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(New Video Post) What I forgot About #SelfLove

June 17, 2017 by admin

Hey guys, Happy Self Love Saturday!!

Today’s video is a reminder about the maintenance of #SelfLove. I often meet people who think starting a “self love journey” means now life is perfect and your confidence is perfect and everything should just come together in a nice little bow. But in my experience that’s definitely not the case! The point of Self Love is awareness, acceptance and improvement. Maintaining that cycle is all that matters and understanding that in order to keep your self esteem up, and your self confidence then you have to constantly be doing the little work. This video is a reminder of some of the steps that I forgot to maintain my own self love.

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(New Video Post) What Do You Need to Succeed? #SelfLoveSaturday

February 18, 2017 by admin

Happy Self Love Saturday,

This post is going up late because I was speaking on a panel for The Toronto Black Film Festival on “How to Make A Web Series” It was a great panel with a packed room and it gave me a good boost. Literally last night I was feeling a little doubtful and confused and today I was reminded that I’ve done a lot of work and still have more to go. I’m grateful.

Anyway today’s video goes with my thoughts for today and I ask a simple question? What Do You Need To Succeed? Once you think about it, then ask yourself if any of this stuff currently in your life? The environment? The people? Whatever it is, whatever you need, start today.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Andrea Lewis, black actress, coconut oil, curls, degrassi, dreams, friendships, health, juicing, jungle wild productions, los angeles

(New Video Post) Who is In Your Circle of Influence #SelfLoveSaturday

January 7, 2017 by admin

“Love in your mind produces love in your life. This is the meaning of heaven.
Fear in your mind produces fear in your life. This is the meaning of hell.”

I’m re-reading “A Return to Love” By Marianne Williamson. It is such a beautiful and eye opening book and probably the best thing I’ve done for myself this month. I’ve hit the chapter on “Relationships” and Marianne simply puts it that all of the relationships in our lives are for the purpose of teaching. We are to teach the people in our life something and they are to teach us something and all of it is strategically put together by God. Reading this gave me a big “a-ha” because I’ve been analyzing my friends a lot in the last little while and why we’re in each other’s lives, but Marianne Williamson reminded me it’s about teaching. I often forget how important the teaching process is, and both positive and not so positive experiences can teach us something that will change our lives and perspective forever. This is a necessary part of growth. Check out my video below, inspired by “A Return To Love” and the below quote for a little more #selflovesaturday inspiration.

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.

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(New Post) 5 Ways To Have The Most Productive Year Ever

January 1, 2017 by admin

Happy New Year!!

Its the first day of the year and all of the plans, the resolutions and all of the other wishes are starting today! Like many others I am very excited for a fresh start and a new chance to apply the lessons I learned from 2016 into this year and form better habits to allow me to dream bigger and reach for more. I’ve been very fortunate to naturally be a self motivated person but I realize not everyone is like this and we all could use a pick me up every now and then, myself included to set us up in the most productive way. So to kick off my 2017 I made a list of my top 5 tips that I’ve used for staying motivated and having a productive year. Read below and let me know what are you doing to ensure that 2017 is your most productive year ever?

1.Get Motivated and Break Your Bad Habits

It takes 21 days to make or break a habit and a lot of people say it’s easiest for their mentality to start a new challenge on the 1st of the month. Take advantage of this day and mark it on your calendar as the start of your challenge and then mark off your completion day. Start with identifying the habit that you want to break ie. smoking, cursing, sugar, negative thoughts or the habit that you want to gain like reading daily, meditation, positive thoughts, daily exercise. Now take the baby steps to motivate yourself daily by starting everyday with a list of the tasks for the day and highlight the challenge on your list. Highlighting it is making it a priority for your day. I’m currently doing the 21 day detox again and on my daily task list I have the detox highlighted with a note to do a food journal through my day. Making the food journal one of my priorities helps keep me on task for my goal and learn healthy eating habits.

2.Meditation and Daily Affirmations

“I am _____” Look at yourself in the mirror and say 10 positive things about yourself and your life daily. This practice is proven to act as a confidence booster and personal motivator. Putting positive intention on your life aligns your thoughts with your daily work. Using daily affirmations and adding in meditation are the perfect way to keep you zen all year. I love meditation because I think it’s like having a very relaxing conversation with God. No words, just deep breathing and clearing your mind of stress, worry and daily distractions. The practice of meditation can be difficult to start, but if you focus on short periods of time, 5-10 minutes to begin it makes it a lot easier to build your practice up. Find a quiet space, close your eyes, relax your body (I prefer to be sitting, that way I don’t fall asleep lol) and focus solely on your breathing. I’ve also added in using meditation music to help keep my mind focused and the music is a big help in making me relaxed.

3.Get Creative

Get a notebook and write down 5 creative ideas that you’d like to do this year. Coming up with creative ideas is a great thing to aim for and look forward to in your year and can be equally as motivating and exciting as booking a vacation! So have some fun, dare and dream and ask yourself “what do you want to do?”

