Tag Archives: inspire

Interviews with Influential Women – Lisa Tener

As a big proponent of being mentored and mentoring, I want to give you an opportunity to be inspired by a variety of successful women to be your best and boldest self.  This, my first in the Interviews with Influential Women Series, will do just that.  Lisa Tener recently won the Stevie Award for Mentor and Coach of the Year.  She is a regular contributor to Huffington Post and one of my valued mentors!

Please give my readers a short background on your personal journey that brought you to today.

As a child, I wanted to be a writer “when I grew up.” I wasn’t an avid reader until high school, though, so I am still catching up! While running a nonprofit organization in Boston I got an idea for a book that had nothing to do with my day-job—a book about transforming anger by tapping into one’s creativity, inner wisdom and sense of humor. I teamed up with two authors with loads more experience than I possessed—an anger expert and a cartoonist. The media loved our exercises—Angerobics—and our national publicity included features in Glamour, WebMD, CNN Headline News, PBS TV, ESPN radio and more. Shortly after the book came out,  I began teaching the steps I had developed for “Writing in the Zone.”  Soon, people came to me not only for help with writing in a state of flow, but asking for help with their book proposals and getting published.  It was a great fit with my business and marketing background (two management degrees from MIT), because a book proposal is like a business plan for a book. That led to an invitation to be on the faculty of Harvard Medical School’s CME publishing course, where I meet many of my clients.

Who are your top 3 female role models, and what about each inspires you?

My role models are not necessarily household names but people who’ve had a strong influence in my life. My mother-in-law, the artist Anne Mimi Sammis, is one of my role models. She works in bronze, watercolor and acrylic, creating work that’s about peace, love and celebrating the joy of life. Many of her sculptures are in public spaces—at the Narragansett sea wall, children’s museums, atop a church in Aspen, CO. She’s super-creative and playful—and brings that creative energy and fun into all aspects of her life.

Another mentor and role model my friend Julia Griffin. Julia teaches about intuition and manifestation. Because of Julia, I meditate every day. She’s helped me see how to appreciate life more and create a life that’s joyful. And she’s a role model for spending time outdoors, drawing power from our connection with nature and God.

And another role model is Tama Kieves. In addition to being a life coach, she’s a writer who truly trusts her own voice and isn’t trying to be “marketable.” In this day and age, that takes a certain kind of strength to trust the muse and not try to make things happen.

All three women meditate regularly and consistently spend time on their creative endeavors.

What challenge (s) did you face & overcome to get to where you are?

There were health challenges, which turned out to be a huge gift. They led me to powerful healing and even to the idea for my first book. They opened me spiritually. The other challenge was just starting a business from scratch. At that time, self-publishing had not yet blossomed the way it has now. There weren’t many people doing what I do, so I didn’t really have models for it—I had to invent the business as I went. That was a challenge but also a gift, since it allowed me to create my book coaching business from my heart and soul.

What are the 3 most important things you do (or did) that contribute to your success?

Wow, there are so many things but I would say: 1) Stayed true to my vision. I didn’t make much money at first, and it would have been easy to take a “day job.” However, I trusted my intuition that what started out as “creativity coaching” and morphed into “writing coaching” and then “book coaching” could be a thriving and fulfilling business and vocation. 2) Invested in my business by hiring high quality professionals. When I finally hired a virtual assistant (the wonderful Geri Lafferty) who helped me with my newsletters and administrative tasks my business took up. Geri freed me up to do more of the work I love—coaching, editing and teaching book writing. If I’d know how freeing it was, I think I would have invested sooner. I also invested in business coaches to teach me what they knew about having an internet-based business. I hired professionals for services like copywriting and website design—people who were excellent at what they did. It’s easy to think, as a writer, “I can write my own copy” but my copywriter has done a much better job than I ever did. It’s her expertise. Having said that, you also have to know when not to follow another person’s advice. Particularly with business and money coaches, they may have something that works for them but doesn’t feel right to you. Trust me. 3) Wrote a book! A well-written book that captures your unique voice helps prospective clients get to know you. It provides instant credibility. It opens up doors for the rest of your life. I never could have guessed that writing a book about transforming anger would lead to an invitation to be on the faculty of Harvard Medical School’s CME publishing course. And beyond the doors it opens, writing a book invites you to step into your own personal power—and own your voice—in a very powerful way. It’s perhaps the ultimate personal growth tool—just as a bonus.

