The year is quickly coming to an end and I've started to see social media posts about resolutions and changes to come in the new year. The ever so popular one is that of 'New Year new me', when people say this it's as if they believe that the new year will automatically just push them to make changes in their life. Changes that they refused to make a month ago, a week ago or even a day ago. The new year brings with it the same days and months the only difference is how you decide to allocate it. What we need to focus on is planning our moves silently than advertising them to the world. Because often times you won't see the numbers offering to help you with these changes but you will see them appear to laugh if you fail. For the new year it is my hope that we will decide to start focusing on doing than saying, focus on true happiness that's vanity, focus on being genuine than keeping up appearances, focus on living than just making a living. Let us focus on perso

I've always been a fan of school challenge quiz, both at the primary and high school level. I enjoy watching my local programmes more than I do internal ones. Every night I ensure that I tune into the TVJ Junior School Challenge quiz program and no matter what my day was like, seeing those children exercising their analytical skills brings nothing but joy to my soul. Just to see them smiling with pride as they get their answers correct and also remaining composed when they come up short on the answers. It gives me hope that there is still some good in my country and it encourages me to keep on hoping and doing my part to shape the minds of the youth of Jamaica I want to encourage each and every Jamaican to support our young people. Watch the activities that they are engaged in and let them know that they are doing in a good job whether they are victorious or not. What we say to them today has a lot to do with who they become in the future. Our country already has too much nega

So I woke up this morning feeling like a big dark cloud on a sunny day. Have you ever just felt down out of the blue because of disappointments from years ago? When I woke up this morning tears came to my eyes as I lingered on the thought of why bad things happen to good people. You can give your very best to the world, treat people with kindness and never expect anything from them in return. I was always told that I will always be blessed for the good I have done. When will this blessing come exactly? I started to think about how easy it is for people to be mean towards me and how hard each day can be when  the world seems to just be out to get me. I started to ask myself what I ever did to deserve any of this and no answer comes to mind. I've simply just been handed a bad hand in life and apparently there is nothing I can do about it. I'm not writing this to seek sympathy from anyone. I'm writing this to see if I'm really alone in this world. Do you ever feel like no

Whether we like it or not we have to come across someone either sooner or later. There are times when we become so frustrated with even seeing another human cross our path. There are those who pretend like things are picture perfect all the time and they love everyone every single day. Today, I'm here to break that pretending nature and to say confidently that about two or three days out of the week I would rather not see or hear from another human being. I'm that person who feels best when I'm in my own company but I do enjoy the company of a selected few. So this blog post is entitled how to solve the biggest problems with people. Everyone has problems with someone every now and again and if you say you don't you are probably the biggest pretender on earth. What I do to solve my biggest problems with people is to avoid them and clear my mind. I try to understand their reasons for why they are the way they are, I also try to place my self in the situation to see h

So you can't find the time or you just rather turn on your television screen and watch a movie. Well, there is nothing that can bring you greater comfort and bring your imagination to life than getting lost in a good book. Don't have the money to travel or you have a small social circle? A book can give your mind the opportunity to travel around the world and fall in love with various characters.   Step 1📍 Find a book that appeals to a certain situation that you are facing in life. Start off with a book that is relatable. A book that perhaps will give you guidance to deal with a situation or to overcome a problem that you are facing. Step 2 📍 Don't rush yourself. Take the time you need to get into the frame of my mind to become a lover of reading rather than having to force it. Start off reading a couple pages a day until you get yourself in the rhythm and before you know it you will develop the habit of reading. Step 3📍 Form book clubs so that you will have others to en

For a week or two when Olympics and World championships takes centre stage the entire Jamaica is sent into a sea of excitement. We can't contain ourselves as we wake very early in the mornings and stay up late at night to support our athletes. The streets are filled with Jamaicans showing just how much our athletes mean to us. For that week or two, the problems that face our country are forgotten. Feuding amongst political parties is forgotten, social barriers are forgotten and the only thing that matters is ensuring that we get to watch each and every event that our athletes take place in, While watching the championships we can see the Jamaican colours in the stands each and everyday. The pain and struggles that we face each and everyday are placed behind us as we stand up and beam with pride as our athletes place our country on the world map. Over and over the negatives take centre stage but when our athletes dominate the front page the true strength and loving Jamaica

  Amongst the numerous accounts of the negative behaviour of young people in Jamaica, several Jamaican young people continue to stand out and are making their mark being felt both locally and internationally. Today, I sat down with poet and author Christena Williams to get some insight into her life and how much poetry means to her.    -Christena Williams What was your family background like growing up?   I grew up in Portmore otherwise known as “ sunshine city ” in a small community with my mother and three brothers as my dad left us when I was about one or two years old. He moved out to live with another woman leaving us practically in an unpaid house, bills unpaid, no furniture and such so you know we were what you would call poor. I however didn’t know that we were poor because my mom a disciplinarian was very strict with us. We were not allowed to visit neghbours   house as I think she wanted to protect us. She  didn’t want  us  to feel ashamed of ourselves and our circumstances.

