In this weeks episode on "Glass Half Full" Chris talks with Lynita Mitchell Blackwell. What if you could chart a course towards a fulfilled life? Join us as we journey with Lynita Mitchell Blackwell, an intuitive business coach, who shares the blueprint of her life, from her Miami roots to the profound life lessons that have shaped her unique personality and point of view. She discusses the power of embracing mistakes, the impact of humility and grace, and the hardest choice she's ever had to make - choosing herself to fulfill her destiny.
Next, we unpack what it means to lead an excellent and present life. Lynita offers insightful tips on practicing mindfulness, embracing the breath, and cultivating gratitude. We also delve into self-love and self-appreciation, essential elements in living a present life. As we venture further, the discussion moves towards manifesting gratitude and building an amazing life filled with forgiveness, vulnerability, and grounding morning routines.
Rounding out the episode, we shed light on the complexities of navigating social media with teenagers and the pivotal role of positivity. We also explore the key principles of loyalty, fidelity, transparency, faith, and diversity in various relationships and contexts. Tune in for enriching experiences and transformative lessons, and be prepared to embark on your own journey towards personal growth and excellence in your unique way. The power to live a fulfilling life is within your reach. Let this episode with Lynita Mitchell Blackwell be your guide.
www.LynitaMitchellBlackwell.com
In this weeks episode on "Glass Half Full" Chris talks with Lynita Mitchell Blackwell. What if you could chart a course towards a fulfilled life? Join us as we journey with Lynita Mitchell Blackwell, an intuitive business coach, who shares the blueprint of her life, from her Miami roots to the profound life lessons that have shaped her unique personality and point of view. She discusses the power of embracing mistakes, the impact of humility and grace, and the hardest choice she's ever had to make - choosing herself to fulfill her destiny.
Next, we unpack what it means to lead an excellent and present life. Lynita offers insightful tips on practicing mindfulness, embracing the breath, and cultivating gratitude. We also delve into self-love and self-appreciation, essential elements in living a present life. As we venture further, the discussion moves towards manifesting gratitude and building an amazing life filled with forgiveness, vulnerability, and grounding morning routines.
Rounding out the episode, we shed light on the complexities of navigating social media with teenagers and the pivotal role of positivity. We also explore the key principles of loyalty, fidelity, transparency, faith, and diversity in various relationships and contexts. Tune in for enriching experiences and transformative lessons, and be prepared to embark on your own journey towards personal growth and excellence in your unique way. The power to live a fulfilling life is within your reach. Let this episode with Lynita Mitchell Blackwell be your guide.
www.LynitaMitchellBlackwell.com
Good morning, good afternoon and good evening. Wherever you are in the world. Welcome to another episode of Glass Half Full, a podcast and a safe platform where we talk with a variety of teachers, entrepreneurs, spiritualists, uplifters, givers, shakers and serenaders. Everyone has a lesson to learn and a lesson to share. Let's use our life experiences to enrich someone's heart, mind, spirit and soul. Through sharing our experiences, we can be a learning inspiration for one another. I'm your host, chris Levens. Let's welcome today's guest. Today's guest is Leneda Mitchell Blackwell. Leneda Mitchell Blackwell is the intuitive business coach who leads her clients to live life on fire for the ultimate successful life with peace, joy and fulfillment. Leneda has built an award-winning law firm and publishing house. She's a number one best-selling author, cpa, an ordained new thought minister and recognized nationally as an outstanding community leader Based on her latest book. Leneda loves sharing the formula to the ultimate successful life with peace, joy and fulfillment. Please give a warm welcome to Leneda Mitchell Blackwell. Yay, yay.
Lynita:Thank you so much for having me on here, Chris. That was like the best intro ever.
Chris:I love it, my pleasure, good morning. Good morning. Thank you so much for being a guest here on Glass have Fool. We are so happy to have you today.
Lynita:So happy to be here.
Chris:Thank you, thank you. Can you tell everybody where you are in the world and what time it is?
Lynita:Absolutely. I am in Austin, which is a suburb of Atlanta, georgia, so I'm on the East Coast, and it is 8.03 am.
Chris:Oh, yes, bright and early. I hope it's a nice sunny day.
Lynita:Looks like it might get there.
Chris:It's a little overcast but you've got to have some rain, absolutely absolutely. I'll take that too just to be here, to be a part of it. Yes, for sure, we're going to jump right on in. I like to ask all my guests this first question. I believe that our lives are in spiritual design. Can you share your life layout or blueprint with everyone, how you grew up, where your family lifestyle?
Lynita:I love the way that you described that blueprint design because it means that there is intentionality and I totally agree with that. I was raised in a wonderful family. I'm from Miami, florida, born and raised in real Miami, so not a suburb. I always have to make that distinction because people will be like, oh where I'm from Boca, I'm like no, no, no, really Miami. I love that. Yeah, you know, loving parents, great siblings. My younger sister and I are very close. She thinks she's the boss of me even though she's younger, but that's okay, I take it.
