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Lighten up & just enjoy yourself

The temperature is heating up and that means vacation, family reunions, summer break, summer holidays and with that comes all of the justification to “lighten up and just enjoy yourself”.  I was talking to a client recently about my trip to Mexico and she asked me if I MADE myself workout and drink my favorite meal replacement shake.  When I shared that I didn’t MAKE myself I CHOSE to both workout AND have 1 shake a day (I normally do 2) she said…Cledra do you ever LIGHTEN UP AND JUST ENJOY YOURSELF?

I found that interesting because she made me realize that MY definitions at 46 and 9 months of what it means to LIGHTEN UP AND ENJOY MYSELF have changed.  In this season a lot is changing …my hormones are shifting, my Daddy has transitioned, my eye sight has changed about what it means to LIGHTEN UP AND ENJOY MYSELF.  I’ve struggled with weight since age 11 when I got on the scale in for the Presidential Fitness test and at 5’9″ and 135 lbs I declared myself fat. Obviously I wasn’t but because IT WAS MY DEFINITION I operated based on that definition and began dieting.

Similarly if your DEFINITION of ENJOYING YOURSELF is pigging out, being inactive, laying around in a carb coma for a few days only to return home bloated, annoyed that your clothes are tighter, and angry for doing what you already knew wouldn’t have a great outcome…no thanks.  Been there done that had the Lane Bryant charge card for years to support ENJOYING MYSELF.

Hear me clearly…I am passing NO  judgment for how YOU want to define “enjoyment” but as for me and my 46 years and 9 month temple that holds the Holy Spirit that I need every moment to make it in this season…my definition includes making choices that keep me awake to this short thing called life.

 

My definition includes making choices that limit and come close to eliminating time wallowing about the way I look.  Spent most of my 20s and 30s fighting that scale…I”m done.
I’m less concerned about a number and more concerned about a LIFE. The LIFE my GOD sent HIS only son for me to live abundantly.  I’ve allowed that lesser voice that we all have to rob me of a lot of time, energy , and money being a professional starter on programs that I never finished only to lose money and gain weight and regret.

No…”enjoying myself” has new meaning….what about for you?  How do you “lighten up and enjoy yourself?”

No one gets out of life alive…I plan to leave here on “E” and that’s for ENERGIZED ’cause I”m empty from pouring it all out!

xoxo,

Cledra

 

 

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Where were you when you heard about Prince

Where were you when you heard about Prince?

“At 57 Prince Rogers Nelson is dead”…I was having lunch with clients and someone pulled it up on Facebook and then someone else quickly responded…NOOOOOO THAT CAN’T BE I JUST SAW HIM IN CONCERT.

That can’t be true.

Tell me that isn’t true.

I can’t believe this.

I’m in shock.

Just a few of the sentences that flood the mind in an attempt to combat news that you didn’t see coming. Next our mind races back to the “last time”.  The last concert, the last photo opportunity, the last for some of us conversation but none the less…the last.

While the news about Prince is shocking and he was without question a musical genius & for many of us we’ve been fans since we were children. He’s a part of our journey that can’t be forgotten and so we play his songs and we remember.

And so I ask you AGAIN…Where were you when you heard about Prince?

This time I’m not talking physically but where were you with YOUR genius?  Prince was incredibly gifted but I’m radical enough in my thinking to believe you are too.

Did this sudden, shocking, and sad news find you living YOUR genius so passionately that if today was YOUR last day the legacy of YOUR genius would live on?

 

If not “Let’s Go Crazy” and in the words of Prince Rogers Nelson himself

 

Let’s go crazy
Let’s get nuts
Let’s look for the purple banana
‘Til they put us in the truck, let’s go!

We’re all excited
But we don’t know why
Maybe it’s ’cause
We’re all gonna die

And when we do (When we do)
What’s it all for (What’s it all for)
You better live now
Before the grim reaper come knocking on your door

Tell me, are we gonna let the elevator bring us down
Oh, no let’s go!

