LOVING MYSELF

The other day, I was having a ‘moment’. I have this huge mirror on my dresser, and as I was getting dressed, I was standing in front of it. I remarked to myself that my skin felt really soft, then my eyes caught sight of my reflection in the mirror. And I was really happy with what I saw. I smiled at myself, took a few moments to take in that happy feeling, and then kept it moving.

Its important to note to you that I’m not perfect. I have stretch marks, rolls of body fat, acne scars. But I love my body. The more I take the time to love it, the better I feel about myself and the more I enjoy the person I’m growing into. I don’t just love my body when I’m wearing a fly outfit or some Spanxx. I love it when I’m naked, when I’m clothed, when I’m laying in bed and even when I feel kinda fat. I love exactly what I have and even though it’d be nice to have a flatter stomach, I don’t beat myself up about it. I have strengths and weaknesses just like every other woman but this bundle of flesh is uniquely my own.

Getting older is allot of fun. I didn't anticipate enjoying my days this much. One reason I looked forward to turning 30 was gaining the strong sense of self that older women seem to have. I've never seen a friend who’s over 30 apologize for who she is, what she wants and the choices she’s made. I didn't really understand what it means to love yourself until I stopped comparing myself to others, stopped reaching for some ideal of what I should be or what I should look like, and just appreciated who I am, what I like and my potential as it stands.

Yeah, I’m feeling’ myself, and I hope you’re feeling’ yourself too. We’re wonderful, beautiful beings with the chance to have, be or do anything. Doesn't that just make you feel good?

HOLDING OUR SELVES BACK ....

I am familiar with what it takes to start a business But that doesn't mean I’m immune to the fear, self-doubt and worry that can come along when you put yourself and your ideas out there.

Sometimes you can get so paralyzed by the fear that other people will tell you ‘no’, that you don’t even put yourself in the game. And that’s really sad.

Because that is simply confusing one person’s opinion with your worth. For example, if someone looks at one of my shirts and doesn't like them, I've come to learn that that’s just their opinion  their opinion isn't a measure of what my business or my product is worth. Just as someone’s good opinion isn't a measure of worth for me. Ultimately, I set my own worth  my opinion is the only one that truly matters.

I've found that we limit ourselves in alot of ways because we seek outside approval. I think this is caused by being attached to the outcome of what we do. It’s not enough for us to start a business and do something we love – if other people don’t validate our worth, then we tell ourselves that we’re not good enough.

Here are four ways entrepreneurs hold themselves back, and strategies to get around them:

1) Second-guessing expertise

People assume that in order to be an expert at something, you have to have credentials and years of experience. That is a false assumption. Expertise simply means that you know more than another person, and have something of value to offer in that area.

How to get out of this mindset: realize that what you know, right now, is enough. If you’re passionate about your niche and invest time in educating yourself, you've already attained a level sufficient to market yourself. That doesn't mean you stop learning and growing – that just means that you stop putting off starting your business until you learn more. Because you’re setting yourself up for failure that way. You’ll never know enough, you’ll keep changing your minimum requirement to start, and opening day will never arrive for you.

Start exactly where you are. No more delay.


2) Shy away from sales

If you’re providing something of value, you deserve to be compensated. It’s not free for you to make your products and the time you give when you provide your serve is valuable also. Plus people put more value into what they pay to receive – how many free eBooks have you downloaded but never read?

How to get out of this mindset: if you don’t get paid for what you do, then it’s either a hobby or volunteer work. This is another area where you have to work to detach from outcomes and not see someone’s opinion as your worth. Some people will not pay, regardless of how low the price is. You just have to go where there are paying customers who want what you’re providing.

You should also spend time learning how to make sales and how marketing is integral to any business. That will alleviate some of your anxiety and inexperience with generating sales for your business. Don’t go in blind like I did – make this a part of your pre-launch research, or if you've already started your business, make sure you regularly study sales and marketing techniques.

3) Support the wrong people

It’s a beautiful thing to support a minority-owned business, especially if you’re a part of that minority group. You feel great for supporting businesses with missions that align with your own. But I've seen business owners that don’t appreciate my help and take my business for granted. I've also seen where entrepreneurs I know reach out to black business owners, and get burned for their efforts.


How to get out of this mindset:supporting minorities is awesome, if it’s what you believe in. But you shouldn't drag your business down in the process. Only support those who've shown that they’ll maximize the value of your time and money, regardless of skin color or nationality.

4) Waiting for the perfect time

When exactly is the perfect time to start a business? Is it after you've found all the investors you need? The perfect commercial space? After you've become more of an expert than you already are? How about after things die down at work, or your kids are done with school?


There is no perfect time. The time is now. That’s the only time you have, and the only time that exists. You can’t act in the future, you can’t act in the past. You can only act right now.


While you wait for things to get less hectic, or less whatever it is you’re waiting for, things could go in the opposite direction.

How to get out of this mindset: realize that there’s no perfect time. Perfection doesn't exist. The planets aren't going to align in the exact way you need so that things will be easy for you. While you delay, others are making money doing what you could be doing.

You can’t know everything you need to know or do everything you need to do before you start, because there’s always something else. The beauty of running your own business is that you run it, so you control the pace. Once you’re up and running you can add the skills, resources, people and other things you need for your business, but it’s best to actually be up to attract those things to you.