4.Plan Ahead

It’s time to make your plan for the next few months. Get a big white board, or a note book, or just a plain piece of paper, anything that you can keep in front of you daily. Take those creative ideas that you wrote down in the step above, and now it’s time to realistically write down a plan for them with a deadline for starting and completing. Plan out for the next 4 months, take the time to daydream about what your ideal work load looks like? Are you working like crazy from now till March because in April you’re taking a spring break? Or is the last Saturday of every month the deadline for a new chapter in the book your writing? All that matters is you write the plan down in a simple way and you have it somewhere in your room or home that allows you to see it everyday. Seeing it daily will act as a reminder and is the most helpful way for you to actually complete your goals.

5. An Accountability Partner

My mom always says “one hand washes the other” so ask for help from the people around you. We can’t do everything by ourself, and our friends shouldn’t just be in our life to look cute, so don’t be afraid or too prideful to ask them for help with your ideas and to hold you accountable. Ask a friend to remind you about your deadlines or even be a nag about completion dates. Send them a screen shot of your calendar and in the nicest way possible ask them to remind you about the important things and do the same for them.

I hope these tips will help, wishing you guys nothing but productivity and success in 2017!

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(New Video Post) Stop Sabotaging & Find Your Purpose #SelfLoveSaturday – Last Post of 2016

December 31, 2016 by admin

The video above and message below is for anyone who has spent this year and all the other years sabotaging themselves out of their purpose. Stop doing it, find your peace, believe in yourself, let go of your bad habits and step into your light.

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2016 was a weird year for me, I’ve said this a bunch of times on this blog, but once again, it was really weird! Kinda felt like Mercury was in retrograde the whole year lol. So I’m going into 2017 positive, ready and realistic. I’m not setting goals for the whole year like I usually do, or making any grandiose promises of how “2017 is going to be MY year and last year was just a warm up” blah blah. Instead I’m just setting up my goals month to month which is what I usually do, and it helps me to stay on task.

I learned a lot of important lessons this year about myself, one being that I have a lot of ideas, but in order for me to accomplish them I have to plan them out in the most realistic way possible. Write them down, give them a deadline and I will complete it. That was a positive discovery.

The 2nd being that I have a pattern of doing self sabotaging behavior, both consciously and unconsciously and this is something that I have to actively work on and unlearn. I sabotaged myself all year in ways that I have already done in the past (gaining weight, cutting off my hair, falling into a depression and relying on other people to fix it) so realizing that I was on a loop was equally shocking and annoying for me. This was also a positive discovery because once you realize where the problems are in your life, the only thing left to do is fix it.

I am very confident in the fix and in the conscious changes that I’ll be making to my life for 2017 and on ward. I’m not ashamed to say I’m not perfect and some of my issues and mistakes are solely brought on my own choices, but life is about growth and becoming your best self for the time and place. I’m going to continue to figure it out, in the best way that I can and I am going to unlearn as much as I can. There’s a quote that I read this week that basically said, Hell is meeting the person you could’ve became. I would hate to get to the end of my days and I realize I held myself back from being all that I could be.

2016 was the year of shining a spotlight on my dark spots which now in hindsight I’m realizing it was exactly what I needed because in 2015 I felt like my self love journey was in a rut and was lacking inspiration, but God said “hold up little girl! You still have work to do!” LOL.

So here’s to hoping that in 2017 I surprise myself!

Thank you all for your continued support, have an amazing New Year’s Eve and a fantastic first day of 2017!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Andrea Lewis, black actress, coconut oil, curls, Depression, dreams, gratitude, issa rae, self love

(New Video Post) Stepping into Your Light

December 30, 2016 by admin

I created my youtube channel trailer this week and in doing it, I realized I’ve done a lot. Not to toot my own horn but I’ve been pursuing this thing for awhile and in creating my channel trailer it kind of felt more like I was creating a demo reel on my life’s work lol. It was an interesting experience on deciding what to put in, and how I wanted it to come across and just who and what is “Andrea Lewis Channel”. In the end I was proud looking back at it, thinking about where I started my career and then why I started this youtube channel and if my initial goals met my current ones.

My mission and my goals for my career are still the same as they’ve always been since I was a little girl but in reflecting on my career and my life as an artist I had a sad realization that I’d yet to truly step into my light. I looked back on my work and realized that I had a lot of moments that I could’ve done more. And this is not one of those “we’re our own worst critic” moments, this is real honesty, that I am actually capable of being, doing, acting, giving, living, having, believing, dreaming and did I say BEING more!

