His Eye Is on the Sparrow
17 May 2012 Leave a Comment
The terror squad trying to rescue a bird squatting in my mailbox.
Breakfast of Champions
09 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
Breakfast of Champions
Here are three recipes for the protein shakes I use to replace breakfast and lunch … first a grocery list.
Cacao Powder
Raw Chocolate Powder
Wheat Germ
Silk (soy milk) Chocolate and vanilla for variety
Agave Nectar
Ice
Frozen Strawberries
Greek Yogurt (plain or Vanilla)
Peanut Butter
Whey Protien 100% pure
Chocolate Decadence
2 cups of ice
2cups of chocolate silk
1 tablespoon of Cacao
1 tablespoon of raw chocolate
2 tablespoons of wheat germ
1 scoop of whey protein
2 tablespoons Agave nectar
Blend all ingredients add more of less ice for desired thickness and agave more or less for desired sweetness. Blend it up drink it down.
_________________________________________
Chocolate Peanut Butter
2 cups of ice
2cups of chocolate silk
1 tablespoon of Cacao
1 tablespoon of raw chocolate
2 tablespoons of wheat germ
1 scoop of whey protein
2 tablespoons Agave nectar
2 large spoons of peanut butter or to taste
_______________________________________________
Strawberry Cream
2 cups of ice
2 cups of vanilla silk
6-8 strawberries
1 cup greek yogurt
2 tablespoons of wheat germ
1 scoop of whey protein
2 tablespoons Agave nectar
I hope these help.
The Things I Do For Love…Like Juicing
01 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
We throw around “I love you” as haphazardly as we profess to love ourselves. What I know for certain is that how you treat your mind, body, and soul is a direct reflection of how much you really love yourself. When you are in love you take the time to learn what they need from you, what makes them feel good, and make it your business to encourage them to dream big, reach higher and be the best. Are you loving yourself like that? What have you done for you lately?
During my weight loss journey I listened to my body and watched my reactions to every little thing I ate or drank. If it made me feel stronger, more focused, energetic I multiplied my intake. If it made me sluggish, sleepy, raised my blood pressure, or gave me headaches I eliminated it completely. I learned to love me past poet cliches, with more than Iyanla slogans, and beyond junk food binges. Juicing is one of the best things you can do for your body, and one of many things I do for love.
You have not utterly failed at life if you are not juicing, well you have kind of. Its not too late to salvage the situation. Find what your body needs, not what it wants and give it to yourself so good that your body has no choice but to give you what you need and want. Everyone wants to know how I lost all the weight and the answer is…I simply started loving me everyday with every decision I make.
Check out the video below of me juicing my favorite recipe for those of you who have asked for a recipe. This one is my favorite. Now look I got mad responsibilities so I am multitasking in this video. Don’t judge me.
Only Confidence
Out of the Ashes
01 Feb 2012 1 Comment
in Moving Forward Tags: confidence omenai, RUHCUS, worthy
It’s All Lies!!! I’m Telling You It’s All Lies!
Do you get up every morning look in the mirror and force yourself to see beyond a myriad of flaws? Do you rehearse all the hurtful things ever said to you and wonder what percentage is accurate? Somewhere along the way did you decide that you weren’t worthy of the things you desired most? I did day in and day out for far too long. Never again.
I don’t know what lie about yourself you have chosen to come into agreement with, but I’m asking you to challenge it head on. What would you have done differently if you realized you deserved better? Do it now. Who would you have loved if you deemed yourself worthy? Love now. What would you have done if you knew you wouldn’t fail? Make it happen. There is no joy, peace. prosperity, or passion that you are not entitled to.
Let me warn you when the lies you have fed yourself come into contact with the truth. It will shake you to your core. You may want to fight it with new BS because it’s almost easier to believe the lie than it will be to align yourself with the truth. Don’t!!! You will mourn the time you wasted, the choices you made, the opportunities you missed and then you will rise from the ashes more brilliant than ever before.
I hope that my willingness to be broken before you inspires you to be whole.
Only Confidence
Dog Days Are Over…
04 Jan 2012 2 Comments
Dog Days are Over
I feel an obligation to share a very pivotal moment in my life. The years I attended Booker T. Washington were the most troubled years of my life. While everyone else was concerned about boyfriends, best friends, and books. I was carrying burdens big enough to break many women. I was fourteen years old, I had carried a rapist baby for 17 weeks, survived a traumatic procedure that left me so severely broken that it took weeks for me to have the will to brush my own hair. I went to school every day determined not to let the relentless bullying or my dysfunctional home life break me. I remember being taunted one day because my breasts were leaking milk as I sat in Japanese class, with no understanding that my body would produce milk to nurture the life that I was no longer carrying.This season is where I learned to break silently, bleed internally, and never let your enemy which often shared my DNA see me cry.
If you followed my RUHCUS you watched those wounds and many more healed during my Willing to Weep Ceremony. So why am I telling you all of this now?
