Category Archives: Life

I Made It

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33 held so much for me. I felt like I couldn’t fully exhale for a few reasons.
Give or take the inaccuracies of reported history, Jesus was 33 when he ascended. My late friend was also 33 when he ascended. And a small part of me had come to anticipate that this too could be my fate.

The title ‘Fight For My Life’ was up for grabs and I had to fiercely defend it. Silently I won many rounds, but I was also unequivocally defeated in too many to count. For a few, all I could do was hold on.

With some bruising, I feel triumphant, not for any other accomplishment than simply being here to mark entering a new age.

I wasn’t going to celebrate it in any fashion because the pandemic-transitioning fatigue is catching, quite literally. But I had a thought; things could be vastly different next year and you’d hate to look back wistfully, wishing you had done something, anything, to celebrate something that in actuality is quite remarkable. 

You probably feel like you were in the trenches too. After all look at the saga, still. Celebrate yourself too.

Here’s to “What’s in store for 34?!’ 
Happy Birthday to Me!
Xo

Download 33 Powerful Affirmations and Confirmations for FREE here

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Accelerate Your Life–A Guide and Workbook to Making Richer Choices was created to support you in moving full steam ahead. Now that the fog has started to clear, it’s time to take things back into your own hands.

Purchase Accelerate Your Life Here
£4.99

Accelerate Your Life–A Guide and Workbook to Making Richer Choices was created to support you in moving full steam ahead. Now that the fog has started to clear, it’s time to take things back into your own hands.

Accelerate Your Life Guide & WorkbookDownload
Lessons Learnt

CAN YOU HEAR YOURSELF?

The constant chatter is overwhelming. One person says this, another person says that. Your mum says it’s this way, your brother says it’s the other. Then there’s the people who love to be contrarian with no actual thoughts of their own, just adept at piggybacking off what a group of people might agree upon and finding a …

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Lessons Learnt

Cloudy With A Chance Of…

One day you’re fine, life is good and the air is filled with prospects that you could almost pluck them like the squiggly lines you see when you look at a blue sky. The following day however, you’re freezing your bits off, your umbrella is inside out and the contents of your bag have just …

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Life

The Improbable Is Still Possible 

Improbable–not likely to be true or to happen.I saw a TikTok of a guy doing the improbable. Getting two basketballs into a hoop using a crutch, throwing a CD into a moving Wii console, releasing ping pong balls with the aim of reaching various points and so on.   It was fascinating to watch. In a different …

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CAN YOU HEAR YOURSELF?

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The constant chatter is overwhelming. One person says this, another person says that. 
Your mum says it’s this way, your brother says it’s the other. 
Then there’s the people who love to be contrarian with no actual thoughts of their own, just adept at piggybacking off what a group of people might agree upon and finding a way to dismantle and diminish it. 
STOP THE MADNESS! 

In a place of ever increasing thoughts, including my own, take a moment to switch everything off and go back to being in the world where you can touch things, feel people and hear the hum of real life being lived.

Xo
Download 33 Powerful Affirmations and Confirmations for FREE here

33 Powerful Affirmations and ConfirmationsDownload

Accelerate Your Life–A Guide and Workbook to Making Richer Choices was created to support you in moving full steam ahead. Now that the fog has started to clear, it’s time to take things back into your own hands.

Purchase Accelerate Your Life Here
£4.99

Accelerate Your Life–A Guide and Workbook to Making Richer Choices was created to support you in moving full steam ahead. Now that the fog has started to clear, it’s time to take things back into your own hands.

Accelerate Your Life Guide WorkbookDownload
Life

I Made It

33 held so much for me. I felt like I couldn’t fully exhale for a few reasons.Give or take the inaccuracies of reported history, Jesus was 33 when he ascended. My late friend was also 33 when he ascended. And a small part of me had come to anticipate that this too could be my …

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Late night

A Long Way From Home

Sometimes, it is necessary to look back. I randomly came across email exchanges from 14 years ago. What I saw shocked, embarrassed and made me laugh until tears fell. My verbal communication was abysmal. How did anyone ever engage in written conversation with me? and furthermore why? Were they nuts?! I didn’t go looking for …

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Lessons Learnt

Treat It Like An Exam

Treat it like an exam. This came to me at 7:46am this morning.  I was pondering on the how’s of a particular thing. I quickly snapped out of it like a Raven Baxter premonition because the ‘how’ is none of my business. The ‘do’ is where it’s at. And by do, that means doing it …

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Cloudy With A Chance Of…

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One day you’re fine, life is good and the air is filled with prospects that you could almost pluck them like the squiggly lines you see when you look at a blue sky.

