Tag: focus

A Moment to Pray

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I am still not feeling much like writing (or doing much of anything else) lately.  I thought that I might be coming out of my funk this morning when I woke up but somewhere throughout the course of the day that same mood crept back in.  I’m not going to lie, I gave into it today.  But I really am trying here to pull myself out of whatever this feeling is that suddenly came over me.  So in an effort to try and re-motivate myself I have been trying to read uplifting and motivating things and I came upon a book that I was given a few years ago called ‘Dear God, It’s Me and It’s Urgent: Prayers for every season of a woman’s life’ by Marion Stroud.  I look through it from time to time and some days it helps.  Tonight I was looking through it and came across this one prayer that I just wanted to share a part of.  

Thank you, Lord, that you provide this belt of truth.

Please help me to discern the half truths and the lies hurled at me by the enemy.

And when they scream for entry at the doorway of my mind,

Help me to refuse, both to receive them or believe them.

Thank you for the breastplate that protects my heart and my emotions.

Keeping me from being wounded by the jibes of others,

Or being bound by the fear of the reactions of those

Whose good opinion is so important to me.

Banish compromise please Lord,

Enabling me to do what’s right-consistently.

And as I wear these running shoes of the readiness to share your love,

Keep me from being sidetracked, Lord,

or from avoiding the stony paths.

Help me to be ready to go wherever you may send me,

and prepared to set out at a moment’s notice.     

The prayer goes on for another page or so but I just wanted to share the part that struck me the most.  There was also a scripture in the book that accompanied the prayer. 

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.  Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.

– Ephesians 6:10-11, NIV 

I just wanted to share this with all of you and I hope that these words help someone else beside me today.

 

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

https://write-2-be.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310

http://www.passionatewriterpublishing.com/thediary.htm

www.lulu.com/ladybugpress

The Questions We Ask Ourselves, and God (Part 2): How Did I End Up Here?

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“The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are.”

~ Unknown  

The way our lives unfold is due to a series of choices.  We wonder to ourselves how we ended up in whatever rough spot we are in but it is often because of the choices that we have made over a period of time.  Not just one choice, because one misguided choice would be simple to bounce back from.  Sometimes it is a succession of choices made that lead us down the path that landed us at that point in our lives. 

But you must then take into account where here really is.  We often get so caught up with the struggle we are in the midst of that we aren’t focusing on realizing what it is we need to do to get out of that moment.  I am extremely guilty of wallowing in whatever overwhelming mess my journey seems to be taking me through.  Sometimes it takes me awhile to stop dwelling on the obstacle long enough so that I can see a way through it.  I usually tend to waste a lot of time asking ‘How did I get here?’ instead of realizing that maybe, for that particular part of my journey, here is exactly where I needed to be.   

Everything happens for a reason and as many times as you will hear that saying, it will probably always take a while for it to sink in.  We give so much energy and time to what we can’t change, the obstacle that is sitting dead center in the middle of our journey.  It’s time that is wasted.  It is time that you can not get back.  And all the while, as you stare at that obstacle wondering why you chose that path to begin with, the obstacle is still sitting there.  You staring at it and questioning where it came from does not move it out of your way.  

Wherever your ‘Here’ is, make sure you don’t waste too much time questioning the obstacle instead of moving through it.  And don’t forget to take the lessons you’ve learned with you to your next stop in the road.  

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

https://writetobe.wordpress.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310

http://www.passionatewriterpublishing.com/thediary.htm

www.lulu.com/ladybugpress

Critics Are Everywhere

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“It doesn’t matter if a million people tell you what you can’t do, or if ten million tell you no. If you get one yes from God that’s all you need.”
~Tyler Perry 

There is negative energy everywhere.  People will try and tear others down simply because they are succeeding at something and they are envious.  There may be someone out there who doesn’t like the fact that someone else is hogging what they see as their spotlight.  There all critics in their own right and just like we can’t always rely on the negative word of a book or movie reviewer for the next book we will read or movie we will see, we can not rely on the critics who say that we will never become what we know we are destined to become.  

I got another Inspirational Corner message in my email from Tyler Perry today.  He shared with his fans a clip that was sent to him which, at first glance, looks like a barrage of negative comments hurled at him to discourage him.  But as you go on watching the clip, it phases out the negative comments and goes on to display and show all of the comments of encouragement for Tyler, both by his fans and the many actors and actresses he has worked with throughout the years.  

Just like that clip, Tyler Perry has managed to tune out all of the negative comments of people who just might not have gotten his vision, and focus in on the words of encouragement and empowerment for him.  There were so many people who told him no.  There were so many people who told him that there was just no place for him in the industry.  People told him that the world just wouldn’t buy what he was trying to sell.  He had been shut down so many times by so many negative critics but he never let that stop him.  Look at him now.  

My message today is to say that even the most successful people that you see today have been told no and have been told that they would never get to where they were trying to go.  They did it by letting the negative comments roll right off their back and putting their focus into the words of encouragement that helped fuel their desire.  They never gave up until they were right where they said they were going to be, at the top.  So to all of the future success stories out there that are climbing your way to the top, don’t let the critics slow down your rise.  Until tomorrow…Just press on and tune out anything that’s going to get in your way!    

