My Life is a Celebration

My life is a celebration so every morning as I wake I give thanks and celebrate....they say that anyone who has a roof over their head , someone to love and a job to do should be contented and I have all 3 so as Deidre Hall says - life is good .This past week was especially good - I spoke at the Women's Entrepreneurship Day (WED) workshop in Kingston

and my alma mater, St. Hugh's High school, honored me at their Banquet for being one of their success stories .
Well my talk at WED and the panel discussion went very well and I was moved by the standing ovation I received there and at the Banquet, surrounded by close friends , I realized how important it is to be recognized by your school.

 I have received many an award over the years and I can easily say none has made me as emotional as the one from my High School, I only wished there had been room on the programme for me to publicly deliver my own thank you so I will use this medium to say what I would have said. My first year at school my music teacher Ms.McCormack told my mother that she would prefer to teach 5 boys than one Donna Jenkins (the names I went by then) - in those days teachers weren't big on acknowledging boredom in children - Ms.McCormack had me playing the triangle even though I was doing my 8th grade practical and 7th grade music theory and on my way to sit for my LRSM in piano so I guess my mischievousness was just me acting out . St.Hugh's was, nonetheless , a very special time in my life and among the important lessons I learnt, there are 3 that have been the hallmark of my life. Firstly it was at St.Hugh's that I discovered that I had a special talent - I walked with my scissors in my uniform pocket and  young girls were willing to have me cut off their ponytails and plaits in the bathroom and Letty, the school janitor, was willing to sweep up the hair in the bathroom to allow me to be back in class when the bell rung.
Secondly, I was taught from that early age that I was a leader . The group that came over from St.Hugh's prep was called Jesus and the 12 disciples of course you must have guessed who was Jesus in that scenario - any of the disciples that got in trouble , it was I who got sent to the Principal's office . One day , one of the "disciples" , Lesley Griffith refused to wear her bloomers to PE  and Ms.Ritchie , the PE teacher , sent me to the office and when I asked why was I being sent as I had on my bloomers and certainly had not told Lesley not to wear hers, Ms. Ritchie told me " because Lesley would never have decided to do this on her own "  so I realized the teachers saw me as a leader, always a good thing to be in life . The third thing I learnt was about love -  I am an adoption and when I found this out at 18 , I called the "disciples" one by one to tell them the news and found out that they all knew . One of them had overheard her parents talking about it from when we were in first form and had told the rest of the "disciples" warning them that I didn't know and that the Principal had said that I wasn't to be told yet because I was too highly strung and none of them told me because they didn't want to hurt me . Now if that isn't love I don't know what is - which set of 12- 18 year olds holds news like that ? Unconditional love.
Thank you St. Hugh's.

Repost from dec 20th 2008 Jamaican Politrix

I am completely befuddled...how come the Jamaican government has money to give to the Clinton Foundation (a President who did nothing for us ) keeping company with Kuwait, Italy, Qatar, Saudi Arabia who gave between US$10-25 million. Don`t we have enough problems ?...... Pregnant mothers sleeping 2 to a bed in our main maternity hospital FOR EXAMPLE, shouldn`t we try to rectify our own problems first before giving to people who are not needy. Or is it that we have to give for America to give us aid ? Well guess what America has no aid giving anybody since they started that war that Mr.Bush could ill afford, they NOW NEED aid.In fact they need more than aid,they need prayers........ So we not getting diddly squat from them therefore we need to keep our little two cents.
Our health care and education systems are so sub-par after we used to be at the top in those sectors in the 50`s and 60`s, even the 70`s we were holding on. Now our University is rated at the bottom of the barrel and is our medical system rated ? I don`t even know.
I notice the people who love to shout about HUMAN RIGHTS not saying anything about the 2 to a bed pregnant mother situation. Isn`t that a human right to have your baby with a little dignity ? 
Jamaica has Mr. Lethargy leading us and everywhere you go the people tell you "these people don`t have a clue" the only one that seems to be on top of things is our agricultural minister Christopher Tufton....How can they be deep into corrupt activities already ? Did they come in with 'getting theirs' as their number one priority ?
I wish to remind them that PNP people voted them in so it's very easy for them to lose their position as it wasn`t too strong in the first place, in fact it can fall at any moment as we are waiting on a court decision.
WE NEED PARTIES THAT YOUNG BRIGHT PEOPLE LIKE AN OBAMA CAN COME IN AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE. The 2 parties we have now continue to play the same game of coming into politics for one reason and one reason alone - feathering their nests. They hug up the dons and then shout about crime.....crime will never stop once the politicians are granting favours to criminals.
Look at what is happening now where people who worked hard and had success at the different government agencies are being turned out to pasture because they are not in the JLP. That has to stop...If PNP comes in now the JLP ones will be sent packing..... What happened to keeping people on based on merit and performance ?
Truth be told if someone sees an Obama-like Jamaican willing and able to serve in the near future please tell me because look as I might in the 2 parties only Lisa Hanna is playing a half decent game, looks good and talks good, lets see if she does good, she is new we have to wait.