The following day however, you’re freezing your bits off, your umbrella is inside out and the contents of your bag have just tipped all over the wet, gum filled floor. You feel as if the wind has been knocked out of you and you’re gasping for that same air. It is bleak.
If it was possible to re-enter the womb, you would. 
How did we get here? Sometimes there’s no rhyme or reason as to why things rapidly change internally for us, but what is important to remember, is that it is not permanent.

When the grip feels firm and it’s hard to see a way out, look up, as this too shall pass. 
You can point to any previous year or era of your life and recall that you once thought you wouldn’t make it out of this phase. And you did.

I looked back at journal entries from a couple of months ago and I saw evidence of good days, great plans and wonderful imaginations. It was a reminder that no matter how crappy the current moment is or what obstacle exists, it is not here to stay and things will always get better.

Xo

Download 33 Powerful Affirmations and Confirmations for FREE here

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Accelerate Your Life–A Guide and Workbook to Making Richer Choices was created to support you in moving full steam ahead. Now that the fog has started to clear, it’s time to take things back into your own hands.

Purchase Accelerate Your Life Here
£4.99

Get a head start on drawing nearer to you, the life of your imagination! Seize opportunities now by using this guide and workbook to Accelerate Your Life!

Accelerate Your Life Guide+ WorkbookDownload
Lessons Learnt

Accelerate Your Life

The New Year is fast approaching, and it’s the time many people begin to reflect and go over the year. It’s at this point that people panic and have great anxiety over what they did or didn’t do and resolve to do better…in the new year.Why wait, when you can get a headstart now. One …

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Life

Little Pockets Of Joy

Joy is usually reserved for the ‘big’ moments. Moments like a new car, house, engagement, pregnancy, job and the like. It’s also solely thought of as something that is given to you, rather than something you can cultivate for yourself. This is where Little Pockets of Joy comes in. I believe in en•joy•ment of the …

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Life

Promise + Possibilities 

Promise– the quality of potential excellence.Possibilities– a thing that may happen or be the case. That we get to be here and experience a new week full of promise and possibilities is magical. I love that for us. Who knows what wonderful, delightful thing may happen to and for us. The promise within that, makes me …

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The Improbable Is Still Possible 

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Improbable–not likely to be true or to happen.
I saw a TikTok of a guy doing the improbable. Getting two basketballs into a hoop using a crutch, throwing a CD into a moving Wii console, releasing ping pong balls with the aim of reaching various points and so on.  

It was fascinating to watch.
In a different video he broke down how long each one took to achieve, most of them hours on end. Interesting. So it didn’t take him the first attempt to get it? Hmm. What about the second? Nope.
The third? No bueno. Fourth? Fifth? Sixth? No, no, no!
It took innumerable attempts to make the shot. This is what ‘dust yourself off and try again’ looks like.

We think of what we want as something so out of reach that we don’t even enter the game–Disqualify ourselves from the start line.
But what if like the video, we kept taking the shot, learning from the last attempt, and didn’t relent?

What we are often blind to, is that in a lot of situations we only need one viable shot to change the course of our lives. Just one.

I must remember this the next time I am in a French class, feeling overwhelmed, thinking how in the world will I learn this intricate, confusing, très difficile language; one word at a time.

xo

 Download 33 Powerful Affirmations and Confirmations for FREE here

33 Powerful Affirmations and ConfirmationsDownload

Accelerate Your Life–A Guide and Workbook to Making Richer Choices was created to support you in moving full steam ahead. Now that the fog has started to clear, it’s time to take things back into your own hands.

