The Revitalization of my Life-Day 26

Oh how good it feels to accomplish something that you have been trying to accomplish for a long time. In my recent post, I mentioned that I was going to start meditating. Well, this didn't just recently come about. I have been wanting to start a daily meditation since I was in college. I use to think that if a person can just put themselves into solitude for an hour a day, they can get more accomplish because it will help them to focus better. Well, I did it! Yes, I finally had my first meditation moment. It was only 15 minutes, but I did. My ultimate goal is to reach an hour a day. I know this is going to take some time, but I know that I can do it.

Now I must tell you about the experience. It was unbelievable. I didn't sit Indian style in the center of a room with my palms up like you see on t.v. I just sat in a chair with my feet flat on the floor and my fingers interlocked. The first 1 minute felt like an hour. It was kind of hard just sitting there not doing anything but thinking. I had to gather my thoughts because they were very scattered and this is what was making the time seem like it was going by so slow. Once I gathered my thoughts, it was exhilarating. I took myself to a place that I hadn't been ever in my life. I was inside the deepest part of my thoughts placing them strategically as I want them and at the same time thinking about all that I had to accomplish. I was thinking about short term goals long term goals, and even how I was going to clean the house when I got off work. It was truly amazing. Not only did it give me a sense of organization, but it gave me a sense of freedom. I could go anywhere I wanted to go and actually feel as if I am there if I focuses hard enough. I could accomplish any task that I wanted to in a matter of seconds. It was the best 15 minutes of just pure peace that I have had in my life. Now I will say that it felt like I was meditating for hours but I just have to get my body and mind on one accord with all of this. It's just like exercising. You have to start slow and gradually work your way up to more strenuous exercises. I know tomorrow will probably be more difficult than today, but I know that if I fight through it and pull it off, it will be well worth it.

I say to you today, if you don't think that you have time to revitalize your life, think again. If I can take 15 minutes and just sit and think about nothing or about how to better myself, you can too. We find time to do everything else in our lives, why not take the time to make it better. Take away your favorite television show for one night. Use that time to go off into a room with no noise at all. If you don't have a room like this, go to your car. No radio, no cell phone, no nothing. Just you and your thoughts. Start off small if you don't have the time...15 minutes. once you experience what I experienced you will want to increase your time to an hour. The key to this is that you have to focus on what's within and not what's on the outside. Focus on yourself!

"Meditation is nothing but medicine for the mind that heals the body and purifies the soul"-K.J Swint

The Revitalization of my Life-Day 25

In the midst of my journey to revitalize my life, there have been adversities. But I have learned that you can't dwell on them. You have to accept them for what they are and keep going as if they never existed. Today is an off day from working out, but not an off day from revitalizing myself. I have taken on a new challenge that will require a great deal of focus. I am taking the challenge to start meditating. Now, I don't know anything about it, but I am gong to try it. I am going to do my research on it today and then tomorrow morning, I shall begin. I am going to take baby steps and try doing 15 minutes the first couple of times that I do it. My ultimate goal is to be able to get up every morning and meditate for an hour solid with no noise, no cell phone, no television, no nothing. All I want to do is sit and think about my life and myself. I want to be able to get in tune with my thoughts and try to make them become clearer. I want to make them so clear that they can become reality whenever I want them to. Along with just getting in tune with myself, I plan on getting in tune with my spiritual side. I think this will help me to bring all aspects of my life together.

On another note, when you are trying to get your life in order, most of the time, you run into problems or obstacles. And then you also run into things that are enlightening as well. I was riding in my car a few days ago and I made a wrong turn to go to a meeting. The wrong turn turned out to be the right one. Yes, I was in an unfamiliar area, but it was a nice area of town that I hadn't seen before. I drove through and found my way through and made it to my meeting. Later that evening I asked the question why did I make that wrong turn? Well, today I had the urge to come back to the place where I made the wrong turn and ran into an old fraternity brother of mine. We spoke and sat down and chit chatted for a while about the different dilemmas of life. He expressed to me a real tough decision that he had to make and he didn't know what he was going to do. He said that he had prayed about it and it was just really heavy because his decision is one that is life altering. I just sat and listened to him and never really expressed my opinion like I normally would do, but I did tell him that he should really pray about it and that no one could make the decision but him. It's funny how you end up in places you have no earthly idea why you are there. I had no clue that he was going to be there and I had no idea that he was going through some life changing things but I do know that I was sent to him not to advise but to listen.

Sometimes we are sent places to listen and not advise. God sometimes reveal to us our answers just through the presentation of someone else. I think this happens to the people that are very stubborn. He might have been that stubborn type that just needed for someone to listen and chime in when necessary. I don't know and I am not trying to figure it out. I am just going to keep making wrong turns when I am told to take it.


