Day 213; Deserving What You Get

Deserving What You Get

We all know the adage; “You get what you deserve,” but my question for you today is do you deserve what you get?

It’s a simple turn around that asks, if you get what you are worthy of; are you worthy of what you get?

When we think of getting what we deserve, we typically think in terms of retribution and revenge; as in “That bully got what he deserved.” However, the word, “deserve” actually means to be worthy of or qualified for. To be deserving of something requires merit and work.

I don’t doubt that most folks have worked for what they have, but I don’t think that they see themselves as worthy.

We have been so beat down by experience, life and relationships that we begin to feel unworthy of the new life that is trying to come our way.

When a person feels unworthy, they will often sabotage their own goodness. (By the by, I love the word sabotage; it is believed to come from the act of Dutch workers putting their sabots; wooden shoes, in textile looms to stop the work in progress.)

We stop our own work in progress when we fail to be or recognize that we are worthy of the love and joy that life has to offer.

Today, ask yourself the following:

·         Do I feel worthy?

·         Do I show gratitude for the life and joy I have?

·         Do I reciprocate the love I receive or do I feel so unworthy that I return kindness with negativity and indifference?

·         Am I ready for all that I deserve?

As you ponder these questions (remember, you can only answer for yourself,) get ready for the answers because our purpose is to love and be loved and when a person seeks their purpose, the Universe conspires to answer.

Be you, be well, be worthy.

Bertice Berry, PhD.

Order the book A Year to Wellness and start your journey TODAY

Day 212; Dealing With The Difficults

Turn It Off

Dealing with The Difficults

We all know and occasionally encounter those folks who are---how can I put this kindly; DIFFICULT.

You know the folks who disagree with everything just because they don’t want to be agreeable.

It seems like I’ve been seeing more and more of them lately, but that could just be me. Back in the day, when I was writing a dissertation on stratification; I could see stratification everywhere. When a friend noticed that I needed a break and decided to take me to an art gallery, he pointed to an abstract painting and asked me how I interpreted it. I told him that it clearly represented the battle between the haves and the have-nots. I pointed to a place in the corner of the painting where I could see the battle forming.

My friend laughed and pointed to the title plate that he’d been standing in front of. “Donuts, it’s called donuts.” He said.

I’ve been writing a novel about energy thieves, so maybe that’s why the Difficults seem to be everywhere.

Yesterday, as I was boarding a flight, a man ran up pushing me aside so he could board before me. When he realized that I was also boarding with the first class group; a “benefit” that comes from traveling so much, he turned and sternly asked if I wanted to go first.

I smiled and did a half curtsey and said “No, please after you.” He didn’t get my drift and went right on; pushing his way past a man in a wheelchair. As I began to put my things in the overhead compartment, the man pushed me aside to put his bags there first. He was sitting across from me and at first, was storing his bags in the compartment above him, but then decided that he preferred the bin I was using. Again, I stepped aside and allowed him to put his bags in first.

As I did, another man walked up and stared the man down; literally. The guy backed away and the other man put my bags in the overhead for me. I thanked him profusely and he said it was his pleasure.

Then out of some place magical, the rude man looked over to me and gave me a nod and smile.

I accepted the nonverbal whatever-it was and fell asleep on the short flight. As we were leaving the plane, the rude man jumped up, pushed me aside again and gathered his belongings.

Now, I’ve had this same exchange many times before, but this one felt totally different and that’s because I handled it differently.

I didn’t get angry or try to establish my space. I didn’t push back or mentally call the guy a name.

I simply relinquished the energy he was trying to take. I had plenty. I had had an amazing weekend and my heart and head were soaring. I was relaxed and even after a migraine morning, I felt renewed.

Rude Difficults are everywhere. Dealing with them is ---well, difficult. Here are a few tips.

·         Make sure it’s not you.

·         Smile and breathe.

·         Step aside and recognize that what a Difficult tries to take can never be owned (space and air.)