Purchase Accelerate Your Life Here
£4.99

Get a head start on drawing nearer to you, the life of your imagination! Seize opportunities now by using this guide and workbook to Accelerate Your Life!

Accelerate Your Life Guide + WorkbookDownload

Latest from the Blog

Winning in Real Life

Successful 1. accomplishing a desired aim or result. 2. having achieved fame, wealth, or social status. The media will have you believe that houses, cars, money, having a partner, and followers are the epitome of success. We inherently know this isn’t true, yet we still uphold them as markers of significant value. We yearn to have …

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Follow Through

When I thought of today’s word, I’d already accepted that I had very little of it. Routines and monotony are not my strong suits. And then I looked up the definition and I was surprised. It’s shifted my perspective and has given me food for thought. We use discipline to strictly imply no stick-to-it-ness, but it’s official meaning …

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Self vs Self

Ego–A person’s sense of self-esteem or self-importance.A slippery slope or protective armour? I’d it’s both. It’s also described as the part of the mind that mediates between the conscious and the unconscious and is responsible for reality testing and a sense of personal identity. The ego is accused of many things, namely in negative outcomes, …

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Treat It Like An Exam

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Treat it like an exam. This came to me at 7:46am this morning. 

I was pondering on the how’s of a particular thing. I quickly snapped out of it like a Raven Baxter premonition because the ‘how’ is none of my business. The ‘do’ is where it’s at. And by do, that means doing it to the best of your ability. 
Treat it like an exam is what I heard next. My senses were piqued. Interesting concept I thought…and it’s on the money. 

When you had to take an exam, you didn’t know what the questions would be. All you knew is that it would be on topics that were covered during the term time.
If you were lucky your teacher would tell you the specific areas the questions would be on. But, we’ve all experienced being told one thing and looking at the paper and thinking wtf, this isn’t what you said?!

Ultimately, the only useful thing to do is to study and prepare as best you can. With the rest, as the saying goes, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. 

We’re often too focused on being masterminds when there’s only so much dotting your i’s and crossing your t’s you can do. Treat whatever you have going on like an exam; learn, practice and simply give it your best shot.

Xo

Accelerate Your Life–A Guide and Workbook to Making Richer Choices will assist you in defining and redefining where and who you are. By the end of it, you will have a map that you can rely on to quickly take you forward. And best of all, you can use it again and again and again.

Purchase Accelerate Your Life Here
£4.99
Accelerate Your Life Guide + WorkbookDownload

LATEST POSTS

Easy Breezy

When the sky cries and the sun smiles, a ray of colourful light is a reminder of their alliance; to dance always.  Easeful–Providing comfort or peace.Nature gives me that. It works in order, at its own pace void of who, what, where and when.  Trees do not struggle to grow nor wonder how will they grow, …

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by Irene Ephraim

A November to Remember

1.11.21 I love the first day of the month, especially when it lands on a Monday. For each day this week I’ll be posting a word to ponder on.  Today’s word is:Detach 1. disengage (something or part of something) and remove it.2. leave or separate oneself from (a group or place). For me, this means letting go of …

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by Irene Ephraim

Belief–An Acceptance That Something Exists

I made myself stupid. Hear me out. Years ago, because of an unhealthy level of expectation I placed on myself (which stemmed from comparison), I would harshly judge what I said and how I said it. I would go over every minute detail and pick myself apart mentally, with the underlying message being you’re not …

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by Irene Ephraim

WDYWM?! Episode 10–My Life In Paris

This episode is about my experience of being a Black Brit who moved from London to Paris in a pandemic. I discuss having covid, language barriers and general challenges of integrating into a new society.

by Irene Ephraim

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Accelerate Your Life

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The New Year is fast approaching, and it’s the time many people begin to reflect and go over the year.
It’s at this point that people panic and have great anxiety over what they did or didn’t do and resolve to do better…in the new year.
Why wait, when you can get a headstart now. One that has the potential to shift the trajectory of your life, and not just for the year end!

Accelerate Your Life–A Guide and Workbook to Making Richer Choices was created to support you in moving full steam ahead. Now that the fog has started to clear, it’s time to take things back into your own hands.