Lynita:I attended HML Highland, miami Lakes High School. I had incredible mentorship to the Lich and life experiences that really set me on the course to my life. I had the opportunity to serve in leadership. While I was there I was captain of the color guard. I learned how to be a good leader through my mistakes.
Lynita:A lot of times, people they try to shut away the things that define them. They try to run away or pretend that the mistakes did not happen. But I embrace them because for every time where I was short or impatient, I learned that it was not productive, that it was unkind, and I remembered it so that I didn't do it the next time. I learned to apologize when I was wrong and I learned to really employ please thank you and excuse me.
Lynita:In professional settings, I tell you those three phrases have served me so well because there seems to be a real disconnect, particularly once you start to move through your career, with being humble and graceful and perceiving that as weakness. I see those as strengths, because when your people know that you are fallible, that you can be vulnerable, they are much more willing to rally when things get hard and not assume that you've got it and not be there to help. I believe that we were placed here to be of service and to be served, that you have to do both. That comes very much from my background. I come from a preaching family. I'm a fifth generation PK and I'm a preacher myself.
Chris:All right now.
Lynita:Exactly. We were always giving our time, sharing our resources generously. As I've gotten older, I see the benefit of that because I tell you a lot of the wonderful things that have happened to me in my life have not been because I've worked so hard at work, because I have put in right, but because I was out in the community and serving there.
Lynita:That's really the thing that I would love people to embrace that you never leave anything on the table when you are serving and giving to other people. You are going to be blessed over and over again. Sometimes it might take a little while, but I promise you you are putting it in the bank and it is drawing interest and it's going to be there when you need it.
Chris:Nicely put, nicely put, wow, all right. Well, bringing that us up to in today's time what's been the most difficult choice you've had to make to fulfill your destiny.
Lynita:Choosing myself. By that I mean that because I was raised in this family and community, really because I had great teachers and mentors, right, that believed in speaking of service. It meant that a lot of times I was running on empty. I was tired a lot because I was working and am working, and a mom and a wife and the daughter of aging parents. I still have to pay bills and make money, like most people, right, but then I was also serving in professional organizations and serving in the community as well.
Lynita:I was not taking care of me. It became untenable when I was diagnosed with stage 4 endometriosis, which is the uncontrolled growth of uterine cells outside of the uterus. It had attached to everything. I had to have a series of very brutal surgeries, with the last one the doctor coming in looking all shaky and saying you got to sign these waivers, basically saying we don't know what's going to happen and you need to get your affairs in order. I remember thinking to myself that if I don't make a course correction, I'm not going to see my daughter graduate.
Lynita:She was still in elementary school and middle school when I was going through all this, so I had to decide that I was not going to do that anymore. I was not going to burn it at both ends. I was going to get enough rest. I was going to eat right. I would exercise, even if some days I only had time to stretch. That still counts. Amen on that, that's right. I would take the time to meditate and to pray and to breathe and to just be silent and just be. It has been a commitment, because that is counter to my rearing. I promise it has been the most life-changing and most fulfilling thing that I could have done, because I'm actually able to be more productive and to be more present and more of service, not just to myself but to my family as well as my community.
Chris:Wow, School. I mean you can't beat that right, yeah, yeah.
Lynita:It's been a blessing, it really has.
Chris:Wow, wow, that's awesome, so great, so great. Can I ask you why do you think more than a third of the people are unhappy with their lives?
Lynita:Yes, and thank you for asking me that, and I'm going to say at the top of that answer I am people. Ok, oh, I'm going to say that. Let me say that.
Chris:I like that.
Lynita:Yeah, I'm a recovering people, so I'm not distancing myself from this, but more than a third of people are unhappy with us because we have been trying to live a life that wasn't ours. We were told by very well-meaning people who loved and cared about us that if we worked hard and we did well and we got a good job, and that we checked off these boxes that said that we were successful like money, cars, clothes, people, relationships that we would be happy. And we did those things and for moments of time we felt elation and then it went away and then we did it again and the same cycle happened. Finally we realized something is wrong, and what's wrong is that we have been trying to live up to somebody else's standards. Somebody else gave us this list and said you'd be happy if you do this, but we never took the time to really examine whether that list applied to us. Yes, wow, you know.
Lynita:I look at Shonda Rhimes and this conversation that she had with Oprah Winfrey. When she told her, she said Oprah, I just don't want to be married. And Oprah said I know I felt the same way and everybody thought I was crazy because there's a generation between the two of them. And when Oprah was coming through and was like, yeah, I don't want to get married. Folks were like you're crazy. And Shonda was like I don't want to be married, but I want kids. And folks were like you're crazy. But they took the time to create their own list, yes, and to live according to that list. Unapologetically, we've got to make our own list, chris.
