hanging over their head.  It’s a difficult rut to pull yourself out of.  So as annoying and tedious foam rolling is for most of us, just do it.  In grand scheme of things, you’ll be forever grateful.

So, hopefully my suggestions can help you through the natural fatigue your body will take on when participating in new or different forms of exercise.  An actual injury has many forms, but there are ways to remain physically active.  You should never just stop physical activity all together.  You’ll actually feel worse.  Depending on the injury, if you need to seek medical attention, your doctor will advise whats best and your physical therapist will not only give you specific exercises to do, but will help you do them properly. My physical therapist at Rocklein Physical Therapy in Delmar NY, gave me a resistance band and instructions 2 years ago for an ankle injury.  I still follow the regime on a regular basis. Without these exercises, I’d probably not be running anymore.  Great form is everything.  I think I mentioned in a previous post regarding exercise classes, if you go to a class and the instructor does not give a thorough demonstration or a modification, time to go elsewhere.  More than likely people will experience an injury.  Nobody wants or deserves that.  

What forms of recovery do you practice?  Any other suggestions or approaches that I may have left out?  Feedback please!  

Hiking – Active Recovery

  Injury / Discomfort….Don’t give up…. Injury / Discomfort, unfortunately go with the territory when it comes to exercise.  Please, don't give up!  

Perseverance

We must go on no matter what life throws our way. Giving up is not an option. Though the road may be rough and the going gets tough we must go on. Sometimes it may seem that we are fighting a losing battle but even then we must not give up the fight. We may fall but we must refuse to stay down.   As long as there is breath left in our bodies we must persevere and fight on until the battle is won.

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CHRISTIAN NETWORKING

“And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Hebrews 10:24” The world is becoming a complex place; there is a high unemployment rate in many countries, especially in Africa. Therefore, there are many people, even countries, coming together to form unions or groups to help one another. The opening scripture supports this idea and even encourages Christians to come…

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