YES Caribbean » Regional entrepreneur’s conference coming to Montserrat May 2011

YES Caribbean » Regional entrepreneur’s conference coming to Montserrat May 2011. Social Entrepreneur Dr. Anita DeFoe One Of Featured Speakers…

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The Inner Game: Inspiring Virgin Islands Girls to Greatness

This morning, I had the honor of dialoguing with over 700 girls at Charlotte Amalie High School in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. A Girls to Women Leadership Conference was the backdrop for this gathering, As I pondered questions with them that centered on identify, peers, personal vision, a sense of purpose, and motivational drive, I shared that the greatest gift any individual can give to themselves is the “gifts of self;” for what we achieve in this life journey is what we believe we deserve, and what we expect to achieve.

While the room was filled with possibility, it was equally filled with learned hopelessness, we have got to reach out and uplift girls, and as women we need to let the pettiness go, and encourage each other as well.

Sow the gifts of self in others, for yourself and others, embrace the tools that enable us to win the inner spiritual game. Spread seeds of self-love, self-knowledge, self-respect, self-responsibility, self-vision, self-purpose, self-
motivation,self-encouragement and self-recogntion. When we do not know who we are, or what we can become, we simply believe what others say.

Nestled inside each of us are divine treasures, gifting uniquely ours for access during our journey to greatness. You are ideally suited for personal success, so let the games begin! Be You and Do You, and with that opportunity will come searching for YOU!!!

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Tapping Into The Greatest Love Of All

February is thought to be the month of love, as hearts and minds for many focus on Valentine’s Day, chocolate delights, sentimental gifts, unique tokens and other expressions of affection.

While sometimes complex and even illusive, love is a tremendous gift, a mysterious blend of heartfelt emotions. Although most of us feel uncomfortable admitting it, we crave love. In fact, love excites our entire being as it floods the spirit and brightens our lives. Love can also be a source of pain when the love we offer to another is not returned or love fades away over time. For some, a love lost can cripple for a lifetime somehow rendering us unable to heal, move on and learn to love again.

Love takes all forms: love for family, love for friends, love for one’s mate or significant other, love for humanity. Generally, when we think of love and being “in love,” immediately we tend to think of sharing love with another person, the giving of kindness and consideration to another individual.

Learning to have healthy, loving relationships with others is indeed an important aspect of our lives, simply because relationships are a key facet of the human experience. Even still, until we experience the greatest love of all, our ability to love others is significantly impacted.

What is the greatest love of all? It is self-love; it is loving self as you were divinely created; it is embracing all the things you personally revere, while simultaneously facing those aspects of your being that we seek to positively improve. When the Most High with all of his infinite wisdom and unconditional love grants us the gift of life, we are filled with an array of gifts and talents for our discovery and to be shared with humankind.  Too often, we fail to maximize our personal treasures because we lose sight of our values and true aspirations.

Do not confuse self-love with selfishness or an inflated ego. In its purest state, self-love is merely the desire for personal happiness, the care and nurturing of self, the act of being as kind and accepting to yourself as you are of others. Self-love is coming to understand that all of our life experiences occur to perfectly mold us into our true divine selves.

In today’s world, there is much discussion about self-esteem: do you have any, is your self-esteem high or low, how do you repair it, even how do you define it. Self-esteem and self-love are companions; they share a common unique space deep within our spirits. Together, they propel us onward in the face of life’s inevitable challenges and varying seasons of personal fulfillment.

Although through the masks that we wear many of us project a happy image to the world, inside we are suffering; we are miserable, we are filled with despair. In quiet moments when we are alone, our true feelings surface, and too often these feelings are dominated by self-hatred and personal loathing.  This calamity occurs when we fail to hold fast to our faith forgetting that through our personal beliefs and optimistic expectations all things are possible. These feelings of negativity and doubt flood our world when we mistakenly think that other people, material possessions, and titles define our true self-worth when this could not be further from the truth. For you see, each and every one of us has the potential for personal greatness that is uniquely our own if only we believe.

Without self-love and self-awareness, we are without purpose and we find ourselves constantly ambivalent.  Each of us has a desire to feel confident in our abilities, to feel hopeful about achieving our dreams, and certainly to feel personal value. If we were to be honest, we all have a deep longing to feel comfortable in our own skin.

   Until we learn to love and accept all aspects of our being, it is virtually impossible to truly give and receive love, or successfully accomplish our personal goals. Without making a genuine connection with your true “self”, it is tremendously difficult to recognize and develop your true potential. Once we take off our masks and “get real” we are able to move forward in matters of both love and life. When we fail to do this, our existence becomes filled with sadness, doubt, anger, hopelessness and eventually our spirits become so broken we waste all of our talents and our potential is lost.   

Decide that you will spend just as much time getting to know and love yourself as you spend getting to know and love others.  Decide to celebrate all of your personal strengths and talents; and be courageous enough to work on those areas of your life you know require improvement. Decide from now on that on a daily basis you will relish the greatest love of all, remembering that you indeed have a destiny, a special assignment that you should strive to fulfill.

Decide to get to know that person whose reflection greets you in the mirror every morning. Decide to know and love yourself, for self-love is the key that unlocks the door to endless possibilities. Each day choose to honor your life and indeed you will joyfully begin to experience the greatest love of all.

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