Chris:I like that analogy of it. You're right, we have to make our. Everybody is different, so how can we fall under the same list when we are? All people that's right. I think it's something that most people haven't even thought of, the concept they haven't even it hasn't even graced their mind to. They're so caught in the cycle or the conditioned way of this is what we're supposed to do, that no one's thinking outside of that box until somehow someone gives them something to think outside or opens that eye of their awareness.
Lynita:Yes, that's exactly right, Well said.
Chris:Wow, I love that, I love that. So let me ask you what is your definition of the standard of success, and does this lead you to live your life differently?
Lynita:Absolutely yes. So my definition of success is living a life of peace, joy and fulfillment. Now I know a lot of people would look at my bio and say, well, that's easy for you to say, you've accomplished all these things. And I used to go off, you could go up into the mountains and then woosa and ohm, and yes, I have done those things.
Lynita:But there are two parts to this right. The first is success has to be you deciding that you're not going to try to live a perfect life anymore. You really want to live an excellent one, and the difference between those two is that perfection, literally, if you look it up in the dictionary is living up to a standard, meeting the standard. And who set that standard? Chris, somebody else. We were just talking about these lists, right? So if you decide that you're not going to live up to somebody else's standard, then perfection is off. And now we're looking to excellence, excellence being the best that you can be in that moment, and you are deciding what that best is and giving yourself grace to know that that excellence is going to be a sliding scale that will change as you change throughout your life, because my excellence in my 40s is not what was excellence in my 20s and it shouldn't be and hopefully it won't be what excellence is in my 60s.
Chris:Right, it's true, it's true, and it's about what we want to make it to be.
Lynita:That's right, absolutely.
Chris:I like how you say give us grace. Give yourself grace about it, because we do, we have to. Sometimes we set standards that are not achievable and the time we feel they should have been achieved and my mom is quick to remind me like were you the one that said you wanted to do it I was like yeah, right, and so you're the one who can make the adjustment.
Lynita:Yes, exactly.
Chris:So, going in and adjusting what are you upset about? And I was like, yeah, you're right, but in the moment you're caught up in what needs to be done or what you said it was going to be. I like to be a person of my word, so I tried to live up to what is said, but sometimes, as human people, we can't do what we are able to do. But, yeah, you're right, I can adjust it if I'm the one who's making it so nice. Yeah, we need that reminder, that good reminder for sure. Do you feel that you're living in the now of life?
Lynita:Oh, absolutely. The only moment that is real is now, because you can't recapture the moment that just passed and the moment that is coming is not here yet. So Seminary Eye, attended Chiro's Institute for Progressive Spiritual Study, has a saying that the opportune time is now, and what it means is that the only time that matters is this moment. Because we spend so much time, chris, focusing on next, what I'm going to do tomorrow, even later. But the truth is, if, right, this moment is not taken care of and that we're not good stewards over it, then the next can't come. Not that it won't come, it can't come. And a good example of that is if you are unwell, if you are ill, like deathly ill, then all those plans that you made for tomorrow, they mean nothing. She won't be here to enjoy them. I don't mean to be a Debbie Downer this morning, but that is. Well, the truth is that you're free.
Chris:Hey, it's true, though, but you're right, like you, can't be too far ahead if you can't deal with what's handling. Now, a lot of people don't know how to be present. Do you have any tips on feeling how people can be more present?
Lynita:Absolutely Embrace the breath, and what I mean is when we take a moment and embrace, just being right here right now. The way that we do that is to take deep, cleansing breaths, and you can close your eyes. I like to close my eyes, or you can keep them open. Whatever rocks your boat, you can sit with your legs crossed, you can stand up whatever it is just breathe. People really discount the importance of breathing, but that is how you capture and embrace the present moment.
Chris:Wow, so simple, right so.
Lynita:And then cost the thing Right.
Chris:It's free. This is yeah. Wow, that's great. Thank you for that so good. Can I ask you, what tips can you give people to feel more engaged in their lives?
Lynita:Yes, thank you, thank you, thank you for asking that. So the first tip is the one I just gave is to embrace right now and breathe, and then embrace gratitude and thanksgiving. There is always something to be grateful for, even if it's something small, like I really appreciate the fact that I have two hands with ten fingers. Yes, I really appreciate that I have two arms to hug myself. Right yeah.
Lynita:How many of us take time to hug ourselves? We are quick to shower praise and accolades and thanksgiving on other people, but what about on us? I'm grateful for having two legs to go for a walk, having a pavement to walk on. How about that? Right.
Lynita:As you start to enumerate that list right, you really get into that gratitude cycle. There is a warmth that spreads throughout your body. That is your energy. Your vibration is literally rising and you are now in a place where you can start to manifest just about anything. That's the time when you start to speak over your life and those you care about, speaking over your health, your wellness, your money, your goals, your hopes and your dreams. And then you definitely want to do that with the person you share an appellate with and the people that you are raising and caring for.