 

So I ask a final time…Where were you when you heard about Prince?

Let’s let the shock and sadness push us to make a bold decision to live our own genius  and….Let’s Go Crazy!!

 

Lots of Love(LOL)

Cledra

 

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Cursed out talking about “God” stuff—VICTORY!

Early this morning I did a video about what successful BELIEVERS do before breakfast. As believers we can’t do business any kinda way and expect to call it “success”.  GOD must be the priority and not making 6 or 7 figures.  It’s about fulfillment…fulfillment of our assignment and confidently knowing that GOD is faithful to HIS word that if we seek HIM first …all other things (including money) will be added but it must be in that order.

Less than 10 minutes later y’all I got CURSED OUT ONLINE!! Talked about how this “GOD” stuff was worthless and how people were not going to listen to me.  My husband was working from home and hear me when I tell you I ran upstairs to CELEBRATE WITH HIM!!!

Why?

This year my husband did a powerful series at our church on spiritual warfare and as a result it opened my eyes up to what was REALLY at the root of a lot that I was being challenged by this year.

Honestly I didn’t grow up with a lot of conversation about spiritual warfare but you know just because we don’t know about something doesn’t mean it stops working. It’s kinda like gravity. You might not understand it but it’s gonna work no matter what and that series was life changing for me because when I really stepped out in my coaching practice a couple years ago talking about GOD I got called names, had comments about the size of my forehead, and was even threatened and I stopped.  I stopped being as bold and I let “it” (now I know the enemy) stop me.

I started using popular less controversial terms like the “universe” or the “god of your understanding” and I didn’t make it clear that I was talking about Christ.

 

I got scared. At the time I was single and it made me feel really vulnerable. Fast forward this time I didn’t get scared I got happy.  Happy because what I learned from that series on spiritual warfare is that sometimes the strongest point of resistance is what happens right before a mind blowing breakthrough in your life, finances, health, and so much more.

 

So I ask you….did you let “it” stop you this year?  What did you say was “too hard” and so you let yourself settle?

I’m drawing a line in the sand...it’s time to CLAIM VICTORY!

YES I said it V-I-C-T-O-R-Y for ALL BELIEVERS.

It’s time for BELIEVERS TO COME OUT OF THE CLOSET.

Everybody else is being celebrated for coming out of the closet…ITS OUR TIME

 

So if you are on the page of making 2016 your year to WALK IN YOUR BIRTHRIGHT OF VICTORY then

 

JOIN ME for CLAIM YOUR VICTORY complimentary webinar on January 2nd

 

Where: online(so if you have a phone you can come)

When: 10 am EST January 2nd

What else do you need to do?  CLICK HERE for all you need to know

 

 

 

The promise wasn’t easy

The promise wasn’t that people wouldn’t throw “stones” of insults

The promise was and is V-I-C-T-O-R-Y

See ya on the webinar!

LOL Cledra ;0) 

ps…..if you’re curious about what I said to get cursed out CLICK HERE 

 

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Business Coach: real deal or real rip off

I have had some INCREDIBLY talented business coaches over the last 4 years and I have also at the same time been exposed to some INCREDIBLE non-sense.

As you begin to step into your purpose related to business this year I want to share some things I wish I had known BEFORE spending $30,000 on business coaching.

1. Digging into the claims the coach makes about her ability to grow your business

First of all the coach should have testimonials, but let’s assume they do. You need to ask yourself do these business testimonials look like MY business.
For example let’s say the business coach claims to have taken Beyonce’s brand from $20 Million to $80 Million in a short period of time. Doing the math the coach could in integrity claim she grew Beyonce’s sales by 400% (100% of $20 Million increased 4 times). Coach claims completely accurate HOWEVER when you compare YOUR AUDIENCE OF FOLLOWERS to BEYONCE’S AUDIENCE of followers are they on the same scale?

