As a Hope Catalyst the purpose of this article is to leave an indelible impression on you that helps you carve out your intentions for pursuing your purpose this year. Given the climate of the universe, it is imperative that we all reshift our thinking as we reset and realign our thinking, which will then turn into new habits and behavior patterns for this new year.

How to determine whether you will be mindful and hopeful or mindless and hopeless, has to do with whether you brought those matters from last year into this year. Now we do understand for many there are some shocking, frightening, frustrating, hurtful things that were experienced. We also understand many are still in situations, which may be uncomfortable and are straining to remained focused on the positive after all they have endured.

Please see examples of ways to successfully shift after the reality sinks in for everyone. The main way anyone can start this process is by first accepting the situation. This normally comes after the stages of emotions which is not only dealt with in grief, but with disappointment and setbacks too.

Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross came up with a model which describes how many people experiencing losses go through a series of these five emotions: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.

In order to help you go forward we have to clean out mental house. I want to broaden the scope losses in general. The answer to the question above regarding you being hopeless or hopeful has to do with if you have made it to stage five. If you have not accepted the loss and began to adjust you may still hopeless after the pandemic and you are experiencing: 1. intense emotional suffering caused by loss, disaster, misfortune, etc.; acute sorrow; deep sadness.

You see, as a human a loss is a loss whether it is a job, a career change, or position on the job, losing a loved one, and the list goes on for things that cause people shut down and grief over.

Or, that dilemma is defined as 2. a cause or subject of such suffering caused by informal trouble or annoyance. If you still troubled or annoyed you cannot focus, plan or move forward with hope without regressing. Therefore, today if you are reading this article you are destined to take control of the matter and get it all out.

What does that mean. Scream, shout, cry or do what you must then pray and let go and let God. He heard your cry, and the results are written. Cast your cares unto your higher power and then we can move on. Now you can begin to focus and find deep faith. Everyone has their own Super power. Mine is the Word of God. Hebrews 11.1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.”

Reevaluate yourself to see have you made it to stage five: if not, heed the message:

Denial – We must stop pretending it didn’t happen and come to realization that it did. Stop reliving the situation and begin to learn to cope with the facts and undeniable truth.

Anger – We must get angry and feel that pain then release it once and for all. We have to find a healthy way to channel the anger, so it becomes a positive and not a negative.

Bargaining – We have to stop bargaining to become proactive steps to resolve personal life and make adjustment with the new normal.

Depression – We must identify the depression and keep the bright lights on. Light and darkness cannot coexist. Identify the empty and numbness and counter it will joyful, hopeful emotions, thoughts and then actions.

Acceptance – Become stabilized with the facts and learn to keep on going. Now you have to find the positive and relent the negative and begin building the legacy and keep only the things that help you progress.

Congratulations if you made it to stage five! You are ready to define your God Given talents and you can go be great. Look ahead and keep the faith. All things are possible for them that believe. Honor your loved ones and begin to live your life to the fullest and reclaim your rightful place. Many blessing to all and keep your mind over your matter and always. What didn’t break you will make you stronger. You are more than a conqueror. You got this so begin one stage at a time.

For those of you who have been fortunate and have not had any losses or have been grieving from the pandemic in 2020. Perhaps you have not been personally affected with any situations, and you just want a fresh start in business.
Be sure to implement time management , prioritizing and balancing into the equation.

One of the first things I learned when becoming an entrepreneur is the importance of all three of these components.

If you are a working class individual always remember to utilize organizational tools and prioritize your health and fitness and all else will come easy.

I did not want to only insinuate that everyone hit a low or bleak point in 2020. For many it was a resetting in a positive way and the year of your personal evolution. So remain hopeful and prayerful and continue to find more ways to prosper and be in good health.

Last but not least, do not be consumed by the media and the things happening in the world. It can trigger anxiety and cause you to lose focus. Limit your access to negativity and you are guaranteed to think positive with the right mindset. Otherwise you will be looking at the matters of the world and be cluttered emotionally.

