Women in the LEAD

Strength, Courage and Confidence

"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, "I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along." . . . You must do the thing you think you cannot do".

                  -Eleanor Roosevelt

Just imagine how you life would be -if you lived this truth daily!!!

                                                                                                     Maureen Simon

To Grow Is To Change

“Deep within every life, no matter how dull or ineffectual it may seem from the outside, there is something eternal happening.  This is the secret way that change and possibility conspire with growth.  John Henry Newman summed this up beautifully when he said, “To grow is to change and to be perfect is to have changed often.” Change, therefore, need not be threatening; it can in fact bring our lives to perfection.  Perfection is not cold completion.  Neither is it avoidance of risk and danger in order to keep the soul pure or the conscience unclouded.  When you are faithful to the risk and ambivalence of growth, you are engaging your life.”

                                                                        John O’Donohue, Anam Cara

As Autumn approaches we are offered the opportunity to embark upon newness in our lives.  The crisp air, Autumn leaves and the harvest all create a new environment.  Take a look at your life and notice where you could grow or change at this time.  Where can you begin to see areas of stagnation or stuckness as opportunities for growth and the expression of your full potential.  It is important not to avoid risk but to be faithful to ambivalence and growth.  For it is in these areas of our lives that we become fully expressed and alive.

                                                                        Maureen Simon

WOMEN: Aligning Aspirations with ACTIONS

Do you ever feel scattered? Do you ever feel like your dreams and aspirations just don't line up with your confidence, conviction and actions? This can have a big influence on the results you want so much. There have been times when I've noticed that, unintentionally, I even work against what I want most, just by unconsciously shifting my thinking from, "Yes! I can do this! to "Can I? Will I be able to do it?" Can you relate?

Over the weekend, I came across another writing from Emmet Fox that I referenced in my last post about "inner strength." I thought it might offer a message you could use too. Let me again paraphrase what he said for our purposes:

If we affirm what we want most in our minds ---- I can, I will, I must, I am ---- and then allow negative, unsupportive "self-talk" to take over half an hour from now, it takes its toll, especially if we make this a pattern in our day. If we think positively one moment and them go downstairs to talk trouble, it is called double-minded. It is our clear single-minded thinking that helps us fulfill our aspirations. The conflicting thoughts and actions, leave us muddled and the way ahead confused.

Emmet Fox uses this metaphor to emphasize his point:

"If you stepped into a taxi at Grand Central Station and told the driver to take you to Central Park, and then, after a block, told him to drive you to the Battery, and then after a couple of blocks asked him to go to Central Park again, you could hardly expect the driver to land you at any destination. Yet a good many of us do this in practice" in our lives and work.

"Where our words and deeds reinforce one another the effect is powerful and the result certain. Where they are not in accord they cancel out, leaving us where we started." Oh, NO!

In what ways are you being double-minded?

Brush those opposing thoughts away and stay focused on what you want most!
There is a magic in believing with a single-minded focus --- its power is unleashed when it is coupled with resolute action.

Debbe

Debbe Kennedy
Founder, Global Dialogue Center 
Home of Women in the Lead

A Blessing to Light The Way In Your Work

May the light of your soul guide you.

May the light of your soul bless the work you do with the

   secret love and warmth of your heart.

May you see in what you do the beauty of your own soul.

May the sacredness of your work bring healing, light, and

    renewal to those who work with you and to those who see

    and receive your work.

May your work never weary you.

May it release within you wellsprings of refreshment,

   inspiration, and excitement.

May you be present in what you do.

May you never become lost in the bland absences.

May the day never burden.

May dawn find you awake and alert, approaching your

   new day with dreams, possibilities, and promises.

May evening find you gracious and fulfilled.

May you go into the night blessed, sheltered, and protected.

May your soul calm, console, and renew you.

            ~ John O'Donohue, Anam Cara

It is my greatest wish for you that your work inspire you, bring you happiness and allow you to contribute all the amazing gifts that you hold.

Maureen Simon

Have We Acted Responsibly in Afganistan?

I recently saw an amazing documentary entitled A Woman Among Warlords on the PBS series Wide Angle (check your local listings).  The film is based on the award-winning documentary Enemies of Happiness, which follows outspoken Afghani women's rights activist, Malalai Joya, during the final weeks of her riveting campaign for a seat in the newly formed democratic parliament of Afghanistan.  Women Make Movies---a non-profit media arts organization and the world's leading distributor of independent films by and about women---has created the film to shed light on the state of politics in war-torn Afghanistan, but also to call attention to global issues of women's human rights, democracy, and social justice.  – an excerpt from The White House Project.

I know a number of women who are living in the “new” Afganistan and have told me that they have returned to life under the Taliban.  Many of these women’s lives are endangered and some of the women who have come out as free thinkers in the last five years have had to flee the country for the safety of their lives.  This makes me wonder what we have really achieved.  The women I have met and worked with range in age from 29 to 49 and are among the brightest and most empathetic women that I have met.  Their voices are once again silenced.  The world has turned away and they have returned to a life of fear as they have lost the powerful self-expression that they had a couple of years back.  Some of the women were university professors and others were starting women’s centers. 