·         Yield enough joy so they feel stunned by it.

·         Shine your light.

I know, I went on a little longer, but I have my power cord back and I feel---POWERFUL.

Be you, be well, Be Easy Like Sunday Morning.

Bertice Berry, PhD.

Order the book A Year to Wellness and start your journey TODAY

Day 211; Stretch Yourself

Stretch Yourself

Back in the day, when my knees were working and I could lift more weight than I weighed, I learned that if you wanted to be good at weight lifting and body building, then you had to be good at stretching.

If you do not bend, you will break; in spirit, mind and body.

Each morning, before I get out of bed to start my day, I begin a series of stretches.

·         I stretch my body—I bend and flex across my bed allowing my blood to flow and my joints to get the necessary juices.

·         I stretch my mind—I recall the dreams from the night before and begin to write on the tablet I keep near my bed. I allow my nocturnal musings to become ideas of creativity and possible thoughts for another day.

·         I stretch my spirit—allowing it to soar to places my body can not go meditating on the past and future so that I can spend that day in the now.

Get up and stretch. Become more flexible in spirit, mind and body.

Be you, be well, be not broken

Bertice Berry, PhD. –and still without a laptop powercord

Order the book a year to wellness and start your journey today

Day 210; Creature of Habit

Creature of Habit

Okay boys and girls, I’ve got to make this one real quick. For the first time since the laptop was invented, I left home without the cord to mine. My battery light is blinking and so I gotta make it do what it do.

My children often say that I am a creature of habit and if you mess with my habits, I turn into a creature. They have a point.

My life is completely different every day. I can be in New York on Monday and San Diego on Tuesday. I travel so much that airport employees recognize me in cities where I don’t even live. Because my life requires a great deal of change, I require a great deal of habit. I pack the same way each week but if I am interrupted, I get off track.

Habits are good to have but when you allow your life to become stagnant as a result you are not living.

A fisherman once told me that a fish will not swim in stagnant water.

That’s it, battery says go.

Be you, be well, be different.

Bertice Berry, PhD.

http://www.ayearto.com

Day 209; A Leap of Faith

A Leap of Faith

A few weeks ago, I received a text messages with pictures of my sister/friend Adri’s 9 year old son Connor. He was standing tall in his junior lifeguard uniform. I wondered where the little boy from previous pictures had gone. He stood proud as he posed and stared directly into the camera with a look of no-one-will-get-hurt-on-my-beach.

Earlier this week, I was amazed and in shock when I opened a message with a new picture of Connor. In this picture, 9 year old Connor was jumping off the side of a pier into the Pacific Ocean.

At first glance, I only saw his tiny body heading straight at the water. As I looked more closely, I could see others looking over the side of the pier down at him. A closer look revealed that he wasn’t very far from the shore line and then I read Adri’s note telling me it was the completion of his training as a junior lifeguard.

I realized that until I had that context, I had been holding my breath, just as Connor must have. I sent a message right back asking Adri if she was okay and she told me what any mother would have expected; that she’d thought she was going to have a heart attack.

Over the next few days, I looked at the picture over and over again and I wondered if I had allowed my own children to have their leap of faith and then I began to wonder if I had been taking my own.

I thought about the phrase; “leap of faith” and I decided to look at what was needed.

·         Training---Everyone who stood watching Connor jump knew that he was prepared or they would not have allowed it. He had trained for that moment. He had done the physical and mental work necessary.

·         A Belief in one’s self—Even though Adri was afraid, Connor was not. He may have had a healthy dose of fear, but he was not afraid. There is a subtle but powerful difference. In order to do the impossible, you must first believe that you are the right person at the right time for the right purpose.

·         Support---Connor had the support of his mentors, his parents, family and friends. When you take a plunge with no support, you will drown in regret, loneliness and unfulfilled dreams. Success in the realm of the improbable requires that you have a team of teachers, guides and well-wishers.

