Friday, September 4, 2009

COULD THIS BE THE BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY YOU'VE BEEN WAITING FOR?


Hello Friends!

I am so excited about this new venture! It's a phenomenal time to get on board, so I want to share the news with you!

If you've considered being your own boss, working your own hours and making really great money, I'd love to have you on my team!

I'll be glad to answer any of your questions personally. To contact me, please email me at silverraefox@gmail.com and I will send you the business plan!

Your Partner in Success,

Silver Rae

I'M JUST SAYIN'...




THE POLLS: SAY WHAT?!

Okay, I have to go there again: this poll stuff has me on edge. "President Obama's approval ratings are still dropping..." I'm just sayin', I'm still not sure who is being polled. Anyway, here's what I think: Barack Obama has been President for 1...2...3...4...5...6...7...7 1/2 months...and certainly that's plenty of time to solve all of the problems of the nation? C'mon, People. I'm just sayin'...how long does it take any of us to get through some of the most difficult situations in our own lives? It takes some time, even for small problems, right? So why is it that whoever these folks are that are being polled expect that the United States should be flipped back over, right side up, in less than 8 months? I don't feel this way just because I'm an African-American. It would not matter to me if whoever we elected was a white person, a black, brown, yellow, red, green or polka-dotted person, or someone from outer space, for that matter. I would vote for the candidate that I felt would do the right thing for our country regardless. Needless to say, though, I am agitated by the "poll message" stuff. I'm just sayin'...remember the poll that was taken on November 4, 2008? That poll put President Obama in the White House. Ask me again, and I'll say the same thing I did that day. He got my vote that day. He gets it today, too. I'm sure I speak for the majority.




What are you doing...?

I'm becoming quite fascinated with the whole social media craze, although I have to admit that I'm a late bloomer. By the time you tweet, FaceBook, get LinkedIn, chat, skype, etc., etc., etc.,...I'm just sayin'...some days it's waaaaaaaaaaay too much information.




The stage was waiting, Whitney! Welcome back!


It was so exciting to see Whitney Houston having so much fun on GMA this week! I was so pleased to see her on stage again! Later that day I actually heard some TV feedback criticizing her performance. I'm just sayin'...let's keep in mind that the real "come back" for her isn't only to the stage. She has made a come back from the grips of a terrible struggle, and that in itself is worth taking center stage! No one can take her place in the spotlight, in the hearts of those of us who have missed her so much. I'm just sayin'...if she had sung the Hokey-Pokey, I still would have been delighted. She's an awesome woman, in EVERY way!




S.R.F.

FOXOLOGY: DID YOUR DREAM DIE? Stop The Funeral!















Okay, so you made some plans. You worked your plan. You invested time and money, blood, sweat and tears. You just knew it was going to work. You believed it couldn't fail. After all, you did everything right. Then, you woke up one morning and found your dream dead as dead could be. It did not survive. It died in spite all of your unending efforts to keep it alive. So what do you do now, bury it? I say, NO!


STOP THE FUNERAL!

If your dream has died, chances are you are broken and grieving. You may feel very sad that it seems that all you had hoped for now has to be buried in a grave place of non-existence where dead dreams lie to rest. You may be feeling like you can't move on in the direction of your hopes and plans. You may be feeling like you can't dream any more dreams. You may be feeling like the best thing to do is just forget it, and deal with it. Or, you could STOP THE FUNERAL, and realize that your dream needs motivation-to-mind resuscitation. Motivation-to-mind resuscitation? I'm glad you asked. It's when your motivation says you need to TRY AGAIN, and your mind responds accordingly with a big YES, I CAN STILL SEE IT! As tough as it may be, DREAMS CAN BE REVIVED. You can "breathe" into it once again, and give it new life. Mourn, cry, fret, fuss if you must, but stop the funeral!


Countless innovations, inventions and creations have come to fruition because tenacious individuals refused to let their dreams die. Many have risked all they had to give life to the things we enjoy everyday. Their dreams had power failures, periods of arrest, and spent time in "critical condition". Yes, many a dream has seen "the other side" and been at "death's door". But through furious, fervent faith and audacious attempts to stop it from dying, those who believed in their passion, their purpose and their dream, said "No, YOU WILL LIVE!"


Have you ever considered how many people may need your dream to live? Have you even considered how important or valuable your dream's contribution may be to many, or even the masses? Have you thought about what might happen if you go ahead with the funeral? How many others may be left mourning because your dream got buried, and they were never given the opportunity to be inspired or motivated by the life of it? What if your dream is the pathway to the future dreams of your family, your school, your church, community, the nation, or maybe even the world? What if you stop the funeral now, and start remembering the wonderful reasons you had the dream in the first place?  Remember when you said you were going to do big things? Remember when your idea was crystal clear, vibrant and full of vitality? Remember how much you believed in yourself and your success? You had reasons. You had purpose. You meant business.  

By now you get the point. However, I know you may be thinking that the desire just isn't there any longer. You've chased your fantasies, and you're tired. I understand. I am a true dreamer myself, and I really get it when you say "Enough already. I'm letting it go." Well, certainly desire can be a liar in some cases.  In other words, sometimes we dream the wrong stuff, for the wrong reasons. Those you can and should let go of. In fact, bury them fast. However, the kind of dreams I am speaking of in this commentary are the kind that make your heart feel full of "knowing" what you were meant to do, and what you were meant to accomplish.