Are there any obstacles specific to being a woman you have encountered?

When I worked in the corporate world, I did encounter obstacles, particularly sexual harassment. I was afraid to report it because I thought I might lose my job or make it harder for the next woman to get a job in that company.

How did you handle them?

I left that job as fast as I could! I had been accepted to MIT’s Sloan School of Management right out of college but had decided to defer and work instead. The two-year window was already over but I called them up and asked if they’d extend the offer for the coming year and they did. I love being an entrepreneur because the only obstacles to my business are ones I create—which I can un-create.

What do you consider the top issues women face today?

The thing I see most in the women I coach is that they are so focused on helping others that they will often put everything else before their biggest dreams. I think their biggest challenge is giving themselves permission to really go for it—whatever their “it” is. Having said that, as a mom, there are times to hold back and wait. Childhood is a precious time and so it may make a good deal of sense to curtail speaking engagements and business trips in order to have more quality time with family.

That leads me to the other huge challenge, particularly for moms— how to find a balance between work and home life. Work can be seductive. It’s easier to excel at work than at parenting. Parenting is so much harder! I have to set limits with work, especially working at home, so that it doesn’t take over. A third big issue is how to be a woman in an environment that is usually designed by males. Much of corporate life runs counter to the way we are wired. I suggest women find a workplace that feels more supportive or start your own business. Don’t let a soul-less workplace suck you dry. It can.

What are the biggest opportunities available to women today?

As an entrepreneur, I think the biggest opportunities are in creating your own thing—a “thing” that makes a big difference in the world, uses your gifts and skills in a maximal way, is fun and makes you grow. It’s less about a particular field and more about finding an arena that makes you shine your brightest and also nudges you to continue to expand and grow. You get to create your own “thing” from scratch—with your personal vision and values. You don’t have to squeeze yourself into someone else’s expectations or an environment that forces you to leave half of your personality at home. You get to be you and shine. And the sky’s the limit on your earnings.

What are the 3 most important things women need to do or consider when charting their next chapter of life, whenever that may be for them?

1) What gifts do you have that you are under-using or might like to explore more?

2) What makes your heart sing: what do you LOVE to do and how can you incorporate that into your vision for this next chapter?

3) What difference do you want to make for people (your clients, yourself, your family, the world)?

Is there anything else you would like to share?

Just that I’m excited to see your vision, Amy. You have this marvelous blend of savvy-business woman and soulful, feminine power that comes from a very deep place. Seeing you bring these two aspects together is exciting and a powerful invitation for women of any age to redefine success on their terms. It’s a powerful message that we can be women—and all that means to us—and also be very successful, particularly financially. I think there’s a myth that if we fully embrace our femininity, we can only earn so much. You bust that myth to pieces. For some of the women authors I have worked with, the business and money piece can be stumbling blocks. They can write an award-winning book but they resist fully stepping into their power when it comes to money. I’m so glad you are out to help women change that.

Award-winning book writing coach Lisa Tener merges a love of writing and business by helping entrepreneurs, health professionals, therapists, coaches and others grow their businesses and/or themselves by writing and publishing nonfiction books, mainly how-to/self-help. Her clients have been published by /signed contracts with major publishing houses; received five- and six-figure advances and major media coverage; and won top industry awards. She has appeared on ABC World News Tonight, PBS-TV, and in Glamour magazine, The Boston Globe, The Providence Journal, Family Circle, Body & Soul Magazine and many others. She received her bachelors and masters degrees from MIT’s Sloan School of Management and she currently serves on the faculty of Harvard Medical School’s CME Publishing Course.