Birthdays,graduations, marriages and other eventual activities in life have come and gone. You were there to celebrate each and everyone with your child. There are others who are just starting out on the parenting journey or they are in the middle of it. I'm here to offer a little advice to parents who believe they have figured it all out. I'm not a parent but I have parents who I still live with so I still have to interact with them pretty frequently . I have come to the conclusion that, back when my parents were growing up the physical needs were the only thing that mattered to parents. As long as they fed their child and sent them to school that was enough. Well, there is more to parenting such as the emotional needs of a child. Some parents might be saying to themselves at this point that a child shouldn't be having emotional problems as they are just children. You provide your child with beautiful gifts, shelter, food and clothing but you neglect them when

My life is my life and your life is your life. Simply put we need to spend more time focusing on ourselves. Everyday we come across people who see, to have life figured out. They have the perfect house, job and family.  However, do they really have everything figured out or are we just being fooled into thinking they do? Yes, there are people who have figured things out and are living out their dreams but there are those who are simply putting on a show tho let the world believe that they have figured it all out. This show will fool the world but it will do nothing for you. There are individuals who put so much effort into pushing the perfect images and telling the perfect stories of their life but put little or no effort into actually putting some truth to these images and stories. At the end of the day the truth will always come out. You are the one who will actually have to live with the true state of your life. Those who you put on the show for will just continue to look on in from

So, I haven't shared my thoughts wth you in a while and that's primarily because I was busy working on my latest poetry book which is now available on Amazon. I've always been a lover of poetry but I never believed that I could one day become a really good poet. Today, I'm here to say to you that you should never give up in your dreams. This year I self published two poetry books of which I'm very proud. If I had listened to the doubters and the voices in my head I would have given up on poetry years ago. It's very easy to stop believing in your dreams when the world is fighting against you and telling you that they are pointless or you should choose another path. You were born with the desire to achieve something and you should always work towards it regardless of what the world tells us. I gave up a couple times due to negative feedback so of no feedback so at all but somehow I got up and continued to push. I've improved on my poems more and more each day

Growing up,my parents always pushed the need to have good manners and  show respect to my elders. They not only told me the importance of good manners but they also lived it. Walking on the streets of my country each and everyday as left me wondering if good manners are a thing of the past. When I enter a taxi I always stop to say good morning,when I pay the taxi driver and receive my change I say thank you,however I've noticed that others don't often return the favour. I was in a taxi a week ago and I told a lady good morning and she simply chose to ignore it.  The young people in our country are either not learning the importance of good manners or they just simply don't care. Is the lack of good manners related to the fact that our young people feel they are too grown? It always warms my heart when I come across a young person who will exercise good manners. It is such a rare commodity that it even takes me off guard from time to time. This issue of our young people not

What happened to black pride? What happened to everyone being proud of their black heritage and the flooding of black pride on all social media platforms? The importance of protecting our fellow black men have already died out? We are no longer opposed to police brutality? We are no longer opposed to descrimination?  For me, it was refreshing to long into my social media accounts and see the outrage about acts of brutality towards black people in recent times. However, the outrage has died down and apparently the  hype surrounding it is no more. What changes will we expect to take place if we fall so quickly when distracting issues come our way? Regardless of whatever issues come about we have to ensure that we do our best to push our agenda at the centre and not let awareness about it die now. Black lives shouldn't just matter for a little bit it should be on our lips each and everyday. We as a people need or not become so easily distracted but stand firm amidst whatever distracti

The media is blamed for everything basically. The media is blamed for feeding all bad values to society. However, is the media being blamed for too much? I believe that many of the things that the media is blamed for can simply be prevented if people would decide to do their own research and gain knowledge independently. The media takes advantage of the laziness of so many in society. They can come up with a ridiculous story and it will be eaten up just like that because the thirst to gain further knowledge isn't there. The other issue is that the media is aware of the laziness in society so they often just give the public what they want, should they be blamed for that? What people seem to forget is the media is made up of people just like you and I. Yes, the media is very influential and that can always be an issue to those who are easily influenced . I always advice people to take some time  from the media to clear your mind and come back up again. We need to take charge of our o

