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An Easter Blessing ’22 (CLOSED)

2 Easter Sundays ago, our founder, Ari Sianeh, and a group of friends spontaneously committed to sponsoring 1 person and their family for Easter.

What started as trying to help 1 person became 6 people.

In 6 hours Ari Sianeh and her friends (online and offline) were able to donate $100 each to 6 individuals – thanks to their community.

Last year Ari Sianeh and her friends tried it again but this time they selected a local organization, Food Not Bombs, that feeds those experiencing homelessness and donated over $800 in 3 days.

This year, we’re at it again with the focus on The Shepherd Place an organization in Dover, DE over the course of 6 days!

So far we’ve exceeded our expectations for 2 years in a row!

The goal is to exceed our expectations again this year and make it 3 years we do this!

No worries! It’s really easy to participate!

You can:

Share, like and tag others on this post!

And/or:

Donate by using this link.

Donating to this The Shepherd Place is really exciting for our founder, Ari Sianeh, as she’s had the opportunity to witness their great work 6 years ago when she co-hosted an arts and craft workshop with the shelter.

“I found so much joy in spending time with the families and hearing their stories. I would really like to support them financially this year because they do so much for no cost at all to those that stay there.”- Ari Sianeh

“The Shepherd Place is a family shelter in Dover Delaware that was founded some twenty-five years ago by Father Lawrence Hunt and others who felt an acute desire to work to meet the needs of those in the Dover area who were homeless.” – The Shepherd Place

The Shepherd place provides support to those experiencing homelessness by providing women and children a place to stay while also providing a vast amount of these items for free for everyone including those moving into their own homes or apartment.

Some of these items include:

Housing

Case Management

Food

Clothing

A limited amount of household supplies to help those that move into their own home or apartment.

“Donations of cash and goods are very important as the Shelter itself receives no direct Federal aid. The Shepherd Place is an affiliated United Way agency.

This shelter also provides Transitional Housing for those who qualify.

“They also receive help finding permanent housing, or if needed, space in another shelter when their thirty-day stay at the Shepherd Place is over. It is a step between being in a shelter and being in a more permanent leased space that will be “theirs”. As with the shelter itself, it is provided at no charge. The money the client earns is saved for things like future down payments and deposits on utility service.”

The shelter averages nearly 500 clients a year, about half of which are children.

Let’s help them as they help our community!

Donate here!

To read more about our Easter Blessing of 2021 click here.

To read more about our Easter Blessing of 2020 click here.

We’ve completed this fundraiser with a whopping $475!!! So glad we were able to bless this wonderful organization! We look forward to doing it again next year!

See you then!!

Ari + Team

Best Friend Echo Deck Giveaway Winner!

Hey besties!

I feel like we are at that level now, hope that is cool with you. First off, thank you for all the submissions for this giveaway! We truly loved reading through your stories that you shared on why you cherish your best friend and why you believed they deserved a little “pick me up”.

We wish that we could give you all affirmation cards,  (hey maybe we can do this again in the future!) so just always remember how beautiful you are. 

Now, before we get into the winners, let’s have a serious chat. The idea of this giveaway was to show that people notice you and they love you. Even if you don’t realize it, they recognize how hard you are working and how beautiful of a person you are. So when you have those moments of feeling self doubt, remember that the people around you recognize how important and special you are!

Okay so now onto the winners of the Bestie Giveaway…

**Drumroll please**

The first winner is Brenda! She was nominated by her bestie Darah, and they have known eachother since they were 16 years old. Here was what Darah had to share about Brenda:

“Me and bren have been friends for over 10 years since we were 16. And she is the first person to ever introduce, “light” into my life. Sadly my best friend just lost someone very near and dear to her entire life. And I know how powerful she is. I think these cards will really help her. Transform her reality and tap into infinite possibilities.”

Brenda’s ig: @ bavalosz

Darah’s ig: @ darah.nugin

The second winner of an Echo Deck is Daijah Miles! Daijah was nominated by her bestie Alexis who told us she admires how strong Daijah is:

“Daij is one of the strongest people I know. She’s been through a lot but she always comeS out on top and continues to put others first. I’m blessed that we found each other and she’s still in my life.”

Daijah’s ig: @ drene_xo

Alexis’ ig: @ alexis_lum

The third winner of the giveaway is Miya Harmon, who was nominated by her bestie Erinn! Erinn told us how much of a beautiful soul Miya is, and here is her nomination:

 

“Miya is a beautiful person inside and out. She always reaffirms everyone else and should have that daily reminder that she is indeed that girl everyday. The echo deck would definitely be her daily dose of that.”

