Risking it all to discover yourself

Hi guys,

     Carol here! giving you the secrets to how I found myself, and being comfortable in my own skin. I know it's been a while since my last post. Well actually a year or so, due to some unforeseen circumstances with my family. The thought of changing careers to pursue my passion for those around me sound crazy. What? you are not going to law school? No! it all came to a halt after I heard one of Oprah's life classes and she interviewed J.K Rowlings, and it hit me! that in order to find my soul purpose, true happiness, and piece of mind I needed to write it down on paper. It's like the poems that automatically comes to me, or the passion in my heart when I choreographer dance steps in my head while my body is secretly dancing like no one's watching.

     Also, like the best chapter of my life is me, and the things, people and other cultures that I have embraced as my own. J.K. Rowling's story was that still small voice saying. What are you waiting for, yes I 'm talking to you Carol, put it on paper. In life there is a saying that "if it wasn't written then it didn't happen". source unknown. The facts! nothing, but the facts! How she felt before she was noticed and how Harry Potter became the success it is today. On November 8th I hosted an event at the Asian Arts Initiative and one of my members made a very good point. Write, just write, don't think about the structure, grammatical mistakes. So, that brings me to this! Ah! when I woke up this morning and checked Facebook  there was this photo of this sister rocking her locks/natural hair so I pursued to look at all of them and it reaffirmed my beauty and Identity as a black woman.

     Although,  I am no J.K. Rowling's I am ready to tackle the world. In addition, like Rowling's I was a single parent of three daughters and we had some diverse challenges, but I win always!  First, ladies  let me tell you, when you invest and believe in yourself, and the divine presences of God's will. Defeat is impossible! The greater one lives in me, I know who I am.  As my friend Jean said, some guys are not ready for a  genuine and intelligent woman who know's who she is and what she wants. That being said, The focus has always remained on God, me, family and my career.

     Furthermore, never spend time on something or someone that was never meant to be yours in the first place. It's goes without saying how blessed I am to have my daughters who are my jewels and are all grown women well into their own lives. One class away from my B.S. degree, and now seeing what Jobs and Bill Gates felt when they listened to their hearts and followed their passions. Jobs, the creator of Apple, life story was a blessing and inspiration. His story stayed with me the most. Bill Gates and Jobs both went against the grain and followed their heart and passion.

     Finally, the secret to me finding my happiness was hitting rock bottom and yielding to the spirit and allowing God to take what I thought I lost and create a new chapter. Although I am making progress.  I am confident that this is just the beginning and I will be writing novels in the future. J.K. Rowlings story and her life as for many woman who are left to raise children on their own were epic inspirations to achieve my success in completing my B.S. degree and taking some time to really develop my skills and sole purpose for my existence.

The US dollar no longer as important

In the most profound financial change in recent Middle East history, Gulf Arabs are planning – along with China, Russia, Japan and France – to end dollar dealings for oil, moving instead to a basket of currencies including the Japanese yen and Chinese yuan, the euro, gold and a new, unified currency planned for nations in the Gulf Co-operation Council, including Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Qatar.

Secret meetings have already been held by finance ministers and central bank governors in Russia, China, Japan and Brazil to work on the scheme, which will mean that oil will no longer be priced in dollars.

The plans, confirmed to The Independent by both Gulf Arab and Chinese banking sources in Hong Kong, may help to explain the sudden rise in gold prices, but it also augurs an extraordinary transition from dollar markets within nine years.

The Americans, who are aware the meetings have taken place – although they have not discovered the details – are sure to fight this international cabal which will include hitherto loyal allies Japan and the Gulf Arabs. Against the background to these currency meetings, Sun Bigan, China's former special envoy to the Middle East, has warned there is a risk of deepening divisions between China and the US over influence and oil in the Middle East. "Bilateral quarrels and clashes are unavoidable," he told the Asia and Africa Review. "We cannot lower vigilance against hostility in the Middle East over energy interests and security."

This sounds like a dangerous prediction of a future economic war between the US and China over Middle East oil – yet again turning the region's conflicts into a battle for great power supremacy. China uses more oil incrementally than the US because its growth is less energy efficient. The transitional currency in the move away from dollars, according to Chinese banking sources, may well be gold. An indication of the huge amounts involved can be gained from the wealth of Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar who together hold an estimated $2.1 trillion in dollar reserves.

The decline of American economic power linked to the current global recession was implicitly acknowledged by the World Bank president Robert Zoellick. "One of the legacies of this crisis may be a recognition of changed economic power relations," he said in Istanbul ahead of meetings this week of the IMF and World Bank. But it is China's extraordinary new financial power – along with past anger among oil-producing and oil-consuming nations at America's power to interfere in the international financial system – which has prompted the latest discussions involving the Gulf states.