·         A Purpose Goal---Connor’s goal was not selfish. It was based in his desire to help save the lives of other young people; and that my friends is where the "Faith" comes in. When we aim high for goals centered on the collective good, the good from on high becomes centered on us.

Today, think of your impossible purpose-filled goals and do what I will from now on be

calling: A Connor.

Be you, be well, be Connor

Bertice Berry, PhD.

Order the book A year to Wellness and start your journey TODAY

Go Connor

Day 208; Finding What You Thought You’ve Lost

Finding What You Thought You’ve Lost

For several months, my friend and his daughter had been telling me that they were going crabbing in my back yard. When I first heard this, I laughed and did what I would have done when I was a kid. I bought the wolf ticket.

Now, in case you were deprived of an inner-city cultural experience; a wolf ticket is what one sells when they are bragging about something. “You keep selling them wolf tickets,” my mother used to say.

I dared them to try to find one crab in the tidal creek that feeds right into the Ogeechee River, right in my back yard. I had seen lots of fish, all kinds of birds, thousands of little fiddler crabs, but he had been planning on catching dinner, so I told them to go right ahead and try.

A few days ago, I had to take back my own doubt when they dropped a basket and pulled it out 15 minutes later with 15 blue crabs. We all squealed with delight at the sight of the haul.

As we sat on the dock and later inside the gazebo that I had designed and then watched being constructed, I wondered when I stopped spending time there. True, I still take the occasional walk out to bird watch or to just think, but at one time, the gazebo had been my favorite room in the house.

It’s screened in and even in the hottest weather yields cool breezes and bug-less contemplation.

We all have spaces, objects and memories that were once cherished but are now almost forgotten. Sometimes, others have to come along to appreciate what we have forgotten to love and care for.

As I sat on that dock, my mind went to the most beautiful and painful memory of my life; I recalled the fact that this was where my children had sat to release my mother’s ashes and suddenly I knew why I had stopped coming. I had somehow equated the loss of my mother with the place where her ashes had been scattered.

I wept openly and loudly and I knew that I was seeing things all wrong. This place that I had abandoned was a place of joy, a place of remembrance and connections.

My mother had told me stories of how she’d gone crabbing when she was a girl and I knew that she would have loved that experience and then it hit me; she was loving it.

Love never leaves.

My mother’s life and legacy lives on with me and my children and with everyone whose life she ever touched.

We all have places of loss and pain. Go to them; inside and out; and when you do, allow the pain to evolve into the joy of knowing that everything that was, IS.

Be you, be well, be revealed

Bertice Berry, PhD.

Order the book A Year to Wellness and start your journey TODAY

Cameron, who looks too much like my daughter---
a story for another time

Day 207; Lighting A Candle or Cursing The Dark

 Lighting a Candle or Cursing The Dark

Yesterday, while reading book two of Robert McCammon’s series in historical fiction that reads like real and now, I came upon this parable; “Better to light a candle than to curse the dark.”

I stopped reading wrote down the phrase and began to ponder the meaning of this wonderful phrase.

 Of course, I pondered so long that I fell asleep and in that blissful state of REM, I saw myself walking through a dark tunnel. As I did, I bumped into walls and stepped on things that wriggled and squirmed under my feet. I went on like this for some time until I realized that I had something in my hand. Using my other hand to feel what it might be, I discovered that I was holding a flashlight. It had been there the entire time. I turned in on and saw that with one more step, I would have fallen into a pit that appeared to have no end.

When I awoke from this rather wonderful dream I knew that I had done what Carl Jung had supposed when he pointed out that dreams are a completion of the day’s activities.

How many times have you held the light of intuition but did not allow it to illuminate your decisions?

We cannot control the darkness, but we can light our candle of intuition, of love, of knowledge, of education and wisdom.

When we improve our own attitude we can illuminate our own path.

There are plenty of situations that seem hopeless and frustrating; light a candle, change your mood, illuminate your spirit.