"The wrong turn can sometimes turn out to be the right choice"-K.J Swint

The Revitalization of my Life-Day 24

I placed my feet on the ground this morning and I thanked God for giving me another day to do what I do, write and inspire. I haven't worked out in a couple of days, but I am still on it. I must say that today I was inspired by a man that I met yesterday. The guy is a normal guy except for the fact that he can't get around like everyone else. There is something wrong with the left side of his body, but this doesn't stop him. He has a family and a job. As I see him in passing from time to time I speak and we chit chat about college football and then that's it. Well, yesterday was a little different. We spoke as usual and then I told him that people had been saying that it was extremely hot outside. He looked at me with a solid look and then cracked a smile and said, "it may be hot, but I'm thankful. You know I use to be a little bitter because I couldn't get around and play with my kids like I wanted to, but now and everyday that I am walking on top of the dirt and not laying under it, I am thankful. Some times that physical spirit will try to get the best of you and have you believing that things aren't that good for you, but you can’t let it get the best of you. You have to let the supernatural spirit guide you and help you to see the real matters of the world, the matters that matter the most. I might not be able to get around like I want to, but I can get around and that's all that matters." I was taken by this. He was so humble in spite of his flaws as if they didn't exist.

This is how we should be everyday of our life. We should just be thankful for the things that matter. And not only be thankful, but be grateful. If there is something in our life that we don't like that we can do something to change it, don't complain about it, be about it! Start doing what it takes to change it. God has given us several resources to make things better in our life and it's our job to use these resources to the best of our ability. Why would he give us more resources when we are not using the few he has given us. Take the time today to realize what resources God had given you and use them and then watch how things start to change and then he will give you other resources to accommodate your life style as it progresses. Don't sit around and complain about not having a car when you have a bike that you haven't tried to use. If you use that bike God just might provide you with a job that can pay for you a car...but you have to show him that you’re using the resources that he has already given you.

"Use what you have to get what you want and you will always have what you need"-K.J Swint

The Revitalization of my Life-Day 23

Today feels like it's going to be a good day. My performance last night was GREAT! The audience really liked what I had to say. I was extremely nervous, but I made it through without a hiccup. While I was speaking I was thinking to myself that it's amazing how a person's words can affect people. As I was speaking I glanced at the audience and saw smiles on some people faces and on others I saw a glow that stated, "I am enjoying every word that comes out of your mouth." This moment brought me to this thought, "If words are this powerful and we know it, why don't we use them more to uplift people everyday?"

I pondered this question all night and the only thing that I could come up with were two reasons. One is that some of us really don't know how powerful words are and we just don't care how we use them. Or two, some people just don't know how to use the words and the people that do are gifted with the talent of placing the right words with each other to make beautiful music that has no harmony, no tune, no nothing except a voice. I was told last night that I have a gift. Not just to write, but to speak what I write. For a while I have been in denial about this. I was just thinking friends were being friends and just trying to encourage me to do something they thought I liked doing. But as I watched an audience of people who didn't know me from Adam, focus on every syllable, noun, adjective and verb, I figured that my friends might be right, I might have a gift. I have been utilizing it to the fullest by posting to this blog everyday (or everyday I can). I have also been utilizing it by writing poems for people that I know and don't know and framing it for them.

I just thank God for my talent and I try to make myself better at it everyday. I didn't work out today, but I am taking notes and writing from the heart and I think that this might not only be revitalizing just my life, but maybe someone who reads this. In order to put more focus into my writing, I think I am going to make a vow right now. I am going to make a vow to put my cell phone on lock! From the time I get home to the time I go to bed, there will be no usage of my cell phone unless it is necessary (meaning it's business or family that really needs me). I was told by an old lady that if you have talent, you better use it or else God will take it away from you. I hear this lady's voice in my head every morning just as plain as if she were sitting right in front of me telling me this. Don't worry Mrs. Lady, I am going to use my talent so that God won't take it away from me.


"A gift is not always a present, it can sometimes be a future"-K.J Swint

The Revitalization of my Life-Day 22

Today was yet another off day and I decided to work a little on my writing. I am also performing some of my poetry tomorrow, so I have to make sure that I practice, practice, practice! With my mind on the event tomorrow and my novel, I was thinking to myself, "what can I write about in my blog?" Then I received an email from a lady asking me a question. The question was, "What do you do when you have done all that you can do?" It took me by surprise because this lady is a lady of great statue. She seems to always have it together. She is at the top of her game within her career and well respected within the city and state. I disregarded the email at first, but then I thought about it. If she is emailing me and asking for my advice, then I should at least give it to her. I shouldn't deny a person any advice because of their status.