Transitions from Motherhood

This week, I sent my youngest child off to school — as an adult! My happy 18 year old girl drove herself off to high school, and I felt great joy both in seeing her satisfaction and just knowing the person she is.

As part of my morning routine, I made myself a cup of tea to read and meditate. When I sat down to meditate, I was flooded with unexpected emotions…

… Anger at her dad for not being part of her life these past 7 years and the trauma of our divorce

… Anger at myself for not doing something different that would have helped their relationship be more sound

… Sadness for somehow missing the mark of what I had hoped my life and hers would be like when she was born

… Frustration for all the moments lost that I allowed my attention to be consumed with arguing with my ex-husband (in real life and all those arguments in my head), instead of enjoying her and all my children –especially the arguments they had to endure hearing.

… Fear and despair that I might never again have a worthy life purpose like I did as a mother

…. Depression that everything else I do feels like busy-ness to fill the void

… Worry I might be alone the rest of my life

… Repulsion I might end up like my mom with lots of acquaintances but no one really in my life (sure sign of craziness because I already have deep and close friends …but hey this was purging not reality)

… Anxiety about leaving my family home–Will they come to visit me wherever I live, or do I need this place they grew up to anchor our clan?

Feeling the spiral of despair, I decided to go outside. I walked the half mile to feed the horses just to move my body–still crying and releasing.

When I returned home, I began writing everything about this state of looking forward–into my post kid era– that I don’t like–triggered by my girl’s glorious day! I really let it flow. (I had so much work staring at me, but I needed to feel this and not tuck it away. Thank God I had no meetings this morning!)

Once the steam was out of my rant about all that seemed “wrong” about this upcoming chapter of my life, I decided to create a picture of the exact opposite to these things that were haunting me. I picked up my journal and wrote the polar opposite of each item. (It is an idea I heard from Bob Proctor.) I wrote and wrote about how I want my life to be going forward. It was great! It’s actually the best description I’ve done yet because it had so much specificity reversing exactly my deepest fears about my future. No Pollyanna affirmations.

When I had completed writing about all the things I would want to happen that were opposite of my fears, I could feel the power in me. I put my journal down with a “Hell yeah!” Then, I went outside and burned the original sheets of what I do not want. That was pure fun!

This exercise of asking what is the exact opposite of this feeling was extremely useful because it got me writing about a future that would really excite me. I was addressing specifically my deepest concerns rather than putting my best foot forward while harboring these negative feelings internally, and most likely unconsciously!

The things I wrote about had so much more depth, color, detail and life to them than when I normally write out my goals. I plan to read what I wrote every day for the next 30 days. And if I am inclined, I am going to keep adding to the detail of what I wrote until the picture is vivid in my mind, even when I am not reading.

I will let you know how it goes. And I suggest you try it the next time your emotions have you down. Get real specific about what it is you are feeling. And then do a 180 degree turn and write exactly the opposite situation. It is like turning the whole thing on its head. Or maybe its like being turned on your head by your emotions, and then setting yourself upright again!

Dealing With Doubt

The biggest obstacle between you and your BIG dream is self doubt.  Remember: you are not alone though.  It is what we do with this sneaky demon that determines whether we move on to success or recede backwards into our den.

One of the big differences between successful people and the masses isn’t what they know, who they know, or how talented they are.  It is often how willing (or unwilling) they are to let doubt sabotage their plans.  What do you do when other people scoff at your dream?  Or even more important, how much time on the microphone of your inner theater do you allow your own doubting voice to have?