That’s it.

Be you, be well, be the candle.

Bertice Berry, PhD.

Order the book A Year to Wellness and start your journey TODAY

Day 206; Outlook and Outcomes

Outlook and Outcomes

Do you feel that things are happening to you or do they happen for you?

If you think things are always happening to you, then they are. Your outlook, or the way you see the world inside and around you will always affect your outcome.

I know people who are constantly waiting for the proverbial other shoe to drop and when it does, they get to be right.

Being happy is much more fun than being right.

Changing your world view from gloom to sunshine is not an easy thing. In the beginning of the year, I wrote about how my sister Chris pointed out that on an overcast day, you can see the colors of everything more clearly. I looked out the window and saw that what she said was true and now I can no longer see gloom in a cloudy day.

Take a moment to think about something that didn’t go your way. Now think about what you have been able to do as a result. I hope you can see that this happened for you, not to you.

When we feel that everything is bad and nothing can go our way, that’s what we get.

Don’t get me wrong, I am an optimistic but I am also a realist. I know that I have to work to create the results I want to see.

I know that if I don’t make my life better, it won’t be.

Here’s the thing; what you see as wrong with you is what you will see as wrong in others. What you see right is how you view the world. You can minimize the problems by maximizing your own solutions.

What do you like about you?

Make a list. Make it long.

 Allow it to get bigger every day.

Begin to see yourself as wonderful and worthy of the love you want and deserve.

Visualization is the rehearsal while your action is the performance. Life is not one thing or the other; it is everything and what you take from life’s buffet (with a big sneeze guard) is up to you.

Be you, be well, be the brighter day

Bertice Berry, PhD.

Order the book a Year to Wellness and start your journey today

Day 205; On Love and Freedom

On Love

I’ve been reading the novel Speaks The Nightbird, by Robert R. McCammon. The story is set in the Carolinas in 1699 and centers on the trial of a woman accused of being a witch. This wonderfully written novel is at times horrifyingly suspenseful and at others a beautiful foray into the human psyche.

I don’t want to give anything away, so I’ll just get to it. At one point in the book, one of the characters ponders the notion of love.

He wonders if love is the desire to possess someone or if it is the desire to set the object of your love free.

I closed the book to ponder the question for myself.

I have always seen love as a desire to free someone to their intended purpose; to help the other become more of who they are meant to be.

I am not speaking about setting someone free to leave their responsibilities; but setting them free to determine what their responsibility to life actually is.

I pondered further and began to see Freedom in five acts:

* The Freedom to care for yourself

* The Freedom to think for yourself

* The Freedom to care deeply for others

* The Freedom to allow others to be who they are

* The Freedom to Transform

As RuPaul and a bunch of others would say, “If you can’t love yourself, how in the ---can you love anybody else? Can I get an Amen?”

Loving myself, then, is the act of setting myself free to love others.

I pondered the question further and came back to the question I asked myself at the age of 8; “Why was I born?”

Yesterday, I went back to my child self and told her the reason; “To Love and be loved.”

I sat back down reopened the book and found the character saying that if love was about possession then surely it was based on the insecurity of individuals.

Love is helping the other to be free.

I Love you, Be free.

Bertice Berry, PhD.

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Day 204; Keeping The Peace, The Colorodo Shootings and Sunday Morning Musings

The view from my friend's hard earned PEACE

Keeping The Peace, The Colorado Shootings and Other Sunday Morning Musings

A few mornings ago, when I first learned of the mass killings at a late night premier of new movie, I was sitting and writing as I do each morning. On that morning though, my daughter had miraculously gotten up early and was sitting across from me.

I read the news, held my head in agony and then told her what had occurred. I looked up and saw my own reflection as she mimicked the same gesture of extreme sadness.

“I hate when these things happen,” she said somberly. I turned on the live feed and my daughter politely asked me to turn it off. “I don’t want to hear it.” She said.

