InCouragements Insight

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InCouraging Angels

Here are a few stories that I think will bless each one of you. Also, take the time to think about what you can do for others, lets become more of a conscious people. Pay attention to the needs of others, regardless of what you are going through. My aim is for us to be better human beings.

1- Dionne has a gift of designing websites/blog sites, so she has designed a blog site for a friend as a birthday present free of charge.

2- Trenda sent this to me on last week:
On last week when you sent the Incouragement, I was speaking w/ a young woman who workers w/ me, asked her why she wasn't a church the previous day and she advised she had no money. So, the holy spirit told me to give her gas to get home. So even before you had sent the Incouragement, I had already been instructed to buy gas.

3 - Yvette has a young lady at her church who is planning a wedding on a very limited budget. So she purchases the bride's wedding bouquet.

4 - My brother consistently shovels the snow of the neighbors on both sides, after shoveling our snow and my parents snow, he has being doing this for the last 2 years.

I just want to say to these angels and others that I'm not aware of, you are selfless humans with a big heart. Continue to bless and incourage others with your awesome acts.

Make sure to send your stories or just send me an email sharing your thoughts. mechell@incouragements.com


Be InCouraged
Mechell

InCouragements - Insight

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Are you happy?

On this past weekend, my daughter said something to me that was so profound. "Mommy I just want you to be happy". I immediately told her I was fine, you know I was just reassuring her, so she would not worry about me. As the day went on I realized my daughter was on to something, in that moment I was not happy, in fact I was sad, and she saw that. This made me ponder and think about this happiness emotion. Is it important to be happy? Is it beneficial to be happy? What is happy?

Happy -enjoying, showing, or marked by pleasure, satisfaction, or joy.

This is the dictionary's definition of happy, but I define happy by several things:

Happy = seeing my healthy, awesome daughter on a daily basis
Happy = knowing God, and being able to communicate with him
Happy = having a supportive loving family, no matter how dysfunctional we may be
Happy = having people in my life who love me, appreciate me, and who truly care about Taylor and I (Thanks for checking up on us at times, it feels awesome)
Happy = being able to give, give, give, and give some more
Happy = being able to still have great conversations with my Mommy (yes I still call her mommy at times)
Happy = being able to say I am Taylor's mom (God blessed me with such an awesome child)
Happy = being able to pay everyone of my bills, even if I don't have extra left, at least I know Taylor and are in a warm home, food to eat and our home is filled with great love
Happy = having a job where my boss is flexible and understanding to a singe mother
Happy = is hearing the words "te te" my beautiful niece who loves me like crazy, thanks Yogi for establishing the relationship
Happy= being a mentor to people who trust me dearly, I am grateful
Happy = is having good good friends, my mother said you should at least have 2 very good friends, I have a hand full
Happy= having people believe in me, even when I don't believe


In essence, yes happy is an emotion that we should all experience constantly, it is beneficial to our moods and our health. So savor your happy moments, and take some time out this week to write out what your happy equals.

I encourage you all to find more happy in your life this year, yes we will have sad and down times, but let's aim to make more happy days in our life. If being happy means making changes do it. If being happy means removing toxic people do it. If happy means doing things outside the box do it.

JUST BE MORE HAPPY!!!

Whosoever trust in the Lord, happy is he. Proverbs 16:20

If you want to be happy, be. ~Leo Tolstoy

Happiness is a form of courage. ~Holbrook Jackson


Be InCouraged
Mechell

InCouraging Angel

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InCouraging Angel - A kind and lovable person who manifests goodness, purity, selflessness and one who encourages others by their actions and words.

Hi InCouragements Family the "InCouraging Angel" Challenge is back, and I am too excited!!!

You all know that I love this challenge, because I love to do for others it's just in my DNA, I thank my Momma for this. Last year you all just went crazy and overwhelmed me with your "InCouraging Angel" acts. It was so awesome receiving emails where I could just feel the excitement you all had by doing for others. So, here we go again, let's take this to another level this year, let's transform some lives by our actions. My motto this year is to "TRANSFORM in 2011" and a part of my transformation will be to continue to help and do for others at a higher level. As always here is a list of some of the things you can do, but remember just to follow your heart and pay attention to what is going on around you. Also, remember this does not have to always be financial, and get your kids involved with this it will help to become better human beings.

• Pay for the persons lunch behind you this week, a stranger not someone you know ( I love doing this and I leave immediately, and it's so great to see the person looking for you)
• Take care of your good friends who are in need call them and see what they need, or just go with your spirit
• Send a encouraging card to several people you have not talk to in awhile.
• Call 5 people on this week and tell them how you believe in them and how proud you are of them.
• Call 5 people and tell them that you are grateful to know them and blessed to have them in your life.
• Buy someone a nice Bible have it engraved with their name.
• Go work at homeless shelter.
• Give to a homeless person on the street, but follow your spirit with this one. (There is a guy I give to every other week, I felt God leading me to give and not ignore him)
  
• Spend some good quality time with your good friends ( I'm going to be better at this)
  
• Pay for someone else gas this week.
• Baby-sit for a single parent this week.
• Take a single parent to dinner or a movie.
• Baby-sit for a married couple on this week, so that they can go out and enjoy their selves.
• Present a married couple with a gift card for dinner or tickets to the movie.
• Send your close friend to the spa for the day.
• Pay for someone's hair appointment on this week.
• Ask an elderly person on your block if you can pick up their prescriptions or some groceries.
• Go visit a nursing home and read to the seniors, or go pray for them.
• Cook dinner for your neighbor this week.
• Shovel the snow for your neighbors.
  
