International Women’s Day: Open Letter

International Women’s Day is on the 8 March every year: It is a day that celebrates the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future. At this time many events happen across the world and I wanted to use this opportunity to reach out to all the young girls and women who believe they have to change who they are to be like somebody else. This is not true. You are perfect just as you are. However you have to believe it and see it for yourself. Knowing who you are is a journey; be kind to yourself, have patience and listen to yourself by developing your self-awareness, self-acceptance and self-love. 

You can be like those you admire, though rather than looking solely at how they look (their external) go beyond to see their greatness and in turn yours. I want to be like… is dedicated to you.

I want to be like…

I want to be like Rosa Parks, her actions, courage and integrity created a butterfly effect that helped change history.

I want to be like Oprah Winfrey, her past is part of her present, which she acknowledges though she never allowed it to hinder or define her future. She created and is still creating and manifesting her life, her world, touching and helping many along the way, by just being herself.

I want to be like Bonnie Greer. There is power in her wisdom and strength in her words that seem to tap into my soul and click my brain to see a new perspective. The “fierce physics of a soothing fire" are words that fit when I think of Bonnie Greer. 

I want to be like Marianne Williamson, she captured my indescribable feelings and made the unknown known in Our Deepest Fears. I also want to write words that have the power to resonate, inform and impact.

I want to be like artists such as Alicia Keys, Jennifer Hudson, India Arie and Jill Scott,  who although acknowledge "sex sells" in their industry, exude sexiness through their meaningful words and by always looking classy.

I want to be like Iyanla Vanzant whose books enabled me to look through my own rubbish and clear out my basement. Invited me to acknowledge In the meantime is the best time to work on self and by understanding my patterns, I can break the cycle and make Peace from Broken Pieces. She enabled me to empower myself. There is work to be done and it starts with us, you and I.

I want to be like Beverly Ellis, Dr Isha Mavinga Mckenzie and other black women in the field of psychology making a difference through their research. I owe my First Class degree to them but the impact on my personal development is classless.

I want to be like Ava DuVernay, Zena Tuitt, Simone Bresi-Ando, Natasha Stewart, Akua Gyamfi, Lorraine Russell and all my friends and acquaintances who are trail blazing entrepreneurs, creating and making it happen on their terms without limitations because they believe in themselves, their ideas and their worth.

I want to be like those I have mentioned because essentially they are all doers and change makers in their own right, who have made an impact on me and I'm sure many others whilst walking their path and learning on the way.

I admire them but I do not want to morph into them. I respect them and I am proud of their achievements but more importantly I am able to see myself and my own possibilities when I look at them. I am striving to be all that I am, rather than a second rate somebody else and I invite you to do the same in order to step into YOUR greatness.

Identify who you admire or want to be like and process in-depth reasons why, as this gives clues as to where you are at and potentially ideas on your own journey, passions and interests. Then begin to change I want to be like... to My Name is (insert name) and I AM (Insert statement).

I AM is so much more powerful than I want to be like. Find you and be the best YOU!

Sometimes by showing  the way, others are able to see their way. I hope my expressions have made you think. Have fun finding you, inside of you. 

My name is Lisa Bent and I believe in Self-Central 

 "If you are going to morph into anyone, then morph into the higher aspect of yourself"#Self-Central

© Lisa Bent 2013

Other Tips To Make Money

Always write original content. Never Copy another blogger material. Despite being unethical to plagiarize duplicate material is easy to identify and can mean that you get penalized by search engines like Google and run the risk of being banned from Google Adsense. My take on what is know as blog scraping is that if you need to copy what some else has written clearly you don't understand your blog topic well enough and you are probably better to write about something you do know something about.
Your readers will see through you very quickly if you don't fully understand the depths of your blog topic.  

Google Adsense Tips for Blogger Blog-spot:
Add your main keyword to your title tag make sure that your main keyword for each of your 15-20 article from part of your title tag as this is important if your article is to rank highly in search engine results. If you can use two keywords or keyword phrases all the better. You will note that i have added three keyword in my title: make money, Google Adsense and Blogger.


Use the Main keyword in the Body of your Posts:
Make sure you use the main keyword throughout the body of your articles. Ensure that your main keyword appears in the first and last paragraph of your post. There are keyword  density tools available to help you check the ratio of keywords used. 


Make sure you Tag Your Main Keyword:
Tagging your main keyword and other keywords and keyword phrases is also important if readers are to find your articles. Your post will do better in search engine results if they are appropriately tagged. And of course the better your blog is search engine optimized the more traffic your blog will receive and the greater the potential for Google Adsense revenue.

Make sure your Blog is Search Engine Optimized:
Optimized your Blogger Blog by adjusting your title tags and adding meta tags for better SEO.
SEO is important as it generates search engine traffic and building traffic is paramount for high earnings from Google Adsense.