Happy!!!

Yes I made it ! One more birthday , one more year.... Thank you father.
Earlier this year when I heard my alma mater, St Hugh's High school was honoring me that was my focus - to make it till the 22nd of Nov and with God's grace I think I will . Nothing like your school thinking you're a success and honouring you for it - I certainly don't want to miss it.
This birthday apart from saying thank you to the One,  it was spent doing just what I wanted to do ending with me watching Scandal ....no time for the massage - that will come today or maybe tomorrow.
So likkle nooky , likkle lunch , likkle flowers , likkle chocolate , likkle movies, likkle tuitti fruiti then home to watch Scandal , LOTS of love .....perfect day.
Thank you all for remembering me with such kindness - one of the birthday greetings that bowled me over was Carlene Gardner saying the world is a better place because I'm in it - OMG that made my day.
So while I was enjoying my day doing likkle things and reading all my good wishes it dawned on me that I'm happy  - I heard a friend say that last month at her birthday party..... she said Brene Brown of " Super Soul Sunday" fame said a lot of us feel guilty in saying we are happy and she realized she is happy, well I don't feel guilty .....I'm happy !!!
If you wake in the mornings beside the person you love and no one brings a bedpan or comes to brush your teeth life is good .
We get so obsessed with the wrong things not realizing we call all we don't want to us .We say God please help me I'm broke instead of saying thank you God for all my riches -if  you send broke out to the universe, not riches, then we manifest what we put out .
It's no wonder our island is consumed with Chickv as that's the focus of almost the entire population. Someone said to me if they could just go on Facebook and not see a word about it they would be relieved.But people - whatever we focus on or put our attention on grows ( I sound like my Minister
Rev.Sheila).
Let's try and put our health and our happiness out to the universe in a positive light.Take a page out of Pharrell's book - he was always big but
after Happy he's ginormous!!!!
Be a room without a roof .....because we're happy!!!

Part 2 Oprah #thelifeyouwantMIA

To all of you who went with me in spirit here are some more highlights to give you a taste of what you missed from not actually being there – first each participant was provided with a wrist band which changed colour according to what was happening on stage it was called our energy band.

Friday night was Ms O alone giving you her history from Mississipi to present reminding me that my favourite quote from her is : “I’m the master of my fate, I'm the captain of my soul ".I must say she looks exactly like she does on TV and she has obviously lost weight being on this 'life you want' tour.

Saturday started with meditation led by Deepak as only he can do it "the self of you is the self of the universe .....meditation is developing a spiritual muscle “ - we all developed some spiritual muscle as you could drop a pin in the arena during meditation and it would have sounded like a bomb.

Then we had Elizabeth Gilbert who told us to grab life with both hands... stop settling  .... even if you feel you are boxed in and can't free yourself – start now to plan and save  – she gave us a story of a mother of 5 whose husband left her with the children but she had a dream of touring the world - well she saved a dollar a day for over 20 years and when her last child graduated from school she booked her cruise ... follow your dreams.

Next came Rob Bell a minister from Michigan  he was new to me but he won't be new anymore - he spoke of  validation we all want to be validated  - as Oprah says " everyone of us is looking for the same thing, we want to know we matter ". Minister Bell told us to look out for ourselves because we do everything for everyone else and leave ourselves out  - ain’t that the truth!

We next learnt our soul is in a cycle as out came an exercise instructor for a spinning gym called Soul Cycle which developed out of 2 women following their dreams and opening  a high energy cycle club where they use bright yellow cycles - of course we were on our feet jumping to the music - DJ KISS was our DJ for the 2 days with some serious dance music !!!!

