Let’s Start Thinking Positively!

Posted in Inspiration, Leadership, Motivation, Self Care, Success, Uncategorized by Dr. Carmen April

Let’s Start Thinking Positively!

On my first post for 2015, I mentioned that a huge part of being a leader in career and community is first learning how to be a leader over our own lives and affairs – taking charge of our thoughts, feelings, actions and the words we speak. It involves creating a positive playground for our thoughts. It’s important to train our minds to #ThinkPositive thoughts because our thoughts become or words and our actions. Our actions become our habits. Our habits become our destiny!

When we think positive thoughts and really practice FEELING positivity, our life reflects it! The opposite is true for those people who always think negative, speak negatively, complain non-stop and look at most situations in a negative way. Word to the wise —-> You can not expect to live a prosperous, positive life if you are always thinking negatively!

We become what we consistently think about and feel about! Trust me on this…..It’s The Law of Attraction.

If you pour out positivity into the universe, more positivity will return to you – multiplied! If you constantly pour out negativity into the universe, more negativity will return to you – multiplied!

I’m attracted to positivity! It makes me light up….it feels good! Before I even step foot out of bed every morning, I meditate and tell myself how great of a day I plan to have and I declare it to be so! This practice of meditation was not always the case for me. About a year ago, I really started to notice the energy shift I would experience from being bombarded by the negativity on the television news and negativity on social media (Some people on Facebook and Twitter make me have to go to my prayer closet after seeing their posts of criticism and negativity every day lol!!! I’ve removed a lot of folks from my Facebook news feed or deleted them from Facebook and Twitter all together because of this.)

You may be wondering, “Isn’t everyone attracted to positivity?”. No, not exactly. There is a psychology concept called “Negativity Bias” which states that we processes negative data more quickly than positive data. We have a natural tendency to lean toward the negative than the positive. Emotionally, we go to greater lengths to avoid a bad mood than experience a good one. Negative events are contagious. There is countless amounts of research done on this phenomenon and books thicker than the largest textbook you read in school on this subject so I’m obviously not going to dive too deep into it here. I state it here to drive home the point that even though negative thoughts don’t feel good, it’s really easy to drift into that mind space.

However, we can train our minds to seek positivity over the negativity, positivity over the fear, positivity over the anxiety, positivity over the judgement.

For the untrained mind, it actually takes a lot of energy to think positively. However, I want to encourage you to start training your mind TODAY to see the positive more than the negative. When you think, feel and speak positively more than you do negatively, you have tipped the scales in your favor to allow more positivity to flow into your life!

Since I’ve deleted a lot of the ‘negativity carriers’ off of my social media accounts, I love to go to Facebook and Twitter first thing in the morning and flood my soul with positive quotes and affirmations from people who like to share positivity as much as I do!

I invite you to come here everyday for a dose of positivity in the form of some quotes and concepts that I use to encourage myself daily!

Enjoy!

Dr. Carmen April is an entrepreneur and community leader recognized as a 2014 Nashville Emerging Leader Award (NELA) Winner, a 2013 Nashville Business Journal Top 40 Under Forty Award Recipient and is a 2014 Graduate of the New Leaders Council Institute – Nashville Chapter. Dr. April is available for speaking engagements on Entrepreneurship and Life Leadership for College Students and Young Professionals.

9Jun2015

Take Risks

Posted in Failure, Inspiration, Leadership, Manifesting, Motivation, Success, Uncategorized by Dr. Carmen April

Take Risks!

Nothing ventured, nothing gained!

I was speaking to a group of students recently and was asked a question about some of the characteristics that entrepreneurs have that make them successful. One of the first things that came to my mind was that entrepreneurs like myself are not afraid to take risks even when we know failure is a potential outcome. By its very nature entrepreneurship is very risky. The majority of small business fail in the first year or two of operation. You can’t really play it safe when you’re an entrepreneur because you must constantly evaluate what your customers/clients need, what you can deliver and how to find your way of doing that in a unique way in your industry.

Some of the risks I have taken as an entrepreneur have turned about better than others, but I would never know the success of any of those risks had I never taken them in the first place!

I frequently read business and entrepreneurial stories and one of the best parts about any success story is learning about the risks individuals take at the very beginning of their entrepreneurial journey. Those risks are usually the ones that become total game changers for them!

Simply stated, the main reason people are afraid to take risks is because they become consumed with the monkey-chatter in their heads telling them that they may fail. Sure, you may fail, but you may also succeed. What is guaranteed, however, is that you will never know unless you try.

A little note about failure: Failure isn’t always a bad thing. Remove the negative energy you give to the concept of failure. Instead of looking at it as a bad thing, realize that failures are nothing more than learning opportunities and a chance to begin again with a new perspective!!