Much of the overwhelm we feel, is the constant dialogue that goes on in our minds 24/7.
A lot of that are things that will not occur, mixed with where we want to be, alongside what has happened in the past.
How can you see and seize opportunities with confusion, conflict and constant chatter at the forefront?

Accelerate Your Life Guide and Workbook will jumpstart the process of clearing the way, sharpening the vision, and accelerating the elevation.

Accelerate Your Life–A Guide and Workbook to Making Richer Choices will assist you in defining and redefining where and who you are. By the end of it, you will have a map that you can rely on to take you forward. And best of all, you can use it again and again and again.

Purchase Accelerate Your Life Here
£4.99

P.s I have done a lifetime of learning, flying and falling and if I can provide a blueprint and prevent some of the drama for you, that’s exactly what I’ll do!

Accelerate Your Life Guide + WorkbookDownload

I’d love to hear from you.

Little Pockets Of Joy

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Joy is usually reserved for the ‘big’ moments. Moments like a new car, house, engagement, pregnancy, job and the like.
It’s also solely thought of as something that is given to you, rather than something you can cultivate for yourself. This is where Little Pockets of Joy comes in.
I believe in en•joy•ment of the mundane, typical, everyday stuff. Because if one day, those things ceased to exist, you’ll quickly realise how much of a gift and a joy it was to have.
Enjoy– ‘in joy’, i.e to be in the joy, to be present with it, to recognise its beauty and what it is to you.

I experience joy when I get underneath my duvet and to express this, I starfish like a maniac (you should try it), simply because I can.

I experience joy when I make a coffee or one is made for me. That first sip is pure pleasure–A hug in a cup.

I experience joy when my partner buys me baked beans from M&S in Central Paris, as it’s not really a thing here. I get to have an English breakfast.

I experience joy in solitude. Quiet time for me is where my energy bar is recharged.

I experience joy when I receive pictures and videos of my nephew. To see him grow is wonderful!

To put it plainly, joy is wherever I set it. It’s available to me and you, at any time and anywhere.

As you continue your week, e(i)n-joy what seems normal and ordinary, and you might find that it’s anything but.

#LittlePocketsofJoy

Xo

#LittlePocketsofJoy

LATEST POSTS

Forgive–To Cancel a Debt.

Nothing is more important than what you choose to do with the breadth of your life. To not forgive is to rob yourself of a life you deserve. …but alas it is you that has been sentenced to a life in prison.  Unforgiveness* is a treacherous con artist because it deceives you into thinking you’re …

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by Irene Ephraim

What Are You Looking At? 

A video of Kim K came across my sight over the weekend. It was her on SNL. I watched it and it dawned on me that I have no idea what she and her family were up to these days.  It’s fascinating what can change once you set your eyes on something entirely different.  I regularly …

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by Irene Ephraim

Finishing Well

I visited the Musée Yves Saint Laurent on Sunday and was re-energised by what I saw. For the designer, it was more than just clothes that looked good, it was art, curated by passion, breaking moulds and forging new ways to be seen and felt. As I perused his wears, studied the fabrics, observed the …

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by Irene Ephraim

September

The feeling of a crisp Monday morning cannot be replicated by any other day of the week. It’s full of both promise and dread in equal amounts. What will it bring? What will I have to tackle? What joy will I experience? What task might feel too great? And whilst you marinate on it, you’ll …

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by Irene Ephraim

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Promise + Possibilities 

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Promise– the quality of potential excellence.
Possibilities– a thing that may happen or be the case.

That we get to be here and experience a new week full of promise and possibilities is magical. 
I love that for us.

Who knows what wonderful, delightful thing may happen to and for us.
The promise within that, makes me feel invincible. 

All things are possible, including your wildest, most riveting and powerful desires.
And if you don’t have anything that makes you feel excited, darling, make believe.
After all, everything we live in is made-to-believe; what’s here, once wasn’t, and what isn’t, is on it’s way.
My reality, your reality, the worlds reality, is borne from a cocktail of imaginations. Think about it. Literally.

Xo

Monday Coffee xo

LATEST POSTS

Back to Life, Back to Reality.