When I look back, there is always a moment that I can reflect on where I wasn’t giving my all, I wasn’t truly giving myself a fair shot at winning. The slightest and simplest self sabotage in the most irresponsible of ways. Not always consciously but most of the time just simply being lazy. As I’m writing this, I’m actually having an “ah-ha” moment of just trying to think why? The word safe immediately comes to mind. Maybe I found safety and comfort in holding myself back just enough? Like as if I’ve been willing to take just a little bit of risk, just a small leap of faith lol. But the full thing? The real pressure on myself to go 150% though? To be in the best shape of life? To work on my craft and my skills so feverishly that I could never doubt them? To think about my looks strategically and to be vain for just a moment so that it would benefit me? To finally find my light and actually stand in it? I haven’t done that, I know that I’ve just been comfortable and doing just enough.

One of my best friends, boyfriend always accuses her of only going 30% “She hasn’t tapped into her real potential yet, she’s not really trying yet.” Whenever he says it, I feel like he’s talking to me and not my friend. But birds of a feather stick together right? And he’s right my friend is only operating on her lowest setting, but her and I had a real conversation one night about her fears about herself. Her reasoning for holding back was simply her own doubt that she could handle the pressure. Afraid she’ll disappoint and not measure up to the requirements. But you’ll never know if you don’t try right?

I’ve been fortunate to witness a lot of my friends and peers, take the challenge of stepping into and owning their light. Stepping up to the pressure and making the changes necessary to be and do what they wanted. They all found a way to own it, even if that meant they had to fight harder than they’ve ever fought before, but in the end that fight took their lives and careers to another level. And though I’ve gotten far and I’m grateful for all that I’ve learned and experienced, I’m now at a stage where my “cutting corners” and playing it safe is beginning to catch up with me and make me very frustrated and restless.

I’m sharing my honest thoughts and progress with you guys because I know that I’m not perfect, but I’m striving to be the best version of myself that I can be and that requires me to be open. I say all of this to say, if you’re anything like me, ask yourself honestly if you’ve found your light? And if you haven’t what do you need to do find it and own it?

You’ll never know if you don’t try

-Sincerely my nagging conscience.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: acting, Andrea Lewis, black actress, coconut oil, curly hair, jungle wild productions, los angeles, love, self love

(New Video Post) Gloing Up? What Now? #SelfLoveSaturday

December 3, 2016 by admin

Happy Self Love Saturday!!!

So we’re in phase one of the “Glo Up” what do we do now? This is when we plan, strategize and then execute. We know we want better for ourselves and to change and now the only thing to focus on is how? How, why and what do we need to do? I love strategy, it gives me energy to come up with a new plan and I’m truly excited when I begin to execute it. The last 2 weeks have been spent, dreaming, analyzing and planning for my future and accepting my present state. I feel hopeful, grateful and a lot more energized.

Take this weekend to make a plan for yourself, check out my video below and let me know how your beginning is going!

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(New Video Post) “Let’s Get It Together” [Vlog] #SelfLoveSaturday #21DayDetox

November 5, 2016 by admin

Happy Self Love Saturday!

This video marks day 7 of the my 21 day detox, for those of you who are doing it, how are you doing? Today I woke up without gas or tummy aches so I’m feeling pretty happy.

In this video I want to reflect on Self Sabotage and why/how we do it to ourselves and why its important for us to try our best to stop! If you notice a certain pattern of behavior that you do that always ends in the same result of NOT getting what you want, then it’s time actively do something different. In the book “The Artist’s Way” they use a great analogy of treating your talents/potential like a young inexperienced horse that you need to pull along because they are going to have fears and doubts and resistance.

Looking at self sabotage in this way is really helpful, but along with talking about self sabotage I want us to start to hold each other accountable and I believe it’s time to look amongst your friends and talk about your wants, dreams, desires and goals and how we can all help each other to grow and ultimately WIN.

Check out my video below and let me know your thoughts in the comment section. Xo

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#21DayDetox [Vlog] #SelfLoveSaturday

October 29, 2016 by admin

Happy Self love Saturday!

It’s official, we’re cleansing! I have a lot of toxins to get rid of from my body, mind and spirit and I’m starting with a 21 Day Detox! I did this detox earlier in the year and I prefer to call it a “reset” because that’s what it was for me, removing certain foods from my diet not only resulted in over all weight loss, but I had more energy, felt better about myself and my mind set was in a better place — THAT is where I want to be now.

I’m in a new phase of my self love journey and I think it’s important to start with a blank slate and for me that always begins with taking care of my body. To hold my self accountable I’m going to be doing 21 days of daily uploads following my meal plans and day to day changes along the way of this cleanse and I highly encourage you to join me. You can use the hashtag #21Day on social media and tag me Twitter @MissAndreaLewis or IG @AndreaLewis. Check out the guide below and let me know in the comments if you’re down for the change!

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(New Video Post) “JUST DO IT” [Vlog] #SelfLoveSaturday

October 22, 2016 by admin

Hey friends!

Today’s message is simple — JUST DO IT! Whatever it is, if it’s your happiness, weight loss, career change, climate change, mood change, LIFE change then DO IT!! Have faith not fear and take the leap!

Happy Self Love Saturday!!

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