1Jun2015

Eat. Pray. Dream. in Puerto Rico

Posted in Inspiration, Leadership, Manifesting, Mindfulness, Motivation, Success, Theme For 2015 by Dr. Carmen April

Eat. Pray. DREAM. In Puerto Rico

I recently took an impromptu trip to one of the most fabulous places I’ve ever been – San Juan, Puerto Rico!! Puerto Rico is pure Paradise! The island, the people, the food, the music, the air, the ocean, the beaches, everything there is beautiful!!

At the end of 2014, as I was preparing to develop my “Theme for 2015”, I declared that I would go someplace out of the country that I’ve never been before. I’ve long desired to visit Puerto Rico (for the past 10+) years but between school, residency, and starting my own medical practice I simply could not find the time to take the trip. However, I needed a vacation and was determined to take it one way or another!!

I was talking with a good friend one day and mentioned to her that I wanted to vacation in a place I’ve never visited before. When she told me she could use a vacation too we both agreed on Puerto Rico and it was GAME ON lol! It’s was less than a month’s time from when I bought my plane ticket and booked the hotel till’ I had my feet in the sand on the beach in San Juan!

See, those are my feet in the sand (lol)……….

This was such an awesome vacation because there was no over-thinking it. There was no agenda, no itinerary. We didn’t decide what we would do or where we would go each day until the morning of. I had no intention of packing so much into my vacation that I needed a vacation from my vacation once I got back to Nashville!

The whole purpose of this vacation was to relax my mind, body, and soul………

I also spent an entire day at the Ritz Carlton spa relaxing, meditating and dreaming 🙂

I declared this trip to be an Eat. Pray. DREAM. Vacation

I’ve been practicing Mindfulness Meditation for about a year now and it has changed my life! Purposefully taking the time out each and every day to clear my mind of all the clutter and chatter has brought more peace and serenity into my life than I’ve ever had. Water and the sounds of the ocean and the beach are extremely calming to me as well. I use an iPhone app called “Calm” when I’m doing my Mindfulness Meditation and it allows me to set a timer within the app and listen to sounds of the ocean, rain drops falling on leaves, etc. I simply focus on being calm and happy and feeling Love within my being. This is the 1st part of my meditation and I aim for at least 20-30 minutes of this per day.

The 2nd part of my meditation is to draw into my psyche those core desires of my heart. I literally DREAM – creating images and scenes in my mind of those things I desire most in my life!

I’ve said it here on my blog before and I’ll say it again THOUGHTS BECOME THINGS!!!!!!

I repeat: Thoughts Become Things!

Those things we consistently hold as images in our minds become our reality!! This applies to both positive and negative images/thoughts so be very careful of the things you allow to take up residence in your mind!

The 3rd part of my daily Mindfulness Meditation involves GRATITUDE! Gratitude is a very special key that unlocks the door to unlimited blessings in our lives! The more we are grateful for the things we currently have and enjoy, the more things, opportunities and experiences The Creator gives us to be grateful for! This part of the meditation is actually something I do during a set time AND continuously throughout the day, thanking God for everything from the water I use to brush my teeth when I first get up in the morning, to my feet that get me everywhere I need to go, to being grateful for all of the important people in my life. I literally say “Thank you Lord for _______ (fill in the black) and concentrate on the feeling of gratitude for whatever it is.

So on this trip to Puerto Rico, my plan was to:

Eat great food

Pray

Dream

Every morning I would lay in the bed listening to the sounds of the ocean outside my window and thank God for the ocean and the water and the beach and the people on the beach and the sun and the clouds and the comfortable hotel I was staying in and the ability to live and move and have my being……….

I would get up and get dressed and head outside to the hotel patio overlooking the ocean and let the sounds of the ocean clear my mind of any chatter. I would thank God for life and LOVE and I would DREAM! I literally closed my eyes and day-dreamed about things and opportunities I clearly wanted to manifest in my life. There are things I have been praying about for a long time and fulling trusting God to bring to pass in my life. I was determined to use this opportunity in one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been to get very clear about those things and manifest them into existence!

Raise your virtual hand if you were a chronic “day-dreamer” growing up? I WAS!!!! Were you ever told in school to stop day-dreaming in class and pay attention to the teacher? I’m guilty again lol

I’ve always been a dreamer, but didn’t realize the enormous power of literally taking the time to intentionally dream until a couple of years ago. This came about through a self-assessment when I realized that every good thing I’ve ever dreamed about and really desired to have in my life, I have obtained or achieved! My parents were right when they told me as a young girl that I can do anything I put my mind to. As a kid I believed it (good thing I did), but as an adult I really realize the pure power in that statement!!!!

