We have to share this amazing children’s book series which is a great introduction to the world of Kung Fu, but also a window into young self-discovery!! This book series written by world-renowned Actor, Producer, Author, and investor Robin Leong is a fantastical, clever, and entertaining peek into the world of Kung Fu! Through the help of cute, capable, and quirky characters, You will take your child on a magical journey that will help them understand and grasp the art of Kung Fu and life lessons as well.
Make “The Kung Fu Force” series a part of your gift list for all of the children you know! Trust me, they will love it and so will you!! We are honored to call the Author Robin Leong and his incredible family our friends and are so proud to pass along this gem of a series!!
Good to the last drop coffee in more ways than one!!!
“Fresh Coffee For A Refreshing Cause” is the catchphrase for this amazing coffee brand with a purposeful mission. Show me the World Coffee is a unique coffee brand in which 100% of every single bag supports local education in Ethiopia! Show Me The World’s Project mission is to provide youth from under-resourced communities equitable access to transformative educational experiences.
Borrowing directly from their website below is a description of the concept, mission, and foundation of this coffee that serves humanity and tastes so good!!! Our family member Cleve was so gracious in buying a few bags for us to try while they were visiting and we are fans! And there is a slight connection as well as Cleve’s daughter and our neice Cortney “CJ” is lifelong friends with one of the founders’ Samantha!! So proud of them and this concept and movement!
In 2012, The Show Me Costa Rica Project (SMCRP) was founded at Vashon High School in the heart of north St. Louis, Missouri after a school swap with a nearby suburban school highlighted the inequity in educational opportunities. This left the students at Vashon wanting equal access to international learning experiences. These students went on to name the first chapter “The Show Me Costa Rica Project” because it started in Missouri, The Show Me State, and the biological wonders of Costa Rica allowed for the alignment of the biology state standards with an experiential learning trip.
Through the joint fundraising efforts of the students, community, high school, parents, and other family members, Vashon High School was able to take their first-ever student group on an international trip. However, this is more than an international trip. They have seen tremendous improvement with Biology State Exams and Grade Point Averages. Within the first two years of the program, students increased their GPA by 50% and while only 7% of the total school population scored proficient on the Biology State Exam, 90% of Show Me the World students went on to score proficient or advanced. To further the STEM enrichment programming, The Show Me Costa Rica Project partnered with the Washington University Young Scientist Program in 2014. In this ongoing partnership, PhD graduate students from Wash U facilitate in-person and virtual science experiences and lessons aligned with national biology standards.
After seeing the success of the first two groups of international travelers, they realized how beneficial experiential learning is to the development of students’ 21st-century skills.
Since 2012, a diverse group of educators and community members have collaborated to grow and develop the structure and philosophy of our program. Because of their innovative thinking and advocacy, over 100 students across five schools in St. Louis and Ferguson gained access to their first international transformational educational experience.
After seeing the success of the first two groups of international travelers, we realized how beneficial experiential learning is to the development of students’ 21st-century skill
Fast forward to 2016, they expanded further by creating an entrepreneurial arm to help raise the funds for future student participation. With a focus on the Pura Vida mantra that represents gratitude and happiness, SMCRP created branded Pura Vida merchandise. The Pura Vida branded merchandise sold out instantly and has been a continued success with every new collection. With one entrepreneurial win under their belt, a strong leadership team, the students looked for other targeted fundraising opportunities. After learning some of the best coffee in the world is grown on farms near volcanoes in Costa Rica, they landed on Costa Rican coffee, which you can purchase at their online store. The coffee venture serves as both an experiential opportunity for the students to learn about maintaining a business and a way to help sustain the organization for future student participation.
Due to the success and increased demand from schools to incorporate our program, it became necessary to form a 501c3 non-profit organization. In May 2019, Samantha Lurie, Sylvester Chisom and Boahemaa Adu-Oppong co-founded The Show Me the World Project.
The Show Me the World Project will continue to empower even more young people by expanding their worldview and unlocking their ultimate potential.
Sometimes when we are at a crossroads with work, social life, or anything else, it’s a great time to take a step back, inhale deeply in meditation, and then……have some good old-fashioned fun! Yup, you heard that right. What good does endless stressing do? How do mindless thoughts, anxious movements, or rash actions help the cause? They Dont!!!. It’s not productive to stay stuck in a rut just going through the motions without getting positive results. If this is happening to you in any facet of your life, it can be a great sign, that you are not on the right track or path and need to listen to your inner child to see what makes you happy.
Explore what floats your boat and tickles your fancy. For some, it may be reading, exercising, playing board games, solving puzzles, drawing, crafting, building etc…. There are infinite ways that people have found since childhood to entertain themselves. So reach back into your bag of childhood desires and enjoy it while you are stuck in the mud of adult needs and motions. you never know, it could very well lead to a lifetime of happiness turning your passion into a successful career and financial windfall!
