Tis' the Season..

The holidays have arrived! One of my favorite times of the year (although I truly love any holiday and reason to celebrate, lol)! With all the hustle and bustle of putting up the Christmas tree, shopping for loved ones and attending gatherings with those special people, we can sometimes lose site of the moments that are changing around us.

The holiday season is just that, a season. In a weeks time, things will be back to normal, work and school will be in session and life, as we know it continues. But with that thought in mind, this holiday season try giving yourself the best gift of all and do some "seasonal cleaning."

With the new year around the corner, start cleaning and making way for all the good that is in store for you. Take whatever necessary steps you need in order to have order in your life! Whether it's cleaning up your house, applying for new jobs, or removing some people from out of your picture, do it!

Make that list and check it twice to make sure you have the best holiday season and new year ever!!

Help Make Breast Cancer a Global Issue

Every 69 seconds, somewhere in the world, a woman dies of breast cancer.

Last year, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent surgery and intensive radiation. With God's grace, the cancer was successfully removed and this year we celebrated her one-year anniversary of being cancer-free.

I chose purposefully to not keep my mother's health condition a secret. For the past year, I have kept family and friends abreast of her progress via my Twitter and FB pages and the response and love we have received has been more than humbling.

This month, I became a breast cancer advocate. In the future, I will be attending legislative hearings and fighting furiously for a cure. I hope that you can help me! Please visit http://69-seconds.org and sign the petition to help make cancer a global priority. We all can make a difference with just the click of a button and a tap on the keyboard and 69 seconds of your time.

Me and my mom are very grateful for the support and hope that if you do not choose to help, that you find another issue that is important to you, to support. Advocacy is very important.

I Need Your Help!

Kim's Keepsake is revamping and recharging. And I need your help. Starting in October, I'm looking for you to send me your requests on what YOU would like for me to discuss on the blog. The topics are endless! Love, Relationships, Career, Faith, Finances, whatever you want to see on Kim's Keepsake let me know! Can't wait to hear from you!

Facebook: Kim's Keepsake (Like us!)
Twitter: kimskeepsake (Follow us!)
Email: kimskeepsake@gmail.com

The Point of it All.

I complain (almost everyday) about how much graduate school has consumed so much of my life. Taking time away from family, friends, and the "opportunities" to build on a personal life. My 14-hour days away from home have been the cause of a lack of sleep and bad diet.. But it's also given me a lot of time to myself. To think, dream, and grow. Each day I learn something new, whether it's something that I find interesting or not. A lesson in each day.

And on those quiet car rides back home, I feel fulfilled.. And I reflect on the progress that I made in such a small time frame.. And I get it.

So I've come to realize that even in my absence from everyone else, just being by myself causes me to learn and be more happy with the situation that I'm in. And I guess that's why I'm here.. For right now.

The Realest Love I Know..

Nothing like a mother's love

The Past is Practice

I live with no regrets!!!! Everything that I've been through, was for a reason and I'm thankful for each thing.

In recent years, I've done a lot of personal and spiritual growth. Took out some time to better know myself and with that, I made some mistakes, took some risks, got hurt, fell down, but eventually as the song goes, "got back up." Hard times are only temporary so I learned to bounce back as quickly as possible. Sometimes people are startled by people that don't allow things to get the best of them, but I find it to be my inner strength to not let situations hinder my present and most importantly, my future.

My past was nowhere near perfect, but it was nowhere near bad either. I dealt with having an absentee father that lived 15 minutes away from me, and when I was younger I was hurt by the fact that my dad didn't want to be apart of my life. But by having a father that was missing from my life, I later learned to appreciate the men that do take care of their responsibilities and I learned to cope with disappointment. I hold no grudges against my father, and am currently working on rebuilding the relationship that was once broken.

I come across so many people that feel they aren't deserving of a fulfilling life due to things that they may have done, or may have been done to them. They think "It's not meant for me to be happy." And tell them all the same thing: "You deserve the best, we all do. God created us for purpose and it's up to us to live to that potential." Your past was just practice! Everything that you went through was to prepare you for the goodness that is intended for your life. Don't be ashamed of what you've done or where you came from. Utilize the lesson learned!

Life teaches us something everyday. We have to learn to take control of lives, take each lesson and use it as a stepping stone to move forward and be better. Your past was the practice you needed to win the game of life. Rehearsals over, showtime is now.

I'm Doin' Me...

I've missed you all!!!! More than you know!!! I immediately want to send my deepest apologies for not updating as often as I had initially hoped to. Hope all of you have been well and anticipating my return, lol. :-)

Sometimes life just HAPPENS, and you can't control the course that it takes on you. That's what's been happening to me lately. With school, work, friends, and riding my train to happiness my life has been CONSUMED. I joke with my girlfriends all the time about "my life not being my own," but it's seriously not a joking matter. So I've decided to take my life back. Finding balance between professional, scholastic, and personal is very hard but I'm making it work. Doin me and making myself happy first.

If any of you are experiencing trouble with aligning your life, I highly suggest praying and taking the step to put YOU first. So apologize now to the people that you may disappoint or to the people who may try to knock what you're doing. Let em know that you're sorry that they can't win. In order to make others happy or to have any positivity come your way, you must first please self. When you're pleased with you, others have no choice but to be pleased with you as well.

My life is moving in the direction that I want it to, and I'm grateful. I've been through a lot in the past year, but things are finally starting to look up! And it's probably because I looked forward first. I gotta make the person I see in the mirror happy so that my reflection will showcase the happiness inside. I gotta do me.

The Underlying Message..

