November 2017 – A Blog, A Magazine. It's JustsumInspiration!

A Quote Here, A Quote There – There’s Quotes Everywhere!

Published on November 30, 2017November 27, 2017 by Roshonda B3 Comments

Well, since today is the last day of the month of November …andddd… since we’ve been discussing gratitude all month – I thought I’d end this month with a bang by sharing my 10 best/favorite gratitude quotes with you. You know gratitude is a little thing that means a whole lot – it’s the quality or feeling of being grateful and/or thankful. While we can look around us and all agree “What in the world is there to be grateful for?” and low and behold, if you tune into the news or social media outlets daily and view all the negativity it has going on, the whole world looks as if its going mad and it’ll make you want to throw in the towel and get mad right along with it, all of which can be very depressing.

We can’t help what comes across the news just as well as we can’t help what other people do, how they feel or what they think. In this life, we can only control what we do, how we think, what we say and how we feel about certain situations; therefore, it’s up to us to look through all the negative junk and find a positive or I guess you can say “silver” lining in the world around you. There’s always something to be thankful for – in some cases you may have to look deep to find it but in most cases, it’s the simple things such as giving thanks for your life, health and strength, because someone, somewhere is wishing they had at least one of the three. Bottom line, the world may be mad but it’s not what the world does; but its what you allow yourself to see and how you allow yourself to react to it.

Listed below are my 10 top fave quotes – If yours didn’t make the list, then feel free to give me your favorite in the comments!

Let gratitude be the pillow upon which you kneel to say your nightly prayer. Maya Angelou
Piglet noticed that even though he had a very small heart, it could hold a rather large amount of gratitude. A.A. Milne
What consumes your mind, Controls your life. Practice Gratitude. Unknown
When some things go wrong, take a moment to be thankful for the many more things that went and are still going right. Unknown
You gotta look for the Good in the Bad, The Happy in your Sad, The Gain in your Pain and what makes you Grateful not Hateful. Karen Salmansohn
If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough. Meister Eckhart
No matter what language you speak, a kind and smiling Thank You, Always speaks to everyone’s hearts. Unknown
The miracle of gratitude is that it shifts your perception to such an extent that it changes the world you see. Dr. Robert Holden
What if you woke up Today with only the things that you thanked God for yesterday? Unknown
As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. John F. Kennedy

Do you have a favorite gratitude quote?, don’t forget to leave it in the comments below!!

Roshonda N. Blackmon – Creator of A Blog, A Magazine. It’s JustsumInspiration, Author, Speaker & Encourager

Let’s Live Well, Laugh Loud, Inspire More & Love Harder!

Monthly Series: An Attitude of Gratitude – Final Challenge #8

Published on November 29, 2017November 30, 2017 by Roshonda B3 Comments

photo above courtesy of kimberlypackard.com

Happy Wednesday, Hump Day, Middle of the week Day or whatever you decide to call it, we’ve made it this far – 2 days to go! Well, today is the last day of our Monthly series – Attitude of Gratitude. I just want to thank each of you for reading and commenting on some or all of the post questions throughout the month, hopefully the questions asked as well as the End of the Day Questions allowed you to reflect on your life as well as others or maybe just your own.

So for the last question, I thought I would turn the tables and allow you to ask me a question and I answer it. You don’t have to do an end of the day question as I did but if you have a question that you would like to ask me in concerns of having an attitude of gratitude then you may do so, but just in case you don’t have any questions – I went ahead and put one below ( I know how having the tables unexpectedly turn on you can be sometimes…lol).

Without further ado, here’s today’s final challenge question.

What is a special skill or talent you have and are grateful for it (My response)

As far as talent is concerned, I really don’t have one of those especially if it involves singing, dancing and cooking certain foods…lol but I love looking at the singing, dancing and food competition shows because in my mind – I really be envisioning me up there doing it all…lol; however and I don’t know if you’d call this a skill but I’ve always had a knack for talking to just about anyone and I love it! It never mattered about race, gender, size or background – if they said or say hello, there I go…lol. It’s always been a goal of mine to make people feel good about themselves and I really do try to greet everyone with a smile because you just never know what people are going through.

