Happy National Cleaning Week!

This week we are celebrating National Cleaning Week, which always occurs during the fourth week in March. This is a time where we get our environment clean…where we live, where we work and anywhere we spend most of our time.

Since we just celebrated the first day of Spring last week on March 20^th, typically everyone is in the mood to toss out, give away or tidy up to make that transformation from Winter to Spring.  We are ready to get out of our winter dormancy and spring forward into newness and action!

Spring is a time of revitalization and letting go of past weights that seem to put you in a state of complacency and pull you into depression! Don’t allow the blues of Winter to drench your spirit and your environment with gloom and despair. Throw in some vibrant colors, whether it’s in your wardrobe, home or outdoor living spaces. You will be amazed just how a dab of color can change the mood of any environment it is introduced in!

Happy National Cleaning Week and Happy Spring Season!

Saluting Derreck Kayongo: Saving Lives with a Bar of Soap!

What do you do with that tiny bit of soap that has melted away with each shower or bath? Have you thought about donating it? Yes, donating your used soap!

Derreck Kayongo, a top ten 2011 CNN Hero, has an Atlanta-based Global Soap Project that collects used hotel soap from across the United States. The soaps are cleaned and reprocessed to be shipped to areas like Uganda, Kenya, Haiti and Swaziland. More than 2 million children die each year from diarrheal illnesses due to poor hygiene. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), these deaths occur primarily among toddlers living in poor countries.

Each year in the United States, hundreds of millions of soap bars are thrown away and end up in landfills. With the support of his wife, friends and many Atlanta-based hotels, Derreck began his Global Soap Project in 2009. Three hundred hotels nationwide have joined the soap collection effort and so far generated 100 tons of soap! The hotel soaps are collected and shipped by volunteers from across the United States, to the group’s warehouse in Atlanta, Georgia. Atlanta volunteers assemble at the warehouse on Saturdays, to clean, reprocess and package the bars of soap. A batch of soap bars will only be released once the samples are tested for pathogens and determined to be safe by a third party lab.

Derreck is very familiar with the stress created by poverty and displacement. He fled Uganda with his parents almost 30 years ago due to the mass torture and killings by former Ugandan military dictator Idi Amin. Derreck’s work was recognized by the Atlanta City Council and they declared May 15 as Global Soap Project Day in Atlanta.

We salute you Derreck Kayongo, not because you were chosen as a CNN Hero, but because of your humanitarian effort to make sure that poor children get something as simple as a bar of soap to keep them from dying due to the lack of access to basic sanitation. Find out how you can help with the Global Soap Project. http://www.globalsoap.org/. “One person’s trash is another person’s treasure!”

World Water Day Kickoff With Indian Trail Elementary School

What a great way to engage elementary school kids, by bringing awareness and helping them to understand the issue of the global water crisis. This is a great article to read from the Filtered Files World Water Day Kickoff With Indian Trail Elementary School to teach these children how they can help people in poor countries gain access to clean drinking water.

Divine Intervention

The paths of our lives can sometimes take the most unexpected twists and turns just when we least expect it. In circumstances more often than not, when I focus on something other than something for myself, I discover an interesting inter-connectedness of multiple resources that open some amazing doors of opportunity for me.

Although sometimes it seems hard to make decisions solely for “self” you can do it unselfishly and reap the rewards of divine blessings, because you are blessing someone else. Recently, I found myself in several different scenarios that initially started out as a good gesture, but as things develop, these little gestures become more magnificent and empowering than anything I imagined. Because of this, I learn that God is leading me down the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Although these paths can often appear to be frightening and I may feel a little apprehensive about traveling down them, an inner peace lets me know there is a reason for journeying down these roads and inevitably, everything is going to be all right.

I learn important lessons of being still during my daily meditations and asking God to show me what my mission is going to be for that day. I don’t go searching for those missions, but allow God to order my steps and give me the solutions and instructions, based on the tools and gifts He has given me in order to handle my assignments for that moment and time.

When things begin to transform and fall into place in a more than favorable way, I don’t think of this as luck, but Divine blessings through Divine Intervention. I feel that God is aligning things in the order that He predestined them to be and I am grateful that through the years of Godly influence from those around me, I learned to trust and depend on my Heavenly Father in a way that is higher than my ways.

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths!”

- Proverbs 3: 5-6 (KJV)

Today is Leap Day!

Every 4 years when February 29 rolls around during Leap Year, Leap Day is an intercalary day. According to an old Irish fable, St. Bridget made a deal with St. Patrick to allow women to propose to men. It is considered unlucky for someone to be born on Leap Day in Scotland and in Greece, it is said that it is unlucky for couples to marry on Leap Day as well as during a Leap Year.

Regardless of your personal beliefs, Leapers, those who are born on Leap Day, celebrate their birthdays every 4 years or every year on February 28 or March 1. Happy Leap Day everyone!



Avoid Turning Your Dreams into a Nightmare

An exceedingly vast majoring of people have this insatiable desire to seek attention, stardom and fortune. How often do you hear echoes of “If I won the lottery, this is what I would do,” or “I want to be a star?” What about “I want to seek the type of notoriety that people want to be like” or even “If I were rich I would be sitting pretty and never have to work another day in my life?”

Sometimes our focus can be out of touch with reality. We always seem to want more of everything when we do not have it. Now, that is not necessarily a bad thing because we all have goals and dreams. We are here for a purpose and a mission. We have desires of exploration, wonder and excitement. We can grab for a dream that could easily turn into a nightmare if we are out of step with God.

All too often, we find lottery winners who get out of step with their winnings and wind up penniless and homeless due to poor choices. However, poor choices are often a result of poor habits. Sometimes many people want that taste of fame in front of thousands of people, but the fatigue and stress from keeping up that façade of celebrity expectation can take a toll on your mind, body and soul. Often the notoriety can become so overwhelming that it can possess a person’s spiritual, mental and emotional health.

Do not compare yourself with others and know that your gifts and talents are for you. Your gift can shine brightly, but sometimes your starlight will not shine as bright in front of an arena of people, as it can in front of one person or a small group of people. Your dreams can be achieved when you have help and are around positive, edifying and encouraging people. Folks who have a negative vibe or those who can be disparaging, jealous, discouraging or just simply try to hold you back cannot be in your circle of influence. Nevertheless, these individuals can still serve a good purpose and that is to be an example of what you do not want to become. Pessimism is very counter-intuitive of optimism. Pessimism is also toxic.

It is very hard to travel far and quickly or achieve your dreams in due season, when you have a heavy load of excess baggage strapped to your back!

A Memorable Day of Celebrations!

Today was a great day of celebrations! First, like many people around the country, I celebrated National Wear Red Day! Approximately 1.2 million people in the United States have heart attacks and around 42% of heart attacks result in death among men and women in the United States. By wearing red today, I wanted to join in solidarity with people who are either honoring, remembering or celebrating someone who survived the results of a heart attack or cardiovascular disease. This month is National Heart Month. Learn more about heart disease because you never know when it will come in handy for you or someone you love!

I was also informed today that I was chosen as one of the volunteers to help give out free copies of one of the books I selected on World Book Night, occurring on April 23, 2012! The purpose of World Book Night is to give away books to new readers, by sharing your passion for a great book and to help encourage reading. The committee from World Book Night extended the deadline for volunteer applications, no later than Monday February 6, 2012. http://www.us.worldbooknight.org/ I am absolutely delighted, honored and can’t wait to pass out my books to encourage reading and to help promote literacy!