Brazil has shown interest in collaborating in non-dollar oil payments, along with India. Indeed, China appears to be the most enthusiastic of all the financial powers involved, not least because of its enormous trade with the Middle East.

China imports 60 per cent of its oil, much of it from the Middle East and Russia. The Chinese have oil production concessions in Iraq – blocked by the US until this year – and since 2008 have held an $8bn agreement with Iran to develop refining capacity and gas resources. China has oil deals in Sudan (where it has substituted for US interests) and has been negotiating for oil concessions with Libya, where all such contracts are joint ventures.

Furthermore, Chinese exports to the region now account for no fewer than 10 per cent of the imports of every country in the Middle East, including a huge range of products from cars to weapon systems, food, clothes, even dolls. In a clear sign of China's growing financial muscle, the president of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet, yesterday pleaded with Beijing to let the yuan appreciate against a sliding dollar and, by extension, loosen China's reliance on US monetary policy, to help rebalance the world economy and ease upward pressure on the euro.

Ever since the Bretton Woods agreements – the accords after the Second World War which bequeathed the architecture for the modern international financial system – America's trading partners have been left to cope with the impact of Washington's control and, in more recent years, the hegemony of the dollar as the dominant global reserve currency.

The Chinese believe, for example, that the Americans persuaded Britain to stay out of the euro in order to prevent an earlier move away from the dollar. But Chinese banking sources say their discussions have gone too far to be blocked now. "The Russians will eventually bring in the rouble to the basket of currencies," a prominent Hong Kong broker told The Independent. "The Brits are stuck in the middle and will come into the euro. They have no choice because they won't be able to use the US dollar."

Chinese financial sources believe President Barack Obama is too busy fixing the US economy to concentrate on the extraordinary implications of the transition from the dollar in nine years' time. The current deadline for the currency transition is 2018.

The US discussed the trend briefly at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh; the Chinese Central Bank governor and other officials have been worrying aloud about the dollar for years. Their problem is that much of their national wealth is tied up in dollar assets.

"These plans will change the face of international financial transactions," one Chinese banker said. "America and Britain must be very worried. You will know how worried by the thunder of denials this news will generate."

Iran announced late last month that its foreign currency reserves would henceforth be held in euros rather than dollars. Bankers remember, of course, what happened to the last Middle East oil producer to sell its oil in euros rather than dollars. A few months after Saddam Hussein trumpeted his decision, the Americans and British invaded Iraq.

Read also:

• 'China will overtake America, the only question is when'
• 'The end of the dollar spells the rise of a new order'
• The Independent on Facebook
• The Independent on Twitter
• by: BY ROBERT FISK

Never Forget the reality of Christ's life and love,

November 18, 2011
With all these things in mind, dear brothers and sisters, stand firm and keep a strong grip on the teaching we passed on to you both in person and by letter. 2 Thessalonians 2:15, NLT
Paul knew that the Thessalonians would face pressure from persecutions, false teachers, worldliness, and apathy to waver from the truth and to leave the faith. So he urged them to "stand firm'' and hold on to the truth they had been taught both through his letters and in person.
We also may face persecution, false teachings, worldliness, and apathy. We should hold on to the truth of Christ's teachings because our lives depend on it. Never forget the reality of Christ's life and love!

Source: Tyndale House Publishers [lifeapplicationdailydevotional@newsletter.tyndale.com]

Are You Pursuing Your Passions?: Are You Pursuing Your Passions?: "Starting Over"

Are You Pursuing Your Passions?: Are You Pursuing Your Passions?: "Starting Over": "Are You Pursuing Your Passions?: 'Starting Over' : 'I decided in the middle of my career to change the course and direction of my life. The ..."

"Starting Over"

I decided in the middle of my career to change the course and direction of my life. The funny thing is that being so passionate about becoming an attorney when I started out doesn't feel so appealing anymore. All I want to do now is something that I love. Find my niche!

I prayed last year that God would send new people in my life and close the doors from people who were sucking me dry. He did that, I wasn't afraid to move. A revelation that I will now share with you, has to be told. It just might save someone from forfeiting their whole future and generations to come. I remember it like it was yesterday. I had just made the toughest decision a young woman could make. It was to leave a eight year marriage that was going no where.

On that faithful night, I remember prayer asking God to give me my dignity, but I have to get out. This is not what you have for me, or my three precious jewels. It was that night he revealed to me that all of Philadelphia was on fire, but I was lifted high up in the air safe from harm with my family. That has stayed with me all my life and as God brings me closer to the gospel. That vision is becoming more clearer.