Friday, August 31, 2012

Day 244 of Your Year to Wellness; Time To Go


The Bathroom Talk

You had to know that this was coming; the only question was when. My timing couldn’t be better; it’s right when you need it.

You’ve seen the title, so I’m going to make this short and sweet ---well, maybe not so sweet—anyway, we need to have that woman to reader talk.

So, I’m going to get right to it; when your body and mind are telling you to go to the bathroom, get up and go.

As busy people we tend to wait it out. We hold it like a kid watching their favorite cartoon or playing an online game that they’re winning. We don’t take a bio-break even when our joints are aching and our back is in pain. Today I’m telling you to GET UP AND GO.

This is a wellness/transformation blog. It’s all about becoming your best self and letting the old junk go. I would not be a good sister if I didn’t tell you to let all of the old junk go.

When you are in bed and you suddenly wake up in the middle of the night with the need to go to the bathroom, don’t turn on the TV; go to the bathroom. You’ll sleep much better.

You would never allow the water pipes in your house to get clogged and backed up. You would never tell a kid that really had to go to just sit there.

Somewhere in that transition from child to adult we have been led to believe that holding it is what makes you grown.

Taking care of your body and its needs is the sign of maturity we need to watch out for.

The better you take care of your self—spirit, mind and body; the better you become.

That’s it. May sound crazy but you know I’m talking to you---now go.

Be you, be well, be better.
Bertice Berry, PhD.

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Day 243; Finding Your Beauty

The Beauty inside my head

Finding Your Beauty

A few days ago, after I gave a lecture, a young woman sat waiting for everyone else to ask questions, get hugs, take pictures or just say thanks so she could talk to me alone.
“I’m having a hard time finding my beauty,” she told me.
It took me a moment to actually realize what she had said. She was 18, tall and gorgeous, but she didn’t know it.
She told me she wished she had the guts to wear her hair short like mine. I smiled and said that all it required was a really good hairstylist who knew how to let your hair and your head take the lead.
She said that she wished she was as confident as I was and I told her that it required that she love herself; and that’s when the tears flowed.
Pay close attention to me this morning because this post is not just about this beautiful young woman, it is about all of us.
Somewhere in our youth, we compare ourselves to images in the media, to other kids at school and to some boy or girl who told us what they thought they wanted when they didn’t even know.
Now, we look back at those pictures of ourselves and wonder how we could have ever thought that we were too fat, too ugly, too whatever.
I will tell you what I told that young woman; you will never truly love another soul until you fully love your own.
Look past your hair, your butt, your nose and see your SELF.
We are beautifully and wonderfully made.
I cut my hair off because the dread locks were not helping in this battle against migraines. As a result, my head feels better and I am beautiful---still. Inside my head is this amazing brain that knows how to heal itself. It gives me a signal each morning to get up and write about what only it and God knows and I am reborn, renewed and beautiful.

Today, truly look at who you are and are becoming and see your own beauty before you see it in another soul.

Be you, be well, be Beautiful
Bertice Berry, PhD.
 

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Day 242; Stay in Your Lane

Home Sweet Home...

Stay In Your Lane

I’m just getting back home after an 11 hour drive. I’ve grown so accustomed to flying that sometimes I forget what traffic is all about.
Anyway, I’m rather beat but wanted to share an exercise with you.
As I was driving, I noticed that in congested areas, some cars would weave in and out of lanes in an attempt to advance just one car ahead.
It seemed as if the driver did was unaware of the danger they were causing by cutting others off; all they wanted to do was get ahead.
You probably know where I’m going, but hold on for a second.
When the driver got out of their lane and into another to avoid congestion, they were actually causing the slow-down.
Okay, now we’re there.
Today, look at the instances where you get out of your lane. When do you step out of your role and into that of another?

In an attempt to get ahead, do you jump in front of others who left space to avoid an accident?

Do you think that the space in the flow of life’s traffic was meant for you and only you?