You are the only thing standing in your way. I hope you see that with a few tweaks of your mindset, you can launch yourself on the path to your goals. So what are you waiting for?

been speaking to a few friends about their businesses just to let you know fear will always be there getting up every day wishing you did something then years later you realize you 40 and counting will hurt you stop wishing and start doing .... its never to late in business but start earning and be passionate about what you want to do and wake up and do ...or call me 

Business Adviser for small businesses

TIME IS MONEY

The longer you wait to start your business, the longer it’ll take to make it profitable. And the longer it’ll take for you to make the money you deserve. You’re basically flushing money down the toilet by wasting time  on your dream.


In How to Get Rich, Felix Dennis wrote about how, in the late 70s, he listened to a trusted older man when he wanted advice on starting a computer magazine. His friend told him that no one was interested in a magazine about computers. Dennis listened but still held on to his passion. It turns out that someone else started the magazine, and Dennis ended up paying $1 million to buy a majority stake in the magazine.
If he had started the magazine when he first got the idea, saved the $1 million that he paid to buy out the original owner, and invested it, he’d be $10 million richer from that one idea. You never thought a delay could be so costly, did you?

Neither did I, but that goes to show that we never know how much our delays truly cost us… “time is money” is really an understatement.

One of the best reasons for acting TODAY is that your dream doesn't have an unlimited shelf life. It’s upsetting to have a dream to work toward, but after a while your enthusiasm will naturally die. If you don’t at least begin your work and nurture your dream with action, it’ll remain a thought in your head with nothing to show that it existed.


How many times have you had a dream, something you were really passionate about, but others didn't feel the same? And no matter how much you talked about it or thought about it, somehow it fell of the raider and never happened. That didn't mean you lost your passion, but it died a natural death. The only way to prevent that from happening is to let your dream take flight.

If not now, when? If not you, who?

Importance of Educating Young Minds about Carnival

Importance of Educating young minds .....
For most of us carnival plays an important part in our lives its the day we waiting all year round to let lose and enjoying a hard working year, for those who cant travel its just a way to feel like you in the Caribbean for one day.
Educating the young minds about the true essence of carnival is needed I personally feel  more information relating to how carnival started and the true meaning of carnival need to be taught to the youths, maybe they would respect the meaning of Carnival. There is now a generation growing up not knowing a thing about carnival. So I decided to ask two teenagers this question. "what do you know about carnival"?
1st teen- "its the only day in the year we can go on the streets half naked and get man innit".
2nd teen- "its about getting drunk on street"
First thing I have to say is this what have we taught them about carnival but what we show them  . This question keep coming back to me is this. Do the young people that actually take part in carnival know about carnival?
The youths that are starting trouble every year do not understand the importance for us to celebrate carnival.
If they do not know anything about carnival why should we blame them .... they just see it as a crowd of people getting together to drink and wear costume. They don't care because they don't know.
coming back to my title the importance of educating the young mind.
Are there any kind of Caribbean studies in schools? During black history month do they talk about Caribbean history or culture?
What is carnival?
It is an annual celebration of life found in many countries of the world. and in fact by learning more about carnival we can learn more about ourselves and a lot about accepting and understanding other cultures.

Where did the word “carnival” come from?
Hundred and hundreds of years ago, the followers of the Catholic religion in Italy started the tradition of holding a wild costume festival right before the first day of Lent. Because Catholics are not supposed to eat meat during Lent, they called their festival, carnevale — which means “to put away the meat.” As time passed, carnivals in Italy became quite famous; and in fact the practice spread to France, Spain, and all the Catholic countries in Europe.

African influences on carnival traditions
Important to Caribbean festival arts are the ancient African traditions of parading and moving in circles through villages in costumes and masks. Circling villages was believed to bring good fortune, to heal problems, and chill out angry relatives who had died and passed into the next world. Carnival traditions also borrow from the African tradition of putting together natural objects (bones, gr
asses, beads, shells, fabric) to create a piece of sculpture, a mask, or costume — with each object or combination of objects representing a certain idea

Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad's carnival is a beautiful example of how carnival can unite the world. For in this small nation, the beliefs and traditions of many cultures have come together; and for a brief five days each year, the whole country forgets their differences to celebrate life!

Uniting the World
Carnival arts offers all of us a dynamic tool for self-expression and exploration, a tool to seek out our roots, a tool to develop new forms of looking at the world and its cultures, and finally, a tool to unite the world, to discover what we all have in common, and to celebrate what makes us different. The power and creativity that underlies these art forms can transform lives and together we will dance the song of life!

This is carnival we are carnival ......

Educating the youths of today telling them the true meaning and essence of carnival is needed its about cultures, its about people, its happiness, its creativity, its a celebration, its tradition, its believing this one day we are one ....... we are carnival.
more information can be found online educate each other
teach the young so they can pass on the legacy of carnival

Wonderful costumes from my band Bacchanalia Masband

St Lucia we love ......

Head strong,
Proud faced feeled with ambition
Listen to the songs of tradition
Sons and daughters of st lucia
Black yellow and blue is the colour we see

The land the people we so proud of.
In unity we stand as one
Together we are inseperatable
Being a lucian, so adorable


Our prime minester Elect has made his transistion
From Elect to Respect with a brand new vision
God Bless The Day he created us Lucians


We are the land, we are the people
We are St-Lucians

By Kasher Heny

HAPPY 34TH INDEPENDENCE ST-LUCIA