Tag: television

Culture & Communications

Ok…..So What Now? 4 Steps To Getting Your *ish Back

danitaogandaga

This past weekend was filled with a bunch of phone conversations with clients who all seemed to be working on the same important issue in their lives……..self-acceptance to love God more. Each conversation was a reminder of the past issues that each one had encountered which caused them to feel as though they were stuck in a twilight zone unable to get past the present and past failures that entangled them. The failures often came in the flavor of relationships, friendships, sour business deals, job promotions, and conception. No matter what the situation was the underpinning was a question that sounded and reverbed every chamber of their ear, ” Ok, so now that I failed, what now?

This question, in my eyes, is worth the $0.79 Therapy that I send to over 5,500 people everytime I publish this blog. Check it out here. Every situation that we face in life is an opportunity to grow. In my personal life, when I think of the countless times in thirty four years that I have undertaken new ventures, it makes me want to sit down for a tall iced coffee with milk. Moving to three new cities within a four year period, marrying a man from another country and learning his culture and language, having a baby, teaching in front of students who were my professional peers, or getting in front of the crowd at Apache Cafe and spitting my poetry to the masses. Whew, just the thought of them makes me want to grab a seat as I write this post. Where did I muster the courage to conquer the whole of these things?

 Why would I want to continue searching for things to conquer after doing so many things thus far? After all, the likelihood of failing is much greater because after all, years have passed and so has my resistance to handle failure—-why would anyone want to set themselves up for failure? This question continues to linger in the heads and mindsets of most. Playing it safe in life only guarantees that the path will continue to be straight but best believe that the weather forecast may throw in some rain and other turbulence from time to time but even through that the ability to remain focused is an essential trait to have for your journey.

 One of my favorite scriptures is Proverbs 28:1 declaring that, “the righteous are as bold as a lion.” When we make the decision to step out after a failed series of attempts that gives us the courage to press into our future and obtain closer results for what we are destined to become. When we allow fear to enter into our mindset and cloud our judgment, we become paralyzed, insecure, and unable to function. Fear does not show up to a pity party alone; it brings cousin Condemnation, cousin Discouragement, and cousin Guilt.

 Making the decision to try a new thing may be just what the doctor has ordered in your life. It may be that your husband left you and you find yourself stuck in your home after work afraid to go out of the house. Make a decision to accept the decision for him to leave (only you know what prompted the decision) and begin to pick up the residuals of your life while pressing into your future. You may find that rather than going home after work, taking a trip to the local coffee shop and reading your favorite book may be tremendous healing for your mind, body, and spirit. Coming to terms with the grief issue in your life is the first step in receiving your healing and ultimately fulfilling their destiny.

 1. Ask for Help– God is an awesome helper and he longs for the opportunity to provide guidance and direction to his children. After all, another one of my favorite scriptures says that before we were formed in our mother’s womb, he knew us and had an awesome planned arranged for us before the foundations of the world. How cool is that! Just talk to him, without the long drawn out words and actions this time. I find two words most helpful to get the assistance that I need. I simply say, “Daddy, help!”

2. Give It Your All– When we have encountered disappointments in the past, it is easy to enter a new venture with half the passion that we exerted in the first go round. Many of us find it easy to remain in the land of complacent, after all, with the way the world is going now, it would be easier to just sit back and enjoy that boring job we hold and fake happy the rest of our life without trying to find the footprint trail of our God-born destiny…Right? Well, no, why can’t we encounter both, the right to pursue anything and everything that we believe is leading us to the purpose that God has put inside of us. God wants us to be those bold lions that are not afraid to step out to seek the passion that has been placed within us so give it your all.

3. Do It Afraid-Baby steps eventually create giant steps and with the help of the Holy Spirit you will develop deeper understanding, wisdom, and custom revelation to handle the issues that you are confronted with. In the event that you encounter interference coming in the form of distractions, setbacks, sour deals, fractured relationships, stay focused and if you have to, as Joyce Meyer so boldly said, “Do it Afraid.” The art of being bold requires you to step outside of the confidence that we hold for ourselves and get equipped with the supernatural assistance of the Holy Spirit who knows everything. How can we possibly fail with help like that?

4. Report Identity Theft and Snatch Your *ish Back– A crime can leave you feeling violated and insecure of who holds you, your information, and the balance of the transactions you will have to come. There is nothing more personal than your *ish because that is the place where the intimate details of your life are stored. Your ‘ish is your past, present, and future function junction whether positive or negative that makes you the collective person that you are.

John 10:10 says that the thief comes to kill, steal, and destroy so we know that his visit is up to no good. The thief is an intrusion into everything that we will ever attempt to step out on, so rather than giving him the satisfaction, keep pressing into what you believe your purpose is. God knows the very hairs on your head so please know that he is concerned about everything that concerns you.

It is essential that you maintain your identity and not try to fall into the embrace of culture and society to measure the purpose that has been placed inside of you. Often times, persons that are aware of your dream may not be able to help you move forward because they are frozen with doubt and belief and unwilling to move forward into their own purpose.

That does not mean you have to stay there too so get to steppin into your purpose and go get your *ish back!