These are the questions; you have your assignment.

Remember, when you see your own problems; quickly look for the solutions.

Wallowing in your faults will stop the flow of traffic completely.

Be you, be well, Be in your own lane.
Bertice Berry, PhD.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Day 241; Inspired to Do Something

Me and Annette

Inspired to Do Something

After yesterday’s post, I heard from a veritable plethora of readers (boatload of y’all,) saying that they were moved and inspired by the actions of the students I had written about.
My sister/friend Annette wrote to me and said “Yes I was crying. And it has inspired me to do something.”
I thought about her words and then about her. Annette is inspiration. She has had several very serious health battles and each time, she emerges smiling and thankful.
Annette is the person who asked if I would donate a kidney to a friend. How could I say no?
It’s as if God asked me to save a life. And that’s just what happened, because if you can’t see God in your brothers and sisters who you can see, how will you see this invisible life force that holds us together.
Last week, when I was getting a little agitated with the pace of donor process, I called Annette who told me that I had a right to be agitated and even angry, then she told me to get back on the horse and do whatever is needed to save a life.
When I got up this morning, I was thinking about Annette and this question;
If you could have access to one of those airplanes that writes in the sky and the pilot that knew how to fly it; what message would you write today?
Keep in mind; you will be signing the messages (oh how the story changes when we know the author.)

·         What’s your message to others?

·         How would your message inspire?

·         What would it say about you?

Be well, be wonderful, be inspired.
Bertice Berry, PhD.
You better do something

Monday, August 27, 2012

Day 240; Change or Get Left


Change or Get Left

I have the tendency to get really excited when I see folks living well; I’m about to shift that excitement into high gear.
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to speak to a group of freshman at Towson University. I started out working this way, and even though I spend most of my time with corporations and large associations, from time to time I need to be with young students. I need to hear and learn from them.
Yesterday, I was blessed (made happy) by the response of a class of almost 2,000 to the needs of others.
While I was taking questions, a young man stood up and with some difficulty, he divulged  that he was feeling disconnected. He told us that in high school, he had been a member of a speech team and it had helped him find his voice. He said that he felt that when he came to college, he lost his team and his ability to communicate.
I asked if anyone had been on the speech or debate team and several young folks raised their hands. I asked some to come forward and before I knew it, about 30 young folks came rushing to the front where they stood all around the young man and created the team he needed. He smiled and I could see that all of them would do well.
Then a young woman raised her hand and said that she was feeling very lonely and certain that she would not fit in. She confessed that she was afraid of being ostracized because she was gay.
I told the audience that I didn’t want her to feel that way. I also told them that I didn’t need to out anyone (do folks even still say that?) but I wanted to see the representation of those who were gay, knew and loved someone who was gay or just knew that everyone should be love.

To my joy and surprise, everyone stood and cheered. The outpouring was real and powerful.
One young man jumped up from the back bleachers and ran to the front. He fell, got back up, and then climbed over chairs to get to her.
When the young and beautiful white man, reached this beautiful black woman, he picked her up and actually spun her around. He held her face in his hands and even though I could not hear his words, we all felt his love.
He held her for some time and others began to do the same.
I wanted to drop down and weep.
I learned later that a group of boys had made a few comments about the young man, but when they saw what he did for that young woman, their only comment was "That's awesome."
I’m still crying. I could go on, but there is not much more that needs to be said.
The world is changing; get in or get left.

I love you too.
Be you, be well, be Love,
Bertice Berry, PhD.

