Blog Archives - ONE SISTER'S JOURNEY: KEEPING IT REAL

ONE SISTER'S JOURNEY: KEEPING IT REAL

Choose to be Thankful EVERY Month

1/30/2020

Oh happy day! In November, do you share something you are thankful for each day during the month? As I think back to all the positive posts on social media as people shared the people, things, and places they were grateful for. Then comes December and the posts transition into memory making and gift giving. January is known for setting goals and making plans. I'm not sure what February is for, in Central New York, it's known for making babies. LOL Just kidding, it's cold and the weather tends to be nasty so most New Yorkers hunker down.

What does any of this have to do with today's blog? Thank you for asking. What if we chose to have a thankful heart and share something we are thankful for EVERY MONTH, EVERY DAY, AND EVERY YEAR?! How could this change our outlook on life? How would this change your daily attitude? I think it would have a positive impact on us personally and those around us and as people read and watched our grateful posts, then started doing the same thing...do you think you have the ability to change the mood of others? I think you can.

Give it a try, for the next few months, only post positive an gratitude posts and comments with the people you interact with. What is the worst thing that could happen...you have a positive and grateful attitude? I think it's a win-win! Give it a try.

“Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgiving,
turn routine jobs into joy,
and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.”
William Arthur Ward

What are you thankful for today?

T.O.P.'s Tuesday: Have You Set your 1st Goal yet?

1/28/2020

It's been a week, how are you doing? I noticed a few have taken advantage of ordering my goal setting book, Goal Setting for a Renewed You: Because You Deserve It. As you work through it, I hope you'll take a few minutes to leave a review on Amazon.com. More importantly, I pray you are setting goals and making a plan to achieve them.

I work in an elementary school in Central New York, we are also a Leader In Me School. Part of being a Leader In Me school is the focus on goals, goal setting, and our plan to achieve our goals. This year, our principal encouraged us to set a WIG, a Wildly Important Goal, we can share with our students and each other. She also encouraged us to share our goal with someone else to hold us accountable. An accountability partner is vital to your success, we all need someone asking, "How are you doing today?"

I thought about a goal I could set and am comfortable sharing with elementary age students, and one they could understand. I decided to set me goal with the number of hours of sleep I'm getting each night. My sleep has been hit or miss, and my lack of quality sleep is creeping into my overall health and mood. So my WIG for school is, "I will get at least 7 hours of sleep 5 nights a week."

I haven't made my tracking chart yet but so far, at-a-glance, I'm doing better than I was, but without my monitor log, I can't share particulars. So, I know what I'll be doing after finishing this blog, it's time to create my monitor log so I can document how successful my WIG is. I also have to set a few things in place to help me achieve my goal. I have other goals to set in different areas of my life: spiritual, physical, emotional, speaking, writing, and publishing.

Yikes, I'm exhausted looking at the work ahead BUT I know it is worth every minute spent. This process helps keep me focused on track throughout the year. Good things don't come to those who sit back and watch the grass grow, they come to those who take the time to keep the lawn mowed, weeds pulled, and landscaping in tip-top shape. If you, or I, want to achieve our goals then it's time to do the work by writing and following the plan.

What is the first goal you wrote down?
What are the steps in place to reach this goal?

Do You like going to the Gym & Exercising?

1/25/2020

I. Do. Not!

My daughter will tell you I like going to the gym in spite of my declaration above that I do not like going to the gym. My daughter said I was turning into a gym rat before the school year started. I don't agree with her but there is probably more truth to her statements than mine.

Here's the deal, I feel my best when I make it to the gym at least four to five times a week and when I don't, I get so lazy. Once in the habit of going to the gym, my body craves it and my energy level increases. On the weeks when I can't get there at least three times, I get such a case of the lazies and my sleep is crummy. This quote struck me because of the powerful truth, "Success trains. Failure complains."

I have a choice each day, to exercise, eat healthy, and make healthy choices OR I can complain about how crummy I feel, my lack of sleep, and let the negativity get me down.I choose to strive for success. Success requires training. Whether you are looking for a physically fit body, to write the next best seller, or produce a movie or theatrical performance....you must choose to train!

The training for the activity you are striving for is different from one person to the next yet the ONE THING THAT IS THE SAME..SUCCESS TRAINS! Get training...you can do this.

What are you "training" for?
What goal are you striving to achieve?
What are you doing to reach this goal?

Setting Goals for Physical Health

1/23/2020

*Note: I don't earn anything from sharing this Asic photo. It is one from the gallery and illustrates the message I share with you today.

One area I set goals in each year is for my physical health each year. This past year I focused on eating cleaner and limiting my sugar and carb intake. I'll continue this goal for 2020 but going to add more specifics. I need to lose weight to have my BMI out of the obese range. My celebration is that in January 2019 I was "severely obese", now I'm only "obese".