Regardless of which category you fall in, we must realize we are all blessed to still be living. Please be reminded that we must find a way to accent the positive and relent the negative while learning to find the good and dwell in those things and remain hopeful. I feels so much better overall and affects your mind, body and spirit.

May you have a Happy New Year’s. I wish you peace, love, joy, hope and happiness.

~cbs~
Crystal Bodie Smith
#keephopealive
“Stirring Up The Gifts, Instilling Hope, and Saving Lives

We’ve been urged not to gather in groups greater than 500, then 250, then 50, then 25 and now 10 and to stay at least six feet away from one another. Despite this charge being for our own health, there has been some very public rebellion to the idea.

We’ve seen live posts to social media of people out and about socializing, the beaches in Florida are still packed with people soaking up the sun and splashing in the waves, and cities are laced with lines of people wrapping around corners outside of bars, restaurants and stores. Local governments have had to limit restaurants to serving take-out only and, in some areas, many stores have closed indefinitely as drastic measures to keep people apart.

It’s said that social distancing is a challenge because people have an innate need to connect with others and that limiting that contact may negatively impact our psychological well-being. But, I’d argue that we started practicing social distancing long before the coronavirus (COVID-19) became a pandemic. We’ve been socially distancing for decades.

Take a moment to think about the interactions you have in a typical day. Be sure to include every mode of communication that you use and every connection you make with another person. Now ask yourself, what percentage of those interactions are in person? How many are with a live person? How many are virtual or electronic? How many require an actual person-to-person connection?

Chances are the majority of your social interactions on a typical day are socially distant. If you’re like most people, emails, text messages and IMs far outweigh physical connections and, if you add in communication through social media and television, you were more distant from social interaction two months ago than you are today.

The only difference between then and now is then it was by choice, today we’re being  told to distance ourselves and, here in America, we don’t like it. In America, we are used to having an opinion and freedom of choice and the feeling of losing that freedom can be a great challenge. However, as mentioned earlier, social distancing is not a new concept, it’s really already our way of life.

Yesterday I read an article about a popular streaming service offering a way to connect with other subscribers, so you can stream together simultaneously as if you are watching the movie or show together. This service is offered through an app which includes a chat feature, so you can live chat with whoever you’re watching with from afar.

As an adult that lives alone, my first thought was “what a great idea”; when I remembered that most adults do not live alone that thought quickly changed to “are we really this far gone?” Is it really necessary to connect with people in a different place when there’s likely people in the house with you? Schools nationwide are closed and many of us are working from home or are just home because our jobs are closed. For most people this means there is someone at home with you that can watch along with you but, unfortunately, our chronic social distancing has overshadowed that fact.

We’ve become accustomed to interacting with people we can’t see and those interactions supersede the relationships in front of us. It’s a sad reality yet our reality none the less and the recent charge for social distancing had made this glaringly clear.  

Think about how often you see people together and one of them (or all of them) is looking down at their phone “connecting” with others while ignoring those right in front of them. Consider the times you’ve had virtual conversations with someone only to struggle for things to say when you see them face-to-face (I know it can’t just be me).

Look up from this article and look around you, is there someone else there in the room who is more interested in what they see as they scroll than the conversation they could have with you right now? Chances are there is someone in the room and my hope is that you put down whatever device you are using to read this and engage with them.

Take this time of social distance from the outside world to socially reconnect with the people right in front of you. Your children, your spouse, your loved ones; the people that you work hard to support yet who often get the least of your time, energy and attention because you have so little left to give after a long day of work. This is our time to bond with the people who matter most, to reignite flames of interest that have been dampened by the daily trials of life, to reestablish the passion we once had and to regain control of the lives that we live every day.

Right now we should be having the conversations we’ve been putting off, we should ask the questions that have been burning in our minds, we should share the joys we never have time to share because outside life demands that we make it a priority. Don’t let this time pass by without taking advantage of it. Besides, it’ll go much faster if we make the most of it. Happy connecting!