KEEP TRYING. Sometimes that is all it takes to keep our dream from becoming a fatality. Wipe away your tears. Fight hard against your frustrations. Encourage yourself. Odd fate and failure happens to the best of us. That's not a good reason to bury your dream. I am a FIRM believer that we just can't let our most important dreams die no matter what!

There is  room for your dream to live in this big world of phenomenal and extraordinary happenings. It can thrive. It can matter. Stop the funeral now and start making other plans!


S.R.F.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

IMAGE POINT


What Do You See?



Have you ever gotten up in the morning, looked in the mirror, wondering about who you really are, and how do you really fit in the scheme of things? That image says a lot more than just what you see, huh?


You know, we can wish, but there is no real magic to this life. We have no "abbra-ka-dabbra's" for making ourselves into celebrities, movies stars or for turning our lives into the likes of the rich and famous. Most of us are pretty ordinary people with ordinary lives, but most of us have extraordinary hopes, expectations and dreams.


It's a better idea to get up in the morning PLANNING what you want to become, DESIGNING your "place" in life. You should EVALUATE your talents, your gifts and your abilities and RECOGNIZE your potential and strengths. Grow very fond of that person who reflects back at you in the mirror. That person needs to be pampered by you constantly, so that he or she can reflect his or her best to the world.


The person looking back at you in the mirror should know you are their best friend. That person should know that he or she can depend on you when the chips are down, and that he or she will be there for you when no one else will be.


When it comes to getting up and looking at yourself in the mirror, life isn't so much about how beautiful or handsome you are. It's about what you see on the inside that should give you pride and confidence: a sense of security, commitment and direction, and knowing that where you fit in is a special place in life all your own. So, now look again. Hope. Dream. Expect. Yeah, that's what I call beautiful!


S.R.F.
THE BRIGHTER SIDE
Life's many trials, twists and turns have an inevitable way of shaping us for good or bad, for better or for worse. Sometimes those difficulties and challenges can produce a "down and out" attitude. They can rob us of our self-esteem. They can cause us to view life from a very negative perspective. Since we can't always avoid difficulties, it makes sense to try to use them to our advantage. Yes, to our advantage. But,how do we do that?

We can either allow negative thinking to govern us, or we can choose to take a positive point of view, a futuristic and optimistic perspective in regard to ourselves and our desired outcomes. We could let negative thinking dictate and drown out all our dreams and hammer down all of our hopes, or grasp onto "possibility thinking" with all our might!

Many of us let negative thinking banish any ideas about how we should see ourselves, as the confident and capable individuals that we really are. We can begin to help ourselves by regulating our thinking with new and positive ideas so that we are not victims of the negative perceptions, but victorious over them.

We become our own worst enemy because we constantly beat ourselves down with negative talk and thinking. One of the reasons that we do this is because to change how we think and feel can be such a challenge in itself. To go from negative to positive requires awareness, effort and consistency.

We get frustrated with the idea of the "positive thinking" approach because we very often have to work with our thoughts and the things affecting them at the same time. You may be trying to really think positive and it doesn't appear that everyone and everything else is cooperating with you. The negative thoughts keep coming and it seems like things have not changed, and neither have you. We get frustrated with the effort because the visions and the negative thoughts keep popping into our heads.

As soon as they do, just keep reminding and reminding yourself of your new, positive outlook. Repetition is the key here. You will need to repeat things over and over to yourself until your attitude is affecting your actions, and until you are convinced of your great abilities and capabilities. Keep at it as long as it takes. You say you've tried and you think these methods are faulty because everything isn't positive just because you try to convince yourself that it is? Well, you are so right! It sure isn't. The key to positive thinking is taking a different perspective, and as someone once said "you will never develop eyestrain from developing the habit of looking on the brighter side of things."

There is a brighter side, even if it's not currently in perfect view.

So many things can cause negative thinking; failures, pain, lack of love and acceptance, insecurity and so on. The great news in that positive thinking can open your eyes and help you see a new direction. It can help to raise your level of understanding of who you are as a person and how very special you are. Try it. Try it, again. And, again. It will work for you. I'm positive that it will!

S.R.F.

IN YOUR BUSINESS

Working hard for the money...well, not so much.

I work for a manager who is responsible for getting our work load distributed to us daily. My group is usually under pressure to complete work assignments because the manager doesn't give us the work in a timely fashion. We have had complaints from our customers because we are late getting orders out. If she would do her job, we could all do ours on time. We are at the mercy of our manager's lack of concern and inefficiency. How can those of us in subordinate positions handle something like this?

Casey, Processing Dept.
Chicago, Ill

Dear Casey:

Here's a thought: remember, your manager works for someone, too. It's O.K. to alert your company to issues that you feel are effecting the productivity of your unit. It's sometimes necessary to inform your manager's boss about a situation like this one. Unfortunately, she may be passing the blame onto all of you for any negative feedback that may have come in from customers to the company, without your knowledge, not accepting the blame herself.

Oftentimes, those is higher up positions are not aware of the daily hands-on efforts of those who are working for them on other levels, and sometimes the problems can go unrecognized for a long time unless it's reported. I feel pretty certain that any credible company would want to know if a manager is slacking on the job, and thus creating difficulty with the services they provide.Try asking for a team meeting and see if everyone can get on the same page. Explain your concerns, and see if things get remedied that way. Otherwise, if the lazy-manager syndrome continues, report it. There is a chance your company will really appreciate you for it.

S.R.F.