Miya’s ig: @ miyasimonee

Erinn’s ig: @ eeezybeauty

 

Thank you again to everyone who nominated your friend, and if your bestie won, check your email for a message from us in regards to how you will receive the cards. Don’t forget, both you and your bestie will be receiving your very own Echo Deck!

To end on a high note, here is your affirmation for the day: 

“You were created with great adoration in mind.”

We love and appreciate you so much. Have a beautiful day.

Echo Deck Bestie Giveaway

(Saweetie and Doja Cat, photo by Brandon Almengo)

“It’s not what we have in our life, but who we have in our life that counts.” -J.M. Lawrence

It’s National Best Friends Day!

And in honor of that, we are celebrating with a giveaway! 

Nominate your best friend or someone in your life that you love to win their very own Echo Deck.

The Echo Deck contains 55 affirmation cards and was created to help encourage you to change the way you think about yourself and what you are capable of receiving.

These Affirmation cards aren’t like any other card deck on the market. They are specially written in second person self-talk, because new studies show that encouraging yourself in the second person (you are), allows you to better encourage yourself than doing it in the first person (I am).

So now the question is, how do you enter?

From now (June 8th) until June 22nd, you have the opportunity to nominate your BFF by sharing a paragraph with a photo, or sending a video on why your BFF deserves to be encouraged with this lovely deck!

First, follow @prosperspectives and @arisianeh on Instagram (we will be checking!)

Once followed, fill out the google form below to submit your nomination!

After the winners have been selected, we will send you a message and share the winners on June 29th on the blog and on Instagram. 

We are only giving out a few, so nominate your bestie soon!

Nominate your friend here !

Why Changing Up Our Self-Talk is Important

(Photo Credit: SALOMON BYUMA)

“I am worthy”

“You are worthy”

Notice any difference in those 2 phrases? Imagine if you were repeating them to yourself in front of a mirror. Now do they sound any different? Do they make you feel empowered, or do you believe one phrase more than the other?

Using the pronouns “I” vs “You” in self talk can completely change the self-affirmation game. It just comes down to whether you speak to yourself in first or second person. Naturally when we think of self-talk we think to use first person language, such as:

“I am beautiful”

“I am loved”

“I am going to finish this project on time”

But the problem is, a lot of people don’t believe in themselves when they do this. Research has been done recently to find out why exactly we give up so easily on self-talk and affirmations. 

90% of us participate in using self talk. Studies have proven that when we talk to ourselves in second person, we are better skilled at letting go of distressing feelings, managing our anxiety, and we have a greater level of performance among peers.

Let’s start from the beginning, the place where we usually end up when diving into our most inner emotions, childhood. Research has found that “kids who can imagine and talk to themselves as a character or favorite superhero (who is) working hard persevere more than kids who focus on themselves”. (Walbert, 2019) Okay, makes sense. It is easier for a kid to imagine their favorite hero going through a problem because heroes always win. They know that in the end, Spiderman or Wonder Woman will defeat the bad guy and everything will be okay. So they imagine themselves as their favorite character to change their mindset and they believe that they can fight whatever stands in their way. Wow, kids are geniuses. 

Fast forward to adulthood, and you have a friend who always seems to be going through a breakup or life crisis every 20 minutes, what would you say to encourage them? You would use the obvious phrases:

“You’re beautiful!” and “You’re worthy of love!” because we believe that about our friends.

What if we applied that same principle to ourselves?

Okay stay with me here, this is the importance of speaking to ourselves in the second person. If you are facing an issue, and you don’t know how you will get through it. Maybe it’s work related, or family related, and your friend came to you with this problem, what would you tell them? You would encourage them! So now take what you would say to your friend, and say it to yourself.

“You will get through this.”

“You are stronger than you could ever imagine”

“You will be okay”

Feel any different? Speaking in the second person allows you to detach yourself from the problem at hand, and view it from an outside perspective. Research done in 2014, “has suggested that second-person self-talk enhances public speaking performance and reduces the associated stress, possibly because it enhances ‘self-distancing” (Hutchinson, 2019) 

Detaching yourself from the situation can also make you less afraid to fail. Think of this, when your friend is asking for advice, are you afraid for them to fail? No, so then why are you so afraid of failing? You only encourage your friends, because you believe in their highest and best abilities. Next time you are weighing something out, when you speak to yourself in second person it basically throws the fear of failure out the window. Don’t even give yourself the option to fail, because it’s not fair to you.