I really didn't know what to tell her. I was sitting, racking my brain trying to come up with a sophisticated answer and then it hit me-just answer the question as if she was any old ordinary person, in which she is. I told her, "Do what God always do for you...keep forgiving and keep blessing!" I never received a response from her so I don't know how well this helped her out but it doesn't matter because I did what I was suppose to do and that's just try to guide her in the right direction as God has been guiding me for all of these years. But then after emailing her, I thought about a question that I want to pose to you. Why do we ask God for all that we ask him for, riches, happiness, peace, love, etc. But never ask him for the ability to forgive like he forgives us? Is it because we want to be bitter when the opportunity presents itself? Or is it because we feel as if we just don't have the power to forgive like God does. It's almost as if that's the one thing that we just give up on. I ask people this question all the time and I receive similar answers when I ask. But what gets me is that we tend to forget that we have done or are doing the things that others are doing to us and can't seem to come up with a solution as to how to stop it.

I am not a guru of knowledge and I don't claim to know all of the answers, but I think I might have this one. I think if we can let go of our PRIDE and just really think about all of the WRONG that we have done and how we changed and became better people, then we can get over this hump of really forgiving people for doing wrong. We are not PERFECT and we can't expect for others to be either. If we would just take the time to think about what it is that is going on in our life. I mean really sit and think about it. Set aside some time to yourself-20 min-1hr. Turn off the television, turn off your cell phone and just sit and think about what it is that is going on within your life. When you really get deep in thought to the point where you forget where you are, then you can think about a solution that will best benefit you and your spouse or who ever it is that you have an ill mood towards.

If you can dedicate an hour to a television show that provides no substance to increasing your lifestyle at all, you can surely give yourself 20 mins to really think about what's going on in your life. I would love for you to try this and come back to this blog and comment that it didn't work. I would love for you to prove me wrong. All you have to do is just try it, and see what happens. It doesn't cost you anything to sit by yourself with no noise and think. It's FREE! If this doesn't help you become a more tranquil person over a period of a week, I will pay you myself! But you have to do exactly as follows:
1. Turn off television and cell phone
2. Get in a comfortable position
3. Close your eyes and start thinking about your problem
4. Once you fall into deep thought, think of a solution.
5. Spend as much time on the solution as you did the problem
6. Picture yourself solving the problem
7. Then just relax and think about nothing but peace.

Start off doing this for 20 minutes and then increase your time until you get to an hour. Once you reach one hour, you will see why you don't need to go pass the hour mark! But in order to find out why not, you have to start with the 20 minutes first!


"Thinking doesn't cost anything but time and time is FREE"-K.J Swint

The Revitalization of my Life-Day 21

It's been a couple of days since I made a post, but within those days, I have been working out. Today is an off day for me, so the majority of my revitalizing will be indulged in writing.

While I was doing my daily run the other day, I started thinking about how things are just sometimes hard to do. The reason that this thought occurred is because I had a headache before I begin to run and decided that I wouldn't let this stop me. I started thinking about the slaves being taken from their homeland not of their own will to make life easier for someone else. They had no choice. I wasn't there, but I think after a while, they didn't spend their time complaining and talking about how the situation was. They more than likely started thinking how can we change the situation that we are in. This is the mentality that I carry with me every day. I look at the resources that they had and what I have now and I can't make any excuse at all. If they had half of what I have now, they would have made a huge difference in their way of life.

There should not be any excuse for us not making a difference in our lives. Being too tired is not an excuse. Not having enough time is not an excuse. Not having the right resources not an excuse. The only thing that the slaves had was HOPE, FAITH and the strength that God gave them.

Being raised by an elderly lady who only had a sixth grade education that never complained about what she didn't have because she made a way with what she had has made me the man that I am today. Every time I try to think of way out of doing something that I think is complicated or to hard for me to do because of my circumstance, I can't. I can't because I saw what she had to work with and she made it happen and not only did she make it happen for me, but she did for a slew of people. I am reminded of this when I hear people talk about the way she was over ten years after her death. And all of them say the same thing about her, "she always let you know what was on her mind and was never scared to voice her opinion. She was always willing to help those that wanted to be helped and the ones who couldn't help themselves. She never complained and always kept on pushing even until her last breath.

Thanks mama, for all that you did because without your hard tactics and tough love, I wouldn't be the man that I am today. Your education level didn't surpass mine, but your wisdom, superseded any PhD program that exist. What you taught me can't be taught at any University or College. It can't be duplicated because there can't be another you, but it can be appreciated and I do. Again, thanks mama!