Lupita Nyong’o, Oscar winner for her role as Patsey in 12 Years as a Slave, gave this great example to the women at Texas Women’s Conference last month of fighting her demons as she launched from drama school at Yale in a major motion picture–with no actual experience.  I love her story, especially because it speaks to each of us when we get big ideas in an area we are not the “expert” — yet. Here is an excerpt from the Texas Women’s Conference website:

As an example, she points to her experience of being cast in 12 Years a Slave when she was still at the Yale School of Drama: “I was panicking a lot about it, certain that I would fail miserably at the role because I had no experience working on such a big film with such big people. It was bound to be the biggest challenge of my life.” She expressed her fears to her counselor, who had her imagine the worst that could happen—“I imagined forgetting my lines, being the weak link of the cast, getting fired and replaced, being blacklisted in Hollywood even before I could be on a list,” recalls Nyong’o, who says that she then “basically cried a river of all the woes that lay ahead of me” before her advisor asked, “And then what happens next?”

“I paused and gave it some serious thought,” Nyong’o says. “And then I burst out laughing and said, ‘I guess life goes on.’” The exercise taught Nyong’o the importance of good mental habits. “I felt such a relief in that moment and free enough from the demon that was my self-doubt, that I could actually go away and do the work that I needed to do to prepare for the role,” she says.

I am going to hold on to that story whenever I start doubting my certification, training, or experience at something I want to do.  She tackled her doubt and won an Oscar!  What a loss if she had let the doubt win.  What are you letting doubt keep you from doing?  What will the rest of us miss out on if you continue to hold back?

Educating Girls Worldwide Matters!

This week Ann Cotton, an amazing role model for women about making a difference, received the WISE (World Innovative Summit for Education) award for her role founding Camfed, and organization that has helped millions of African girls stay in school.

Ann started Camfed in 1993 to create sponsorship to a few dozen girls so their families could afford to keep them in primary school.  Today, it is estimated that over 3 million students benefit indirectly from Camfed’s activities, which include financial support of students, teacher training, and mentoring community activists — all with the goal of giving all children access to primary education (especially girls who still rank well below boys in completing primary school in poor countries).

Some might ask why I focus on empowering girls and women and why educating girls around the globe is so important.  This past fall, I found out why this matters at Just Like My Child’s gala event, which raised money for the Girl Power project.  Here are a few reasons:

  • 51% of the world’s population are women and 64% of illiterate adults are women.
  • More than 100 million children remain out of schools and 66 million of them are girls, half in the sub-Saharan Africa.
  • When a girl educated for 7 years or more, she marries 4 years later and has 2.2 fewer children.
  • Empowering women and girls raises economic productivity and reduces infant mortality. It contributes to improved health and nutrition, and increases the chances of education for the next generation.
  • When women and girls earn income, they reinvest 90% of it into their families, compared to 30-40% for males earning income.
  • When a woman is financially independent, she can stand her ground, speak her voice, her children are stronger and healthier and the state of the world improves exponentially.
  • Education has proven to yield larger impacts than any other form of aid and assistance for men or women.  With education sexually transmitted disease, including HIV, go down, early pregnancies decrease, and income potential increases.

I leave you with these words from Nelson Mandela:

“No country can really progress unless its citizens are educated.”

Stay-At-Home-Mom vs Career Woman

Choosing to work or stay at home can be a tough decision for women.  The original thoughts of feminism that we could do both and have it all, have become worn thin by the many women who tried the super mom/career woman track and ended up feeling burned out in both arenas.

Yet, most women still want to add value to the world outside of the tremendous value they are contributing by raising amazing children.  How do we find the answer?

I love how Sara Gottfried, M.D. puts it,”When we give birth, the bonding hormone oxytocin starts flowing. Maybe that makes women more discerning about the type of work we’re willing to perform, given the competition for our time when kids come into the picture.”

Rather than an either or decision of career verses motherhood, or the over-achieving attempt at both — perhaps our answer lies in this discernment Dr. Sara speaks of.  If the last 50 years were spent proving we could “make the grade” and were capable of many of the jobs previously denied women; perhaps the next movement will be in women designing the work life that feeds our soul AND gives us the flexibility to be truly present with our children and family.  Imagine the role model we’d become for our children when they see their mothers pursuing things that are adding value to our world, while at the same time we are happy and engaged in their lives.

