by Nadya Logan | Nov 3, 2015 | Faith + Expressions
Dear Inner Feminist,
The movement for women’s rights hasn’t stopped, but you have. Where have you gone? Did I do something wrong?
Maybe you were never truly awoken in the first place…
Hopefully this playlist filled with popular summer anthems and throwbacks will lift your spirits?
- “***Flawless”— Beyoncé
- “Confident”— Demi Lovato
- “Girl On Fire—Inferno Version”— Alicia Keys (feat. Nicki Minaj)
- “No Scrubs”— TLC
- “BO$$”— Fifth Harmony
- “BBHMM”— Rihanna
- “Electric Lady”— Janelle Monáe (feat. Solange)
- “All About That Bass”— Meghan Trainor
- “Survivor”— Destiny’s Child
- “Feeling Myself”— Nicki Minaj (feat. Beyoncé)
- “Like A Boy”— Ciara
- “Love Myself”— Hailee Steinfeld
- “Miss Independent”— Ne-Yo
- “Video”— India.Arie
- “Q.U.E.E.N.”— Janelle Monáe (feat. Erykah Badu)
- “Salute”— Little Mix
- “Unbreakable Smile”— Tori Kelly
- “Unpretty”— TLC
- “Who You Are”— Jessie J
- “Run the World (Girls)”— Beyoncé
XOXO,
Nadya
by Nadya Logan | Oct 20, 2015 | Faith + Expressions
If you ask the average citizen to define the word “wellness”, they may associate it with a person’s physical or nutritional well-being, and although they aren’t completely wrong, they do not have a understanding of what the word wellness means to in its entirety.
According to the American Heritage Medical Dictionary, Wellness is “the condition of good physical, mental and emotional health, especially when maintained by an appropriate diet, exercise, and other lifestyle modifications.”
Despite being serious in nature, mental health is generally overshadowed in society. Many people will write off symptoms as the victim being “overdramatic” or “a hypochondriac”, and many more don’t even recognize mental health as a real issue.
But according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, “nearly 44 million adults experience mental illnesses in a given year”.
The first week of October (Oct.4-10) is Mental Illness Awareness Week, and in honor of the week I want to introduce you to a powerful campaign that is at the heart of this week.
#IAmStigmaFree is an initiative coined by the National Alliance on Mental Illness that promotes mental health education, “seeing the person not the illness”, and taking action against mental illness.
But it doesn’t stop there.
By pledging to be stigmafree, you will be a member of a movement to turn stigma into hope.
You will begin to challenge social stereotypes, become educated on what it means to be mentally ill, and encourage others to become aware that mental illness is equally important to other illnesses.
If you interested in Mental Illness Awareness Week or the #IAmStigmaFree campaign, visit: https://www.nami.org/miaw
XOXO,
Nadya
by Nadya Logan | Sep 21, 2015 | Faith + Expressions
Every impactful movement needs a fight song, and “Rise Up” by Andra Day just may become the fight song for your life.
In the song, Day sings from the perspective of the motivator and through her croons, you may find encouragement to overcome the obstacle standing in your way.
She begins the song, acknowledging the negative thoughts you may have, singing, “You’re broken down and tired of living life on a merry-go-round.”
She recognizes the fighter that permanently resides within you that you think you’ve lost, and pushes you to “walk it out and move mountains”.
Day continues to send support throughout the entirety of the chorus, belting, “I’ll rise up
I’ll rise like the day…I’ll rise unafraid…High like the waves…In spite of the ache…And I’ll do it a thousand times again for you.”
It is natural to have times in where you feel lost and confused, and you may even feel like you are fighting a losing battle, but you aren’t. If you have hope, passion, and motivation then you have all of the elements that you need to overcome—at least mentally. And even if you believe that it’s not there, you aren’t digging deep enough. You have the ability to do whatvever you put your mind to, and that’s what Andra Day wants you to see.
“Rise Up” inspires me to release all of the negative energy I build up and use it to confront my issues head-on.
Listening to this song, you can find support to do the same through the powerful lyrics, or through the power that echoes in Day’s voice.
You have the power to do whatever it is that you want to do; you just have to look within yourself, find it, and allow it to shine.
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XOXO,
Nadya
by Nadya Logan | Aug 27, 2015 | Faith + Expressions
Charles Stanley once said, “Fear stifles our thinking and actions. It creates indecisiveness that results in stagnation. I have known talented people who procrastinate indefinitely rather than risk failure. Lost opportunities cause erosion of confidence, and the downward spiral begins,”
Recently I went through an experimental period with my DVR, and I happened to stumble upon a show that caught my interest briefly. The show featured one of my favorite actresses from my younger years, Elizabeth Gilles, and despite me being moderately confused about the episode’s plot due to coming in nearly 20-minutes into the 30-minute program, I was immensely intrigued by a concept introduced.
During a heart-to-heart moment between Gilles’ character and her father, the daughter began to explain to father about how his fear of success is tied to The Jonah Complex.