The best way to organically find out is to do something that makes you happy. It can be large or small but you never know where that can lead. Case in point, My niece Cortney decided to pursue her lifelong passion of getting back into swimming. Over the past couple of years, she has been teaching swim lessons at the Inspirational SWEMSCHOOL in DeKalb, Georgia during the off time of her 9-5 job. That passion for gliding through the water again coupled with the feeling of helping others young and old, overcome their fears to pick up a valued and extremely important safety skill eventually led to her amazing new career path and promotion at The Swem School to Executive Project Manager!! Now she works full time helping to partner with major corporations to help assist the SwemSchool grow and thrive all the while being influential in sharing her lifelong passion for swimming!! Wow, way to go Cort!!!
It is truly amazing to see in real-time reality how following your happiness can lead you to financial and spiritual gains that are immeasurable.
The concept of the SwemSchool in itself is a testament to letting your experiences and interests drive your career path. In Founder and CEO Trish Miller’s own words…
“CEO, Trish P. Miller, learned to swim as an adult after her own near-drowning experience as a teenager. That experience inspired her to be an advocate for community-based drowning prevention programs.
The SwemSchool offers lessons for students of all ages, from infancy to adulthood, and believes that anyone, at any age can benefit from swimming.”
Some days if you ever feel stuck in a rut or at a loss for creativity and excitement, just put on your walking shoes and head outside! So much splendor and visual inspiration surround us every day. From the swaying moss on the trees to the statuesque crane full of dignity and grace.
Stop to inhale the scent of a magnolia tree, rosebush oven freshly cut grass. Take in the serenity of your local pond. Notice how everything has its calm presence and flowers gently with the slight breeze, creating a symphony of nature’s sounds. The ducks, birds, squirrels, and other inhabitants of the watering whole operate in a type of unison code leaving a show for the ages every day.
Watching the crisp blue and white vibrant sky tower overhead caps off this beautiful vision, that Rob Ross would have loved to paint. After delighting in four of the senses now let the golden sun kiss your skin, creating a euphoric feeling throughout your body. Drink it all in. There’s such a rich abundance of life, beauty, and energy all around us/ Nature’s bounty is beautiful and endless. Let yourself be immersed in this beautiful earth and be transformed by your surroundings!
Is it just me, or do you also get so excited at just the thought of planning your next getaway? Whether it’s a short stay-cation at a local hotspot or a 10-day cruise of the Panama Canal, the thought of planning the excursion is almost as intoxicatingly wonderful as the experience itself!
I get so excited, planning itineraries, mapping out favorite local hot spots, and thinking of immersing myself in a new culture. The overall experience is such a thrill, that it always provides just the right amount of glee, to hold me over until the next trip. When staying in that state of mind of excitement and gratitude looking forward to all the fun perpetuates a constant state of feeling as if I am always on vacation. Now that’s, Holiday Rising lifestyle living at the core!!
You can apply that thinking to everyday life as well to enjoy all of life’s everyday beautiful moments. Looking forward to every smile, every beautiful sunrise, every vibrant beautiful color that this lovely world offers us allows us to be present and appreciative and presents a whole new world to us in return. All we have to do is accept it, smile, and say thank you!!!
This wild journey we call life will always present challenges, heartaches, and roadblocks, but how we choose to view these things determines our eventual outcome. If we can understand that life is a work of art of our own making, that we can create our canvas and paint the greatest piece of art ever imaginable, then even the once mundane or troubling things, don’t seem so daunting or oppressive anymore. We have all heard the phrase “Your attitude determines your altitude” and I think that is true.
If at the moment you don’t think you have the funds to go on an extraordinary travel journey, then pack a lunch, take a walk, and escape to a local park, pond, or museum and be transformed in that moment to somewhere magical. And in taking that leap and journey in your mind, you have brought about that same adrenaline rush of getting on a plane and traveling the world. That very vibe just might bring on the actual trip itself, you never know. The universe picks up on frequencies and since, like attracts like, just being on the good vibes frequency helps to create a world of happiness and joy.
Just give it a try, and let yourself not just enjoy the ultimate destination, but the days leading up to it as well. Appreciate all the days in between leading up to the main event because they are all a part of the grand journey. Enjoy it all, treasure it all, and be grateful for all, and then you will find yourself in a state of permanent bliss!
We have all heard of child-proofing a home. But almost always that refers to a child’s physical safety. But many times the mental and spiritual health of the child is not regarded with the same vigor. To feel truly safe, one needs to be in an environment where their true self, opinions, and needs are heard, considered, addressed, and celebrated.