• Buy someone's grocery in the grocery store this week, or put $10 - $20 dollars towards the bill ( I do this one all the time, believe me $10 - 20 dollars is a big help on a grocery bill these days)
• Ask a co-worker if they need assistance with a project on this week.
• Buy fruit for your co-workers this week (can't you all see I am changing health wise, this used to be pastries) Thanks Dre my awesome trainer!
• Help out a college student.
  
• Send someone you have not talk to in a while some flowers.
• Just buy a small token of love for someone you care about, just because.
• Be a mentor.
• Let someone vent to you, just listen.
• Help someone build their business, pay attention to where you can assist.
• Use your gift to help others, tap into that gift and bless others with it. (Thanks Jesus and Dionne)
  
• Empower someone you know this week with your mouth, let them know how special they are build them up.

In essence just give of yourself, your money and your time, it's the most rewarding thing you can do in life at times. Send me your emails regarding your experiences with this challenge, I love to read how you have effected others and share them. Send emails to mechell@incouragements.com.


Be InCouraged
Mechell

Transform in 2011

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Good Morning,

After last week's Insight I hope you all had time to reflect back on the prior year and look at what you accomplished, revived and survived. I also hope that you came up with new goals and aspirations for 2011. As I stated on last week this is the year I will transform myself, and I believe we can all use some transformation in our lives.

We can transform our minds:

• Spiritual Mindset
• Positive Thinking
  
• Open Mindset
• Creative Thoughts

Our thoughts are so important they frame our emotions and actions, so lets make sure to keep them clear and conscious. Learn to meditate and keep a close and intimate connection with God, he will definitely center you and cause your thinking to change for the better.

We can transform our surroundings:

• Change your atmosphere
• Re-examine the friends and relationships in your life
• Remove toxic and tainted people from your life
• Re-establish friendships that you miss and know should be a part of your inner circle
• Surround yourself with people that encourage and inspire you
• Learn to let go
  
• Make your house a home
• Get out and enjoy the world a little more
• Travel to one great destination you have been desiring
• Take in God's creation once in a while

Our surroundings are so key to how we journey through this life, so we have to make sure that only positive people are around us. About a year ago, I started using the word "inner circle" and this referred to the people closest to me. I had to make sure that these were people, who were honest, encouraging, inspiring, loving, and non-judgmental towards me. In essence, these are people who truly care about me and want to see me grow and excel on this journey. Also, your relationships should be healthy and loving, not hurtful and toxic. Your significant other should love, encourage, and inspire you in your imperfect state, because we are all imperfect people trying to live in an imperfect world being the best human beings we can.

We also have to start changing our actual surroundings, this can start in our homes, make your house a home a place you cannot wait to escape to when you have to deal with the craziness of the world. Also, I believe our travels in others parts of this world will help us change the atmosphere in our lives, Taylor and I plan to do a lot of travel in the future. We have already picked out our destinations and we got our passports so we are prepared to go when the opportunity is available.

We can transform habits:

• Stop being angry
• Stop being sad and depressed
• Stop being negative all the time find the positive in every situation
• Stop overeating
• Get up and exercise
• Break your routines in life

Habits are the hardest things to change in our lives, but once we do we become free from a bondage that has encased us. It's easier to smile and be happy than always angry, learn to like life in this moment and you will eventually learn to love it. Life is a journey and sometimes it can bring the darkest days, but even in those times we have to look for the positive and continue on the journey.

It's easy to eat at our problems and issues instead of dealing with them. I have been overweight for a decade now, and I have no excuse but laziness ( I used to to say it was because of having a baby, but Taylor is 11 now, can't use that one anymore). This is the year I become free from the horrible eating habits and lack of exercise, and I learn to love and take care of my body instead of abusing it.

Also, pay attention to what we watch on TV and what we read. Last night I purposely decided to watch Vh1 and was so troubled to see women degrading one another instead of encouraging and building one another up, and also pretending to be rich, because of their outfits and cars (Basketball Wives) and I was also troubled to see a star have her self set up on multiple dates in order to find her true love, because she desperately wants to have a baby (Chili) What a waste, and how does these shows inspire us. They do not,

The sad part here is that these people have a common factor and that is they are searching for love, not a romantic love in particular, just love. We have to remember this, God made us out of love, his love, so all we truly desire is to be loved, because we were made out of love. We want our parents to love us, our kids, our friends, our husbands and wives, our boyfriends and girlfriends, we are on a continuous search for this, and sometimes we do things that do not make sense while searching for it. Sorry this is my soapbox, but I have become so conscious of what I allow to filter my mind, and my daughters'.

So as I end today remember that there are so many things that we can transform, but I thought I would share the ones that matter to me at the moment.

Transformation=Freedom

Be InCouraged
Mechell

Happy New Year

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Happy New Year!

We have entered a new year and this time usually is where many people make resolutions to change their life. Usually these resolutions are broken within weeks, or just not carried out at all.

Years ago, I stop making resolutions and instead started taking time to reflect back on the previous year and all that occurred. I took examination of all the good and all the bad and made notes of how I could enhance the good and revise the bad. When you reflect you see the truth, and with truth comes reality, and with reality comes the opportunity to take action.

As this "New Year" comes into being take this time to embrace:

• New Possibilities
• New Opportunities
• New Dreams
• New Realities

My motto this year is "To Transform in 2011 and Embrace Freedom" I also believe this is the year of Freedom, for the last month I have heard 3-4 different people talk to me about "Freedom", I will discuss freedom in an upcoming blog.

So, take this "New Day" to reflect, embrace and take action regarding "YOUR LIFE". Remember we are the authors of our own lives, so you are the only one that can write the transcript that will turn into an amazing novel of "YOUR LIFE".

Happy New Year and Blessings!

Be InCouraged

Mechell & Taylor