Uncategorized

Walking on Water When Nikes Just Won’t Do It!

danitaogandaga

Image

When was the first time you discovered what you would love to do for life? If you were given the opportunity to start tomorrow, what would you do? I remember the first time I came into an understanding of what I wanted to be. It was an autumn or maybe fall day — I was about seven years old and my daddy, who was a minister, asked me to look up some words for him. He would always write his sermons at home, after a day at our family shoe shop called, Solomon’s Shoe Shop on Bright Street in Kinston, North Carolina 28501 (shout-out)—Richard Green where Grandma Sudie lived with Pam-Pam. After identifying what each word meant, I would tell him. Thus my fascination with INFORMATION grew…

Every other day, I found myself around this same age, loving to look through my dad’s office catalog, where he would order supplies for his home office- which was the desk where he ran the family affairs. Never being asked, I would always re-arrange and arrange his desk, sort the mail into stacks, put the paper clips in order, etc. I learned the art of customer service on my daddy’s desk, having learned to take messages on the message book and put the white copy on the desk for my daddy; leaving the yellow copy in the book. From what seems like birth, my mom was a strong domestic organizer- cooking, cleaner, gardener, decorator, seamstress, and stable force in our home. She was quiet yet her few words gave way to the bold actions to get things done! She was a mover and a shaker and taught me how to love the home I lived in. I know now yall got Martha Stewart and she has become stable, but I promise somebody somewhere, is a student of Talmer Joyce Gray Solomon’s School of Domestication besides myself! Momma did not play—- she had me washing dishes and doing laundry at a young age; which has aided as a virtuous compliment to me as a wife and mother! Thanks Momma! Thus my interest in improving DOMESTICATION THROUGH ORGANIZATION…..

Growing up in a family where my father endured 55 transplants and 3 kidney operations, I also dealt with many nurses and doctors in my life who were able to assess the issues he was experiencing and diagnose a treatment via medication, physical therapy, or the like. From the age of seven, I could name all of the nine medications that my father was taking, such that, when he blacked out at the wheel on the highway, due to a diabetic coma, we ran off the road and into a ditch—- Our car was pinned in an embankment on my side, so I climbed out of the window crawling over my dad and flagged down an 18-wheeler truck, who CB’d the hospital. When the ambulance came, I was able to tell them what was wrong with my daddy. In addition, I also gave them the number to my mom’s job so she could be reached. Thus my appreciation for COMMUNICATION …..

My journey as a Professional Organizer began then. Not following the grain. I set out to understand why I had a passion for organizing and informing people. I originally thought…could I actually get paid for this? Each time, I was asked what I’d study in college, the answer was always, ” I wanna be an organizer”. I often got a smirked look but each time I thought about it… I could do this line of work without getting paid. You know what, it has worked and my passion has carried me in many directions keeping these three pillars information, organization, and communication as the catalyst in all that I do– social work professor, clinical therapist, community organizer, grant writer, certified nonprofit specialist, social administrator, wife, mother, public information manager, friend.

There are many of us who are and will remain prisoners of hope, because we are fulfilling the dreams of our fathers or mothers or peers out of obligation or what the case may be. There are times in life when we must step out with wisdom in the direction of our passion and pursue that passion with purpose. It may be that we can not identity all of the pieces to the puzzle; and that is alight, the main goal is to start visioning and seeing yourself in your greatness!

Walking on the Water… When Your Nikes Just Won’t Do It… requires time and sacrifice. While you are counting the cost…stay focused!

Culture & Communications

UNLESS: A Bottle of Prescription

danitaogandaga

Photo Credit: The Bridge

Unless………this word has been affiliated with so many of the things that I have untaken in life. Unless defined simply means “except on the condition that”. So, if A does B then C. Many of the transactions that we undertake in life are gauged by the cause and effect relationship of a powerful and robust unless.

Unless…….Mackie comes home he will be kicked out of the house.

Unless…….Daddy buys me a new pair of shoes, he does not really love me.

Unless……William gets off of drugs, he will be banned from our family.

Unless……I can wear Christian Louboutin, I will not fit into the elite group at work

Unless, unless, unless. The new culture of communications. How pressure filled is that?

Adults daze around in circles wondering what their life will be life if only they had made a different decision on life and because of it can never get a firm footing in the life they are currently living because the security of  a life already lived had never sunk in.

The love of God is a love that is not built upon an unless. His love is unconditional and without pretense. The love of God says, “Even though you were addicted to drugs, I can still love you extravagantly.” It is hard for many to comprehend being given such an awesome gift to be liberated when you were once walking around like a slave in the rat race of life and trying to remain on the plantation of society and culture.

The word unless has been responsible for so much grief in life after all, we are a series of the events that we untake and products of our environments right?  Unless has become a bottle of prescriptions for many where they believe that conditions must be thrown out in order to get someone to act the way that they should but who are we to always try to direct the traffic of the pain that we are not willing to treat. People don’t want your stuff, they want to know that you care. This may be the cause for the high rate of persons cutting themselves all over the globe…to the tune of 4 million people because they may have been met with an Unless which elevated their stress absent the unconditional love to work through the drama and get to the healing.

Unless, I keep writing, will you not believe that I love to?

Stay tuned….”Unless: A Bottle of Prescription”- Coming July 2012 on www.danitaogandaga.com and the Orphan No More Podcast!

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(c)2012 danitaogandaga.com