Lynita:And then you can take that outside of your house and, as you are going through your jobs and going through whatever tasks that you have, you still have that renewable, infinite source of good feeling coming through you. People feel that, chris, I notice the difference when I take the time in the morning to do my meditations and my prayers and the difference when I don't. The way that people respond to me, the way that I'm responding to people, the amount of work that I can get done in the amount of time. These things matter and they count.
Chris:You're right, yeah, yeah. You're right. When getting in that morning routine of how what it is that you do, it helps ground you for the day and all the things that are going to come your way during that day.
Lynita:Yes, that's right.
Chris:That's right, that's right Pop them off, you know Right.
Lynita:And you know, and I do want to be clear that it doesn't mean that you're going to have sunny days every day. Not only is that unrealistic, but that does not help you to grow, we're going to challenge. Amen, yes. You know, but it does mean that the way that you face challenge, it seems more of an opportunity than somebody being somebody coming after you. Yeah.
Chris:Yeah, I agree. I agree for sure. What's your best strategy for moving on and letting go?
Lynita:Forgive, and that is a short word with two syllables, but it requires effort. So yeah, and I know, that I was sexually assaulted when I was in college and I had to forgive the person who did that. And it was not easy because he was never prosecuted. And he was not prosecuted because I didn't report it. I didn't report it because I was afraid, and so I had to forgive not just him for what he did, but I had to forgive myself for not embracing my power.
Lynita:But, you must forgive, because that will take you down if you do not let it go. And by let go it doesn't mean that it's never going to come up in your mind again. It is something that happened. It is part of you, whatever it is, but it does not run you.
Chris:Yes, that's a big difference.
Lynita:Yes.
Chris:You're right, it's, and the forgiveness is for you, because the other people are sleeping good at night.
Lynita:Yes, they are. Tell that, Chris.
Chris:So it is definitely for us to be able to just release that and it's, you know, like the people say yeah, you don't forget, you know, it's like you say it's not going to not come up in your mind, but it's not going to have the power over you, over it. Yeah, thank you for sharing that as well.
Lynita:You're welcome.
Chris:Yeah, you know, sometimes we always feel the well some people I guess it's a case by case in leadership positions Some are open to share their own testimonies and some are not, and I have found that it's a case by case about what people want to share and how they're doing their work. But I think it's great when the leaders are vulnerable and are able to show that they are regular people and things have happened to them that are going on in everyday lives. It draws that connection of real reality and understanding. You know, just from human to human that we can feel that. You know you can understand me. So thank you for being vulnerable to share that.
Lynita:You're very welcome and thank you for creating a safe space where I could.
Chris:Yes, I appreciate that. Yes, god is good. All right, let me ask you how do you burn down the old and build up the new? Amazing life. Is it amazing? Amazing?
Lynita:That's right. A-w-e Amazing life.
Chris:Amazing. I love that Thank you.
Lynita:So before I answer the question, I would like to tell your listeners that when I say burn down, I need to put that in context and let y'all know I do not mean like set fire to destroy.
Chris:You know what? Thank you for saying that, because I knew what you meant. But you're right, some people might be like I thought she was a Christian woman. You know, a minister.
Lynita:Right, right, right, like what's going on here.
Chris:That's so funny.
Lynita:And it's interesting that you bring up the ministry, because, when the title came, whenever you see fire in the Bible and, as a matter of fact, in most holy books, right, that is not the sign of destruction, it is the sign of hope, instruction, wisdom. And that is what I am saying about your life. You have to look at your life and remove all of the things that are inconsistent with hope, instruction, wisdom, love. And that is not always easy, because something that might be consistent in all of those areas in somebody else's life may not be in yours.
Lynita:When I was working with my performance coach, rowena Savelle Beck, to streamline my life right after I had the surgery, she had me write down everything that I was involved in and literally, chris, it was seven pages, single space. Because, yes, yes, everything. Because some of the roles were multi-layered, like even being a parent. It's not just that you're a parent, you're taking care of that child, which includes cleaning, laundry, drop off and pick up homework, doctor's office visits. Yes, you as the parent, right, so that one role has like 12 to 15 sub-rolls.
Chris:Okay, that makes sense.
Lynita:So she was like you've got to get this down to two pages, You've got to get this manageable. And what made it hard for Chris was that I was involved in all of these things that were positive, had good purpose. I was at a place in my life where I no longer got involved in mess, right. So I thought that because these organizations and these things that I was involved with that, because they were good, that they were good for me, and that was not the case. And so what it required and when we're talking about burning down the old life and building the amazing, it required me to select those things, those relationships, those opportunities that were consistent with my life purpose and to let go of the ones that weren't.
Lynita:Yes yes, and so from that context, then it became easy. Now I will say that it was not an immediate process, because to remove yourself from certain things that you've committed to it requires you to be disciplined and a good friend and good employee a good boss, right? So training somebody to take your place, and if they do not do that within a certain period of time, gracefully leaving.