Iyanla was the final presenter and although a little loud for me, her comedic touch balances that out. She told us about her life and how life has been her friend no matter how bad a week she has and the past two had been extremely rough as her assistant had a stroke - but through all her challenges life lifts her up. She apologized for not wearing the proper undergarments as she had forgotten them as she arrived in a rush Saturday morning and I thought to myself it takes a woman very comfortable in her skin to come on stage in front of thousands without a bra and huge girls one much bigger than the other - shows she has the ego thing under control.

Amy Purdy was there to present a Toyota award - the Miami  'standing ovation' which was given to a woman who took her and her husband’s life savings and bought a bus which they equipped with computers and drove into the ghettos to give underprivileged children a chance  because she didn't want to retire to a rocking chair on her porch.....well Toyota gave her $25,000 and Ms O matched it of course.

We ended knowing “the only courage you ever need is the courage to live the life of your dreams” – Oprah. A wonderful thing happened while I was sitting in the airport waiting on my flight home, I met  two women  and they both asked  "when are you going to do something like this in Jamaica ?" My answer - soon - we will not have Oprah but great speakers none the less so stay tuned.

Oprah #thelifeyouwantMIA

I attended the Miami leg of Oprah's Life You Want tour and I must say I'm not leaving as I came . If we doubt that we all are energy and spirits having a human experience, these events really put it in perspective. The one other time that I felt energy pulsating in a room like this was at Panorama Of Truth (POT) my Church's yearly conference. Group of like minds vibrating ....nothing like it .
So what this 2 days brought home to me is how easily we judge and how we keep going into others territory where we have no business . I know I judge and as someone who has been working on myself for years, I'm now going to put more work into this aspect of my life - being conscious of it is half the battle won .The issue of not going into other people's territory is easier for me to accept as I learnt this as a child. I used to wonder why my nanny prayed so hard and to me her life was the same I asked my mother and she explained to me beseeching prayers and the fact that God has given us everything we need and all we have to do is use it and not be begging him to do it for us . It explained to me later why grandmothers with their 'bad man' grandsons although on their knees praying morning, noon and night couldn't evoke change in their grandchildren if these men didn't want it to be so. As a Truth student, Rev. Sheila McKeithen further enlightened me as to why we must stay in our own territory and not be in other peoples business as it's your issue not mine and me taking it on can't help - we think because that person is our child or spouse it's fine - it's not - their issues are not our business and we can't work on it for them. Each of us have to fight our own battles and I can't fight yours and you can't fight mine - I can support you in your fight, be there for you but that's all I can do.
There were two speakers on the tour that stood out for me and that was Rob Bell and Iyanla Vanzant. Elizabeth Gilbert was also good and showed up this issue that I have which is why I have to work on judgment - I have never been able to separate the message from the messenger . I used to have a problem getting TD Jakes' messages because he is on the heavy side and had on all these ill lifting suits. Look on TD Jakes today flying in his private jet looking good in designer suits and taking his message to people like me who need it . JUDGE not!  Easier said than done though - I had difficulty hearing Elizabeth Gilbert's message as I had a hard time getting past the thought that she needed a stylist from head to toe so I listened but I didn't hear - I was too busy putting on a fabulous pair of black stilettos on her and taking off that thing around her neck and doing her hair where the curling iron marks weren't even brushed out - oh I could have given her a fabulous hair cut I guess it's the hairdresser in me but who am I to be judging Elizabeth Gilbert .....really ? Seriously??
Oprah was Oprah - comfortable in that 3 billion dollars worth of skin - as she likes to say ' I have a big life'  always saying the right thing,but on  Friday night i discovered just how much I knew about her life as I've followed her over the years.
Then for brawta there was my favourite girl from DWTS Amy Purdy cute as a button with the artificial legs in the black pumps Elizabeth Gilbert needed ......there I go again ....  how easy it is for us to slip and right now as you are reading this I know you are judging me but guess what? Whatever you think of me is none of my business so on we all go to create the life we want.
Thank you Father for giving me health and strength to attend this - thanks to the friend who suggested it and the friend who took me and paid for it and the friend who gave us his fabulous Miami Beach apt to stay. If you can see it .....you can believe it ......you can manifest it .....