So the blizzard of 2010 has come and gone and we survived it!! School is getting ready to be back in session and folks are back to work. Now that our regularly scheduled program is in effect, what changes will you make in your life to make the regular, EXTRAORDINARY??

I'm a big believer in God reaching the masses in strange ways. The blizzard came with an underlying message that most did not recognize. The world we live in is shifting in many different directions and we are all not on one accord. A sense of peace, community, and STILLNESS was definitely necessary.

Marriages needed to be fixed, children needed attention, finances needed to be restructured, and lives needed to be centered.

So in the midst of all the complaining about weather, take time to be thankful for what God sent to us. He wants the best for you but sometimes we're just too busy doing what WE planned out to see what he has in store.

GET FOCUSED!!!!

The Power of You..

How much do you love yourself? How much of your time have you invested in yourself? Sadly enough, it takes people a long time to realize their worth and potential.

It's amazing how much power you possess in your life. You have the power to say no to any situation that you do not want to be in. I constantly hear women talk about how fed up they are with the situations they're in (with men) and vice versa. Well why are you in them? If the relationship isn't what you want, are you taking the steps to get it there? Or are you waiting around, assuming that your partner will get the hint? Relationships won't work out if both parties involved aren't putting up the fight. Love yourself enough to fight for what you deserve or love yourself enough to leave a bad situation.

Same works with finances, education, profession, etc. Anything worth having is worth fighting for. Most things in this life are not given. I made the personal decision to work two jobs while going to grad school because that was wanted for my life. Not too many people are gonna feel pity for you because you didn't allow yourself the opportunities you wanted. They were there! You just didn't take advantage of them.

I pray that you all find guidance, peace, strength, drive and love for your life. It's so short and should be spent living up to the expectations of yourself and the most high. Make your life great. Set out a goal to accomplish each day. It can be something as small as helping a stranger but whatever the goal or task is, make it happen! It is with those small steps that you can ultimately begin to live the purposeful life that you want. Your guided steps will lead to a fulfilling life.

You have the power to love your life. Use it.

New Look

I had The Robots over at The Fly Lab http://theflylab.com/ hook up my site so that it would have a more polished, professional look. I'm very passionate about Kim's Keepsake. It's my own special treasure and I want my readers to enjoy it as well. JJ did a wonderful job of capturing exactly what this site is about. Here is his explanation to the header (above):

The hearts are for love (and I incorporated the kissing couple in between the KK), the flowers for growth and beauty, the mountain tops (in the very top and back) and the rivers at the bottom are for perseverance, and the stars are for hope (you know that wishing on a star type of thing).

His description and portrayal came out perfectly! Kim's Keepsake was designed to help you believe in love, faith, strength, and longevity.

I wish all my readers and followers the best in life and hope that you live the life is purposely meant for you! Hope you all enjoy the new site. Feel free to let me know what you think. Also make sure you become a fan of Kim's Keepsake on Facebook and follow us on Twitter (see the link to the right, that's new too ;)) There is much more to come and I appreciate all the support! It means more than you know!!

Thanks again JJ for your genius skill!!!

Building Blocks

One of the first steps I took when I decided to "live on purpose" was getting a life coach. In life, you have to sometimes humble yourself in order to receive the knowledge necessary for change. There are a lot of people with the experience and know-how to get you where you need to be. Shanel has been that humbling blessing. Shanel shared these tips with me a few months back on our first call in session. These are ordered steps for taking control of your life and living it with the purpose that was intended for you!

1. Clarity- Be crystal clear on what you want in order to receive it correctly. Mixed signals only bring chaos.

2. Purpose- Your dreams may not be your purpose. Create your why and then you can figure out your how.
~~~ Purpose adds value to your life, people, and world.

3. Recipe- Ingredients, Preparation, Nourishment, Serving. What is going to work for your life and purpose? What do you need to add? What do you need to take out?

4. Prepare- Prepare your life to receive the things you want. Clean out your life of all things that will hinder what you want. Take inventory on your life!

5. Delete- Burn the rope once you get across: Eliminate every option that allows you to go backwards (this includes people)

6. F.O.C.U.S- Follow On Course Until Success! (Whatever your goal may be, stay on track)

We all must crawl before walk. Remember! You can't start at the top! As much as I'd like for all our dreams to come true as soon as they're dreamed up, it's not possible. You have to put in work to get the life you deserve! Stayed prayed up and increase your faith and gratitude.

Eventually I Won't Fear....

We live in a world of so many "eventually's." Eventually I'm gonna go back to school , eventually I'm gonna commit to you, eventually I'm going to lose these last 10 pounds. Eventually I'm gonna live.. for today.. I myself, have been victim to becoming OK with foreseen thoughts. Assuming that there was time to eventually accomplish these goals, tomorrow.

When I woke up this morning, I said OMG, it's Wednesday! Which meant there was no way of making up for things that I missed out on yesterday and no way to predict what was coming tomorrow. I had been putting off posting to the blog due to insecurities within myself, worrying about what others would think, and complaining of writer's block. All of these excuses for were all stemmed from fear...

We are blessed with gifts. Whether your gift is dance, being a father, writer, or an inspiration to others, your one sole responsiblity is to live on purpose!! Live fearlessly in knowing that what is meant for you is for you! Being complacent is not acceptable. Your life will make room for your gifts, so will you make room to bottle your fear and fulfill your purpose?

I just did. :)

Back in Action

It's a new year, which means new beginnings! Kim's Keepsake is back and ready to take on life head first, tune back in next week for weekly inspiration!

Be better, do better, know better.

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www.twitter.com/kimskeepsake