My life as changed in immeasurable ways since this Eat. Pray. DREAM. Vacation and I will talk more about some of those things in more detail in an upcoming blog post. What I will say is that the MAIN thing I intended to manifest through my daily meditations on this trip came to fruition!!

So, this is just the first of many Eat. Pray. DREAM. trips for me!! There are ideas brewing in my head on how to include others in on these adventures in the future. I’ve had quite a few people asking me to start hosting and teaching workshops on the subjects of Mindfulness Meditation and Manifesting desires. It’s simply an idea and vision in my head right now, but I’ve been thinking about it for a while so it’s bound to become reality sooner than later lol! I know how much this daily Mindfulness Meditation practice as helped me and how this Eat. Pray. DREAM. trip changed my life and I would love to share that knowledge with others!

Until next time……Eat. Pray. DREAM!

Dr. Carmen April is an entrepreneur and community leader recognized as a 2014 Nashville Emerging Leader Award (NELA) Winner, a 2013 Nashville Business Journal Top 40 Under Forty Award Recipient and is a 2014 Graduate of the New Leaders Council Institute – Nashville Chapter. Dr. April is available for speaking engagements on Leadership & Life Leadership for College Students and Young Professionals.

You can follow her daily #Leadership insights on Twitter @DrCarmenApril

19May2015

Speak From Your Heart and Let Go Of The Outcome

Posted in Inspiration, Leadership, Manifesting, Mindfulness, Motivation, Success by Dr. Carmen April

Speak From Your Heart And Let Go Of The Outcome

Much of the anxiety the average person experiences on a daily basis comes from projecting into the future instead of being in the moment. ☚Think about that for a second and let it marinate.

When you become anxious for any reason, it is because you are imagining that something in your future is not going to turn out the way you want.

However, you can train yourself to break that habit of projecting into the future in a way that causes anxiety. Speak to the Universe from your heart and let go of the outcome. Speak the desires of your heart and trust the positive powerful power of the Universe (God – Good Orderly Direction) to handle “how” things will turn out for your good in the future.

If I could give my younger-self a piece of advice as it relates to this topic it would be this “Relax, things will work themselves out. They always do!”

Dr. Carmen April is an entrepreneur and community leader recognized as a 2014 Nashville Emerging Leader Award (NELA) Winner, a 2013 Nashville Business Journal Top 40 Under Forty Award Recipient and is a 2014 Graduate of the New Leaders Council Institute – Nashville Chapter. Dr. April is available for speaking engagements on Leadership & Life Leadership for College Students and Young Professionals.

5May2015

Tell The Universe What You Want

Posted in Inspiration, Leadership, Manifesting, Mindfulness, Motivation, Success by Dr. Carmen April

Tell The Universe What You Want!

You can’t sit back thinking you are going to be just a spectator in this life and have the personal and professional success that you dream of!! If you pray small, limited prayers and have little faith that God can do exceedingly, abundantly above all you can ask or think, then that is EXACTLY what you are going to receive in return – little results!!

On the other hand, bold confessions of faith, gratitude and a constant awareness of everyday miracles, shows God (Good Orderly Direction/Uni-verse, that you expect happiness, peace, joy, financial prosperity, success, love and an overflow of all good things into your life! In this case, you are sending out positive energy…………… which will return to you positively!

Don’t take a teaspoon to the ocean, take a bucket! Super-size your faith, pour positivity into the Uni-verse by the words you speak, the company you keep and the opportunities you seek! Then, boldly expect an abundant overflow of all things great!!!

30Mar2015

On Entrepreneurship, Leadership, and Service

Posted in Branding, Inspiration, Leadership, Motivation, Success by Dr. Carmen April

On Entrepreneurship, Leadership and Service

A couple of weeks ago my really great friend/College Roommate/Sorority Sister, Sirobe, featured me on her blog. I was tickled pink over this because she is one of the most creative people I’ve ever met in my life and am honored that she’s featured me! She interviewed me about everything from Entrepreneurship and Leadership to proper foot health and my annual sock drive. We talked for well over an hour and somehow she managed to whittle the interview down to the three features you can find here:

Enjoy!

Energy Goes Where Intention Flows

Posted in Gratitude, Inspiration, Leadership, Manifesting, Mindfulness, Motivation, Self Care, Success by Dr. Carmen April

Energy Goes Where Intention Flows

It’s so important to realize that our thoughts and feelings have real power! If you want to be successful, start thinking like a success. If you want to increase the flow of money into your life, get rid of the negative thoughts of lack and struggle and start thinking about financial prosperity!