Develop Back-links For Your Blog:
Some of the factors that determine how high your articles will appear in search engines results are back-links and the age of your blog. If you have some good back-links to highly ranked websites your blog articles are likely to be promoted in search engine results. Use blog directories,forums, and comment on other blogs in your niche to build a good range of back-links. Submit your best articles to article directories to generate traffic and links. Also submitting your article to social bookmarking sites like Digg and StumbleUpon can provide back-links and boost traffic at the same time.

Give Your Old Blogger Posts a Keyword Makeover:
Go back through your previous blog posts and identify posts that are not receiving a lot of traffic. Read through them and look for opportunities to rewrite small portions of the content to insert keywords and keyword phrases. Check the tags too and add any keywords and keyword phrases that may help to boost traffic.Identify any posts that need to be rewritten from a slightly different angle and with more scope for the addition of keywords.

 Publish Posts at least 300-450 Words Long Check the number of your articles Google has indexed. Shorter articles can often be missed out particularly if your blog is only recently created. Plus shorter articles do not give enough scope for keywords to target when serving ads.

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Honour Yourself

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”~By Marianne Willamson

Our Deepest Fears by Marianne Williamson was introduced to me years ago by my counsellor when I was training to become a counsellor. She gave it to me as a gift on our last session and it was the best gift I could have ever received. As I read it tears began to stream down my face. It resonated with me but why? It explained what was before the un-explainable.  I had always wondered why my attitude to life was  like a rusty car. I started well in all projects but then started  stopped , started, stopped and so on and so on. This fears hit the nail on the head for me. This junted flow was caused by seeing how good I was at something. It sounds so silly but seeing and feeling my potential in the things I do used to scare me and I used to crawl back into my tortoise shell, only to come out again at a later date.  It’s an ongoing battle. The most recent example I can give is when I interviewed Rhian Benson and Omarion for Self-Central. It was a new concept and these two guests were my first . As you can see from the footage hits and comments on Youtube it went well, but you will also see that there hasn’t been another interview since. I could name the following excuses… “Artists are so hard to lock down”,” I work full-time and getting the cameraman and artists schedules to sync  is difficult” whilst this is the truth, the real reason is in the moment I was happy, I loved what I was doing, it fit and made sense. Watching it back blew me away and it scared the hell out of me at the same time. Seeing myself on camera is a weird sensation  it is a real time reflection of who I am, how I am and how I interact with people. All of this is great but it still led me to crawl back into my shell again.

It’s frustrating, upsetting and I am aware of it, which means I have to make my decisions in the moment away from habit and old patterns of behaving. Yes I am a counsellor, yes I know exactly what I am doing most of the time, but I am human and the journey of learning never stops. None of us are perfect. You are the driver of your life, it’s okay to change speeds but the most important thing that I have learnt is to never stop. Once you stop, it becomes harder to reeve up the engine again and pick up where you left off. I however do not regret anything, it is what it is and each day I use my knowledge to make better choices. The tortoise won the race in the end.

If you are scared of something, check with yourself whether it is the fear, the fear of seeing who you really are, or the beauty of seeing who you are. If you look in the mirror and do not like yourself there is work to be done. If you look in the mirror and love your external self, though lost in your internal self, there is work to be done. Regardless of where you are at, there is always work to do, to be a better you. This is your right. Honour your passions, your gift, your dreams and see where it takes you. You have them for a reason.

© Lisa Bent 2012

Shine bright like a Diamond

“Shine bright like a diamond” is the line of Rihanna’s new song that I just cannot get out of my head. I’m plagued with it every few seconds and yet I am not driving myself crazy. I absolutely love it and every time the words pop into my head they serve as a reminder to myself to “shine bright like a diamond”.

The song recognises the beauty in another and  within a relationship, however whenever I hear it, it serves as a reminder to be the best of me. If I was the director using this context I would have showcased the general public. Nothing over the top  just nice diverse shots of various people of all ages in their environment.

As I am not I decided to use my blog as a space to say, please tell your kids, your friends, your pupils to see themselves when they watch the video or hear the song.  I dedicate this  song to everyone in an attempt to nudge you into realising your inner potential, your best you.  I smile whenever I hear it. Do the  work now to manifest tomorrow! Celebrities are not the only stars.

                                                                 “Shine bright like a diamond”. 

© Lisa Bent 2012

Who do you think you are?

"Who I think I am, is not really WHO I AM!"

• How much of what you know has come from your own inquiry?

• How much of who you are, is and has been informed by what others want and expect from you?

External influences are everywhere.

To find the REAL you, looking within is the only way!

BE YOU...It's more than Good Enough

© 2010 Lisa Bent