If you are an emerging entrepreneur and the testimonials of the business coach are from people who had ESTABLISHED PLATFORMS OF VISIBILITY PRIOR to her coaching then you need to dig deeper.

REAL TALK question to ask: Does she have testimonials from people who have a SIMILAR PLATFORM CURRENTLY to YOUR PLATFORM?

2. Repeat business

Ask the coach if you can speak to someone who has repeatedly returned for coaching. Some business coaches are INCREDIBLE marketers with NO SUBSTANCE behind it, so on social media at any given time they can APPEAR to have SO MANY CLIENTS and in that snapshot of time they do HOWEVER because they have great marketing but poor fulfillment they don’t have repeat customers.

REAL TALK question to ask: Can I speak to someone who took this program before about their results?

3. Do they talk about being “trapped” between a job and a dream?

Because your heart is so open and you are so ready to pursue this newly found purpose you are also VERY vulnerable at this stage. Vulnerable because you may currently have a job that bothers you and you have visions of leaving that job and having flexibility to spend more time with your children, husband, friends and family. You may be working long hours and now you have visions of owning your own time. ALL OF THAT IS GOOD to dream about however be CAREFUL with how some business coaches will use that vision to create such a strong sense of urgency to leave your job that you fall into a trap of dreading your day job and living the dream in your mind. This is a trap because it can cause serious fatigue emotionally AND threaten your creativity. What we hate we recreate. What I mean by that is that even if you don’t like your current job it IS the job that is helping to put food on your table, pay your bills, and more. If you allow yourself to shift from gratitude to hatred it will filter into your ability to create that great business you’re dreaming about. Talking about leaving your job to pursue your dream in and of itself isn’t bad however when it becomes the focus more than the STRATEGY to do it being the focus…PROBLEM!

REAL TALK question to ask: I want to create a systematic exit strategy from my current investor(a much more empowering way to look at and to refer to your current job) to my purpose. Have you done this in the past and can I speak to someone who followed your system?

4. Alignment of values

There isn’t anything wrong with wanting to be successful financially HOWEVER as a believer in Christ HOW we do things matters. So with that being said, you want to know that the coach has more than a bank account your admire. Does she have VALUES that align with your values. This is CRITICAL for the believer because first of all our priorities are dictated by KINGDOM values and not the worlds. The greatest mandate for us is to love. You want to know how the coach handles conflict. Does her customer service have a tone of love or a tone of “I’m right and you’re wrong”? Does she do what she says and if she doesn’t how is her attitude about correcting it?
Make sure you go beyond what she SAYS she values to what you can SEE that she values.

REAL TALK question to ask: What would you say you value the most and can you give me an example of how you do that consistently?

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Sometimes You Have to Lose it all to Gain it all

I had worked hard to recover from a very painful divorce
I had worked hard to accept that I would never be a biological Mother.
I had worked hard to drop excess weight from not only my body but from my heart….so why….why was I still alone?

Losing it All to Gain It All

I remember crying out to GOD….I’m ready. I’m ready for that special someone. I’m ready to love. I’m ready to love…again. I’m ready because this time it’s because I”m so full I have alot to give. This time my agenda is complete surrender to GOD’s will for my life. I sounded healthy & thought I was healthier than I’ve ever been.

I now realize that GOD withheld love, new friends, a new home and more because HE had to break my need to define myself based on status……….marital, parental, vocational, geographical.

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Married, single, divorced, widowed, biological parent, parent by adoption, parent by surrogacy, never a parent, picking up garbage, or being picked up by a hired driver, house in the Hamptons, or house in the blog_losetogainhood….

Our position in this world matters less than our position in CHRIST.

And when we can hold fast to who we are because of WHO we belong to then we can say it is well…it is well…no matter the position I hold in this world…it is well with my Soul.

When we can be ok to not have it all HE blesses us with it all!