Lynita:it requires you to actually give notice. Right, you don't necessarily have to explain everything that's going on, but being kind and saying that I've had some life changes and so I have to remove myself from whatever this is. And even with our children, it required me to empower my daughter to do things for herself. She's 16 now and she can do just about anything. She can cook for herself, do her own laundry, clean her bathroom, get herself together from head to toe. She shops for herself. The last thing we're working on is getting her to drive. She keeps saying she wants to, but I think she's happy having Uber.
Chris:Mommy, daddy, grandma, take her around, okay, Okay, I forgot 16, this is their generation. About Uber, I'm like okay. You right so easy just to yeah, you're right.
Lynita:Yeah, but the stronger and more independent she has become, those are less things on my plate, of course, yes. Yeah, and so that's what I mean about building this amazing life. It is a life that is consistent with who you are, what you are and how you serve.
Chris:Yes, nice. And you know, I've realized that when we do a lot of things, we're not able to give 100% to all of them, and so some things start to fall under and maybe 80% can look good. But in the end, do you want to feel like let's narrow down the things that are really most important and then we can really focus our time and energy accordingly? You know, instead of you know being pulled in so many directions, that now it's you know less, that now we can focus more on that. So very, very nicely put, very nicely put what is your greatest treasure?
Lynita:Y'all don't think this is egotistical.
Chris:Okay.
Lynita:My greatest treasure is me. Oh, yes, I think that's a wonderful answer. Well, thank you, I appreciate it, but I need to say why. Because if there's no me, then I can't experience anything else. That's going on. There are no relationships, there are no accolades, there are no achievements, there's nothing. Hmm and I bring that to the world when I realize that, and I empower other people to realize that about themselves as well. You know we talk a lot about self-love, but we don't necessarily talk about why that's important.
Lynita:You can't love somebody else if you don't love you.
Chris:All right now yes.
Lynita:Because you say that you love that person, but the moment they make a mistake or they fall short of your expectations, you kick them to the curb and you're looking for somebody else to illuminate you like you're the moon, and they're the sun. We're all sons. Yes.
Chris:Yeah, nice, hmm. So what is it that you do to Help keep you in a good mental health state? Do you have any daily routines? Is there some? I know you said that you have your morning meditation and outside of that, is there anything else that you are doing to Help keep you in a good mental place?
Lynita:Absolutely so. As you mentioned, I have my morning meditations. I get up, I drink a bottle of water which lubricates the body.
Chris:the whole bottle. How many?
Lynita:Yes, I drink the bottle. You know it takes time.
Chris:Thank you for your honesty on that. I'm like I have a little water but I don't. I can't get a whole bottle in.
Lynita:Yeah, yeah, I drink a bottle of water and normally it's happening as I am Praying and meditating over my home. I walk through my house and I pray peace and blessings over my home. I don't open the doors to my daughter's room into my bedroom with my husband, because I don't want to wake them, and so I just stand at the door and send them blessings through the door, and so by the time I finish that, the bottle is normally about half full, glass half full. How about?
Chris:that yes.
Lynita:My stretching, my yoga, and then I go into my breathing, I do Bastrica panayamas, um, and then I do my prayers and my meditations and my affirmations and I will stop do throughout the day to do them, to read up Um, sometimes I only have five minutes, sometimes I have bigger stretches between clients, but I find that it is important. One of my, my soul coach, jill flowers, told me, because I see so many different people, um, as both an attorney and as a coach, it's important that I take defined periods of time between them to kind of clear up my energy and my mental space so that when I'm appearing in front of them, it's only them that I'm engaging with.
Chris:That's smart.
Lynita:And so during, yeah, so during those times I'm I'm rejuvenating my own energy so I can show up well For myself and for them.
Chris:Which is nice because you're right, you're dealing with lots of energy and stuff that you have a chance to reset yourself and be fully present for this person that you're dealing with at this moment, without bringing Whatever you've had before in there into the session as well. Hmm, yes, that's nice. How long is this taking your routine? Is it like an hour 45 minutes?
Lynita:um, it can Take about an hour. Sometimes it can take a little more, okay, depending on how long I'm in my meditative state. Like this morning, it was pretty quick, um, and that was by design because, um, I was actually supposed to meet with my reiki master on sunday morning Before service, but then she texts me I'm an early rising when she was like, okay, I'm ready. And I was like, well, it's supposed to be tomorrow, but if spirit is moving you for today, let's do it with tracy, no problem. And so my meditative state was only about 10 to 15 minutes and you would be amazed at how intelligent your body is like when it's time to come out, because you have things you need to do, you come out, um, so I don't set up watch or a time or anything and then Trace the rep, tracy and I did our work, and then I came on here with you today.
Lynita:Wow so it just depends on the day, yeah, and what's going on?