Second Person self-talk works best in situations when you are facing a difficult challenge and you need self-control or if you need a change in perspective. It allows for psychological distancing to emotionally remove you from the stressful or emotional situation that you are going through. In the end, it can help you to manage your stressors or anxious feelings in a more efficient and healthy manner.

Here are some of our favorite second-person affirmations:

“You were worthy then, you are worthy now.”

“You allow yourself to rest”

“You are you and that is more than enough”

“You are in the best place to grow”

So now what? How can we start to make the change to second-person talk? Next time you are looking in the mirror, change your “I am” phrases to “You are” phrases. If you are stressed and need encouragement? Picture one of your closest friends coming to you with this problem. Imagine they are telling you all the problems that you are dealing with right now, what would you say to them? How would you help them? Now take your response to them, and give it to yourself. 

It may seem weird at first, but after a while, we promise you won’t even notice that it’s different! Just a few words can make the biggest change in your mindset.

Would you like to find out for yourself? Purchase The Echo Deck here.

 

 

References:

Walbert, M. M. (2019, August 20). Give Yourself a Pep Talk in the Second Person. Lifehacker.

https://lifehacker.com/give-yourself-a-pep-talk-in-the-second-person-1837377502. 

 

Hutchinson, A. (2019, July 15). How to Talk Yourself Into Better Endurance. Outside Online.

https://www.outsideonline.com/2399632/self-talk-study. 

 

Bloom, D. (2019, June 5). If Affirmations Don’t Work For You- You’re Probably Doing Them Wrong. Medium.

https://medium.com/the-ascent/i-am-a-committed-writer-no-you-are-a-committed-writer-9da4e4da6e05. 

 

Easter Raffle ’20 Update(CLOSED)

Our founder, Ari Sianeh, and her friends had the intention of blessing one person but because her online and offline community they were able to bless 6 people with $100 each.

 

“I am undone at what God did through us under 6 hours”, states Ari Sianeh, on an Instagram story.

She goes on to state:

“The thing that moved me the most here is that a lot of us that donated didn’t have a lot. We just faith and love for helping. In this we’ve made new community, put a continued trust in our community we already had and we now have new dreams about fostering new communities. ⁣
⁣
I don’t have the biggest platform but I have a platform to help. We don’t have the biggest pockets but we have the heart and willingness. ⁣
⁣
The fact that we raised $600 in less than 7 hours is so amazing to me. We agreed to the idea around 12:30 PM. Posted the Easter Blessing Raffle at 2 PM and opened it for the public to donate at 4:30 pm and closed it at 8 PM! ⁣
⁣
The fact that we intended to only help one person because that’s all WE had but were able to help 6. Man..listen. ⁣

⁣
God is Good. Community is Powerful. And Obedience is the truest act of faith. ⁣
⁣
I didn’t step into a church today however I met the church exactly where I was. This is church. ⁣
⁣
We wait for celebrities, we wait for the government but we don’t have to wait for each other. We just have to show up with expectation and ask for what we want. I pray for a world where we do the work to help our communities more and do more than just “pray” for them. ⁣
⁣
Happy Sunday, y’all! I love you so much 🤍 #MeAndMyFriends ⁣”

An Easter Blessing ’21 Update (CLOSED)

What started as an idea in a group message last Easter (2021) morning has become an annual day of giving for #MeAndMyFriends and we need your help!

Because we did so well with raising money in a few hours for families last year we want to make more impact by raising money over the next few days to help one cause!

Over the past year Food Not Bombs in Wilmington, DE has helped during the protests and continues to cater to those in Wilmington who experience homelessness and we want to say thank you as well as pour into them for doing the necessary work.

Click here to learn more about their Patreon and follow them to support!

Click here to learn more about what we did last year.

Show love + support to their organization by following them, supporting their Patreon and learning more about their efforts!

They’re currently looking for additional help on Fridays! Message them for more deets!

Thank you so much for being an active and intentional friend!

Update:

“We did it!!! Yesterday we raised $800 and it couldn’t have happened without you!!!” states our founder, Ari Sianeh, on her personal IG.

“We did $200 better than we did last year! Big wins! Thank you for all fo your help and support! i am so grateful for you, my friends!!”

“Mission Complete” she writes on a screenshot of her Cashapping $800 to Food Not Bombs Wilmington.

Happily Food Not Bombs of Wilmington shared the post and commented “Thank you all so much! This will get us a month of hygiene, products and diapers!”

Thank you all for your support! We look forward to doing this again next year!!