And if you’re seeing this post, it’s an indication that at least for today, I won. Whew! Returning to the blog after an unplanned period away, is like that first day at the gym after falling off for months. It takes a whole lot to get there. On this occasion, the distance was due to Covid. …

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by Irene Ephraim

Question It

Fortuitously, I picked up this book recently to re-read it for the umpteenth time and the words below reflect my sentiments in this post. Much of our education of the world comes from other sources. We seldom form and realise our own ideas about it till much later on in life, if ever at all. …

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by Irene Ephraim

Face Your Front

Face your front is a commonly known Nigerian expression, meaning to look ahead, pay attention to your affairs and stop watching others. The irony is the exact opposite expression also exists, and its ‘Look at your mates’, but we will unpack that another time. How much further along might you be if you pull backed some …

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by Irene Ephraim

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Winning in Real Life

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Successful
1. accomplishing a desired aim or result. 
2. having achieved fame, wealth, or social status.

The media will have you believe that houses, cars, money, having a partner, and followers are the epitome of success. We inherently know this isn’t true, yet we still uphold them as markers of significant value.
We yearn to have these things, in the way we have been conditioned to have these things, only to realise after attaining the object of affection, that this aint it. Of course it’s not, because it didn’t belong to you in the first place, and it’s high time we all defined success for ourselves, outside of the noise, traditions, familiar influence and virtual reality.

To me, living life on your terms and being authentic in this world, is the real bag.

We’re all successful, just as we are.

Xo

P.s We are the media now, and we can change the narrative at any time.

For Being Here xo

Latest from the Blog

It Didn’t Work

It didn’t work. Didn’t it? Or did you give up after the first attempt?  We’ve become accustomed to expecting microwave results. We no longer believe in the art of cultivating, nurturing or giving of ourselves to a thing. We want it, and we want it now.  I often go back to what I was like as a child. …

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Endless Excuses

We are full of excuses. Excuses that hinder, inhibit, and can foster stagnation. And yes, sometimes they are valid and substantiated, however, they are only as powerful as we say they are. I often remember what a coach said to me once, after I poured out my heart and laid out my issues regarding overcoming …

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WDYWM?! Episode 8–Moving On

London to Paris–that’s the move I made during a pandemic. I talk about the good, bad and uncomfortable things about starting a new life somewhere different.

Follow Through

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When I thought of today’s word, I’d already accepted that I had very little of it. Routines and monotony are not my strong suits. And then I looked up the definition and I was surprised.
It’s shifted my perspective and has given me food for thought. 
We use discipline to strictly imply no stick-to-it-ness, but it’s official meaning indicates something a bit different. 

Discipline 

1. the practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behaviour, using punishment to correct disobedience. 

2. a branch of knowledge, typically one studied in higher education.

There are other definitions but these are the commonly recognised ones.
The words that stood out to me (and not in the best way) were obey rules, code of behaviour & punishment.

This insight has given me greater permission to limit self-flagellation, because I’m a human being and not something to be subjugated.
What might be a better descriptor for we need more of is tenacity, determination, commitment, persistence, consistency or perseverance. It is not discipline that’s missing as no one needs to be punished, penalised or forced into line, which is what many of us think when we consider ourselves lacking.

Words are potent, know its spell and be intentional.

Xo

Buy LBC a coffee xo

LATEST POSTS

Lean In

I love knowing everything. I like to know what I’m doing, where I’m doing it, who I’m doing it with (don’t be nasty), and how I’m doing it. I like my t’s crossed and i’s dotted, but that’s not life. Life is full of beautiful, unpredictable, and transformative unknowns and you only get to find …

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by Irene Ephraim

One Day You’ll Be Old

One day you will be old. At least I hope to be. As I prepared for bed last night, I took one more glance in the mirror to observe myself, and I had an epiphany; one day I’ll be old and this skin that I’m waiting on to get better, will have lived life and …

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by Irene Ephraim

WDYWM?! Episode 6–Unravelling

What I thought 2019 would be vs what it is was. I felt like I was dragged through the mud, but there is light at the end of the tunnel, even if you have to fight tooth and nail for it! I share some of the difficulties of life and adulting.

by Irene Ephraim

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