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Day 239; Angels Among Us

NO, we didn't take this picture
We were way too frightened

Angels Among Us

Yesterday I wrote about angels and got lots of response and debate. Folks wondered if I shared the man’s belief on angels and whether I believed at all.
I also wrote “Keep your eyes and ears open. You never know who or what you will encounter.” I love it when a plan comes together, but I had no idea how badly I would need those words myself.
My manager Jeanine and I were on a road trip. We don’t do them very often, but when I started my career 25 years ago, I actually lived on the road. More often than not I was alone and sometimes I encountered some rather scary things. I took all of the necessary precautions, but as I look back, I feel that I have had some extra special protection.
I’ve traveled through small towns and big cities long before there was a GPS or even a cell phone. ATMs were new and almost always for the use of locals only. Still, I managed to be on the road 20 days a month without any issues or real troubles.
Yesterday, however, was one for the books.
We left early in the a.m. to allow for a day light ten hour drive up north. Everything was going beautifully, but the melodies and sweet guitar sounds of Keb Mo were lulling Jeanine, the navigator into a nice sleep.
I’m one of those drivers that does not mind a backseat, front seat or even middle seat driver; the more eyes on the road the better. So when Jeanine mentioned the need for coffee, we began to keep a look out for Starbucks. I love the green tea and we could both get soy milk.
Believe it or not, finding a Starbucks on the highway is not that easy. We settled on coffee from a rest stop. It was one of the weirdest rest stops I’ve ever seen. Inside, were  wild animals; they were dead and stuffed and posed as if ready to pounce. We both looked on in shock and wonder. Then we got our coffee and got the heck out of there and headed back up the highway.
One exit later, we saw the sign for mecca; Starbucks was just one mile away. We looked at the coffee from the wild animal place and laughed. Jeanine and I are rather frugal and can go on and on about waste. Had we not grown up with the image of a Native American crying over the highway trash, we would have thrown those cups out of the window Thelma and Louise style.
We decided to wait for a trash can and it's a good thing that we did.
 As we got off the highway, we looked down over the over pass and noticed that the traffic had suddenly stopped. We figured that it was an accident and were grateful that we had gotten off the road.
We asked the barista about an alternate route and set out for it, but we had to turn back around because we needed to find a trash can to throw the old coffee away.
That moment of care took care of us. Just as we turned on the road we needed, we saw water pouring in from everywhere. The Roanoke Rapids had flooded and we were one car away from being trapped. The car before us was stuck in the middle of the oncoming waters. (Later we learned that a sinkhole had formed.)
We got out of the oncoming disaster and made it back to Interstate 95 which was now completely closed. We pulled into a crowed gas station and Jeanine went inside for directions. The attendant was swamped and frustrated and of very little assistance.
Outside, we pulled up to a man whose tags were from my home state of Delaware and asked him if he knew of an alternate route as the wonderful GPS was not giving one up. He told us about the old route 301 but didn’t know how to get there. A young man who lived locally smiled and told us to go down round the way over the tracks make a left and the  another one back over round yonder.
He smiled the smile of an angel and I knew that angels were both with us and alive.
We went that route and found the road and were on our way. As we drove though, we saw water rising flooding the houses as we drove by. Suddenly, we came to a stop and no one was moving. Cars started coming back in our direction, but the drivers were looking straight ahead saying nothing on this little two lane road. I asked someone what was going on and he yelled “Water, turn around.”
We did and made the first turn back over the tracks to get round the way back over by mama and thems.
There were only a few other cars on the road with us and the GPS kept trying to take us back to the 95, but we trusted our angels; the one with the Delaware tags and the one with the beautiful smile. Somehow we got way north of the mess and out of the flooded town.
Later we learned that the highway didn’t open up until 4 hours after we got out.
I can smile and wonder about the beliefs of others, but you never know who you will need or how you will need them.

I am grateful for all of the discourse on angels. I’m even more grateful for the ones that showed up.

Be you, be well, be watchful.
Bertice Berry, PhD.
Order the book A Year to Wellness and start your journey TODAY
Inside the reststop...This picture we took
 

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Day 238; Why Angels Leave Us...