My goal for December 2020 is to be in the "overweight" range. You might be shaking your head because "healthy" should be my goal yet I understand realistic goals. In order to be "overweight", I need to lose 20 pounds. Yikes! On the flip side, if I could wear a size 10/12 and have muscles instead of fat, I'd be happy with a lower weight loss number.

When I look at the "healthy" weight according to the BMI, I think I'd look sick rather than healthy so a better goal is to be tone and wearing a size 10/12 , rather than a number. This is the inner conversation and trouble with setting a reasonable goal. My goal might not be good for you but for me, a reasonable goal would be to drop down in the BMI chart but my ultimate goal is to be healthy and feel better.

What is your health and physical goal for 2020?

T.O.P.'s Tuesday: Time to Put Goals in Writing

1/21/2020

Thus far on the blog I haven't talked about goal setting. Instead, we've looked at choosing a word for the year and a Bible verse. I haven't shared my Bible verse yet, it's coming by the end of the week. As I sit here typing, I recognize I need to put my goals into writing because at this moment, I'm getting nothing done because of the lack of things in writing.

I learned at a conference many years ago about the importance, and difference, between a dream and a goal. They use this analogy, it's a dream when all you do is "talk" about it but don't have a plan and aren't really making forward motion to accomplish all your talking about. When you "write" it down, then you can see what you are striving for and make a detailed plan to achieve it. This is where I'm at. I keep "saying" I'm going to do this or that but have been LAZY, yes it's plain laziness, I've been lazy about taking the time to write down my goals and set a plan and schedule to achieve them.

This week is a week to focus and get SMART. I have many lists but none with my end goal and the plan, and timeline to reach it. As January starts its downward slide, I'm stepping up and making plans.

If you want to see how I organize to write my goals, I released a book in 2016 to help others, like you. Goal Setting for a Renewed You: Because You Deserve It, is available on Amazon.com. You could order it today and have it in a couple days.

Don't wait, take the first step and start making your goals for this new year and a new and renewed you. This book is a springboard and leaves you room to explore who you are and where you see yourself in 1, 5, 10, and 25 years before you set immediate goals. It also has space for you to journal and brainstorm, working through some of the what-if thinking when you start setting goals.

After you receive your book and start writing down your goals, and achieving them, take three minutes to write a review on Amazon.com to help others know how much my book helped you. Reviews are priceless gifts to an author and a priceless help to future readers and goal setters. Thank you in advance.

What goals will you put in writing today?

Order a book for yourself and a friend,
you are more likely to succeed when
you have an accountability partner.

What are you Creating on Your Day off?

1/18/2020

Maya Angelou encourages you with these words, "You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have." One of my favorite things to do before starting to write is either go for walk outdoors or walk through a fabric store. There is something about the variety of smells, textures, and sights that stimulates my brain. I don't start with an idea in my mind (usually) but instead I go with emptiness. I ask God to speak to me through my senses so I will hear, see, touch, taste, and smell the world around me with His senses, not my own.

When we let go of our ideas, notions, and expectations, God can, and will do amazing things through you to encourage and uplift others. If you aren't feeling creative, then create! The more you create, the more your mind will seek it. If you doubt Maya Angelou or myself, prove me wrong. On the days when you don't think you can't write, paint, or crochet another thing. Put it aside and head to the local bookstore to smell and touch books, walk through the fabric store, or put on a jacket and go outside. Clear your mind and let God in, He won't disappoint.

What are you creating today?

What are you MIssing?

1/16/2020

Wayne Gretzky is known for this quote, "You miss 100% of the shots you never take." You may have heard it while playing sports, in a business meeting, at school, or listening to talk radio BUT have you thought about the importance of this message?

When we don't try or when we let fear control our actions, we don't take the chances, "shots", to succeed. If I didn't accept my first speaking engagement then I may have missed meeting some amazing people (some of you reading this for instance) and missed the encouragement, inspiration, and hope my listeners, readers, and family have showered me with over the past decades. If I said no then I may have never realized God called me to speak and share His word and how He works in my life. God has gifted us each differently and when we don't use those gifts, you'll grow stagnant.

I don't know about you but I don't want to stink, I want to be an aroma for Christ.

Yet I am so thankful to God, who always marches us to victory under the banner of the Anointed One; and through us He spreads the beautiful fragrance of His knowledge to every corner of the earth. In a turbulent world where people are either dying or being rescued, we are the sweet smell of the Anointed to God our Father."
2 Corinthians 2:14-15

What are you waiting for?

T.O.P.'s tuesday: To Outline or Not?

1/14/2020

This question, or should I say topic? I guess it depends on your writing and the role in which you hold during the writing process. I was the kid in high school that had the entire paper written in order to submit the outline. In the past, the outline was supposed to be first and used as a guide to write the paper. My brain didn't work that way, and it still has limitations with this theory. Yup, I called outlining a theory and not a step in the writing process.

