Passion is the result of action, not the cause of it.

For many of us, the enemy is just old-fashioned complacency. We get into our routines. We distract ourselves. The couch is comfortable. Eating is the order of the day and nothing new happens.

This is a problem.

What most people don’t understand is that passion is the result of action, not the cause of it.

Discovering what you’re passionate about in life and what matters to you is a full-contact sport, a trial-and-error process. None of us know exactly how we feel about an activity until we actually do the activity.

So ask yourself, if someone put a gun to your head and forced you to leave your house every day for everything except for sleep & eating, how would you choose to keep busy? And note, being on social media doesn't count, that's what you do every day already. You probably already do that. 

Let’s pretend you don't have a phone and can't escape to social media and you no choice but to be outside of the house all day every day until it’s time to go to bed — where would you go and what would you do?

Sign up for a dance class? Join a book club? Go get another degree? Invent a new form of irrigation system that can save the thousands of children in Africa? 

What would you do with all of that time?

If it helps, write down a few answers, go out and actually do them. Bonus points if it involves embarrassing yourself.

Flourishing Empowered Women
http://flowrishingtheewomen.blogspot.com
IG: @flowrishingwomen @milkflow
Twitter: @milkflows

Ikamva le Zintombi - Women Empowerment through Hiking

Nolwandle  Radebe Masekela - Founder of Ikamva Le Zintombi

While I’m in no position or fit enough for hiking, Ikamva le Zintombi was not about to make any excuses or allow the weather to spoil their plan to hike into success. 

The ladies had so much fun, trusted each other through the rails and most importantly, empowerment took place. 

Take a look at the pictures below.

The Starting Point

Happy Girls are the prettiest 

Good Energy

Sharing is Caring

I don't know how she got there but I love the spirit!!

Yes Girl!!!!

Still looking Fresh 

Still on it

See the Excitement .. Yesss!!

The courage...Jeez!!!

They made it

This looks like one of the best experience and best way to network.

Thandazo Mabena - Founder of Ikusasa Lethu

Here’s what Thandazo Mabena had to say about the experience ...

“Lesson learned: 

Hiking is just like the situations we face/come across every day. You can't run away from them but face have to them because it's not permanent; in order to overcome you must feel the pain, conquer and have a testimony afterwards.

Some of us wanted to give up but because it was impossible to go back, we were forced to go forward and guess what? We conquered QUEENS!!! 

After I've learned that I did 7km I shed a tear of joy. I MADE IT!!! Now I know what to do when I'm faced with a pressing calamity that looks like a wall in my life.

I love you my beautiful sisters….POWER_HOUSE QUEEN !!!

With such masses of women supporting each other, then nothing can stop women from succeeding, become better mothers, leaders of this world and role models to every girl child out there. 

What a great start Ikamva le Zintombi, we truly support your movement. 

Follow Ikamva le Zintombi on Facebook and be part of the of the movement.

Flourishing Empowered Women
http://flowrishingtheewomen.blogspot.com
IG: @flowrishingwomen @milkflow
Twitter: @milkflows

Practice Gratitude Daily

Gratitude makes what we have enough!!!!

PROBLEM: With the rise of Social Media, it can be easy to focus on the lifestyle and success of others more than we do our own! More and more people are comparing their lives with others, not realizing this serves no purpose in their own personal growth.

EFFECT: Always focusing on what we do not have can lead to feelings of resentment, envy, unhappiness and depression if we constantly pay attention to what's missing in our lives and never focus on the things we should be thankful for! 

SOLUTION: We must understand that what we focus on expands. If we continue to focus on what we do not have then we continue receiving more of what we don't want. The key to success and manifesting the things we desire in life is to practice being grateful for EVERYTHING (no matter how small) that we have! 

Be thankful for things like life, air, water, for a roof over your head and food on the table because focusing on those things raise your spiritual vibration in order to allow more things for you to be grateful for to flow right in.

Flourishing Empowered Women
http://flowrishingtheewomen.blogspot.com
IG: @flowrishingwomen @milkflow
Twitter: @milkflows

Self Discovery: How Can You Better Embarrass Yourself

A lot of times we wonder what is it that we can do with ourselves or what is our life purpose. The problem is that we fail to ask ourselves questions that might lead us to discover ways to get where we want to go.

