Outside of relationship with God, I am lost. There are no number of Social Activities, Work Engagements or other Commitments that allow me to feel the same satisfaction as having a true and uninhibited relationship with God.
In relationship I find peace, understanding, structure and stability.
I will embrace my uniqueness and seek to fully understand the work that I have been purposed to complete.
The closer I move toward God the more I understand who I am in him.
Words of reflection: relationship, satisfaction, uniqueness, uninhibited, purposed, structure, stability
Hey Hey! You are tuned in to the first Episode of Timeout!
Today I’m talking about Daily Devotionals. As a woman who decided to take a Timeout from the constant chaos, and the daily duties of life in order to focus more on things that add peace, joy & delight to my existence, please accept this as your personal invitation to join me in my quest.
I hope you will listen in and gain inspiration on how to jazz up your reflective time.
When you’re finished, leave me a comment and let me know if this Episode has been helpful for you.
It has taken me a few days to compose this post. I’ve started and stopped numerous times, overwhelmed by the emotional burden that has presented itself with the loss of Mr. Chadwick Boseman.
I am seriously grieving this man and the loss of his life. I didn’t know him personally but I know a cancer diagnosis personally and watching my uncle rapidly decline from colon cancer, I’ve felt that journey, and it’s a hard one.
To reflect on the many accomplishments of Mr. Boseman in spite of his diagnosis is an absolute honor. cancer has a way of making you feel small, fearful, inadequate, weak and incapable. Five years after my diagnosis and I still struggle with the anxiety of it all.
I commend Mr. Boseman for living out loud and giving black people something to believe in and to strive for, through his many roles. Tonight I watched Black Panther along with much of the nation. I’ve seen it a few times before, but tonight I watched with pride and reverence. I appreciated the land and the waterfalls, the sunsets and all the imagery that make that movie spectacular! Wakanda means possibility to me and Wakanda Forever means “Oh the Possibilities!” https://youtu.be/r8nxdAGg2FY
Tonight I was reminded to show up even when I do not feel like it, stop over-thinking and serve my purpose.
I pray that we all learn to live out loud in the possibilities.
#RIPChadwickBoseman
“To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen”. Jude 1:24-25
When the Call to Action went out to support a sister in the midst of her journey with breast cancer, I felt compelled to respond. It’s not everyday that the opportunity arises to offer support on a personal basis.
Being a breast cancer survivor who’s currently in her 5th year of survival, I understand that everyday choices are a huge part of the recovery process. I decided to gift this beautiful sister with the Planter pictured above in hopes that it would help to boost her mood during these trying times and also add a little peace to her space.
I remember the fear and uncertainty that I felt during my journey, but I also remember the love and acts of kindness that were shown to me during that time. I remember the visits, phone calls and texts. I remember the Banana Pudding Cake from my Sister in Law Lanita and I remember the beautiful Orchid from my Nephew Nicholas.
My hope is that my simple act of kindness will also be remembered as a simple act of love.💖
To this Sister I pray for Peace and Total Healing. ✨
How are things going for you? Can you believe that it’s mid-August already? Time surly flies when you’re having fun. I’m doing pretty good. I can honestly say that I have many things to be grateful for, my heart is full with gratitude and love.
I’ve had three family members who contracted COVID-19. Thankfully each has recovered and they’re all doing great. I have to praise God for the 13.6M people globally who’ve recovered and also pay homage to the 774K who’ve succumbed to this virus.
There’s so much to be thankful for but I’m also aware of the continuous angst and anxiety during this challenging time. It can be difficult to hold on to hope and to peace of mind right now, but in all honesty those two tools are what we need in order to make it through. To help maintain my Environmental Wellness, I’ve been super focused on exercising my creative freedom to spruce up my space.
I’ve found my calm through creating unique pieces. I’ve designed flower pots, created Planters, made home décor and I’m currently working on a new line of earrings.
For me it’s the act of developing a product from start and watching it become something excellent that calms my spirit!
I shared a video below to show you how things have been going. Check it out and let me know what you think!
Today my mind kept pondering on one thought….”I wonder how America’s response to this pandemic will be documented in history books.”
I mean we are directly in the midst of a pandemic and America basically said enough playing it safe, we have to re-open, we must re-open! Covid-19 cases are continuing to rise and social distancing is becoming non-existent.
No vaccine, no documented way of slowing the spread beside staying put and all 50 of the United States of America are in some variation of the re-opening phase.
Personal thoughts aside, it’s happening. I just wonder how we’re going to look on the other side of this. When the federal government initially predicted 100k deaths everyone was like what, wow, why would they say that but last time that I checked, we were at 96k. Not too far from 100k. I guess WuTang Clan called it in 1994, when they said, “Cash Rules Everything Around Me!”
