As I was praying the other day, I saw these words: "Honor your past." Wait, what? It wasn't something I had ever thought about before. Usually, when I thought of the past, there was pain: regrets and mistakes that I wish I could go back and change. Back to the future. Remember that movie? How many times have I wished we could really do that? More times than I can count, I will tell you that much. If you are like me, you've gone over the past countless times, maybe

I won a million dollars! Ok, ok, you are right, I didn’t win a million dollars, but how many times in our lives do we doubt winning other opportunities in our lives and limit ourselves? I won’t get that job. I am not smart enough. I am not good at sports. I am not pretty enough. I am ugly. I can’t do that. I will never get married. I will never have money. Sound familiar? We all have limiting beliefs, and those beliefs stop us fr

I grew up on welfare in government subsidized housing in an abusive and violent home environment by a parent who had a mental illness. As a result, I struggled with my self-esteem. I was told I was worthless, and I believed that lie, but once I attended university and did very well in my classes, and loved learning, I realized that I did have something to offer the world.

We create our lives with our thoughts, whether they are negative or positive. Our actions follow our thoughts. If we believe we can do what we desire to do, we can. In turn, if we believe we can’t do something, we won’t. Our thoughts, beliefs, and even words have incredible power to create the life that we desire.

The chaos will subside. It always does. The negative feelings will change into positive ones. Your emotions will calm. You are powerful when you choose to be.

Children and teenagers, at times, seem to be very different than us. Is your child or teenager from another world? Maybe an alien? (I have nothing against aliens, in case you were wondering). Maybe or maybe not, but they respond differently and think differently than we do in certain situations. To help children learn, grow, and heal, making a connection with them is of upmost importance. How do we do that if we don't understand them at times?

You can overcome obstacles. Even with obstacles and challenges, you can persevere. I grew up on welfare and we did not have many books in our home. In my family, we were not read to by our parents, who may not have understood the importance of reading to children. Along with other factors, this may have led to me being behind in school and attending a special education class for speech assistance.

Our young people are looking outside themselves for direction and validation, the last place they should be looking. They are dressing to fit in, doing the same things as the other kids, looking at their friends, classmates, celebrities, and social media influencers to find out who they are and who they think they want to be.

As a child, my home was filled with poverty and abuse. While I understood now that both of my parents had a mental illness, at the time it was devastating. I initially had good self-esteem as a young child, but eventually after hearing negative things over and over, and being physically and emotionally abused, my positive self-esteem was destroyed. I didn’t think I had anything to offer the world. However, I wanted to work with children and teenagers who struggled through