Chris:I'm just gonna go Okay, I see that sounds exciting. I see you do a lot. Yeah, you name the spiritual coach and the reiki master and that's a lot going on. This sounds exciting.
Lynita:Well, it is invigorating, but it is necessary Because the life that I was living before with being so busy, because I had burned myself to the ground like, literally, my daughter at six. One day she found me passed out from exhaustion in the middle of the world.
Lynita:Yes, I couldn't get up and she put her Disney blanket on me and put pillow under my head and kissed me on the forehead and said good night mommy. And I only think I had strength to do was to say good night baby. I could not put my child a bit. That's how tired I was, and it did not stop me. I knew something needed to change, but I didn't know what and I didn't have the the mental capacity, the mindset to go out and get people to help me.
Chris:That did not happen until After I had those surgeries and so no one came, no one saw that you were being burnt out. No family member, no, no one from the you know any organization to be like. Hey girl, you know, you seem like you you're doing too much. None of that.
Lynita:So so you know what? There were two parts to that. People saw it, but I always had a smile on my face and put a positive spin on it, and Even when the physical manifestation started, I knew how to cover them. Like, when my hair started breaking off, all I did was with wigs and they looked amazing and some people like girl, you look so good, right. And then when my nails started splitting, I just wore a krillin and so I would put bling on them and, oh girl, they are so pretty. And then, when my skin started to deteriorate, all I did was learn how to do my makeup from these awesome instagram girls. And one day chrismas, my makeup was so flawless.
Lynita:I went to a photo shoot Really awesome organization had me on their cover and the stylist said oh my god, who did your makeup? And my response was girl. That was me and I was proud of that. I did not embrace everything that was going on with me. That girl, that's crazy. You got to own like a layer of makeup. You could have paid the road with all that that's on your face. You know, wrong here.
Chris:But, you looked good, but you looked good I looked good.
Lynita:I looked good chrism. But and then the second part of it the people that were really close to me, like my husband, my siblings, my parents. Mm-hmm. They were trying to talk to me but I wasn't trying to hear it because I was like this is the height of my success. What are y'all talking about? I'm on magazines. I'm going all around the world Talking and I have all these things going on with the magazine and publishing company and best selling this and all this stuff.
Chris:Okay.
Lynita:Yeah, so that was you just put a deaf ear to it like. I sure did.
Chris:I did. Thank you for your truth on that. Yeah, sometimes, and that's what it is right, we can know things are not right, but still put up that front. And you know the social media doesn't help, because Everybody looks like they're having the time of their life on social media, like no one's really showing anything bad. I mean, I guess you wouldn't want that. But you know there's, there's reality, and then there's the, the social media. It's like, oh my goodness, you know. So that paints a picture to lots of people that things are always grand and good and it's like we don't live in that type of world, you know, and we're not going to grow in that type of environment either. So definitely.
Lynita:That's the truth. Boy social will have you thinking that your life is just circling the dream looking at some of these people, but y'all please know that that is all by design.
Chris:Yes, yes, it's true, and you know I'm, you know I we're born in a Later time where there was no youtube and there was none of this, you know, and I felt like things were a little bit more peaceful, you know, like there was still things happening. But it's not. You know, I remember going to school and we having the computer for the first time in our classroom and I was like a kindergartner, with the, like the commodore, and there was black and white with the, the p, the number that just kept flashing when you typed, you know, like bringing things up. You know we watch tv as a family, like it was. There were more things of that style happening.
Chris:But now everybody is on some device. You know everybody, from kids all the way up, they're kind of doing their own thing on these devices and it's, you know, being influenced by so much of Things that are happening in the world more than they need to at the ages that they are. So the social media I mean I'm happy to be when I was born because I understand that that the reality of things. But a lot of these kids today they don't know the real reality Of it because the social media has painted a whole different picture of what they think might be real.
Lynita:I agree, and you know there are some members of gen z who are revolting. Some of them are actually going back to the flip phone, chris Get out of here. No, like when I read that, I was like whoo. Oh my gosh they don't want to be on like that and even with you know the employers having your phone number and being able to call you at all, they are turning their phones clean off.
Chris:I can't blame them on that right, which is that the workday is over. Right, right, I'm done. I'm done, but they can get you on the social media and leave a message there too. So it's like you kind of really, you know, don't get on your computer either when you get home.
Lynita:Yeah, yeah, you gotta disengage for real.
Chris:How do you um deal with the social media with a teenager? Are there restrictions? Is she allowed to use all of those apps, ticktocks and uh, facebook and things, or do you have a restriction for her? What's the rules in your house?
Lynita:Yeah, so I do not have a restriction for my daughter. I trust her. Oh nice yeah. But I need to say why my daughter has had the benefit of most of her awakened life, and I use that term to describe that place where your child is aware of you as an individual, because when they're three, all they see is mommy, it changes diapers and feeds me. But as they start getting older and it happens quick, when they're about six or seven they start seeing you interacting with people and they're mimicking you. So my daughter has had the benefit of seeing me post on social media, of being at my events, sometimes taking over my phone when I am doing things and creating media for me. Wow, nice.