You’ve heard the saying “There’s a thin line between sanity and insanity” and that statement is very true – there’s really nothing keeping any of us from doing something crazy or morally wrong but it’s the choices we make and who we are as individuals that keep that “very thin line” skatable. I absolutely love listening to people and get joy when I’m able to help them through a what seems like a difficult situation for them and all that I don’t know, I pray about it because I too know that I’m not able to help everyone through everything but I know someone who definitely can! I guess you can say I’m very compassionate when it comes to people’s feelings; taking out the time to talk to people have caused me to gain friendships and provided good networking opportunities; so you just never know.

– What is a special skill or talent you have and are grateful for it; Comment Below –

Your End of the Day Question:

What’s the one thing you’d like others to remember about you at the end of your life?

Roshonda N. Blackmon – Creator of A Blog, A Magazine. It’s JustsumInspiration, Author, Speaker & Encourager

Let’s Live Well, Laugh Loud, Inspire More & Love Harder!

EnSpired: Hey Beautiful, Hey Handsome – Can I take Your Picture?

Published on November 28, 2017November 22, 2017 by Roshonda B4 Comments

photo above courtesy of triplepeasphotography.blogspot.com

Okay, so call me a little cheesy but this story or experiment, I should say – brought tears to my eyes but it usually don’t take much to make me cry; I cry when I see stories of military men and women being re-united with their families or the expression people have when they get a puppy as a gift……yes, there really is such a video; honestly….as Kevin Hart said “I can’t make it up” it was circulating around Facebook about 2 weeks ago, I clicked the video and about 2 minutes in, there went the water works…lol. I just love seeing good things happen for people, it does something to me – so, while I try to get some help for my water works problem – let me explain what’s going on in the two videos below.

A high school student by the name of Shea Glover conducted a social experiment at school in where she convinced the teachers there to let her take pictures of random students as a project, her experiment which I called “Project Beautiful” involved her taking pictures of students; in which according to the video; some she knew and others she didn’t. Before Shay snapped their picture, she revealed to them that she wanted to take a picture of things she found beautiful and Oh My Gosh, the look on some of their faces were priceless. It really made me think about the power of our words and how a simple word such as “Beautiful” can have a major impact on someone’s life or their day; you can almost see the confidence these students gained when she said “I’m taking pictures of things I find beautiful”

I honestly thought the video was amazing, so amazing that someone in Eldorado, Arkansas decided to do the same experiment, this time it was the teachers whom got involved to take pictures of students. Before they snapped the picture, the teacher revealed to the student that they wanted to take a picture of someone whom made their day, someone whom made them want to come to school everyday, someone in whom they thought was important to them and again, there went my water works! each student was surprised and shocked to not only hear those encouraging words but the smiles that crossed their faces again, were priceless.

There’s a saying that says “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Both of the videos above goes to show that everyone involved will definitely remember what was said and how wonderful they felt, even for just that moment.

Oh, what a wonderful world it would be if everyone took out the time to let someone know just how special they truly are. Way to go Shay for starting such a “Beautiful” movement!!

Roshonda N. Blackmon – Creator of A Blog, A Magazine. It’s JustsumInspiration, Author, Speaker & Encourager

Let’s Live Well, Laugh Loud, Inspire More & Love Harder!

Monthly Series: An Attitude of Gratitude – Challenge #7

Published on November 27, 2017November 27, 2017 by Roshonda B7 Comments

photo above courtesy of etsy.com

Happy Monday Inspiration! and welcome to the fourth and last week of our Monthly series – Attitude of Gratitude. I do hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!. Just in case you missed the November Vibes post, Every Monday and Wednesday for the month of November, I will be posting questions in regards to being grateful. I will answer these questions myself but my hope is that you will answer them too and leave those answers in the comment section.