Why Angels Leave
 or
 Things That Make You Go Hmmm

From time to time, I have the need to rent a car. My van is old, but still runs great and I want to keep her that way, so when I have to take long car trips I whip out my AARP card and rent a car. (Seriously folks, if you are over 45 and don’t have an AARP card, you are missing out. Once you get one, you will see why us OGs are always going somewhere.)
Anyway, when I went to the airport car rental, I noticed that the stern, all business looking guy whom I typically try to avoid was open and I was next. (Don’t act like you don’t have folks you try to skip by; I know that I am not alone in this.)
I went up to the guy and just as I expected, it was all business. Name—address—
He had all of this information in front of him, but still, he went by the book. Then out of nowhere, he began to tell me about a woman who had come in from New York. She had told him about the shootings at The Empire State Building. If she had not been traveling, he said, she would have been there.
Just as he was telling me this, my World Trade Center ID card that I have been holding onto fell from my wallet. I keep it there as a reminder of the fact that I was supposed to be on the 132nd floor of the towers that September 11th.
I’d been scheduled for a meeting there, but I had been in NY two weekends prior because of a friend’s illness and then her passing and I just didn’t feel like going back.
I showed the card to the rental agent and told him the story.
He looked at me and smiled and said; “You’ve got lots of angels.”
I smiled back and said, “Okay.” I was thinking, “But don’t we all?” As if he read my mind, he shared his beliefs.
“When you do the right thing, guardian angels hang around, but if you don’t they leave.”
For a moment I was taken aback. I was thinking of how well this idea would fit into the novel I’m working on. I told the man that I loved this belief and he told me that it wasn’t a belief, it was a fact.
As a way of proof he asked me a question; “Think about it,” he said, “would you hang around someone who was always doing wrong? Angels don’t either.”
I smiled and signed the necessary rental forms and thanked him for sharing.
Just as I was about to leave, he flashed the Gnostic hand symbol; the same one I had been researching the day before.

·         Who do you misjudge?

·         When you put down your guard, what do you learn?

·         What belief or idea have you heard lately that made you go “Hmm?”

Keep your eyes, ears and hearts open; you never know who and what you may encounter.

Be you, be well, be OPEN
Bertice Berry, PhD.

Friday, August 24, 2012

Day 237; Moving Forward

You can cry and do nothing
or you can MOVE FORWARD

Moving Forward

Yesterday I had the opportunity to be encouraged by a group of folks who I had gone to encourage and inspire. The Bastrop Independent School District in Texas started its year with the theme Moving Forward.
At any other back-to-school rally this would have been the Superintendent’s way of saying let’s get back to business. But Superintendent Steve Murray had a powerful reason for his theme.
Last year, a few days after the school year began, the county was hit with massive fires which did major damage to the entire area. Close to 2,000 homes were completely destroyed. Everyone was affected directly and indirectly by the massive fires. (Read More)
To say that I was and inspired can’t begin to capture the feelings I had being there.
A fourth grade choir sang a song they wrote about how they felt after the loss. Tears rolled down my face as they sang the refrain, “Everything I need is in my heart.”
When a woman won a prize for the district’s elementary school teacher of the year, she was so proud of her student’s introduction of her that when she rushed the stage to hug the young girl, she forgot that she was the winner.
The crowd represented anyone who had anything to do with the education of a child. They were connected in that purpose and allowed that connection to be there community.
I learned that during those fires, custodial workers helped teachers who helped board members. The power of the support staff and cafeteria employees was recognized as the glue that held them all together.
As I watched schools cheer and bands play, I thought of how different they were because of those fires.
I saw an immediate connection to my own bout with a head injury and the uncomfortable results. Like the Bastrop community; I’m still here. I can cry and complain or I can move forward; for me there is nothing in between.
On my way home yesterday I thought of Langston Hughes and my mom.
I’ve been scarred and battered.
My hopes the wind done scattered.
Snow done freezed me. Sun done baked me.
Looks like between them they trying to make me
 Stop living, stop laughing, stop loving.
But I don’t care, 'cause I’m still here.