Lynita:Yeah, yeah. So she understands the power of this thing, but she also understands the crafting as well. So she has profiles. None of them are under her name. She rarely posts, she just looks. And when she does post, it's a big deal in her circle because they're like oh my god, she posted something, so she gets it she totally gets it Nice.
Chris:Well, that's great that you've created an environment for her to understand about it fully and being able to know how to navigate through being online and all of that that you've taken the time, which is a rare deal because a lot of parents are not. This is I've heard this from a few parents, but this is not the norm. So that's awesome that you have given her that trust and that you have given her the tools as well to be able to do that. All right, mom, yes.
Lynita:Well, thank you High five on that.
Chris:Yes, right, Definitely. I'm sure she could high five it too, because I'm sure everybody doesn't have that freedom, you know for sure.
Lynita:Well, everybody doesn't need that freedom. You know what that's right, you are right.
Chris:You are right on that for sure. Can I ask you what four words come to mind when you think of yourself?
Lynita:Loyalty fidelity, transparency, love.
Chris:Loyalty, fidelity, transparency and love. Love. Ok let's break those down. Yeah, the loyalty.
Lynita:So I am a loyal person, even when people do things that are counter to loyalty. I hesitate to use the term betrayal because it implies that I believe that it was all about me when it happened and it was not. When people take actions, it is all about them. It feels personal, but we have to remember whoever was standing on that X in front of them, they were going to behave that way. So it's not about us, it's always about them.
Lynita:And so when I am engaged in relationship and that's not just romantic, it's also professional I am loyal. I don't sit there and pretend like I don't see you struggling. If I can help, I'm going to do it. If I see someone being negative about you or speaking negatively about you, I am going to pipe up with something to counter it, even if what they are saying might have an element of truth. There is a way that we can express truth, and especially if they've not said it to you first and given you an opportunity for correction. So definitely loyalty.
Lynita:I'm going to be there with you, no matter what is going on.
Chris:Right at that.
Lynita:Yes, it's. Real, it's real.
Chris:I love that. I love that. That's huge Nice. And then fidelity was the second right.
Lynita:Yes, fidelity. So you have to know that somebody's in your corner. So this is a step beyond loyalty. This is faithfulness. This is Naomi and Ruth. This is ride or die, but we're going to live, we're going to do whatever we have to do to achieve that. That's good, that's good.
Chris:You're right, it's a bit different. It's a step up from that. You're right. Nice Transparency, one of my favorites.
Lynita:Yes, so that vulnerability that we were talking about earlier in the show. I like that people know what they're getting when they meet me. My first photo shoot when I got into this business over 10 years ago, of coaching. The photographer took these wonderful pictures, but they showed the lines in my face and I'm OK with the lines in my face. I am 47 years old All right down hey.
Lynita:Right, and so it is not realistic to believe that my face is not going to reflect who I am, what I am, how I've served and how I've lived. But the person I was working with at the time as my agent. She told the photographer, you've got to fix that, and she airbrushed the heck out of my face and my eyes are brown. I'm black, Chris. Just to give y'all some perspective on what I'm about to say. She turned my eyes blue.
Chris:Oh, wow.
Lynita:Yes, and I was just like that's pretty, but that's not me, but I don't know who that is.
Chris:Right, would you say. I don't even have those contacts. Like, let me, I'm so white.
Lynita:Oh yeah, it's the one on the head. Oh wow, and I did not use those pictures.
Chris:I was going to say what happened to them, yeah.
Lynita:And I look at them from time to time and sometimes I still bump against them because they went out on some press stuff and became my profile picture at the time, and so sometimes I run across it even these years later, and I'm just like Lord, have mercy. Oh my gosh. Yeah, if I can figure out how to change it, I do. If not, I just like Lord. Hopefully they find something recent.
Chris:So, they're like I love it.
Lynita:Ah oh my gosh, that's funny and I want to make it seem like I'm just some line troll. I'm a pretty lady, I'm just saying.
Chris:Yes, you are, you are, you're beautiful.
Lynita:Thank you, chris. I appreciate it. I'm just saying that you know I look like I'm a wife and a mom. We're simply right with that.
Chris:Right. Oh my gosh, that's funny. Yeah. Oh, my goodness. So let me ask you what does faith mean to you and how do you use it in your work?
Lynita:Yes, so Eleanor Roosevelt has this quote that I absolutely love. Oh, she has. The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. So faith is believing in your dreams. It's believing in the things that matter to you. For most of the world, they believe in a higher power, but even those folks that I have talked to who are agnostic or atheists they know that there is something outside of themselves that exists, that is bigger than they are, and so they have a type of belief. They just don't like calling it God. And.