I could see the pained grief in her eyes and I did as she requested. Then I asked a question. “How is it then, that you and your siblings have dragged me to zombie, vampire and chain saw massacre movies over the years?” I reminded her that they always laughed at me when I cringed and covered my eyes to the graphic violence in the movie.

Her only answer was “That’s different; it’s not real.”

What she and most people don’t understand is that our exposure to violence really does desensitize us to it.

 That day, most people watched the news in horror, commented on gun control or the need for harsher punishments but then went about their business as if everything would just right itself.

Please take the time to watch the documentary I AM where the question is posed, “What is wrong with the world?” The answer comes back I AM. Then the film maker points out that I AM is also the answer to the question of what is right with it.

We are the problem and we are also the solution. What we cause, we can change. While you may argue that you had no hand in the situation, I can point out that doing nothing is the problem.

Peace doesn’t just happen; you have to work at it and then you have to work at it some more.

I live in a beautiful and peaceful environment. It is incredibly clean and orderly. Without being seen, my sister Chris moves about cleaning and organizing on a regular basis. We all try to maintain what she has done, but she is diligent about cleanliness. The floors don’t clean themselves and neither do the unseen areas behind the appliances.

When people come here they always comment on how remarkably clean it is and we all look at Chris who quietly does her thing. Still, everyone in the house has to play their part to help maintain the work she does.

I hope you are feeling me. What I’m saying is this, God, the government, society and the almighty “They” can only do so much to make our lives work. We must meditate, pray, get up and work to improve our own lives and the lives of others so that the world we live in may be better as a result.

Within your home and life there must be discipline and creativity. You need just enough disorder to remind you to put things back in order.

 If you want prayer in school, teach your children to pray at home and when they go to school the prayer will be there with them.

We are the problem and we are the solution.

Just as I told my daughter, I’m telling you now that the more we turn our backs on problems, the greater those problems become.

“Do not fear your enemies. The worst they can do is kill you. Do not fear your friends. At worst, they may betray you. Fear those who do not care; they neither kill nor betray, but betrayal and murder exist because of their silent consent.”---Bruno Jasienski

Be you, be well, be better

Bertice Berry, PhD.

Order the book A Year To Wellness and start your journey TODAY

Day 203: Knowing the Difference Between Emotional and Physical Hunger

Physical and Emotional Hunger; Knowing the Difference

Some days, when there is a lull in the work, or my manager Jeanine and I are on a trip that requires driving, we play the game, “Would you rather?” In this game we come up with implausible scenarios that we have to choose from. “Would you rather be ruled by Kim Jung Il or Idi Amin Dada?” “Would that be the father or son and is that 70’s or now,” comes the response.

Sometimes we have to pass, but then because we genuinely like each other, we throw in a question that enables us to get out of the realm of impossible choices; “Would you rather be hungry or full?” For both of us, hungry is always hungry is always the answer.

We then launch into stories about what we did to feel full when we were growing up poor. My siblings and I would play games of eating invisible food or put our head under the kitchen faucet while someone turned the faucet on full blast. The sudden rush of water would make you feel full for a while and then we’d have to do it again. But before then, we’d sit on the porch rockers and listen to the water slosh around in our empty bellies.

I am amazed at the fact that we knew how to play hunger games long before the movie and by just how far we have come.

Still, knowing true hunger gives me the ability to choose between hungry and full. When I am too full, I am miserable. My body immediately tells me that things are amiss and I know that headaches, pain and immobility will soon follow. Still, this knowledge doesn’t always keep us from going beyond the limit.

So I’ve devised a simple question that I ask myself when I find myself eating beyond the limit.

That simple question is this; “Are you physically hungry or emotionally hungry?”

After asking the question, I stop and listen to my body. I know the feeling of physical hunger, but unfortunately with so much emotional stimuli and signals coming from everywhere, I don’t always immediately recognize emotional hunger.