Imagine what your life would look like if you created a job you truly loved and had time to deeply enjoy your family.  How would you create it?  What things might you do if your goal was to add value to the world and not earn a paycheck?  Play with it for a bit; you might be surprised that there is a way to do it and earn good money.

What things would you do with your family if you had more freedom? Fantasize yourself doing them.  Maybe there are ways of rethinking your schedule that will allow for more of this joy in your daily life –not by working later when the kids go to bed and waking exhausted each day!

Unless you are willing to take the time to visualize how you would genuinely enjoy your life, you will continue to create what you are creating today.  So even if my questions seem absurd in light of the bills you have to pay, the commitment you have to your job, the requirements you have to your children’s school and extra-curricular activities and even your relationship with your mate — the future will never arrive unless you start to envision your ideal situation and take little steps towards it.

So just let yourself start to daydream all the possibilities; no matter how impossible they appear.  Find a paper and pen right now and begin to write down any and all ideas.  Let your ideas flow.  Don’t ask how you could get there; simply write down anything about your life you would love to see.

Some people find it easier to see what is wrong than to visualize what they want.  If you feel blocked, first write down what frustrates you about your current life.  Then take another piece of paper and write the exact opposite of that.  How would it look, what would be different if this specific problem did not exist?  Be as creative and detailed as you can about what it would look like if it was as good as it could get.  Burn the one you don’t like and read the one you do like each day.  You will be pleasantly surprised at how ideas and opportunities begin to flow naturally into your life to help make this new dream a reality if you put your attention on it.

 

Take the leap!

Take a chance, leap, trust, go for it!  These are all great words of wisdom until you are paralyzed by indecision and afraid to make the “wrong” choice.  It can often feel overwhelmingly difficult to move forward in those moments when you can see the benefits of both options–or worse the risks of both.

Let’s take a deeper look at one of our recommendations for keeping on track to manifesting your dreams–take a chance.  We all know that the pros and cons of big decisions are rarely cut and dry.  The “right” answer often eludes us and at these moments we find our inner guidance too quiet to hear over the chatter of internal arguments going on in our head.  At these times the words “take a chance” can seem frivolous and definitely not inspirational.

Often we do not move forward with inspiration because we fear the effect on our life and others. And then the opportunity passes and we find ourselves in wishful agony about things we didn’t do.

So how do we create strength in ourselves to make these big decisions and get out of grid lock?

First, we need to assess the cost of not moving.

Sometimes opportunities are fleeting and we need to know the cost of not acting.  Make a list.  The lost opportunity costs can be financial gain, emotional benefits, lifestyle changes, and future opportunities that arise from this first decision.  The cost can also be timing costs–if the change is going to happen at some point anyway and we wait, we loose precious opportunity to start building the new.

Second, we need to get clarity on the real risks.

If a decision is emotional our perceived risks are usually tied to baggage from past choices–related or not–that make our perception of this situation overstated.  By writing down a list of the possible risks of taking this chance we can scrub off some of the story and see the real risks.  (A list does not have editorial space so it can limit the emotional story that builds each risk into something bigger than life.)

A technique I learned years ago to gain perspective on the “what if this happens” fears is to take each item on my risk list and ask two questions.  One, “How likely is this to happen?”  Give it a number between 1 and 10 with 10 being 100% likely.  Discard anything scoring under 4 –it probably should not be getting the weight it is getting in this decision.  The second question I ask is, “What would be worse than this risk happening?” I then come up with 4-5 things that I would dislike happening even more than the perceived risk keeping me from acting.  When I look at the “big” possible problems stopping me from moving in context to other bad things that could go wrong in my life they start to take their place in the range of possibilities.  I make better choices when I have a balanced perspective and my “boogy man” risks are reduced to their real size.