It is so easy for families and individuals alike, to only see the world or circumstances through their lenses. But what of consideration for those sharing space around us? There may be differences in tastes, hobbies, interests, politics, and so on, but to truly feel safe one needs to feel seen, heard, and appreciated.
Allowing each child to express themselves and shine in their regard, especially in a family of 4 or more is crucial for self-awareness and identity. It helps to shape not only how we view ourselves, but how we are perceived by others as well. Showing children, their value at home and encouraging them to explore their talents, dreams, and hobbies is an excellent way to teach them to move in a society where many have polarized, individual thought, self-empowerment, and recognizing every individual as the core of a community.
These lessons of our future leaders are learned at home at the earliest of ages. When parents celebrate kindness, individuality, courage, curiosity, compassion, and exploration, then the child learns to feel safe and encouraged to explore the world through an unfiltered and magical lens, where anything is possible and any dream that can be conceived can be achieved.
Perhaps if more of our leaders and society as a whole, were truly more confident in themselves and their ability to operate in a world that values critical thinking, understanding, and logic from all areas, then we would be able to work cohesively in harmony to advance our amazing human race and astonishing universe. Let’s create a safe space at home so that we in turn end up creating a safe world!!! Blogs like my favorite, Multicultural Kid blogs help to do just that!! Thank you for being such a positive beacon of light and hope MKB!!
The practice of gratitude and simply thinking of the things love or love to do is a clear and present way to remain in a constant state of joy. It is nearly impossible to think of things that truly make you happy and tingly inside and then at the very same moment be sad, doubtful, or bitter.
To truly let yourself be immersed in your favorite thoughts is to be swept away by them. Overcome with emotion your entire being feels the energy of seeing and feeling the thing you love that you are thinking about. This sends shockwaves through your nervous system from your brain to your toes!! It’s like an adrenaline boost that says “Hey I love this, I am happy.
If it is true that “thoughts become feelings, and feelings become things”, then we do create the world around us like many of the New Thought Authors of the 18th century and people who know “The Secret” believe. Wow, how amazing to know that you are the author of your world and that we are all connected in the great spiritual and scientific realm of physics! We were created by atoms and matter that collectively were attracted to each other and collided in a wonderful explosion of Wonder!!!
So we can shape and form the world around us as we go, so think about your favorite song, your child’s cutest smile, the best view you have ever seen, and be transformed by the feeling of that place. That feeling itself is transmitted out to the great universe and picks up other energy transmissions like it and sends them right back your way tenfold!!!
So recall the last time your breath was taken away by something beautiful, read something that captivated you, feel something that made your heart skip a beat, and rejoice to know that you are vibing on a frequency so high that you become a magnet for more spectacular feelings!! Thus you are creating the world around you of your very dreams!! If you can see it in your mind, then you can make it your reality!!! My Sister Cheryl, who is celebrating her birthday today, is creating her path and forging ahead by exploring the fascinating and extraordinary world of the “secret”, positivity, and the amazing power of manifestation. It is truly a beautiful experience to behold and witness. Happy Bday Sis!
It’s a practice that seems so easy but is so hard to grasp for many. but once you give in and accept the true process of either ‘choosing happiness’ or ‘choosing the alternative” it IS a choice. So now knowing that you have the power to affect not only your mood, but your circumstances and those who enter your path, Dream your wildest dreams and feel as if they have already come to fruition, and watch the amazing results unfold!!!
How in the world do you move forward when you have no idea which way to go?!?
At times do you feel stuck in the mud, or maybe even cement? Frustration would be a relief when you feel so lost in the weeds, that you feel you have no possible way to free yourself from the mire.
I have been there periodically and it can weigh you down like an anchor if you let it.
Learning to adapt new techniques to overcome that feeling and see your way through, can be as simple as finding little guides or mantras that can help you through the tough times. For some, the power of deep breathing relaxes the nerves. The 4/4/6 method works well. Inhaling 4 seconds, then holding your breath for 4 more seconds, then finally slowly releasing for 6 seconds does wonders!! For others, it’s visually looking at something calm, like a body of water or a beautiful meadow or garden.
Sometimes just being aware of your feelings of stress or anxiety or feeling down, coming on should call upon your newfound controlled self to call your aides, to help out in times of need. I love to listen to music, take walks, and gaze out into the ocean or even a pond for solace.
Sometimes recognizing your actions, mood, and movements are off can bring to your attention the need to find your calming center. Maybe it’s time to carve out time for a good read.
In this new age of social media, fast-paced living, and everything at your disposal in seconds, it’s time to create your zen during each day to reconnect with your inner self.
Wonderful books to read, that allow you to see a different view of controlling your space, destiny, and manifestations is the Secret series by Rhonda Byrne!!!
Let’s Relax, Relate, Release, and manifest all the positivity and goodness the universe has in store!!!!
