Tag Archives: Change and Personal Empowerment

7 Steps on A Faith Walk

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Make Sure Your Steps Are Faith-based NOT Fear-based.

They say that it is, “always darkest before the dawn.”  Meaning that, it is the darkest right before the light appears.   I’ve had some truly dark times indeed.  But, now, I not only can see the dawn, but a brilliant light all around.  So many opportunities and possibilities are within my grasp but there is an equal or greater number of pitfalls and potholes.  I can let the darkness paralyze me or proceed in faith.   I choose to proceed in faith and know that I am not alone and will be guided around the potholes in life.  So I encourage you to follow your dreams. Hold on if you’re convinced you are on the right boat, and jump ship if you aren’t and start swimming in the direction of your dreams.  When times get dark, visibility is poor, but who knows your wildest dreams may be just a step ahead.  Seven steps on a faith walk are below.  Enjoy and share.

7 Steps on a Faith Walk

  1. Don’t give up on your dreams when times get tough.  That’s the time to hold on tighter because it’s always darkest before the dawn.
  2. Seek advice and encouragement so that you can make a wise decision, but make the final decision yourself.  If necessary or possible, limit conversations and contact with negative, toxic, and fear-focused people.
  3. Make sure that your decisions are faith-based instead of fear-based.  Faith gives you hope.  Fear increases doubt.
  4. Take the faith walk a day at a time or a step at a time.  When it’s dark, it’s hard to see that far ahead so take each step in faith and confidence.  Everyday do something major or minor that will get you closer to your dream.
  5. Pray for guidance, fortify your faith, get up and act, and go after your dreams with tenacity.
  6. Realize that you may not get the support you need from those who love you the most.  It’s your dream and only you have been privileged through your vision to see a sneak preview of coming attractions.  You may have to take that faith walk alone.
  7. Finish the Faith Walk.  Go after your dreams as if you were fighting a gorilla.  Don’t stop when you get tired, stop when the gorilla gets tired.

I’m Barbara Talley, the poet who speaks and inspires.  To find out more about me check out my promo sheet or visit  my website.

The Importance of Family Dinners

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The dinner is more  than a meal.  Family dinners can even fight obesity.  But, that’s just one of the benefits of having a family dinner together says Dr. Mark Hyman.  He goes so far to say that “Eating at Home Can Save Your Life” and that “THE SLOW INSIDIOUS DISPLACEMENT of home cooked and communally shared family meals by the industrial food system has fattened our nation and weakened our family ties.”

Reconnect through the Family Dinner

Family dinner isn’t just an occasion to fuel  the body, it’ a time to connect and share its decline of it has astounding negative  social implications for our children and families.  If you want to bring your family closer and make them happier and healthier, the family dinner is the place to start.  Just as you schedule time for your work, favorite television shows and exercise,  in the same way, you must set aside time for the family dinner.  “Don’t schedule dinners into your life.  Schedule your life around your family dinners. ” It’s that important!   And, if done right with nutritious whole food, it can be a time of focused healing spiritually,  mentally and physically.  Fewer and fewer young adults even know how to cook anymore.  Food is our medicine and we can’t live without it.  And since we’re going to eat anyway, why not make a healing, educational, and connecting ritual of it?  It’s cheaper than therapy and a lot more enjoyable.

The Loss of Shared Family Meals Have Weakened Family Ties

via How Eating at Home Can Save Your Life by Dr. Mark Hyman

Research shows that children who have regular meals with their parents do better in every way, from better grades, to healthier relationships, to staying out of trouble. They are 42 percent less likely to drink, 50 percent less likely to smoke and 66 percent less like to smoke marijuana. Regular family dinners protect girls from bulimia, anorexia, and diet pills. Family dinners also reduce the incidence of childhood obesity. In a study on household routines and obesity in US pre-school aged children, it was shown that kids as young as four have a lower risk of obesity if they eat regular family dinners, have enough sleep, and don’t watch TV on weekdays.

We complain of not having enough time to cook, but Americans spend more time watching cooking on the Food Network, than actually preparing their own meals.”

If this excerpt interested you, check out the entire article.  You’ll be glad you did.

