Akosua Dardaine Edwards's Blog, page 96

What I love about all my favourite women

How you listen is how you live. Unknown



I read a post by one of my favourite writers Maxie McCoy, she had a list of the things her favourite women tribe do, I was inspired by this to make a compilation of my own.

What I love about my favourite women

1. They speak what is on their mind, unapologetically and in love

2. They show up! sometimes with wine, sometimes with soup, sometimes in heels

3. They check in - text, email, phone call

4. They are full of ideas, they share them with no expectation 

5. They can cook - yes, I like my belly, and they share their food

6.They have boundaries and they respect yours

7. They have a strong NO and a firm YES

8. They share in your wins

9. They quote you to yourself

10. They laugh with you and for you, they love to laugh


Have you read any of Akosua's work?What Did I Learn Today? Lessons on the Journey to Unconditional Self Love

Nyabo (Madam) - Why Are You Here?Daily Lessons on the Journey - A Journal
Follow Akosua onTwitterInstagramFacebook

Are You in Alignment?

" You have to close the gap on who you say you are and how you are behaving " - Marianne
Williamson

One of my favourite lessons is - thought, word and deed must add up for clarity. For clarity of prayer and for clarity of movement. The Universe responds to clarity and consistency.

For us to say we want something or what to do something yet our thoughts, our words and our actions do not line up, it throws some confusion into your request.
If you want to get a certification in engineering, your actions alone will not make it happen. There has to be the combination of believing that it can be done (thought), going to class  and doing the assignments (action) and speaking truthfully and positively about the experience. Without that combination, trust me, it will be harder to manifest your vision.
How many times do we want something and believe we cannot have it, and talk about it as if it is impossible yet our actions move towards obtaining it?
They must all line up. Thought. Word. Deed

A very special person that I hold dear to me reminded me of this on Tuesday, she said that my actions and beliefs are not meshing, especially where my finances are concerned. I really took stock of what she said
It reminded me if I am out of alignment, any movement forward will be more difficult.
Are you in Alignment?
Peace
Have you read any of Akosua's work?What Did I Learn Today? Lessons on the Journey to Unconditional Self Love

Nyabo (Madam) - Why Are You Here?Daily Lessons on the Journey - A Journal
Follow Akosua onTwitterInstagramFacebook

Learn to Recognise Your Motives

learn to recognize your motives for making your choices in life. When motivated by fear or money or insecurities, you’ll make choices of equal quality. And those choices will fit the quality of your motivation . Carolynn Myss 

There are those who say that our lives reflect the choices and decisions that we make.
Even  when we are faced with matters that are outside of our control, we have to make a decision which is reflected in our response to the circumstance.

When we know who we are and what motivates us, our decisions reflect that.
When we make decisions in fear and not enoughness, the result of these decisions are reflected in our lives.
It is a challenge to go against the status quo, to go against the trends, to make unpopular decisions, we are socialised to be nice- particularly women. Grin and bear it.
When we make decisions from a people pleasing space, we diminish and devalue our voice. We lose too because trust me, not everyone will like you or the decisions that you make.

Know who you are
Know what motivates you
Know this in the depth of your soul
Then, act like you know
Peace

Have you read any of Akosua's work?What Did I Learn Today? Lessons on the Journey to Unconditional Self Love

Nyabo (Madam) - Why Are You Here?Daily Lessons on the Journey - A Journal
Follow Akosua onTwitterInstagramFacebook

Forgiveness

Genuine forgiveness is a self-initiated mystical act that requires the assistance of grace to release you from the compulsive and often self-righteous chatter of the ego, which continually enforces a position of entitled anger or hurt. Carolyn Myss

Forgiveness is big!
It is the very thing that saved me from myself.
I realised that holding on to past hurts and past traumas was literally life threatening- it was getting me ill.
Forgiveness I have learnt is giving up the need for the past to change, for the past to be different, for the past to be what we deem suitable for us and for us alone! 
So what had to happen for me to forgive was to accept that the past cannot be changed, the right now is key and to move on with the lessons.
According to Carolyn Myss, forgiveness is not the act of releasing the aggressor, though it is usually interpreted this way. Nor is it a way of telling others that what they have done is “okay” with you and “all is forgiven now.” Neither of those interpretations even come close to the mystical essence of forgiveness, which is fundamentally between you and God. A genuine act of forgiveness takes place in the inner landscape where your disappointed, hurt, abused, or angry ego confronts your soul, which holds to a cosmic template of justice. The ego wants to hold another person responsible for why certain events in your life turned out as they did or for why you were hurt or treated unfairly. We always want justice to serve us and not the “other”, which, of course, means we always want to be right.

We just cannot always be right, we cannot know everything - and how boring would life be if we did know everything and have all the answers

Just know that letting go and forgiving is a way to clean the slate - and it also improves one's health!
Who can beat that?
Start with forgiving self
Peace

Guilt is a Wasted Emotion

Change your vocabulary. Specifically, give up the use of the following terms and all that they imply: blame, deserve, guilt, fair, fault. If you cut those five words from your vocabulary, both in your private thoughts and in your communication with others, you will notice almost immediately that it is far more difficult to fall into negative emotional patterns. You will also discover how habitual those patterns have become . Carolyn Myss

Guilt, I have learnt, is a wasted emotion  particularly when one makes decisions from it. Guilt happens very often when  our core beliefs are questioned and found to be wanting. Found to be not serving us. Core beliefs are usually formed through experiences from home, church, school and experiences. 
Guilt is always disruptive as it engenders fear.
I felt so guilty  on Sunday at the Bodacious Girl Gala about not mentioning the names of all the ladies from the NiNa Programme, there was guilt in not pointing them out more, in not taking enough pictures of them, not spending as much time with them that I felt was required. Then I realised that I felt guilty because of fear that I was doing them wrong. That I was not representing them well. Which was of course, not true. The entire event was about them. 
I have learnt that if all that is done is done with pure and clear intentions, seeds were planted then fear is not a place to make decisions from.