To this my mom would simply add her prayer;

 Let nothing hinder nor delay, the Divine plan the Creator has for your life today, keep moving on and on and on.

Be you, be well, Move Forward.
Bertice Berry, PhD.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Day 236; What If?


What IF

Yesterday I landed in Austin Texas where the unofficial motto is “We’re keeping it weird.”
Weird is such an understatement. In my schedule notes, I saw that a woman named Mary would be picking me up. I didn’t see anyone with a sign baring my name and I knew that most folks are still looking for someone one with long dreadlocks. Since I’ve cut my hair, I’m pretty unrecognizable to friends; to strangers or folks who saw me years ago, I’m the last person they expect. (Sounds funny to me too.)
Anyway, I walked up to a woman who appeared to be as lost as I was and I asked her is her name was Mary, she looked into my eyes and said “Well, I’m going through a divorce.”
I explained myself  and we laughed for a bit. But I felt for this woman who’s divorce was at the top of her mind.
I called the number in my notes and had to laugh again when I found that the woman coming for me was not named Mary after all, she was Nancy.
So I went back to the woman who was going through the divorce and told her that the woman I was waiting for was not named Mary either.
We laughed and I told her that maybe it all happened for a reason; that I was simply here to tell her that everything was going to be okay. I watched as her bottom lip began to quiver and I smiled and told her she could always change her name to Mary. She cried until she laughed.

What if we are here to help each other along the journey?

What if we are given the opportunity to lift someone’s load every day, but we don’t know it?

What if your job is to be an inspiration to someone else?

What if a stranger helped you find the peace you needed?

Be you, be well, be the inspiration.

Bertice Berry, PhD

 

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Day 235; What Are You Mad About?

When life happens;
remember the good stuff

What Are You Mad About---REALLY?

Yesterday, life happened. I allowed the actions of another to bring me to anger and I stepped outside of myself.
 No, I didn’t react, respond, go off, get righteously indignant, nor did I cuss and scream. I just got angry. In doing so, everything that happened afterwards was clouded in my own frustration.
My son had to go to the DMV to deal with a ticket that had already been handled. In my mind, it took way too long, he should not have gotten a ticket, it was too hot and everyone who drove into the DMV parking lot was a bad driver.
My daughter was sitting with me in the car and on her laptop working on something that had nothing to do with the class she had just come from and I was wondering why.
I asked her if what she was doing had anything to do with her class and when I looked up and saw my own face in the rearview mirror, I asked myself if my grilling had anything to do with the class that I was supposed to have.
I laughed, sent a text message to my son and told him to take his time and then decided to take a drive.
I was still angry (I really did have a reason to be) so I used one of my lifelines and phoned a friend.
I told her that I was mad and clouded as a result; she told me the truth; that nothing would hinder nor delay the Divine plan that the Creator had for my life.
She had repeated my mother’s simple prayer; one that I had recited with her for many years and then again with my own children each morning before they left for school.
Divine Love, always has and always will supply our every need. So let nothing hinder nor delay the Divine plan the Creator has for your life today. We are moving on and on and on.
I thanked her, because she had given me the answer to the million dollar question and I moved on and on and on.

·         Don’t let your anger cloud your day.

·         Take responsibility for the things you caused and allow them to inform your future actions

·         Don’t forget your lifeline; use it wisely

·         Feel your anger because your emotions act to inform you, but don’t let the anger take you under; simply turn your boat in the direction in the right direction.

·         Sail forward.

Be you, be well, move on and on and on

Bertice Berry, PhD.


Day 234; Are You Stuck In Reverse?