I’m Barbara Talley, the poet who speaks and inspires.  To find out more about me check out my promo sheet or visit  my website.

How Often Do You Eat Dinner with Your Family?

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Could you use a little more connection, love, or understanding?  If so, it could be as close as your kitchen table and a family meal.  Want to get closer to your teens?  The family dinner might be the place to start.  While some say the family dinner is dying out,  a Time Magazine article says it is coming back. Think back to your past, the family dinner was one of the few rituals that a family could count on.  It was a time when the children knew they had the undivided attention of their parents and siblings to share or consult about issues going on in their lives.  Unfortunately, research shows that the institution of a family dinner is dying.  I know personally, we have a lot less dinners together now that we did years ago.  I got tired of cooking after 40 years of preparing meals for my family.  But, after reading the articles linked to this post, I’m rethinking the whole  thing.  I realize that I am not the only one who can cook.  I spoke with my family and we’ve promised to take turns cooking and bring the family dinner back. I like that!

Let’s Do Our Own Research

So which is it; is it dying out or coming back?  What about you; Do you have regular family dinners?  I mean dinners where you are all seated at the same table at the same time, with no phones and no TV on? Do you talk to each other and if you do, do you have meaningful conversations?  What do you remember about family dinners growing up, the cooking, eating,  and then cleaning up together? Please post your reply to the question: Do you still have family dinners?  How often? Do you miss them?

I’m Barbara Talley, the poet who speaks and inspires.  To find out more about me check out my promo sheet or visit  my website.

Humans Are Essentially Conscious Thinking Beings

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We are conscious beings capable of discerning truth and creating a reality that supports the health, well-being, and survival of all.  But, to do that we must independently investigate truth for ourselves.  We must be open-minded seekers of truth.  Hopefully, more and more people will begin to question reality instead of just blindly following the leader.  And, if we are to follow someone, then we must demand that they are virtuous visionaries who are honest and trustworthy. Far too many follow those who are arrogant, prideful, and competitive and who value money, power, and prestige over justice and fairness.  That is why our trust is waning in so many of our once trusted institutions.  We are now realizing that they are run by fallible human beings whose value systems may be contrary to our own. Humans are essentially conscious thinking beings. When we refuse to think, we forfeit our noble advantage and become less than the animals.

Our Intellect Makes Us Superior to Animals

It is our intelligence and  capacity to think that separates us from the animal.  When we don’t use our mind, we are no different from the animals.  In fact, when compared to animals excluding our thought power we are inferior.  In all the senses which we share, there is some animal specie that surpasses humans.  Birds can see further, cheetahs can run faster, dogs and hear further, etc.  Only our rational minds separate us.  Only our minds make us superior.  Let’s commit to catering to our strengths, and that is our thoughts.  Let’s commit individually to think more often and about more important things.

I’m Barbara Talley, the poet who speaks and inspires.  To find out more about me check out my promo sheet or visit  my website.

Put Your Best Fruit Forward

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Are Your Fruits Good?

What is the content of your character? Are you known for your honesty, compassion, fairness, love, faithfulness, patience or hospitality.  Are your fruits good?  Why not pick a fruit (or virtue) and really harvest it this year.  Genesis states that when the world was created, God remarked after each creation, that “it was good.”  We should get in the habit of doing the same thing.  Whether you believe or not, we must agree that if we are to put something into the universe, it should be good or the best we have to offer.  Depending on whether we are manifesting the fruits of our higher nature or our lower nature, our fruits may be good or bad.

To Be Good- Be Aware

Our rational mind or intellect gives us the power to create both good and bad.  Consequently, we must be alert and aware at all times.  We must be careful to align ourselves with people who have our values  and remember that we are influenced by the company we keep. If we are not alert, it will be even more difficult to see the truth about ourselves and others.  Instead of using our mind power and following our own instincts and intuition we may be tempted to simply follow the crowd.  Be true to yourself.  With the unlimited power to create that we have been endowed with, it is not acceptable to hide behind our veils, masks, and fears.  The only way we’re going to manifest our best selves is to put our best fruit forward and be good, honest, and true.

I’m Barbara Talley, the poet who speaks and inspires.  To find out more about me check out my promo sheet or visit  my website.