Each of us is worthy, and we matter. Without meaning to, it's easy to rob ourselves of this knowledge, leading to a lack of self-confidence. Why allow your self to feel undeserving of blessings? Why bow to a dampening of spirits, thinking that you haven't gone as far you once thought that you would?  Why steep yourself in despair by thinking it's too late to accomplish your goals? Depression, anxiousness, and discouragement will come if you do. Most likely we've all felt such emotions. That doesn't matter. What matters is that we move past them. 

     Not comparing ourselves to others is one of the best ways of bolstering our psyches. Promote well-being by refusing to play this absurd mind game.  Yes, letting go is more easily said than done. Society perpetuates desire of fame, fortune, and prestige. Virtually all are beyond our reach.  Nevertheless, we're drawn into TV Ads and magazines featuring purported ideas of beauty (e.g., youth, thinness, charismatic, and physical attractiveness). Youth is fleeting. So is thinness, and physical attraction. And charisma is rare!

My advice. Turn off the TV, put away the magazines. Meditate on the beauty of surrounding nature. Breathe. Treat yourself with kindness. You are ‘divinely’ designed!

Association of State and Territorial Health Officials

Diverse Executives Leading in Public Health (DELPH) Class of 2021 - 2022

Congratulations Sister Nathifa Miller, J.D., on your graduation from the inaugural DELPH program, a prestigious honor!

Click on the link below to read about Sister Nathifa and other 2021 - 2022 graduates.

Inspiring Stories Told

PHONE 303-999-8473; EMAIL duncanpatricia3520@gmail.com

Patricia ("Pat") Duncan was born and raised in Denver, Colorado, and has built an impressive career on the premise of following her passions and dreams. This includes becoming a flight attendant with Braniff International Airways, as well as serving in consumer relations positions with Federal Express and several professional sports organizations, such as the United States Football League (USFL), Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo, Denver Nuggets, and the Colorado Rockies.

Event Planner and Business Owner

Patricia also holds a strong passion for community building and event planning and has a long history of successfully hosting and organizing functions for family, friends, and local community organizations. This led her to form her own company, IJABA Event Planning, Inc. in 2001. IJABA means “A Wish Fulfilled.” Establishing her own company and serving as Chief Executive Officer and President of IJABA was truly a fulfillment of wishes for Patricia. As most entrepreneurs are aware, the establishment of a new business is a daunting task. Because of this, Pat embraced the advice of her late sister, Vikki Buckley, Colorado’s first African American Secretary of State: “If you have a dream and a goal, you must go after it! Stay focused; accept the good with the bad. You may get knocked back two steps before you can take one step forward, but don’t quit! If you work hard and keep God first in your life, you will persevere.” This advice stayed with Patricia and continues to propel her forward.

Photographer

Patricia’s first purchase of a digital camera offered a gateway to yet another of her passions: photography. Having a mentor, Herbert “Buddy” Baker, with her every step of the way allowed her to quickly move from amateur status to being an award-winning professional photographer, contributing to three major Denver Black newspapers:

The Denver Weekly News

The Denver Urban Spectrum

The African American Voice

Award-Winning Author and Historian

Inspired by the trailblazing campaign of America’s first African American President. Patricia realized she could use her photography skills to create a historical pictorial coffee table book featuring President (then Senator) Barack Obama. The journey of creating the book, entitled “A Defining Moment-Barack Obama-The Historic Journey to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue,” started in October 2008. After going through some hardships, including the death of her mother in 2010, Patricia finally finished the project in December 2010. Completion of this book brought her self-gratification and validation, an especially rewarding moment being when the e-book was nominated for the 43rd NAACP Image Awards (2012) in the category of Outstanding Literary Work of a Debut Author. “A Defining Moment” was a limited publication, which sold out in 2013. But it has a permanent home on the shelf of three historic locations: in the Jefferson or Adams Reading rooms at The Library of Congress (2013), in the Genealogy, African American, and Western History Resources on the fifth floor of the Denver Public Library located in downtown Denver (2015), and the Obama permanent collection of the History of Colorado Museum (2017).

In 2017, Patricia published her second coffee table book, “Defining the Times-Barack Obama—The Historic Journey of the first African American President through the Eyes of a Colorado Photographer.” In 2018, “Defining the Times” was placed in the Obama permanent collection in the History of Colorado Museum and the Genealogy, African American, and Western History Resources on the fifth floor of the Denver Public Library. It was also awarded the Silver Medal – Best Regional Non-Fiction Award by Independent Publisher Book Awards 2019.

Publisher

Patricia launched her own publishing company, P.S.S. Publishing LLC (tagline, “Inspiring Untold Stories), during the pandemic in 2021 and has published two books in 2022: “Barack Obama – Collection of DNC Speeches from 2004-2020 (Patricia M. Duncan, Author) and Multicultural Corporate Survival Guide (Ivan Burwell and Ervin Lee, Authors).