Then again before you are able to be good at something and do something important, you must first suck at something and have no clue what you’re doing. That’s pretty obvious. And in order to suck at something and have no clue what you’re doing, you must embarrass yourself in some shape or form, often repeatedly. And most people try to avoid embarrassing themselves, namely because it sucks.

Due to the transitive property of awesomeness, if you avoid anything that could potentially embarrass you, then you will never end up doing anything that feels important.

Yes, it seems that once again, it all comes back to vulnerability.

Right now, there’s something you want to do, something you think about doing, something you fantasize about doing, yet you don’t do it. You have your reasons, no doubt. You repeat these reasons to yourself over and over.

But what are those reasons? Because I can tell you right now that if those reasons are based on what others would think, then you’re screwing yourself over big time.

If your reasons are something like, “I can’t start a business because spending time with my kids is more important to me,” then OK. Sounds good to me.

But if your reasons are, “My parents would hate it,” or “My friends would make fun of me,” or “If I failed, I’d look like an idiot,” then chances are, you’re actually avoiding something you truly care about because caring about that thing is what scares the shit out of you, not what mom thinks or what Ammy next door says.

Living a life avoiding embarrassment is akin to living a life with your head in the sand.

Great things are, by their very nature, unique and unconventional. Therefore, to achieve them, we must go against the herd mentality. And to do that is scary.

Embrace embarrassment. Feeling foolish is part of the path to achieving something important, something meaningful. The more a major life decision scares you, chances are the more you need to be doing it.

Flourishing Empowered Women
http://flowrishingtheewomen.blogspot.com
IG: @flowrishingwomen @milkflow
Twitter: @milkflows

Time Management: The Break Down

By now you must have an idea of how you’ll be managing your time and get productive every day. Before I let you in on a plan that works I must say this, If you can still find time to gossip, watch reality tv, play video games, watch movies all night long, hang out with friends, scroll on social media, sleep until late, chat for hours on the phone and shop at the mall all day long....then my friends, you have more than enough time on your hands. Get rid of unnecessary distractions.

Lay the foundation for effectively managing your time.

Delegating the appropriate amount of time to get adequate sleep, maintain a healthy diet and exercising regularly are all essential elements to improve both focus and concentration. Making the time to create a healthy lifestyle will help improve your efficiency throughout the day, allowing for more time to complete other tasks.

Identify and evaluate how you are currently spending your time.

If you drive to work, how do you pass the time during your commute? If you take a bus or train, how do you spend all those hours a week? How many audiobooks or language tapes could you have completed while in traffic last month? How many books could you read on the train while getting to and from work the next few weeks?

These are the best times throughout your day to incorporate all those little things that you “wished” you had time for. Over time, these habits become a lifestyle, and you will find yourself well ahead of the pack.

Say no to nonessential tasks and prioritize the ones of extreme value.

Consider your goals and look at your schedule before agreeing to take on more work. If a task is time consuming but not necessarily important to the main goal, pass it off or add it to the bottom of the list.

Dedicate time blocks and limit distractions.

Everyone has a place where they work the most effectively. Some people love to have music in their earbuds, while others need complete silence. Some people can work just as efficiently from their dining table as they can in a library cubicle. Wherever that place is, utilize it. Turn the television off, silence the cell phone, put away the tablet and dedicate complete focus to the task at hand. No responding to texts, no browsing the web.

When you operate your life in a healthy, organized fashion, and are able to execute daily tasks efficiently, stress is reduced, productivity increases and overall satisfaction manifests.

Never hesitate to take a break if needed.

Everyone gets worn out from time to time and piling on more and more tasks leads to stress that will simply derail you from the mission at hand. Take a walk, go to the gym, get some fresh air or take that sick day you’ve been holding out on. Sometimes all we need is a moment of clarity and solitude to clear our overworked minds and recharge our bodies to give us that next big push.

After all, time management is really life management.

Flourishing Empowered Women
http://flowrishingtheewomen.blogspot.com
IG: @flowrishingwomen @milkflow
Twitter: @milkflows