There is a popular biblical story often referred to as the story of Jonah and the Whale. In short, the story goes as follows:
God sent Jonah to Ninevah. Nineveh was an enemy of Jonah’s country, Israel. So, Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh.
Jonah tried to escape God. He tried to travel elsewhere, by ship. But there was a terrible storm. Jonah knew that God had caused the storm. So, he asked the sailors to throw him into the sea. But Jonah did not drown, because God sent a whale (large fish) to swallow Jonah. Then, Jonah prayed to God again. He thanked God, who had rescued him (Jonah 2). And God caused the fish to return Jonah to the dry land.*
So, Jonah went to Nineveh. He warned the people that they must confess their evil deeds to God. Otherwise, God would destroy their nation. The people obeyed Jonah. So, God forgave the people in Nineveh. God did not destroy Nineveh at this time.
But Jonah was sad, because Nineveh was his enemy. Jonah wanted God to destroy Nineveh. But God told Jonah that God cares about the people from every nation.
The Jonah Complex is a theory created by Abraham Maslow—first introduced the theory in his book titled, “The Farther Reaches of Human Nature—that is based off of the famous biblical story.
The theory suggests that despite understanding our duties and responsibilities (in life and as children of God), we often try to evade our missions out of fear—similarly to Jonah.
“It is certainly possible for most of us to be greater than we are in actuality. We all have unused potentialities or not fully developed ones…So often we run away from the responsibilities dictated (or rather suggested) by nature, by fate, even sometimes by accident, just as Jonah tried—in vain—to run away from his fate…We are generally afraid to become that which we can glimpse in our most perfect moments, under the most perfect conditions, under conditions of greatest courage.” –Abraham Maslow in “The Farther Reaches of Human Nature”
We are afraid of the unknown. As humans, it’s considered natural, but before reading this theory had I never stopped to consider the effects that my fear was putting on me fulfilling my dreams or aspirations, nevertheless my destiny.
There are so many things that I wanted to do, and probably could have done, but I allowed myself to be crippled my own fear.
I held myself back because it seemed better to do that instead of facing my problems head on and accepting the consequence that followed.
In life our possibilities are endless, yet we limit ourselves due to trepidation that we carry on our own.
How are your fears holding you back from walking in your purpose?
What can you do to unbind yourself from the chains of fear?
*The credit for the summary of Jonah goes to: http://www.easyenglish.info/bible-outline/jonah-summary.htm
by Nadya Logan | Aug 27, 2015 | Learn + Grow
The word ‘motivation’ is defined by Dictionary.com as, “the state or condition of being motivated or having a strong reason to act or accomplish something”.
If you look at the fourth definition of the word, it will read, “the thing that Nadya lacks”.
Motivation is a funny thing. There’s so many things that I could do, a lot of places I could be, but I lack motivation.
I know it’s not an age thing, because I’m less than two months short of being sixteen.
Scientifically speaking, there have been studies conducted to find out what motivates people, but not much has been found about what keeps people from getting motivated in the first place.
Nevertheless, when I go through my motivation-less periods, there are a few things that I do to find direction in my life, and I am going to share them with you.
1. Identify at least one goal.
Generally, I have found, that I feel the least inspired when I have the most to do. So instead of allowing myself to lie in bed and watch Pretty Little Liars reruns, I create a to-do list. The list can be filled with things that you have to do within the hour, the day, the week, or the month as whole, but in order to find direction, you must first identify what action you need to make.
2. Start planning.
Once you identify one goal that you need to accomplish, begin to think about how you are going to put it all into action. For example, if one of your goals is to buy a car within the current month, then sit down and research all of information that you need to know about purchasing a car. After you have done your research, and you have an idea about what you want to buy/where you want to buy the car from, then you need to create a budget plan, so that you can start to save/finish saving for your future car.
3. Put your plan into action.
You know what kind of car that you want, where you can purchase the car that you want, and how much it is going to cost to buy the car that you want, so what’s next? You have to put your plan into action. Put your budget plan into action. Start putting money aside because the more money you have, the closer you are to getting that car. It’s simple logic.
4. Have a small relapse
Creating a plan is great, and following through your plan is even better, but sometimes that just doesn’t happen. I can research and plan all day, but when it comes time to do said activity, I find myself back into my motivation-less mode, almost as if a switch had been flipped on a wall. What can you do? Don’t be so hard on yourself for one. You aren’t going to fail in life because you didn’t stick to your two-week project plan. In the wise words of the Aaliyah, “You can dust yourself off and try it again,” tomorrow, maybe even next week.
5. Post it!
The more we see things, the more we can acknowledge it, and the motivated we feel to accomplish it. Write down your goals, along with other inspirational quotes, and post them somewhere that you can see it daily (ie. your bathroom, your bedroom, your mirror). The more you see it, the more you will feel obligated to do something about it.
There are a hundred and more ways to renew your direction; these are just some of my favorite ones. I hope you find them as useful as I have!
XOXO,
Nadya
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