Once we have looked honestly at the risks to taking or not taking action we must turn our attention to the benefits of taking the leap of faith in ourselves and this decision.

Writing on a separate piece of paper all the positive outcomes we expect or hope for by making this choice will help give weight to them. We should let our imagination go, add details and how we will feel when we have accomplished our desired plan.  As we write about one outcome another may come to mind and be added.  This is not the pros and cons excercise that has been going on in our head.  It is the vivid creation of images that help us assess whether this decision really excites us and the potential of it happening gives us chills.  Because at the end of the day, those are the only things we want to invest our energy in anyway.

One last thing to assess–and often we need the help of a good friend who can be honest with us–is how much of what is holding us back is purely our lack of confidence in ourselves or our lack of investment in the things that make our heart sing?

If we invest in ourself and the worse thing on our list happens, we still might be better off than if we stay in a place where our own actions do not validate our worthiness.  Here are some great quotes to help motivate bold, inspired action.

“It’s better to be boldly decisive and risk being wrong than to agonize at great length and be right too late.”  ~ Marilyn Moss

“The only limits in our life are those we impose on ourself.  The cardinal principle of decision-making is decide right where you are with whatever you’ve got.”   ~ Bob Proctor

“What lies before you and what lies behind you are tiny matters compared to what lies within you.”  ~ Emerson

“Children are happy because they don’t have a file in their minds called “All the Things That Could Go Wrong.”  ~ Marianne Williamson

“This is the time to take off the shell of your past and step into the rich possibilities of your future. God does not give us dreams that we cannot fulfill. If you want to do something great with your life-whether it’s to fall madly in love, become a teacher, be a great parent-if you aspire to do something beyond what you are doing now, this is the time to begin. Trust yourself.”  ~ Debbie Ford

“If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.”  ~Thomas Edison

“Do you really want to look back on your life and see how wonderful it could have been had you not been afraid to live it.” ~ Caroline Myss

“So, what can’t you take? Decide which of the two options is harder, and do the other. That way, no matter how hard your choice turns out to be, at least you can find comfort in knowing you’re avoiding something even worse.” ~ Josephine Andelini, Starcrossed

“Don’t be an extra in your own movie.”  ~ Bob Proctor

And when all else fails remember to take yourself less seriously!  My first boss reminded me of this and asked me to assess all my successes and failures in the light of, “What will this mean to me in 1 year, 5 years, 20 years?  What will this mean to the rest of the world?  How important is it in the scheme of things, really?

 

Creating our own “Good ol’ Boys Club”

Do you work hard and have great ideas but just somehow feel like you are swimming upstream or just don’t quite get where you thought you would? Do you question your abilities, your credentials, and maybe wonder if you really have what it takes? At a Harvard conference last year I learned some things about women and success that just might change your trajectory!

I spent two days at Harvard Business School reconnecting with classmates and getting to know others as 800 women (and a few brave men) gathered to celebrate 50 years since women were first admitted to HBS!

It was a powerful group of women — full of life, wisdom, and ability to make things happen. We laughed at stories from the early days, were inspired by women who have shaped our world, and were informed by new research about the state of women’s lives and careers.

What struck all of us was how far we had come and yet how much had not really changed in many areas. Robin Ely, HBS Professor and Senior Associate Dean, showed research about where Harvard women are today. I was overwhelmed at some of the statistics about the world my daughters face. Somehow being highly educated, having a successful career, and tucking my head in my own family and business life has left me with the illusion that women are getting close to parity with men in areas of influence.

I learned this is not true. We only hold few spots at the top of corporations — a percentage that has remained flat for the past 10 years, few are heads of state in world governments, and a mere 4-7% of venture capital funds go to women entrepreneurs, despite the large influx of deals presented by women. Why fifty years after entering the Harvard business school do we still hold so few positions of influence?

