Join CALM Society member and Author Danette Reid as she uses real life challenges, experiences, victories, and the Word of God to encourage, motivate, and uplift you.
Visit her website if you would like to purchase her new book "Jewels From My Journey". Click here for her Mid-Week Motivation.
©2009 Danette Michelle Reid. All rights reserved
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Against criticism a man can neither protest nor defend himself; he must act in spite of it, and then it will gradually yield to him.
~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Maxims and Reflections
KEYS FOR DEALING WITH ADVERSITY!
1 – It is not necessary to respond to everything said about you. Sometimes, silence is the best course of action. Impulsiveness can create more problems.
2 – The person who is being challenged has the upper hand in the situation. The way you respond sets the tone for the aftermath.
3 – Haters only hate when they want what you have. Understand that they are placed in your path because you are getting close to something wonderful in your life.
4 – Before reacting, always ask yourself, is what I am about to do worth the outcome that it will bring? (e.g. school suspension, expulsion, info on your permanent records that follow you to college entrance apps…)
5 – Always remember that adversity itself is not the challenge, the real challenge is how you handle yourself.
6 – Character is what you do when no one is watching, not how you act when they are.
7 – Keep things in perspective. Some of the greatest inventions started out as mistakes.
8 – Love yourself. No one can make you feel _____________ UNLESS you already feel that way about yourself.
9 – Adversity is an opportunity for growth if handled correctly.
10 – A true champion wins with dignity and grace!
BE BRILLIANT & KEEP DREAMING!
©2009 Danette Michelle Reid. All rights reserved
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WHAT IF?
By Danette M. Reid 3/27/08
What if I told you that you could be a doctor, a lawyer, a teacher, or whatever you put your mind to?
You might say, who me? And I’d respond, yes you!
What if I told you that your future starts today?
Would you believe me or would you say, no way?
What if I told you that you could be the future Commander in Chief? Would you get excited or stare at me in disbelief?
What if I told you that only you can limit your dreams?
Would you believe me or would you think that I’m a bit extreme?
Well, guess what, it’s true! You are special and we think the world of you. As mentors, teachers, and community leaders, we want what’s best for you but don’t forget that in order to achieve your dreams; you have to do your part too! You must work hard, get good grades, further your education, and adhere to the rules in order to guide you.
What rules you ask? Here’s a few:
1 - Act like a lady/gentleman at all times;
2 – Understand that going to class and doing your homework are minimum expectations;
3 – Always respect your caretakers, teachers, and mentors;
4 – Be the best you can be in all that you do; and last but not least,
5 – Don’t accept failure, it wasn’t meant for you!
Follow these rules and in time you’ll see that the goals you’ve set will become your reality. And when they do, make sure you take the time to help someone else, the way someone has helped you!
So go out there and be brilliant! We’re all rooting for you!
©2008 Danette Michelle Reid. All rights reserved
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OUR DEEPEST FEAR
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine, as children do.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
MARIIANNE WILLIAMSON
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IF
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!
RUPYARD KIPLING
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INVICTUS
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY