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

https://writetobe.wordpress.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310

http://www.passionatewriterpublishing.com/thediary.htm

www.lulu.com/ladybugpress

Making the Best Out of What You Don’t Have

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If I could write a list of the things that I need to do pertaining to my writing career that is being held up due to lack of money, I’m not sure if one piece of paper would be enough.  Every time I think that I am going to be able to get some new business cards or pay my editor to edit my next novel, or hire an artists to design the cover of my next novel, I just get reminded that I never seem to have the money to do what I need to do in order to make me more money.  It seems like the things I don’t have constantly outweigh what I want.  

The other day I heard something on one of Oprah’s shows that made me think differently in regards to dwelling on what I don’t have right now.  Iyanla Vanzant was speaking about people being angry with not having what they want out of life and she said that “you have to create what you want instead of being stuck with what you don’t have.”  I realized that if I keep focusing on what little I have (or what I don’t have at all sometimes) then not only can I not take joy in the things that I am already blessed to have, but I can’t create a way to turn things around and get what it is that I do want.  

Now clearly there are just some things that you can’t do without having the benefit of money.  However, that doesn’t mean that I can’t concentrate on the things that I can do for my career that can be done with discipline and hard work.  That, I don’t need to buy, that, I already have.  So today, for every thing that you don’t have, think of how you can turn that around and create something you want.  Until tomorrow…Remember there is good in any misfortune, you just have to stop focusing on the misfortune.   

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

https://writetobe.wordpress.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310

http://www.passionatewriterpublishing.com/thediary.htm

www.lulu.com/ladybugpress

Planting One Seed At a Time

jcladyluv

“Most of the time multitasking is an illusion. You think you are multitasking, but in reality you’re actually wasting time switching from one task to another.”

~ Bosco Tjan

There always seems to be a message of inspiration for me in some part of every day.  Whether it’s in the conversations that I have with Ms. L. (which frankly always hold some source of inspiration), or something that is being said by someone in the gym I go to or on TV, or even if it’s sent in an email.  Yesterday there so happened to be an email that I felt spoke directly to me.  It was one of Tyler Perry’s Inspirational Corner Messages that he sends out to everyone who is on his email listing.  It was a message on how to become successful.  It was right on the money and exactly what I needed to hear.  

He spoke about his success being due to the grace of God.  He spoke about narrowing your focus and planting your seeds.  He essentially said that when it comes to the success that we want out of life for ourselves, all we can do is plant the seed in the ground, water it, and believe.  He advised that to be successful one must narrow their focus and concentrate on one thing at a time, one idea.  That one idea, once made a success, will give birth to all of your other ideas.  If you spend time spreading water over too many seeds you don’t have as much water for one seed, that one seed that you feel is most important to bloom.  

I realized then the reason why I have been feeling so lost lately within my writing.  Ever since this year has started, I have felt so much pressure (that I placed on myself) to tackle everything on my goal list.  Trying to figure out how I am going to work on all of these different projects that I want to get done over the course of this year all essentially at one time.  The rational response is that of course I can’t work on all of my projects at once but the overachiever that lives inside of me wants so badly for it to be possible.  I’ve been wasting so much time trying to work out a plan in my head to make it happen which has resulted in me getting nothing done at all.  

I must narrow my focus.  I must take what is the most important thing to me and concentrate on how I can make that work and make that successful.  Once I thought about concentrating on that one thing, I didn’t feel so lost anymore.  My direction became a little clearer.  If I focus on becoming the well known author that I was meant to be and acquire the agent that I am seeking to find for my next novel, then all of my other ideas will come to fruition.  

I always thought that if I could be really good at multitasking than I could get everything accomplished relatively at once.  However, it hasn’t been working that way so I must shift my efforts to something different, something that is going to work.  Multitasking, I think works for those who have already reached that level of success that they strived to get to.  When you are just trying to get to that level of success you must narrow your focus.  I must narrow my focus and plant one seed at a time and give each individual seed a chance to bloom in their own time.  Until tomorrow…Focus on that one seed and the rest will eventually bloom!  

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

https://writetobe.wordpress.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310

http://www.passionatewriterpublishing.com/thediary.htm

www.lulu.com/ladybugpress

Are you feeling unproductive in your writing?

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5 Tips on how to stay productive

  1. Become realistic about your time–You can schedule all you want but unless your honest about the time that you have to give to any one particular task then you still won’t accomplish the things listed on your schedule to do. 
  2.  Do the most important thing first– When writing your to do lists make sure that you prioritize your list according to what is the most important task that you need to get done first. 
  3. Focus on what your task is instead of always trying to focus on too many things at once– Most of the time multi-tasking doesn’t help you.  It may work out better if you try to focus on one task to not only complete it better but also faster. 
  4. Create a Schedule– Some writer’s don’t believe in scheduling their writing time –as if it would mean that it is not truly the creative nature to schedule- but for those who are serious about your art you have to be consistent with it and make time for it.  Schedule it just as if it were an important business meeting that you can not miss. 
  5. Jealously guard your time– When it is your time to write then it is your time.  As selfish as it may sound sometimes in order to really get anything done you have to put yourself first and tell everyone else in your life that this is your time and that you need for them to respect that.