If you speculate, like I did, that many women leave the workforce to pursue family – the research says 90% of women surveyed were still in careers. We cannot point there.  We can also no longer point to less opportunity in education. In fact, more women graduate with high-level degrees than men today. So what happens?

Two critical things that you and I can influence are paramount to what we found.

First, men have years and generations ahead of them willing to mentor and help them move ahead, get a deal, and fund their ideas.

Women, ironically, do not use their gift of connecting when it comes to business and government. We choose to “earn” our way, prove our worth and ensure we are confident before we proceed – rather than ask for a favor.

In fact, Sheryl Sandberg’s talk pointed to the idea that women will go for a promotion only when they meet all the criteria (maybe even a few extra) whereas men will go for it when they meet 20% of the job requirements assured they will learn the rest! Men will use their contacts, after hour gatherings, and other venues to get promotions, funding, and basically advance their career.

Men are also more willing to bet on each other with their checkbooks. And they fund people they are more like – white males.

So our task – yes you and me, is two-fold:

Join groups, make contacts, and find other women to become your “good-old-girl” network. Start to look at other women as your source of power. And for the love of God, start asking for what you need. Call on other women (or men), ask someone to mentor you, write that letter or make that phone call asking someone to give you money for your idea or to help promote it. Stop waiting until you’re sure you or your project is a completed masterpiece.

Second, start to look for ways to empower other women and younger women.

What do you know, what can you share, who can you mentor? Rather than continue to push in on the existing power structure, we women need to change the game. All new innovation from the Declaration of Independence or Facebook changed the game – they did not just incrementally make email better, or improve the monarchy!

Join with me. Join with other women. Ask for help. Give help in money and time to other women.

Let’s change the game!

Are you free?

Are you free? Independent? Sovereign?  What does it mean to be these things?  For some it can mean being alone and lonely.  For others it can represent a burst of life force and spontaneity.  For yet others it is in rebellion or pushing away from someone or something.

Today in the United States we are celebrating our nation’s beginnings as a free state.  While enjoying the festivities, I encourage you to look at your own definition of independence and then assess your own internal nation-state.  Where do you hold yourself hostage?  What parts of your life would you like to emancipate?  What can you do today, this week, this month to feel more self-reliant?

Be bold.  The beginning of anything important never started with meek and mild attitudes or timid actions.  Where do you want to be and what do you want to be doing?  More importantly who do you want do be? Use the energy and momentum of today, stand on the shoulders of great people who were willing to risk it all to be free.  “Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.’ ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Take steps today to free yourself from whatever is holding you back from letting your light shine.  Be your own fireworks!

A little Thelma & Louise in you?

Sometimes we secretly wish we had the guts to get up and go, throw caution to the wind, say no with so much force that there is no question what we mean, and to be in control of our own destiny–even if just for a temporary road trip.  That is the reason so many of us related to Thelma & Louise 23 years ago and still do today–not because we have done what they did, but because we secretly have wanted to!

Do you remember the first time you saw this movie?  Did part of you want to scream out “Hell yeah!” at the same time another part of you possibly squirmed and was shocked at Thelma and Louise’s audacity?   Which part is winning in your life?  Do you live the majority of each day doing what you choose and being who you truly are?  Or are you living the life you have built, feeling a little trapped by the role you have become?

If you are not saying, “Hell yeah!” to most of what you do then you are building an internal Thelma or Louise.  She may not take off on a wild road trip with her best friend and shock the world, but you can guarantee she is sabotaging your days and nights in more ways than you imagine.  She may make your life difficult and those around you too–until you honor the parts of you excluded by your role as a top lawyer, the PTA President, or the yoga instructor.

If you want to explore the role you have created for yourself and the parts of you you have disowned take my Feminine Balance Quiz or sign up for my upcoming Feminine Balance Retreat.  It is easy to start to reclaim these parts of yourself and life from a more authentic you, with support and guidance.  Once you do, there’s no stopping what you can do!