The ladies were happy, they did not have a clue that I was thinking this way, they were having fun. So, I decided to leave the guilt aside, in fact, I will take Caroline Myss's advice and eliminate it from my vocabulary altogether, see what magic happens

Peace

Bodacious Girl Gala Pictures

Bodacious Lessons

The universe is the essence of duality. To be a good giver, you must be a good receiver. And to be a good lover, you must be good at being loved. Stacey Herera

Hello my lovies

Its been a while since we have been together, let me tell you the last few days have been quite a journey. We completed our first Bodacious Girls Gala 2019 at the Castle Kilarney. A fund raiser for the NiNa Young Leaders Programme in partnership with the Cleopatra Borel Foundation.
What an amazing night we had.
I have learnt that I have difficulty asking for help, that my friends know this  and they accept me for it, just come in and support
I have learnt that there is power in having clear and noble intentions
I have learnt that love is another super power
I have learnt to follow my intuition and that things work out the way they ought to when we plant the seed, till the land, do the work with faith and belief

The Bodaciousness of this event was large! I am so proud to be associated with everyone involved and grateful to know all of them

Peace

Balance for Better

“The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house”   Audre Lorde

Today is International Women's Day, we celebrate and honor the achievements of women all around the world on this day
I am grateful to all the women who came before, blazed the trail, paved a path, worked and sacrificed to make this now here space where I am one where I can live this privileged life.
To all the bodacious, courageous, bad ass women, thank you and I vow today to continue to live a life that will make you proud
How are you celebrating today?
Peace

40 Days of Reflection

You cannot love what you do not appreciate, and fear makes appreciation impossible. Whenever you are afraid of what you are, you do not appreciate it and will therefore reject it. As a result, you will teach rejection . ACIM


Today is the beginning of Lent. Lent is the period of 40 days which comes before Easter in the Christian calendar. Beginning on Ash Wednesday, Lent is a season of reflection and preparation before the celebrations of Easter. By observing the 40 days of Lent, Christians replicate Jesus Christ's sacrifice and withdrawal into the desert for 40 days. They do this by literally "giving up" something. Growing up, most people around me would give up meat and alcohol - just goes to show much we love our wine and swine! As I grew older I completely ignored Lent and giving up anythingIn my house it was not strictly observed however in school and the neighbourhood, people would be strictly observing and making sacrifices within the 40 daysThis year, I decided to give up flour!Why flour?Well, in a nutshell I love flour so much in the form of bread mainly, I have somehow convinced myself that I absolutely cannot do without it.Yes, drastic isn't it?So this period will represent to me a form of discipline, a type of signal sent to myself that I can live without it and all will be well. It is a call to myself that I can do anything that I put my mind to.Between flour and chocolate- man, it's toughMaybe next Lent I will do the chocolate withdrawal - no promises!So wish me luckI will let you know how it all goesPeace
Today I am on I95.5FM at 11.00AM TUNE IN

Do you ever Question Your Beliefs?

A useful thing to ask is 'when and how did I get this belief?' We tend to automatically defend our ideas without ever really questioning them . - The School of Thought

Keeping an open mind is one of the most challenging things to do in a world that promotes group think and judging others based on material possessions, religious beliefs and what's in fashion.

People have started huge disagreements over differing beliefs, some even escalating to legal battles between families and friends and bad blood which goes on for generations.

We all have beliefs and opinions, some different to others, I believe in live and let live, I may never agree with your view, and you with mine. That does not mean that I must feel the need to convert you to my own view and vice versa.
I pray that we can be open minded enough to listen long enough to learn something from another point of view even if the lesson is to continue to share a different opinion. I pray that we can allow another person to share their views without attacking them or defending ours to the point of disrespect.
I also would love us to have the ability to question some of the beliefs we hold when faced with a differing view.
No heat, No judgement
We have been groomed with beliefs from our homes, our schools, our church, our places of worship. Many times these beliefs cannot be questioned because it goes against the grain leading to punishment and being left out. So we accept them as part of the way things are. No questions asked, no thinking done.
When our intuition tells us that those said beliefs are no longer serving us, we fight to keep them, we become guilty and defensive with everyone and everything that is different, thus leading to more discontent in our lives.
It is not wrong or a betrayal to question core beliefs that no longer serve you
It is an essential part of your self care
Your life will keep showing you what works, pay attention, make a move
Peace

Carnival Musings

Everything without a single exception is mindset- shift it - Neale Donald Walsh
Today is Carnival Monday in Trinidad and Tobago. The ritual begins with a procession through the streets starting at 4am, with mud and paint and music, and fun. It really is very hard to describe. The joy that I feel on a Jouvert morning is unparalleled. To see people dancing in the streets, jumping, hugging and just being happy brings me joy.Then the sun comes up to top it off! Jouvert starts the beginning of two days of revellery and fun. Many people see it as a wanton waste of time and money, others see it as a time of high creativity and fun timesIt all starts in the mindToday is the beginning of the greatest two days in my country's calendarI am grateful to be a part of itPeace