There are editors reading this with their comments ready to go. Outlining helps to organize your thoughts, so your paper or book has a solid beginning, middle, and end. I remember sitting down to write an outline and crying because I couldn't figure out where to start BUT if I looked at my notes and sources, I could easily draft a paper. My mom and aunts, with their wisdom, told me to "write the paper then make an outline". Phew, they saved many a tissue from their destruction at meltdown for trying to force my brain to write and think in this organized, black, and white formula.

I wrote the first draft of Where's Heidi? One Sister's Journey in three days. It was perfect and ready for publication...NOT TRUE! Actually, my first draft was terrible, disorganized, vomit, drafting, and many other negative adjectives. It took almost two years, two editors, and a lot of time to transition it from the ramblings of a grieved sister into the book of hope and inspiration it's become for my readers. Why do I share this? For this reason...I used this seventy-sixish pages of garbage to develop my outline and write a book worth reading.

As I look forward to finish and publish my next book, I'm contemplating developing an outline first! Yikes!! Yup, I'm stepping out...maybe. As I pray about the direction of this next book, I seek your input. What are your thoughts on outlining? Please comment!!

If you write an outline,
do you do it before or after
you write the book/paper?

My One-Word for 2020

1/7/2020

MINDFULNESS

2019 was a year of renewal. I spent time renewing myself:
*Spiritually
*Physically
*Emotionally
*Mentally

Through this process I learned more about myself and where I want to go in the future. A year of reflection and renewal was exactly what I needed.

As part of the renewal process, I meditated often. A few of the verses I meditated on consistently were my 2019 verses:

My 2019 Scripture Personalized:
"I will devote myself to prayer, being watchful and thankful…Letting the message of Christ dwell within me richly, as I teach and admonish others with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in my heart… The Lord my God is with me, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in me; in his love He will no longer rebuke me, but will rejoice over me with singing. Amen.” Colossians 4:2; 3:16; Zephaniah 3:17 NIV

It was through this process I faced some of the darkness I kept buried and dealt with it. I learned that no matter have "over it" we might think we are, we never get over it. I've said this often yet this past year I learned I wasn't living what I was saying. Don't misunderstand me, I wasn't professing one thing and doing another on a conscious level. On the contrary, it was because of my focus on prayer and meditation to renew myself spiritually that I realized this. We all have revelations in our lives, this is one of mine.

After my mom's passing, it wasn't only my desire to write drifted, so did my faith. I never stopped believing. I never stopped looking up and praying. I never stopped leaning on God. I didn't stop serving and seeking to do His will yet my heart's desire wasn't at the foundation. I did it because I knew it's what God called me to do. I still found joy in it and felt God's love as I obeyed but until this year, I was going through the motions until I felt it in my bones.

If you depend on Him,
your body and mind will be free
from the strain of a sinful life,
will experience healing and health,
and will be strengthened at their core."
Proverbs 3:8 VOICE

This is another reason and encouragement to select your one-word. God will use your dedication and determination to draw you closer to Him as you focus on this word and your verse(s). I'm thankful for His healing and the health restored, a healing I hadn't realized was so needed.

This year I choose to be more MINDFUL and keep my focus. My relationship with god, faily, and friends needs to be a priority. They are the lifelines making me the woman of God I am and to be the one God's designed and called me to be.

What is your
one-word for 2020?
Leave a comment below or call into the podcast!

One Step...or Hoof at a time

1/2/2020

Then I will still rejoice in the Eternal!
I will rejoice in the God who saves me!
The Eternal Lord is my strength!
He has made my feet like the feet of a deer;
He allows me to walk on high places."
Habakkuk 3:18-19

Deer have always amazed me. They have a gentle presence and graceful bounds through the fields. As a child, my Dad would take me out with him to "spot" the deer. We used a big spot light (now illegal in most areas) and Dad would drive around the countryside teaching me about deer habitats, feeding habits, and mannerisms. These are memories and lessons I still treasure today.

When my daughter, his only granddaughter was old enough to understand and appreciate these late night trips, disappointment came upon us. The DEC informed my dad it was illegal to "spot" deer. One of my fondest memories couldn't become a family tradition of a father to his daughter then granddaughter because of the few. I won't digress down this road because I want our blog to remain one of hope and positivity.

Here's the deal, not every parent expresses love with hugs and kisses, or long walks. For some, the greatest connections are doing what they love and sharing it with their kids. I'm grateful God created us all differently and uses different things to help us to connect with each other. For me, some of the deepest conversations with my dad occurred while skipping stones into Lake Ontario, spotting deer, or throwing the softball back and forth. If you aren't the snuggly parent or friend, don't apologize. Instead, celebrate your unique abilities and the gifts you have to share with your children and friends. You have a lot to offer and share with those around you.

The lessons, conversations, and memories of spotting deer helped to make me the person I am today and instilled an appreciation of this majestic, strong, and beautiful animal as an adult. Their tracks in the snow remind me of my earthly father and my Heavenly Father. Without knowing it, my Dad helped me recognize the importance and strength found God. God works in mysterious ways, what mystery is He unraveling in your life today?

Embrace who you are and share it with others!

Writing with Buske