Responsible for Your Own Happiness

I’m going to tackle two rather difficult subjects today; doing the first will result in accomplishing the second.
Last week while traveling, I met a woman who told me that she felt stuck in a ditch. Never you mind why a perfect stranger would tell me something so private; I call it my gift, which can sometimes be seen as a curse.
Anyway, the woman said that she had been doing the same thing the same way day in and day out and she didn’t know how to get out of the rut. She said she had tried once but found herself living the same way with a different set of friends, co-workers and a new but same kind of spouse.
I closed my eyes for a second and tried to visualize the ditch she had been stuck in. I imagined a a large hole in the ground with her at the bottom yelling to me for help. Without me thinking too hard about it, the image changed and the woman’s ditch became a rut in the sand where she was spinning her wheels.
I opened my eyes and saw this beautiful lively woman who was animated and energetic and I asked a simple question. “Could it be that you are stuck in reverse?” I asked.
Before I could try to explain the sand dune from my imagination, the woman began to cry. (This is where the gift begins to feel like a curse.) We were in public and I knew that she was embarrassed, so I bowed my head and said nothing. Allowing her to feel whatever she was remembering, I took her hand and held it.
The woman smiled through her tears and said thank-you. She went on to tell me that she had tried to remove herself from a painful past but had gotten stuck. She asked me how I knew. I told her that I knew nothing of her past; that I used the same tools employed by Einstein when he saw e=mc2 go floating by. Like him, I had I used my imagination.
She went on to tell me about her life and how she had gotten stuck. Each time she tried to get out of a difficult situation, she had relied on someone else to rescue her.
This is where the second lesson comes in; in order to stop spinning your wheels in the same spot, you must choose to be the cause of your own happiness.
We tend to look to someone else to solve our problems. We want to take our burdens to the Lord and leave them there. (I can hear my religious friends calling me now.)
God, life, Love, the Universe, whatever you may call it endows us with the gifts to change our own course.
We are connected to one another and have the energy, power, force, love of our friends and family to help and guide, but we must choose to live a life that is rich/blessed and fulfilled.
The answers don’t come easy. They require discipline, learning and relearning, hard work, and yes, belief; but when you apply the right amount of effort in the right direction, you can spin your own wheels out of the rut you are in.
 Once out, you must throw yourself out of reverse past neutral and ease your way forward. Once you have the momentum you need; keep on moving.
The woman thanked me for enabling her to see her problem more clearly and I thanked her for the lesson I undoubtedly needed myself.
I told her that we all need one another to help shine a light on our pathways, but we must drive our own course.
The band Colpdplay got it right to a point:

When you try your best but don’t succeed.
When you get what you want but not what you need
When you feel so tired but you can’t sleep.
Stuck in reverese.
Lights will guide you home and ignite your bones
I will try to fix you 

Be you, be well, you fix you
Bertice Berry, PhD.


Monday, August 20, 2012

Day 233; Life is Long

Life is Long

A few days ago I met a man from Egypt. He was disguised as my driver, but he really was philosopher. We engaged in polite chit-chat and he asked me questions about my life and family.
As I shared with him, I could feel myself going back to the day my children arrived and the struggles we have gone through together.
He told me about his daughter who he sees three days a week. He said that he had hopes for a life with her mother but then everything changed. He spoke more about change and then I told him the secret that he had been sent to extract;
“Life is long,” I told him. He brought the car to an unexpected stop and turned completely around.
“What did you say?” He asked. I shook my head and told him the truth he had released and repeated what I had just remembered, “Life is long.”

He told me that everyone says it’s short and I told him that it’s because they are not truly living it. We get stuck in reverse and think that everything is moving fast but we are just staying in one spot.
When you move forward, mindful of all that is around us, life becomes much longer.
I told him that I was 52; that I’d lived a big life and more keeps on coming. He told me I looked much younger and I told him that it’s because life is long.
He smiled, turned around and put the car back in drive. From his rear view mirror I could see his eyes smiling back at me and I returned the favor.
“You are wise beyond your years”, he said and then just before leaving me at my destination he told me what he knew.
“You are correct, life is long; use every moment wisely.”
He hugged me and I felt I knew him. In that brief moment, I thought of all the drivers I’d ridden with, some I had spoken to, others I had not. I thought of early morning shuttles and hotel vans. I thought of getting back home to my children who always seemed taller and smarter with each reunion. I thought of the lives I’ve touched and those that have touched mine and I stood there in gratitude for the truth.
Yes, life is long.
Live every moment fully, mindfully, respecting the space and time you occupy.
Be you, be well, live long.
Bertice Berry, PhD.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Day 232; You Just Keep Doing the Right Thing