Energy flows where Attention & Intention goes! Intend that things are improving. Be determined that every positive thought you put out into the Uni-verse and every bold expression of Faith in your dreams is attracting positive results back into your life. Focus on seeing your dreams come to fruition.

Don’t even spend too much time trying to crush negative thoughts as they come into your mind because, in doing so, you are giving attention to them. Instead, let them sail on by like a boat lost at sea! Ever heard of the phrase, “let it go in one ear and out the other”? Do the same thing with negative thoughts – imagine them leaving out of your mind just as quickly as they came in…….

Train your mind to focus your attention and intentions on people, experiences and opportunities that will lead to a victorious life!

Dr. Carmen April is an entrepreneur and community leader recognized as a 2014 Nashville Emerging Leader Award (NELA) Winner, a 2013 Nashville Business Journal Top 40 Under Forty Award Recipient and is a 2014 Graduate of the New Leaders Council Institute – Nashville Chapter. Dr. April is available for speaking engagements on Entrepreneurship & Personal Development for College Students and Young Professionals.

26Feb2015

There is Power in What We Think About and Thank About

Posted in Inspiration, Leadership, Manifesting, Mindfulness, Motivation, Success, Uncategorized by Dr. Carmen April

There is Power in What We Think About & Thank About!

Plainly stated, expressing Gratitude is one of the most important things you can do everyday to live a successful, victorious life!

When you are truly thankful for all the things that allow you to live and breathe and have your being each and every day, you allow less and less room for dissatisfaction and complaining to take root in your mind. God/Creator/Universe honors gratitude and sends more of those things you are appreciative of your way!

When you change your thinking, you change your life!

When you are appreciative, your life changes!

Sounds like a win-win to me 🙂

Dr. Carmen April is an entrepreneur and community leader recognized as a 2014 Nashville Emerging Leader (NELA) Award Winner, a 2013 Nashville Business Journal Top 40 Under Forty Award Recipient and is a 2014 Graduate of the New Leaders Council Institute – Nashville Chapter. Dr. April is available for speaking engagements on Entrepreneurship and Life Leadership for College Students and Young Professionals.

10Feb2015

“God is Within her. She will not fail”

Posted in Inspiration, Leadership, Manifesting, Motivation, Success by Dr. Carmen April

“God is Within Her. She will not fail” – Psalm 46:5

Today’s post is really simple. The verse featured as the title of this blog post was on my heart and I wanted to share it.

I set the intention of succeeding at everything I do, but honestly, some of the tasks that are before me initially appear to be overwhelming. However, I have to often remind myself that the Good Orderly Direction of the Universe, God, guides me day by day.

Taking a little time to sit down & meditate on all the blessings I experience and posses, reminds me that I can and WILL conquer the day victoriously!

1Jan2015

Happy New Year 2015!

Posted in Inspiration, Leadership, Motivation, Success by Dr. Carmen April

Happy New Year 2015

Wow!!! We’ve made it to 2015 🙂 It’s such a blessing to be able to share my first post for the new year! I started this website and blog in January of 2014 and intended for it to be my “Grand Central Station” for all my websites, food blog, Leadership Blog, links to social media, etc and I’m so excited about carrying it into 2015 with new content and more encouragement for myself and all of you who come to visit my site!

I don’t believe that anything just happens by accident, even something as seemingly small as you landing on my website. Whether it be because we are friends in real life and you saw the link to this post on my social media outlets, you subscribe to this website/blog or you were doing a “random” internet search for something Leadership related, I’m glad you landed here at this very moment because I hope something I’ve shared on these web pages encourages you, inspires you and/or gives you some kind of clarity!

As a young entrepreneur who started my own medical practice (which continues to grow!), I started getting invitations to speak at various conferences, workshops and events. I loooove speaking to groups and encouraging others with things I know have been game changers for me in my career and life. I even delivered a couple of major Keynote Speeches in 2014! A couple of years ago I never thought that Leadership Speaking would be part of my way of impacting the world in a positive way but it is and I love it!

Dr. Carmen April Speaking at a Conference in 2014

The past couple of years I’ve focused mostly on teaching and speaking about Leadership for college students and young professionals. Throughout all of my countless hours of research over the past couple of years combined with a specific conviction that I have deep in my heart and soul, I’ve found a common thread among the vast majority of very successful people – those that I personally know and those whom I have studied.

Are you ready for me to tell you the common thread that just lights up my soul because I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that it is a game-changer for most successful people??????

FAITH in a Power Bigger than ourselves!!!

