Rise & Shine Queen!

‘And Still I Rise’ is the famous poem by Maya Angelou. Have you read it? It’s a reminder that no matter what we’ve gone through, we can still rise. We’ve read it at one, or two, of our previous conferences. For me and many others, the pandemic hasn’t been the only challenge that brought us low, and left us wanting to rise. And I still felt a sense of rising within me, and for us women, so knew it was a part of this year’s, 2022, theme. A part of it but not all of it, as this year we are to shine. Yep, that’s right Rise and Shine.

Then I thought, it’s the Queen’s platinum jubilee. Although, I’m certainly not a royalist, I still think it worth commemorating because it reminds me of the queen within me. And there we have the theme for The Women Like Me L&B Conference 2022… Rise & Shine Queen.

Continue reading “Rise & Shine Queen!”

Faith of Easter

“Easter promises that what God does in the resurrection of Jesus is Gods intention for the entire creation.”

– James A. Harnish

Family

Easter is a time of joy, rebirth and new beginnings. It’s a great spring festival to get creative and have fun with family and friends through meaningful activities such as Easter egg hunting, baking rice crispy Easter nests, colouring in the Easter bunny and many more.

Continue reading “Faith of Easter”

Growing Through Challenges

“You are allowed to be both a masterpiece and a work in progress, simultaneously.” – Sophia Bush

Remember to embrace and love yourself just as you are, no matter where you are in life, for you are both the masterpiece and the work in progress at the same time.

Many people may think that to be the masterpiece, they have to be at a certain place in life, instead of just being happy in the now and enjoying the journey. Learn that you can love yourself through every step of the way, enjoy the present moment and know that you don’t have to wait to reach the top to feel happiness as you are the masterpiece already. Its all the struggles and challenges you face that build you up to exactly where you need to be, so just embrace your struggles, be your authentic self and truly feel what you are going through instead of hiding or running away from it.

Your struggles are nothing but amazing growth opportunities.

Continue reading “Growing Through Challenges”

Inspirational Women Series 1

Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa

If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.

If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.

Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.

If you judge people, you have no time to love them.

Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.

It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.

Many people mistake our work for our vocation. Our vocation is our faith and love.

Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.

– Quotes by Mother Teresa

Who is Mother Teresa?

Mother Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu was born in Albania during the year 1910 with the birth name of Gonxha Agnes and grew up as an Albanian-Indian Roman Catholic nun. Sadly Mother Teresa’s Father passed when she was only eight years old and even though her mother was now alone, she took on the roll as both Mother and Father, dedicating herself to Teresa and her three other siblings, raising them lovingly but firmly.

From a very young age Mother Teresa felt a great desire to help those in need, spread the love of God and give a lot of her time and compassion to charities. Mother Teresa was noted for her charity, unselfishness and courage.

Mother Teresa suffered several health problems during her last few years of life on earth, two heart attacks, pneumonia, malaria and a broken collarbone, all of which she bore patiently for the love of God and passed in the yea 1997 of heart failure. Mother Teresa lead a very holy life dedicated to God and was beatified in 2003 and canonised in 2016.

Why Mother Teresa Inspires Me – Marie, Marketing Officer at The Like Me CIC.

Mother Teresa suffered the trauma and loss of her father at such a young age, later on she underwent a very dark night of the soul where she experienced very deep feelings of detachment and separation from God, all hidden from the public eye, she suffered in silence. And despite her own suffering, she still whole heartedly dedicated herself to her work and mission on earth, to bring peace, love and the presence of God to everyone around her, even if she didn’t completely feel it herself. Mother Teresa never wanted anyone to feel the hurt and suffering that she felt.

Inspirational Women Series 2

Danai Gurira

I want women and girls of African descent and of colour to be able to not have to keep searching for stories about themselves.

I want to see women of African decent shine.

Why can’t black women on stage tell stories that can affect white men in the audience?

If my work is on the stage, you can be rested assured I’m going to make use of it as a platform for activism as much as possible.

– Quotes by Danai Gurira

Who is Danai Gurira?

Danai Gurira is a Zimbabwean-American actress and playwright. She was born in Grinnell, Iowa on February 14th if the year 1978 but resided in her parents native Zimbabwe from the age of five, then she returned to the united states to attend collage at age 18. She attended Macalester College where she studied social psychology and received an MFA from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

She is best known for her starring rolls As Michonne on AMC horror drama series The Walking Dead from the year 2012 to 2020. She starred as Okoye in the Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero films Black Panther, Avengers Infinity war and Avengers Endgame during 2018 to 2019.

Danai also starred in many theatres, she is the playwright of the Broadway play Eclipsed, which she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play. Danai has won many awards over her time in the acting industry. She was also nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for her Play, In The Continuum, which she also co-wrote and starred in.

Honouring The Power Of Women

Beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself

– COCO CHANEL

Women Power

We are now in March, Women’s History Month, which is nationally known for celebrating women and spreading awareness on women’s history and independence. So this month we will be focusing on women’s rights and the women in history that have inspired us ladies here at The Like Me CIC. Stay tuned for this months weekly blogs all based upon powerful, inspiring women.

Keep reading to find out more about Women’s History Month and Women’s Independence Day.

Continue reading “Honouring The Power Of Women”

Leading With Kindness

Choose Kindness

What does it mean to be kind?

Kindness may be described as a positive act towards ourselves and others. We must choose to be kind everyday by making a conscious decision to do something kind whether big or small.

You can show kindness in your day to day lives by holding open a door for someone, smiling at people, being present and listening or even giving a friendly compliment. These small acts of kindness may not seem like a lot but they really can brighten someone’s day, making others feel happy and loved.

There are so many ways to show kindness but remember to be kind to yourself as well as everyone else because you deserve it too! Kindness positively affects our wellbeing improving our life and mood, aiding us to give back and pour kindness into others.

Whether it be positive self-talk, building healthy habits or acts of self-care such as reading your favourite book or setting aside time for downtime, consciously do acts of kindness for yourself too.

Continue reading “Leading With Kindness”

Celebrate Love

“When you love someone, you love the whole person, just as he or she is and not as you want them to be.”

-Anna Karenina

Valentines Day

Happy Valentines day to you all from us at The Like Me CIC.

We should spread love and show our love for others everyday, but the 14th of February is a special holiday, it’s the one day of the year that is solely dedicated to celebrating our love, especially for romantic partners.

Do you have a Valentine? If not, be your own Valentine this year. Buy yourself some flowers or a box of chocolate’s and enjoy a candle lit bath, or whatever makes you feel loved. If you do have a Valentine, whether that be a friend or your partner, make sure to celebrate them and show them how much they are loved by you.

Continue reading “Celebrate Love”

Loving Yourself First

“Love yourself first and everything else falls into line”

– Lucille ball

What is self love?

When we hear ‘self love’ , the image of pamper days arise. We all deserve to treat ourselves and yes self care days are important but self love is unapologetically having the highest regard for yourself.

Stand in your power by putting yourself first and taking care of your own needs and happiness without guilt or sacrificing your wellbeing just to please others.

Remove your mask, unconditionally love yourself and show up as authentically you. You are worthy.

Continue reading “Loving Yourself First”

Re Write Your story, Own Your Dignity.

“Change your story, change your life. Divorce the story of limitation and marry the story of the truth and everything changes.”

-Tony Robbins

What’s your story?

Everyone has a story whether they are aware of it or not.

Throughout life we subconsciously give everything a meaning which plays out on autopilot in our day to day lives, manifesting more of what we believe until we become aware of the stories we tell ourselves and change them.

Continue reading “Re Write Your story, Own Your Dignity.”