Lynita:I respect that. That's the way you do it, it's fine. And so faith is believing that there is something beyond what your eyes are seeing right at this moment, that there is a reach. And I have employed that in my whole life, because when I was in high school, when I started out, I was a good student but I wasn't really involved in a whole lot of things. I was kind of a hermit my mom will tell you that but by the time I graduated I was number eight in my class. Wow yeah, and I was selected as an outstanding graduate by the faculty.
Chris:Ok, yes, yeah.
Lynita:And right, and I was on full scholarship to college and to say that when I entered ninth grade I had a vision of myself doing those things, but my reality at that time that was not it. But that means that we can change our reality at any moment We've got, but we have to give ourselves the time and the grace to manifest.
Chris:Yes, give it to us. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, you're right. You're right that time. Yes, and the grace, definitely, mm. I love it. I love it. Why is diversity essential in the progression of our world?
Lynita:So let's talk about diversity.
Chris:Yes, let's talk about it.
Lynita:Yeah, a lot of times people think diversity is just about color, race or even sometimes religion.
Lynita:They will throw that in. But diversity is about understanding that every person brings something special, beautiful and necessary to the life experience. So there might be a room full of people who all look similarly because they are the same race, creed, color, have the same educational or religious and or religious background, but there is still a level of diversity in that room and I know that that is odd to hear from me as an African-American woman born in the 70s, right, Mm-hmm. But I appreciate, acknowledge and respect the fact that every person in that room is bringing something different if they recognize the light that was placed in each of them individually. So, instead of embracing this homogeneous idea of personhood, that they realize that the things that they know, that they got that from someone else, some other experience, and they are willing to bring that into the pot number one. Number two, that they acknowledge that they got it from somewhere else and do not culturally appropriate it, and that they are willing to bring in the source, the person or the people that they borrowed it from. Mm-hmm.
Lynita:So those are the steps and we don't necessarily enumerate them that way and then we have to embrace and appreciate those new energies, ideas and people as they come into our groups that look very similar but they are actually very different. I look at people like Kim Kardashian who love her, a hater. I respect her greatly as a businesswoman, as a person doing the best she can with what she has and how. The first time she wore what we call cornrows, she called them box braids and why she called it for that? Because that was a cultural she really did. That was a cultural appropriation. But once she understood what happened, she made correction and you saw her bringing on more people onto her platforms who called them cornrows and had the discussion about them. That was a masterful diversity and inclusion. Nice, nice.
Chris:Yeah, this is what we need, right that this type of way definitely Nice example to use for that. Yes, Well, I like to close with this final question to all my guests Is your glass half empty or half full?
Lynita:My glass is all full and it allows me to pour without regard as to whether it will be replenished, because I am taking care of me, and that allows me to take care of you.
Chris:All right, yes, now that is an answer. I love it. Everybody's got something, something for that question. It's always a treat, definitely, that's great. That's great, and we didn't get a chance to talk about your books, and there have been quite a lot of literature that you've had a chance to put out, as well as the newest book. Is it the five? Live Life on Fire.
Lynita:That's right. Live life on fire, the ultimate guide to peace, joy and fulfillment. And it is literally a cheat sheet. To answer the question what am I living for? Because most of us were taught that we're living to acquire stuff cars, clothes, money, relationships and that can't be it, because eventually you get those things and then you're like what now?
Chris:Yeah, exactly.
Lynita:Yeah, and so the answer is you're living for peace, joy and fulfillment. But what that looks like for you, you'll have to write that out, and so I take you through the five steps to get there and to execute. If you can get my book, it's available on my website, which is my name leneetamitroblackwellcom. Or you can get on Amazon, which gets you the paperback, hardback, the Kindle and or the audible version.
Chris:Yes, I love that. You've said that a few times. That was like I was ready for the music to kick in after that. Yes, nice, nice, nice. Yes, and all this information is definitely going to be listed with the podcast information. Do you have any final thoughts for our listeners?
Lynita:Yes, yes, live your life according to your own standards. So you're not going for the perfect life. You want the excellent one, where you determine what the list is going to be and, as you're checking off if there needs to be adjustments, you give yourself the grace to do it.
Chris:Yes, nice, very nicely put, definitely. Thank you so much for your time and your energy and your wisdom that you've shared with us today. We're so happy to have had you as a guest here on Glass Half-Full.
Lynita:Thank you for having me, Chris. I had a blast with you today.
Chris:Y'all, thank you. Thank you Well, we'll be in touch. You take care. Have an awesome day.
Lynita:Thank you as well.
Chris:Thank you so much, and thank you to all our listeners listening in to another episode of Glass Half-Full, a podcast and a safe platform for everyone to share their life experiences. Once again, I'm your host, chris Levens. Please subscribe, follow and rate this podcast on Apple Music and Spotify for more learning experiences. Until next time. No, you are blessed, see ya.