So the relationship has come to an end and you can no longer stand to see his face and you get upset every time you think about him. The story of the bitter baby mother is a very familiar one to us as we see it on social media platforms and in television shows. As like every other issue these days the first place to air grievances is on social media. Bitter baby mother believe they are doing what is best for their child but it's actually the total opposite. The best thing for the child is to have their parent in their lives if of course that parent isn't mentally ill or otherwise dangerous to the safety of the child. A bitter baby mother should never pretend a father from having a relationship with his child because of her hatred for the man. Whatever went wrong between the both of you is between the both of you the child has no part in that. I recently watched a movie where the mother hid from her daughter for years that her father tried to connect with her because of her hatr

Today, while walking in Spanish town with my mother we came upon a high school student arguing with a older man. The man said to her that she had no manners and the high school student said to him that " if him see manners a give weh a shop". I often address females as ladies on my blog but I didn't address this high school student in that manner. Her behaviour does not qualify her to be called a lady. It worries me that this is a very common behaviour among our children here in Jamaica and the rest of the world. Our children show little or no respect for anyone anymore. They say what they feel and they do what they feel around you. I remember going on a coaster bus one evening and seeing students kissing and feeling up each other around adults. When they were confronted they didn't care to hear any of the warnings of the adults. What examples are we setting for the future of our world? Do parents teach children good manners anymore? In many cases the answer is no bec

We all have these plans for what we want to do next week,the months to come or even in a couple years. The sad thing about it is, we don't even know what will reach us or even if we will live to see the end of the day. We ourselves may have a good heart and would never think to bring harm to another human being but there are others around us who think of evil every single day and have not even an ounce of love within them. We never know when we will come across people like this because most of the times they blend in with society and pretend to be at one with each and everyone of us. What we do have control over is our very own actions and how we react in the face of hatred. With each and everyday we are left to wonder if there is any love really left in this world. Everyone is fighting for a cause but that fight leads to more anger more than love and unity. Is there any hope still left in this world? Our youth have lost the meaning of love and even respect for the spiritu

Perhaps you never heard of her before but now the whole world knows her name not for the work she did but because of the apparent lie that she told of being of black heritage. The attacks have been thrown her way from all corners but mostly from the black community. My first question however is how many attacks are thrown the way of those blacks who pretend to be white each and everyday? Do we frown upon them? Majority of us just simply ignore them. This lady loved the race so much she pretended to be apart of it to bring across change. Yes she lied, but let me see a show of hands for all the saints who have never lied about anything before? Let me see a show of hands for my fellow black people who don't adapt anything from the white community? This attack on Rachel shows that unity is even more just a dream more than ever. Many of the advocates for our freedom were white people, there were those who forgot about their white skin and helped in the fight would you still attack them

Firstly, to all my readers let me ask you how many of you actually remember in details your basic school graduation? It's that time of year when schools and the education ministry are knocking heads as to the expensive graduation packages. I believe that the hypeness associated with basic school graduations is just for parents to have an outlet to show how nicely they themselves can dress and how well they can dress their children. I attended Spanish town infant as a child and I remember having a very small service nothing spectacular. I then went on to St.Catherine primary where we graduated in our uniforms and the very same thing happened when I graduated from Wolmer's Girls. Do I feel any less than those who graduated in gowns at every stage of their academic journey? I sure don't. Parents spending over $10000 for a child who the following week won't even remember half of what took place. If you want to have a big celebration create one at your home and stop pleading

We have all been there at some point or another even though many of us will never admit it. We have been blown away by how others life appear to be. It may be the money they post, the car they drive, the house they live in or their significant other. What we fail to consider is that there may be a completely different story that is hidden behind closed doors. An image and caption can only tell so much and the rest can be left open for interpretation.  There is a new trend on social media sites where I often see people commenting on couples photographs that the couple is their relationship goal. Meaníng that someday they would love to be in a relationship like the one they see in the picture. Many times these individuals don't even know these couples they are just captivated by images and how they come across in the pictures. Are relationships only about taking good pictures? No they aren't and you should perhaps learn more about a couple before you even consider making

Everybody is busy doing something or the other these days or so they claim. People always seem to find an excuse for something these days, either they are too tired, busy or they forgot. Is it that people are shouldering too many responsibilities or is time moving by at a very very fast pace. To keep our lives in order, we often make list of things to do, the duties that we have for the day, week, month and year. However, when making these lists, how many of us remember to put our loved ones at the very top of our list? One of the biggest problems facing relationships these days is lack of attention. Some might hear that and think that some people are too needy but attention is a very important component in friendships and relationships. A friend or a partner always wants to feel as if they are a priority in your life they don't want to have to compete every single day for a spot on your list of responsibilities. Not only should we ensure that our loved ones are at the top of our l