When my eating coincides with bad news, I know that I am not physically hungry. When I want ice cream after seeing a sign for it; I know that this is nothing but a craving. (I’m lactose intolerant; what else could it be?)

Today, when you find yourself going back for seconds, check your emotions. If you find that something is lacking there, look to see the real connection.

Is the second helping a birthday cake the result of the fact that you couldn’t have it as a child?

Is the desire to eat candy only when you are at work directly connected to the lack of sweetness in your colleagues?

When you pull up to a drive-through fast food place and the recorded messages asks “Would you like to try... and you say yes, is this a sign that you are allowing yourself to be led by advertisements?

Was that last question way too long and do you think you deserve a cookie for rereading it?

If you have answered yes to any of the above, then your hunger has nothing to do with physical nourishment.  Now, can see clearly why this blog on wellness deals so much more with how we feel than it deals with how we look.

Be you, be wonderful, be full.

Bertice Berry, PhD.

Order the book A Year to Wellness and start your journey TODAY

Day 202; A Perspective on Miracles

A Perspective on Miracles

Yesterday, I received two quotes from two different individuals. These quotes, like their senders are quite unique but they speak to the same thing.

One came from a friend who is a cellular biologist. He’s rational and brilliant in a way that I can only dream of becoming and the other is a philanthropist who has helped to keep schools open, funded literacy programs, and has provided scholarships and support for the families of our troops.

Both have risen from very humble beginnings, and both have done amazing things. These two don’t know each other, but they could have been speaking from the same podium.

From the biologist I got the following proverb:

“Helping hands are better than praying lips.”

And from the philanthropist I received this quote from Einstein:

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”

I read both messages and marveled at their timing and connection. The scientist friend had sent a quote that defined the life of the philanthropist. When my philanthropist friend learns of a need; he thinks about what he can do and then acts. He believes that his hard earned wealth should be used to make a difference.

Likewise, the quote from Einstein is the perspective of my friend who is a scientist. He sees all life as a marvel. He once taught me the difference between a male and female pine cone and now I can never look at a tree or pine cone without seeing the miracle.

I stood frozen as I read and reread both and wondered what I had done to deserve such incredible wisdom. As soon as I did, I knew the answer; I believe and I act on my beliefs.

I could write about this all morning, but I’d rather that you do what I did and am still doing.

Take a moment to ponder these messages and wonder what you can do to be the prayer and then determine which camp of miracles you fall into; everything or nothing.

Your ability to change, be changed and then make a difference depends on it.

Be you, be well, be the miracle.

Bertice Berry, PhD.

Order the book a year to Wellness and start your journey TODAY

Day 201: Angels and Vampires and New Ideas---Stay With Me

Angels and Vampires and New Ideas--Stay With Me

If you think that the title of today’s post is a little odd, you’re right; if you don’t, well, I don’t even want to get into it.

So I’ll just jump right in and explain. A few weeks ago, when I drove my brain into a writer’s block, I turned on the radio to dance my way back to normal. I heard an artist I hadn’t heard in years. Terrence Trent, D’Arby was crooning his raspy, soulful voice through Sign My Name.

I love his voice and began to wonder where he had been and why I hadn’t heard him. I did a quick search and found that he, like so many artists had gone independent. I also learned that he had changed his name to Sananda Maitreya. He had also released volumes 1 and 2 of albums he’d named Angels and Vampires and just when I was about to laugh and shake my head, I came upon and interview he’d done and actually listened to what he had to say.

Maitreya said that there is an epic battle between the Angles; those who recognize themselves as a vessel for spirit and the Vampires, those who would keep the light blotted out so they can continue to manipulate in darkness.

“Wow! This sounds like the novel I’m working on.” I said out loud. My daughter asked what I was talking about and before I could explain she was shaking her head and laughing at me.

Here’s my point and the lesson for today; we don’t know that we don’t know something until we look with new eyes and child-like curiosity.