Some questions may have us digging a little deeper within ourselves to answer them, but in the end – my hope is that you will feel more empowered and begin to see yourself and even your life differently and not just for the month of November – but for every month of the year. You can choose to start a journal if you want but this challenge as you may say, is not just about us writing things out and leaving it in a little book to store it away and go back to it when we’re reflecting on our life but the challenge is to show it!! so as an extra bonus after every question regarding yourself will be a question in which will relate to the world around you, it’ll be called “Our End of the Day Question” – you don’t have to write about it here, but it’ll be something that you’ll just ask yourself everyday at the end of your day. While writing out what we’re “grateful” for is half the battle, showing gratitude for and towards others is the KEY!

So, let’s do both – reflecting and showing….(by the way, the passage above will be in every challenge post to start off, however; a new question will be at the bottom of each post).

What is your TOP goal and why are you grateful for it (My response)

I would say that my TOP goal is to continue to go hard in exercise and stay healthy. Over the course of the last couple of months (late August), I’ve been on the “Girl, Get your Self Together” movement…lol. It was hard at first because as most of you know, when you go a long time without exercising – it’s a killer once you start back but if you keep at it, you’ll eventually begin to not only see results but improve your strength and overall thinking about your body and the things you put in it. We only get one body and therefore we have to treat it as our temple, not our trashcan.

I’ve also been doing/going to a group class called burn boot camp, trust me when you hear the word “boot camp” I know it makes you cringe because you know your body is going to be pushed to its limits. But I took the challenge and have been doing it thus far, faithfully everyday at 5:30am. It’s motivating to be around other people of all shapes and sizes, whom have the same goal as you “To Get Healthy.” It’s truly been a life changer for me and I absolutely love it. I realize that working out is a lifestyle change as I’m not doing it to fit into a certain garment or to attend a special event to show people or exes what they’ve missed but I’m doing it because I want to be healthy and I want to be able to have energy to do things with my two kids, so I do it strictly for me. I’m just grateful to be able to have the mind to want to get healthy and the will to actually do it.

– What is your TOP goal and why are you grateful for it; Comment Below –

Your End of the Day Question:

How many of your friends would you trust with my life?

Roshonda N. Blackmon – Creator of A Blog, A Magazine. It’s JustsumInspiration, Author, Speaker & Encourager

Let’s Live Well, Laugh Loud, Inspire More & Love Harder!

Monthly Series: An Attitude of Gratitude – Challenge #6

Published on November 22, 2017November 15, 2017 by Roshonda B4 Comments

I’m grateful for Wednesday! and welcome you to the third week of our Monthly series – Attitude of Gratitude. Just in case you missed the November Vibes post, Every Monday and Wednesday for the month of November, I will be posting questions in regards to being grateful. I will answer these questions myself but my hope is that you will answer them too and leave those answers in the comment section.

So, let’s do both – reflecting and showing….(by the way, the passage above will be in every challenge post to start off, however; a new question will be at the bottom of each post).

What Activities Do You Most Enjoy Doing (My response)

You know when I started this question, I immediately thought; okay, this is a no brainer but to be honest I’m really thinking about it right now – what do I enjoy doing…lol. Well, for starters I absolutely love writing – it’s therapy for me; therapy in which I do not have to pay anyone for, I give it to myself when I pick up a pen or stroke the keyboard and my therapy session begins. Listed below are a couple of other things that I enjoy doing:

Exercising – (when I get into the habit of it, lol and right now I am so it’s all good)

Trying New Things – I love trying anything new (especially food) that comes out, my family knows this and when they see something “new” being advertised, I’m the first one they ask “Have you tried that?” and 9 out of 10 (mostly 10) I have!

Helping/Talking to People – especially people that I don’t know. I remember one time I was holding a conversation with someone and we were just laughing and talking – forget to this day about what, but a person beside me asked “Do you know them?” and I said No, just met them today.

There may be more things but for the most part this is it, I love having fun and I love (just thought of it) going to the movies and/or curling up and watching a good movie (when I’m not too tired, because I’m known to fall asleep on a movie in a minute…lol) my sister can tell you all about that. Gotta catch me in the daylight!!

– What activities do you most enjoy doing!; Comment Below –