Ebola & Chikv hysteria

Yesterday 16/10/2014 was a day directly out of hell for me.
I learnt so much about the human psyche and the fact that most of us are followers so can be whipped into anything - no wonder Hitler succeeded. All it took was a well known announcer on a popular local radio station and a few rumour mongrels posing as journalists and it was all over…. one of the people that I work with told me that her 10 year old child called crying "mommy Ebola is here in Jamaica and I don't want you to die" - now who scared this child out of his wits?.... I have never seen irresponsibility taken to this level before. Now if Ebola comes to Jamaica you mean we are all going to panic and turn into fools ??? You mean we are that scared to die? Aren't we the same set of people who drive at 140mph in an 80mph zone ? Aren't we the same people that don't use condoms because we don't like how they feel although we know about HIV/Aids??? Aren't we the same people that daily eat processed foods , sugar laden drinks, excess alcohol and smoke 2 packs a day ??? I'm just amazed we are all happy to call down Chikv on us with all the dumping of plastic waste in gullies and all over our communities to create breeding sites for mosquitoes but we scared of Ebola ??? People recover from Ebola you know, it doesn't kill everybody that gets it and guess what we don't all have to get it. The time we take panicking we would build our immune system and clean up the mosquito breeding sites . I've heard enough crap today to last me a life time .....How it's the plane that went down in the sea near Portland that cause Chikv - I watch sensible people write crap about they think that Chikv is not caused by mosquitoes it’s air borne blah blah blah ....and what causes Ebola?  Oh I forget that the Lord is coming for his world so that's why all these things are happening  - it’s a plague ....I have news for us all we have destroyed  this world and we're going to have to live in it until it self-destructs but not to worry we are trying to do that as soon as possible so we shouldn't have too long to wait ..how many of us panicked this summer when we saw Israelis shooting man, woman and child in Palestine like they were doing target practice? Did we feel the Lord was coming then ? They were people too .....why were they being killed unnecessarily ?What did they do to deserve that? Do u think they fear Ebola ?
People! Ebola has been around for a long while,thank u Cuba for leading from the front  200 doctors sent to the front line is no joke ....I do believe that Chikv was mishandled by the Jamaican authorities - what the PM did this week she should have done 2 months ago so that was a wakeup call for everybody and Ebola is not likely to be similarly mismanaged - I believe in Jamaica and Jamaicans - we are the best at whatever we decide to do and die from an Ebola epidemic in Jamaica ? No , we are not going to.

Breast cancer month

So this month is Breast Cancer month.....those of you who know me know I don't think breast cancer should be singled out, it should be just Cancer Month as all cancers are important and deadly but who am I? The powers that be say it's Breast Cancer month so we are all to dress in pink and raise money for the cause. Well first thing is I don't like anything pink second thing is I believe that you should self exam every month as that's how I found my two breast cancers and  if you don't want to do it  as some of us are scared - let your partner do it -I've felt enough pain in my life don't need to squeeze up my breast in a machine and people like me who have had other cancers don't need added radiation from mammogram machines but new stats say new machines are low on radiation so you have no excuse - always remember early detection saves lives.
Went to Kingston for a funeral this past Saturday and it got me to thinking about Chik v and Ebola - suppose some one like me who has fought cancer for 36 years dies from one of those viruses would all my strict living have been in vain?
I've deprived myself from my favourite foods all these years -right now I would love a  bowl of rum and raisin ice cream before bed - that's not to be and no rum and cranberry for me oh how I miss white rum and cranberry but too much sugar so that's not to be either - so suppose I live this green life (remember I hate everything green but I now not only eat but drink it daily) and here comes one of these viruses for me should I have a juicy pork chop tomorrow in case ? Or should I continue stepping up my antioxidants so my immune system is ready for the fight  hmmmmmm
I notice that when you are healthy you bounce back quicker no matter what hits you down so I'll get my papaya leaves ready and go and have my turmeric juice before bed or maybe tonight I should have sour sop leaf tea ......
Folks get you bodies ready and plant some Neem trees and start educating everyone to not throw garbage in gullies and drains as I'm sure you are noticing that our Government has no money to clean them and all of you that saying the Lord coming for his world I have news for you suppose he's not  and you will have to live in the mess we've made?