You Just Keep Doing the Right Thing

Okay, call me crazy, but early this morning I had a conversation with my mom. Now, you should know that my mother passed away several years back, but from time to time, she still gives me a real good talking to.
This morning, I woke up in a hotel several hours before the early morning wake-up call. Typically, I have no problem sleeping. Folks often ask if I can sleep on a plane and I tell them that I can sleep in the line to get on the plane. Anyway, I decided to try to find something on TV. Hotels have a limited number of channels; instead of 800 there may only be fifty. (Yes, that’s sarcasm.)
Anyway, I selected one of those early morning business channels, and was treated to a story about Richard Branson of Virgin Airlines. I learned that Branson started his airline with only one used plane, but in an attempt to shut him down, the transportation giant, British Airways employed dirty tactics against Branson’s company. Branson sued BA and won.
The story reminded of a time when I was starting out on a new job. I was green but hopeful and I had a strong team of dedicated folks with me. For some reason, a huge competitor perceived me to be a potential rival. At first I thought it was hilarious that a billionaire would be threatened by a thousanaire, but when the tactics became increasingly personal and had an impact on my team and their livelihood I stopped laughing and just got mad.
I won’t go into the who and what of it, because that’s really not the point of today’s lesson; suffice it to say that I kept my head high, stayed in my lane and left the dirty players to their dirty game.
This morning though the memory came back and I was flooded with the “what-ifs.” What if I fought back and played dirty as well? What if I tried to expose the person and their behavior? What if I hadn’t walked away?
That’s where my dead mother came in. Her message to me was simple;
“Bertice,” she said, “You just keep doing the right thing.”
I pondered this message from beyond and felt my mother's love and warmth. I looked around the really nice hotel room and asked myself another question; “In doing right, what have you lost?”
My answer was swift and sweet; by being true to myself, my Purpose and beliefs, I have lost nothing.
All is gain.
Today, I want you to take my mom’s message as your own; “You just keep doing the right thing.”
When things are hard; when others do wrong; when you are tired; when you get weary;

You just keep doing the right thing.

That’s it. I’ve got an early flight and in a few minutes, I’ll be getting that wake-up call.
Be you, be well, be true.
Bertice Berry, PhD.

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Day 231; The Power of Doing Nothing

At the New York Public Library
Doing Absolutely Nothing

Go Ahead, Relax and Enjoy

If your anything like me, you have a hard time enjoying the fruits of your labor. I have to admit, as much as I love life and all that comes with it, there are times when I feel guilty about taking time off, being in a really posh hotel or even just putting my feet up.
I’m old enough to know better, so I’m doing better. Still, I have not gotten to where I need to be.
I’ve been working since I was 12 years old and although I no longer clean banks or houses, I still work very hard. So why is it that I feel guilty when I need to just sleep or do nothing?
Doing nothing is hard for folks who are accustomed to always doing something. Sometimes though, doing nothing is more productive than trying to produce anything.
Today, I’d like you to take at least an hour to do whatever you’d like.
Sit, read, bathe, meditate, sing, swim, dance, talk to an old friend, play a game of jacks or marbles (remember those non-battery powered games,) talk to yourself and then see how much more productive you are when you give in to doing nothing.
Those who care a lot carry a lot. We carry the stress and strain of life and the weight that comes with it.
Take the time to enjoy the fruits of your labor and then eat a piece of fruit.
Enjoy the day, your life and your love.
Do you, do well, do nothing.
Bertice Berry, PhD.