Patricia resides in Colorado with her husband, a retired captain with the Denver Fire Department, and has two grown daughters. Barack Obama - Collection of DNC Speeches 2004-2020 may be purchased on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com

Interested in a feature profile on yourself or your business in Sister-to-Sister, Inc.'s newsletter? All members are eligible. Send your bio and link to your business website, if you have one to info@sister-to-sister.org.

"Food for the Soul" Blog

by Teri Sewell Huff

Nutrient-packed foods!

  These foods are packed with nutrients. There are so many diets and nutrition plans that it can be hard to Know where to start. If you're looking for the best way to . . . Read more by clicking on the link below.

Sister-to-Sister, Inc. is pleased to feature fitness and health guru Sister Teri Sewell Huff each month. Check out Teri's blogs to promote your health and well-being. All of her blogs are published on the "Resources" page of our website.

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Discover The Power of Visualization

by Sandra Thébaud, Ph.D.
 

Visualization has often been used to enhance sports performance. It is also talked about in terms of creativity and manifestation. But have you ever considered visualization as a stress management technique? No matter how you use visualization, the benefits are clear and measurable.

 Visualization to Enhance Performance

Studies have been done on athletes from various different sports on the effects of visualization. These athletes have been hooked up to biofeedback machines to measure muscle activity and brain wave patterns while being asked to visualize themselves playing their sport perfectly. In real life, it is difficult to play the perfect golf game or hit every pitch or never miss a basket. However, in your mind, you can visualize yourself doing exactly that. While doing so, your mind and your muscles react as if you were actually doing the movements in real life. With regular visualization practice, these athletes built muscle memory that improved their game. That is how powerful visualization can be. Simply visualizing yourself performing an activity allows your muscles to respond without resistance from real life external forces. The more intense your visualization, the better your muscles respond and the better your performance the next time you play.

This is not just applicable to sports, but any kind of performance. If you have to make a speech, add visualization to your practice time. Visualize yourself calmly standing before your audience and remembering everything you wanted to say and see your audience reacting favorably to your speech. When it comes time to give your speech, you will find that you are much calmer, exude an air of confidence and your audience responds to that instead of responding to your nervousness.

Visualization and Creativity

In the book, The Shadow Effect, Deepak Chopra talks about using visualization to create changes in yourself from a “level of holistic creation.” According to Deepak Chopra, by visualizing an experience using all five senses, you change your experience of the world. You open your eyes and the world looks and feels more vivid. In her book, Visualization, Shakti Gawain talks about how this kind of visualization can enhance creativity.

How to Relax with Visualization

What visualization as a stress management technique has in common with performance enhancement and creativity is the lack of influence from external forces during a state of relaxation. Visualization works because your mind does not know the difference between fantasy and reality. If you have ever watched a horror movie and noticed had you had stopped breathing during a suspenseful moment, then you have experienced your mind reacting to a visualization instead of the reality that you were safe in your chair. Because your mind is so powerful, it can ignore external reality and your body will react as if your visualization was real. If you visualize something peaceful, your body will respond as if your life was at peace. That means the fight or flight response is turned off and your mind and body are recovering from stress.

If you want to learn how to relax through visualization, you will need to start with a quiet space where you will not be disturbed and at least 30 minutes. With practice, you will not need so much time, but in the beginning you may find your mind wandering from your visualization and needing to regain your focus. Unlike the meditation technique that I teach, visualization requires focus and concentration. It goes without saying that you should never visualize while driving or doing anything that requires focusing on that particular activity. 

Once you have found a quiet place and secured undisturbed time, sit comfortably and close your eyes. Start with visualizing a pleasant experience. Use your “eyes” to “see” the vivid colors that surround you in this experience. Then add sound. While focusing on the colors, listen to the sounds in your experience. The sounds do not have to match what you have chosen to see. For example, you can visualize being at the top of a mountain watching the sun rise while listening to a Gregorian chant instead of just the wind and the birds. The choice is yours as to what you see and what you hear. Once you are able to focus on your vision and sound, then add smell. Imagine a scent that you love or find soothing and add that to your visualization experience. After that, add the sensation of taste. Imagine the taste of something you enjoy to the point of being able to taste it in your mouth.  Finally, add the sensation of touch and visualize the feel of something you enjoy.

During this process, you may have noticed unrelated thoughts entering your mind. Thoughts of things you needed to do, things you did not want to forget, things you were worried about, etc. With practice, you will be able to stay with your visualization longer and deepen the experience in your body.

I find visualization especially helpful when I feel like I need a vacation but cannot get away for one. I can visualize myself on the perfect vacation. Very few things beat a real vacation, but for when you are not able to go on one immediately, you can create the perfect vacation that would be impossible in real life instead.  It is free, it is relaxing and everything happens exactly the way you want it to. And unlike returning from a real vacation, visualizing a vacation will not make you feel like you need another one to recover from the one you just took. The benefits of visualization can change your life.

About the Author:

Sandra Thébaud, Ph.D. has been a Clinical Psychologist for over 25 years. She is also an author, speaker and stress management trainer.

For more information, visit www.linkedin.com/in/sandrathebaudphd.

© 2021 Sandra Thébaud. All Rights Reserved.

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