FAITH in a power bigger than ourselves! FAITH that assures us that if we do our part, our Higher Power will do its part! FAITH that reminds us that if we faint not, it will carry us through every situation. FAITH that trusts that even when the money may be running low as an entrepreneur, college student, young adult just starting out or person whose been working all of their adult life and has to start over because of a company lay-off, the sun will shine tomorrow and things WILL work out as long as you believe!!

This Higher Power goes by many names – God, Spirit Guide, Higher Power, Father, Supreme Authority, Eternal Spirit, The Creator, etc. For me, it’s all of these names because no matter which one of these respected titles I call on at any given time during the day, it’s the same Spirit Guide who never leaves me or forsakes me. The same Spirit Guide who leads, guides and directs my steps every day. The same Spirit Guide who allows me to live, breathe and have my being each and every second of every day.

99% of the Most successful people I know and/or have studied about over the past couple of years acknowledges that their successes are not because of their own doing. They have Faith that The Creator is a guiding light for them in all of their accomplishments.

The closer you come to understanding the purpose for your life and allow this guiding light to lead, guide and direct you on a daily basis, the happier and more successful you’ll be!

SUCCESS means doing what you like to do and doing it well – well enough to make you happy, gives you a sense of belonging and purpose in life, and shares light and positivity with the world.

Over the past year, the term Life Leadership has had a strong vibration within me because I have come to the conclusion that the best Leaders in school, work, professional environments, etc are those who have a great sense of self and a great understanding of what really matters in life.

So, starting today – January 1st, 2015 – I plan to share more on my concept of Life Leadership. I hope my thoughts encourage you to become the best Leader you can be for your own life which will, in turn, make you a superb leader when it comes to leading others!

Last year, I did a little exercise for myself to serve as a guide for 2014. I’m not huge on New Year’s Resolutions because most people don’t stick with them beyond the end of January anyways lol! My exercise involved choosing a word, a theme, for the year. I posted this word on my bathroom mirror so that I could mediate on it morning and night. I also placed it in my office so that it was one of the first things I could see hanging on the wall as I walked in every morning!

I’m so happy I did this because it guided me everyday!

My phrase (As much as I tried to use just one word, I couldn’t narrow it down to just one LOL) for 2014 was:

“COUNT ON IT”!

I prayed for things to work out and improve in certain areas of my life and business at the end of 2013, start of 2014 and every day since. I declared that the phrase “COUNT ON IT” would be my theme for 2014. Let me tell you – Before the clock struck 12 Midnight into the new year of 2015, I already saw things I had been praying about coming to fruition in my life!!!! Situations, relationships, financial matters, personal growth and my faith all improved because everyday I reminded myself that I was counting on my blessings – COUNT ON IT. COUNT ON IT. COUNT ON IT.

This exercise is powerful because:

❐ We ARE what we THINK & FEEL!

❐ We BECOME what we THINK & FEEL!

❐ Our actions REFLECT what we THINK and FEEL!

❐ The more you think about and feel Happiness, the more Happiness you attract and the happier you’ll be.

❐ The more you think about Joy and being Joyful, the more Joy you will attract and the more Joyful you will be!

❐ The more you think positively about Money, they more Money you will attract.

❐ Vice versa, the more negative you are in situations, the more negative situations you will attract.

❐ The more negativity and complaining you share on social media, the more negative situations will come your way for you to complain about.

❐ Remember, the thoughts, feelings and words you speak all have POWER and what you send out comes back…….. It’s like a boomerang!!!!

❐ I encourage you in 2015 to be aware of the words you speak. Choose to speak Positive Words of Power over your life and your circumstances.

I’ve already chosen my “THEME”/word for 2015 and I encourage you do this for yourself! In fact, I’m going to help you along :-). I’ve created some jpeg and PDF images below that I want you to fill out with “Your Word” for 2015. You can print it out, fill it out, post on your bathroom mirror, fridge, office space, etc and let it serve as a reminder to you everyday to study, meditate upon, pray upon and share with others about it!

I’m not going to reveal my word for 2015 until later in the year, but I’ve given you an example of what I did for 2014.

Your word may be one of the following: Joy, Happiness, Peace, Serenity, Dedication, Forgiveness, Recovery, Excitement, Money, etc.

Whatever, your word may be, I want you to eat it, live it, breath it, and sleep it (you catch my drift lol) for the entire duration of 2015!! As you start to recognize breakthroughs and “Aha moments” in your life as it relates to your theme, please share them with me! You can share them with me here on the blog – on this post specifically.

Please feel free to print out as many of the images below as you would like and share them with your friends, family members, co-workers, etc. (*****Note: Click on the link highlighted in red beneath each jpeg image for the PDF version).