Friday morning my wonder twin and fellow luminary Claire Collins and I will team up for one of our most meaningful collaborations ever. Claire openly shares the horror stories of the severe bullying she endured during school. She is one of my fiercest allies and after all we have survived it is fitting that my ace Claire “Motherf%&$@#ng” Collins would be the one to walk down that hallway with me for the first time in 15 years. Claire and I will both agree that poetry played the strongest hand in keeping us alive, and fighting through it all.
I am moved to tears to be going back to my Alma mater Booker T. Washington to teach poetry. Claire and I will assist their Louder Than a Bomb youth team with preparation for the upcoming competition. I will be teaching them how to streamline their poetry for battle during Prelims. I cant imagine a moment more full circle than going back to the place where I used poetry to fight for my life, to teach children how to fight with poems. No matter whats going on in your life right now just keep swimming. The best is yet to come.
On Top & Rising,
Confidence Omenai
Lets Have a Happy Thanksgiving…Confi’s Holiday Survival Tips
21 Nov 2011 Leave a Comment
in The Business of Living Tags: confidence omenai, crazy family, family feud, Holiday, Thanksgiving
Confi’s Holiday Survival Tips
Some of you(not me) are going to force yourselves to deal with crazy family this holiday.
If you want to make it to Christmas follow these rules.
Taser *fully charged (dont ask)
1 liter Belvedere Vodka (doubles as a nightstick)
1 pint Captain Morgans Rum (doubles as a antiseptic for lacerations)
Bag of zip ties (no handcuffs)* chew through them if you are the one zip tied
Drive your own vehicle for a quick getaway
(918)592-BAIL (keep that handy)
Leave debit card in a sealed envelope w/Bestie in case of extended incarceration
Dont make audible threats (manslaughter vs premeditated murder)
Wear shoes with good traction
If your opponent is a scratcher Carmax doubles as Vaseline rub it on your face
* An updo will minimize hair pulling. A bun toward the back is more practical.
Lol, Im just kidding these rules may come in handy in some random situations but not on Thanksgiving please. When the shouting match begins remember that no one has a right to tell you how or when to heal to assuage their guilt. Truthfully all you need to arm yourself with this holiday is the assurance that you are spectacular, loved, and fully authorized.
When communication breaks down or becomes hurtful leave.
Please feel free to forward any of your Turkey Day Disputes…and I will weigh in. If nothing else I bet Ill make you laugh.
Wishing you all the happiest of holidays from the bottom of my heart!!!!
Confi
RUHCUS Day 30: The End Is Always The Beginning
17 Aug 2011 1 Comment
in RUHCUS Tags: body image, confidence omenai, empowerment, healing, motivation, RUHCUS, self improvement
The Beginning
I started this RUHCUS project broken, repressed, convinced that I was unlovable, feeling unworthy, trying unsuccessfully to bottle years of hurt and anger in a package that the world would find socially acceptable. Wings were the last thing I expected to walk away with but wings are exactly what I got.
Soaring and Other Acts of God I found out that I was so much stronger when I stopped caring about being perceived as weak. I learned to love the body that I live in, and actually began living in it. I gave my self permission to be wounded, cry over the dead, give them proper burial and left the Land of the Lost in my rear view. I have been completely and permanently altered by the love and support I received. I am blessed by those who solidified their positions in my life and honored by those who revealed their true character good and bad. I realize that you only had three options, lead, follow, or get out of my way.
I cannot tell you what tommorow will hold. In the coming weeks everything about life as Ive known it is shifting. Lifelong friends have passed, shifted careers, moved out of state and changed allegiances. I have come to accept that some family members and old friends ain’t family no more. When you begin manifesting beyond the limitations sheeple have placed on you, they will get angry, lash out,dismiss, discredit and even try to derail you. Do not be dissuaded.
Crazy girl who’s paradigm is shifting
Feet freeing themselves from faulty foundation
Faster than you prepared to follow
Let false reality rip apart at the seams
Take the red pill
Release the jagged edges of your broken dreams
Stop bleeding
You can build new ones
I hope that if you lose your way, you return here to renew your strength. You are beautiful, worthy, and divinely held. Thank you for taking this journey with me. There are so many things that I will have to remind myself of and tackle moving forward, but this has given me the perspective needed to continue my evolution unapologetically. I am eternally grateful to all of the beautiful women and men who laughed, cried and transformed with me. Thank you Sonya Renee for being the catalyst. You are untouchable, and you know why. The end of my RUHCUS is really the beginning for me…
Love & Light
Only Confidence
RUHCUS Day 21: Dont Stop Believing
08 Aug 2011 2 Comments
in RUHCUS Tags: confidence omenai, empowerment, motivation, RUHCUS, self improvement, unapologetic
Things Fall Apart
In this life you will pour your heart and soul into the foundation of relationships,ministries, businesses, marriages and dreams. No matter the architect or interior design sometimes things fall apart. Even the best laid plans…
We ascend to greatness on the ruins of our most cherished plans, finding our failures were successes.