Today, allow your dance break to turn into a research project and let yourself wander down the lane of “I wonder.”

You need to learn new things on a regular basis. Your brain is only 2% of your body mass and yet it uses about 26% of your energy. Learning something new requires even more energy, but by learning new things, you have made it easier to learn more. Each new idea creates a new pathway through your brain connecting one road to another and your capacity for learning is greater.

Finding Maitreya’s Angels and Vampires was not the prize; it was following the path that led me there.

Learn something new and then allow yourself to wonder until you learn something else.

Be you, be well, be a seeker.

Bertice Berry, PhD.

Order the book A Year to Wellness and start your journey TODAY

Day 200; The Cure for Wanting What Someone Else Has

The Cure for Wanting What Someone Else Has

Most nights, I go to bed with an idea of what I will write about the next day. But some nights, like last night, I am too tired to think. So this morning, I allowed the first thought that came to mind to be the one to delve into.

I had been thinking of one of my relatives. She gets any disease or illness that anyone else has. If you have a cold she catches one. If you fall and break something; you’ll soon see a brace on her arm too.

If it wasn’t so sad, it could be funny since she makes her own braces. Her situation is extreme but the condition is rather common.

We have all wished for something that someone else has. Usually, it’s not an illness or injury. We want the talents, abilities and attributes of others. We yearn for what looks like a leisurely life or an easily earned income. We want someone’s loving spouse or at least one who will love us the same way.

With the exception of my relative who catches everyone else’s flu, most people want the good that others experience, but they don’t want the work that was required to have it.

We want the outcome without the work, when in truth you can have whatever you want; but you have to take everything that comes with it.

Most musicians would love the fame and fortune of Michael Jackson, but none would want the outcome. I would love to have the body of an athlete, but that would require the discipline and work of one as well. It would require that I stop doing everything else I do to focus only on being an athlete. There is nothing natural, or purely genetic about the outcome of hard work.

You can have what an athlete has, but you have to be willing to do the work.

I have found a cure for wanting what someone else has and it is simple;

Love what you have been given.

Take care of your attributes, talents and traits. Love yourself so much that your desire to have a big chest becomes your ability to adore your own big behind. (A little personal, but that one really works; so much so, that big butts are now the rage.)

Love your life, your children, your job, your community and the world you live in.

Love them so much that all you can do is make them better.

Be you, be well, be better

Bertice Berry, PhD.

Order the book A Year to Wellness and start your journey today

Day 199 of Your Year to Wellness; Is This Your Best?

Is This My Best?

Today, I’d like you to do a little self-assessment. It’s rather simple but the results should be eye opening.

Throughout the day, I’d like you to ask yourself if you are doing, giving and expecting the best.

When you exercise, are you just going through the motions in order to say that you have done it? Do you go through your morning simply checking things off a list? “Brushed my teeth; check. Exercised; check. Meditated; check, well, okay; half a check.”

Today, be mindful of giving your all. As you drive to and from work; rather than waking up after you arrive, actually think about what you are doing.

When you say “Good Morning,” recognize that you have the power to speak good cheer on someone else.

When you go about your daily tasks, think about what you bring to them. See yourself giving your all without the need to be recognized or compensated for going the extra distance.

We often get into a rut in our work, our relationships and with our own self simply because we don’t see each day as a new gift; another opportunity to live fully.

Speak to your children and the ones you know as if you may have lost them the day before, but today you discovered that they are still here.

 Look at your loving relationships as brand new and still in that first three month phase when even the mistakes and bad habits were so cute.

See your co-workers as brilliant and yourself as lucky to be on such an incredible team. Even if you don’t think it to be true, act as if you do.

Allow every mundane task to be a marvel and think about things like the processing and delivery of mail.

Marvel at who you are and what you bring, because today you bring your best.

You are a wonderful gift to the Universe. BE THAT.

Be you, be well, be your best.

Bertice Berry, PhD.

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