I say all of this to remind you to journal. You should definitely document this period in time and document your personal thoughts. It’s a great way to release tension and also to reflect on current events.
Some of the greatest solutions are developed after the fact. So grab your pen & notebook and be sure to journal.
I’ve added a journal to my product offering and I would love for you to purchase one. Head over to my site: www.melissaarivers.com/products and grab your Origins of Peace Journal.
I hope this post finds you well. I intentionally took a few days off from posting to rest my mind. I’ll be sure to catch us up before the week ends.
Listen, whatever your role during this pandemic, remember to grant yourself some grace. Put some distance between reality and expectation and know that you are doing the best that you can in this situation.
If you’re working from home, your office hours aren’t going to look the same as they would if you were still going into the office. If you’re homeschooling your children, their school day will not look the same as a regular school day. It’s important for you to know that and to be easy with yourself.
I challenge you to accept the alternative and grant yourself some grace.
Most of us have orders to Stay At Homewell into the month of April. The coronavirus is really out here doing the most and in response, we need to do a lot less….togetherness. Social Distancing is the number one method to mitigate the risk of contracting coronavirus. This means you purposely put space (at least 6ft) between you and your co-worker, neighbor, family, yoga instructor, preacher, teacher and everyone else.
Depeding on your personality type, this can become a real probem, real quick. My goal is to help you keep your Peace of Mind, Body & Spirit by maintaining your wellness.
Do you Journal? If not, what’s holding you back and if you do, what keeps you going?
A lot of people journal to release emotion and organize their feelings. To be honest, we’re all out here experiencing about 27 emotions daily. That is quite a ride and it’s tough to manage it all. So, what we’re doing is taking the emotion adding to it our daily responsibilities plus the needs and expectations from others and then attempting to get through the day without a method to release. This is the perfect formula for a mental breakdown.
I get it, we want to appear like we have our stuff together with little resistance, add to that this whole self-care trend of “don’t kill my vibe, “don’t interrupt my peace” and “don’t bother me with that”, this leaves us feeling obligated to hold in our emotions.
I’ve found journaling to be a helpful outlet. During those times when I am overflowing with emotions, both positive and negative, journaling helps me to reflect on events, organize my thoughts, release some pinned up energy and even generate solutions. It’s one of the many tools that can be used to re-direct your energy.
There’s another benefit of journaling that very few people notice. Journaling helps you to identify trends. If you journal often and notice a trend of negative or low-energy words and phrases, it’s safe to say you are probably suffering with Imposter Syndrome, self-sabotage and maybe even low self-esteem. If this is you, it’s time for a change in perspective.
I deal with those feelings too. I doubt my abilities, second guess my capabilities and I will overthink a scenario to the very extreme. It’s quite exhausting but I’ve figured out how to manage those feelings.
If you’ve been a member of the Origins of Peace community for any amount of time, you know that our #1 goal is to empower you to get out here and Impress Yourself. There are two reasons why this is important:
If you don’t impress yourself, no one else will ever stand a chance of impressing you. This is important for business deals, relationships, money goals, all of that. You must set a standard and stick to it. Example, if you want to be in a loving relationship, you must first love yourself. Impress yourself by doing things you enjoy and going to places that make you happy. This produces impression and excitement. It’s mentally stimulating, and it gets you into the habit of Impressing Yourself so that you will know when others are meeting and exceeding your expectations!
A whole lot of time is spent impressing other folks. You impress your boss when you show up for work and do an exceptional job, you impress your kids by showing up for them daily. It’s time to Impress Yourself!
For the month of November, I am challenging you to use journaling as a tool to change your communication message to yourself! There are 30 days in November. I am giving you 1 word each day to use as a prompt. You will reflect on how the word shows up in your life on that day and compose a journal entry. Your entry can be written or a short video that you keep on your phone. The words that I provide to you should evoke feelings of happiness, bravery, calmness, rejuvenation and friendliness.
I would love to know how this challenge goes for you. You can find me on both IG and Facebook at Origins of Peace to get the word for the day.
You can leave a comment one either platform to get the dialogue started.
Oh yea, if you’re not on my email list, you should be. Our next gratitude offering winner will be announced on Monday, November 4th. You must be on the list to get included in the drawing! Visit www.melissaarivers.com to sign up. You can see the prize for Monday’s drawing on my IG page.
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here:
Cookie Policy
A Facebook Friend posted a simple cookie recipe and I couldn’t wait to make my own personal version of it.