Do Not Mistake An End For “The End”
I know what it feels like to be betrayed,abused, or abandoned under various circumstances by those you love. I still choose to trust & believe in love and the inherent good in people. I have been used and discarded by ministries and leaders with agendas contrary to my purpose. I still believe in God. I have embarked on ventures that failed and folded. I still believe in my inevitable success. I don’t know who, what, or how you have been hurt in this world, but I do know as long as you’re still breathing there’s hope. I know what its like to search through rubble and ash for anything worth saving and come up short. I have seen many things and people come to their end, but as it stands I have not.
Trusting that everyone that comes into my life is not out to get me or take advantage of me in some way is a challenge. Believing that love is possible after so much heartache is an act of God. Taking risks and trying to build an empire is scary sometimes but I am determined to remain open and receptive, and I pray that no matter what’s in your rearview or windshield you dont stop until you reach your destination.
Ive always been a heart beating beyond its borders
The optimist, placing every card on the table face up
I never learned to dream or love in hushed tones
I will always be fluorescent, crushing fists
Neon red, flashing vacancy
You need your RUHCUS, and so do I.
Only Confidence
Instructions on creating your own RUHCUS
RUHCUS Day 19: Change Comes
06 Aug 2011 Leave a Comment
in RUHCUS Tags: confidence omenai, empowerment, forgiveness, healing, RUHCUS, self improvement
Transitions
- I have reached the finish line on a book that has taken me five years to write.
- I have effectively removed myself from several unproductive endeavors and relationships.
- I have taken control of my body and beat these hips,thighs and oh mys into submission.
What Do I Have To Show For It???
I am proud of myself and what I have accomplished. I love who I am and what I stand for. I believe my body is beautiful and has served me well. I can do things without breaking a sweat that used to be out of my reach. I ran 6.3 miles. My time is my own. I no longer have to be in places that don’t inspire, stimulate or challenge me. I have stopped allowing other people to guilt me into participating. I have stopped diminishing myself so others wont be threatened. I refuse to be less because some folks chose not to be more.When a friend tries to sabotage my efforts with random cakes and pies, or gym deterrents I call them on they BS with love, and stick to my plan. The biggest and most shocking change for me this week was tearing my idols down.
False Idols
I have held several people in higher esteem than warranted. They never asked for the pedestals I put them on and I recognize that in tearing down their altars I am setting myself free. I still love and respect each individual. I’m just releasing them from my “White Knight Honor Guard”. Anything I ever believed you were to me or going to do for me, I have become and done for myself. Thank you for being the oasis in my desert. Even if the promise wasn’t real or everlasting, believing in you through cracked and parched terrain carried me to this dwelling place. In the words of a great man,”You should be worshiped”…just not by me.
RUHCUS Wrapup
I know that momentum in the midst of all that is happening in our lives is a challenge. Push through, I promise its going to be worth it all. Great change is proceeded by great sacrifice. You are not alone. I will be here supporting you every step of the way. Take a look at the people and systems that you have placed your faith in and just maybe you got a few altars of your own to tear down. SWAT over and out.
You need your RUHCUS, and so do I.
Only Confidence
Instructions on creating your own RUHCUS
RUHCUS Day 16: I Refuse to Metastisize For Anyone
03 Aug 2011 Leave a Comment
in RUHCUS Tags: confidence omenai, empowerment, healing, motivation, RUHCUS, self help, self improvement
Sad Girl Gone Mad
I am committed to being honest with myself in this process. One of the seven stages of grief is anger, and that is what I am struggling to release today. I have been reading Peace from Broken Pieces this week. The book is nonfiction and part of it talks about a beautiful young woman who died of cancer after years of holding on to anger.
When I started this process I needed to grieve and I had to give myself permission to do so. I released the pain as I wept but I had no idea until this week that underneath everything is a smoldering flame. I genuinely love the two people that caused me the most harm, and I don’t want to go off on them or tell them how much damage they did. I just need to find a release valve for all of the anger that built up. Its got to go somewhere or it will continue to occupy my spirit and my strength. Running helped. I ran five more miles today, and I’m going to kick box tonight. It’s a start. Before bed, I will write down all the things I’m angry about, shout it out at my four walls and then toss it into the fire place. I will do it every day until I’m not angry anymore. I don’t have time to debate whether or not I have a right to be angry, or all the reasons why I shouldn’t be. Here’s truth…I am. Im not mad at a person or a situation. I built up 32 years of steam and never released it. This is why I am so quick to go off on people for minor infractions. I have got to tap this geyser or risk explosion or worse implosion. There isn’t a cure all formula, so this week it is just me facing down my demons by any means necessary so that anger doesn’t turn to bitterness and harden my heart into something malignant.
You need your RUHCUS, and so do I.
Only Confidence
Instructions on creating your own RUHCUS