It’s time for us to really understand the implications that our actions have on the lives of others around the world.  It’s time for us to understand cultures – deeply – before we invade for our own personal benefit.  It is not fair to create havoc and then turn away.

                                                                    Maureen Simon

Enlivening the Lost Art of Conversation

“The kindling of mind upon mind, the flame of word upon word, is the essential fire that brings hearts gladly to the hearth of friendship.  In the charmed circle of intimacy, friends lean together just as stars in their loneliness seem to draw closer together at nightfall.  In our separate revolutions in time and space, we sometimes become like planets, solitary and aloof from all others, unable to bring ourselves into the fold of intimacy, able only to preach portentously from a high pulpit, uninitiated into the vulnerability of the truly human.

But in our special relationships, we can enjoy a wonderful exchange when we take time to draw together, to share and to listen, to quicken to the ideas and viewpoints of another.  In intimate conversation, our thoughts and opinions find a yoke-fellow who will help draw them nearer to manifestation.  In deep converse, our uncertainties and anxieties can be uttered fearlessly, and just as trustfully received and allayed.”

                                                              Caitlin Matthews, The Celtic Spirit

Conversation in many circles is a lost art.  However, as Caitlin has said above, when mind upon mind meet the possibilities are endless and great friendships and possibilities develop.  In this fast-paced world where we live it would be to our benefit to create circles for conversation and places to be heard.  The art of sharing in conversation allows for our own ability to share thoughts and feelings that are often withheld from the world.  Not only does this sharing create understanding and connection but it allows us to work through issues that often remain silenced.  Another great benefit of conversation is that it builds deep understanding.  When we listen we begin to see things in a new way – a way that our own single mind cannot reveal. 

Create a circle of people that you care for.  Choose a topic of interest.  Explore this topic together in conversation.  You may be both surprised and intrigued at what comes out of this creative exchange.

                                                                                    Maureen Simon

Young Women Support the First Female President

I always believed that today’s youth hold the golden key to the future. Yes –we to mneed to step up to the plate, but they seem to be more open less close minded. I enjoyed reading the results of an interesting study (see below):

“CosmoGIRL! and The White House Project released groundbreaking poll results conducted on young women and leadership. In the study, approximately 1,000 young women (98.4%) and a few young men (1.6%) were asked questions about the upcoming election and women’s role in our country's leadership. Here are some of our most interesting findings:

• 88% of young women are comfortable with a woman as president
• Most young women (83%) believe that a woman can balance being the President of the United States while raising children
• 97% of young women believe that there will be pressure on the first woman president to prove a woman can do the job so future women can also run for office.

This generation of young women is truly ready a woman president.”

An Exerpt From The White House Project Newsletter 

Are you ready? How will a women president do things differently?

Maureen Simon

Woman Becomes First Female Beefeater

”The Tower of London, a bastion of British history and male guardianship for over 500 years, has finally permitted its first woman to join the Yeoman Warders of the Tower - also known as Beefeaters.  Moira Cameron has served in England's armed forces for 22 years, and beat out 5 men for the job.  Beefeaters guard the landmark tower and the British crown jewels within, but also act as tour guides.  Listen to the story on NPR.” 

                                                An excerpt from the White House Project

                                                September 2007

It’s interesting to think of the many places that women are now showing up.  I really do think we have entered a new age.

                                                Maureen Simon

WOMEN: What Color is Living in the PRESENT?

It can be difficult to truly let go of the old so that a whole new world can open up to us. Even when we think we have, you can hear it holding on in our self-talk or the little things we verbalize to keep the negative stories going.

The other day I read a piece on my favorite Emmet Fox book. I wasn't even going to read it, because I really didn't like the title, "No Grave Robbing." Something compelled me to read anyway; it was a great message for us all:

"Don't be a grave robber. Let corpses alone. ...Every time you dig up an old grievance or an old mistake by rehearsing it in your mind or, or still worse, by telling someone else about it, you are simply ripping open a grave.

Live in the present. Prepare for the future---and let the past alone. Make a promise to yourself today that you are not going to touch any negative thing that has happened up to the present moment---and keep that promise. Life is too precious. The past is past----liquidate it. If a negative memory comes into your mind, cremate it with the right thought and forget it!"

Regardless, of what has happened, you can create anew. Tucked inside my book was a quote I ran into at another time:

"Circumstances and situations do color life.
But you have been given the mind to choose
what the color shall be."  --- John H. Miller

What color have you choosen for your LIFE?

Debbe

Debbe Kennedy
Founder, Global Dialogue Center 
Home of Women in the Lead

Major British Retail Corporation Finds Partnership Key to Profit

“Well it seems that companies owned by staff have beaten the FTSE all-share. John Lewis employees are partners in the company and this year many received an 18% bonus equivalent to 9 weeks' full pay. John Lewis' Director of personnel, Tracey Killen, said "The great strength of the partnership's model is that employees have a real stake in the business ... co-ownership allows the partnership to take a long-term view, because we do not have to answer to external shareholders who are usually seeking quick returns."

                                                                        Aurora Newsletter

                                                                        September 2007

It’s amazing when we begin to respect people and their needs the world becomes a much better place.  It’s always refreshing to read quotes like the one above.  They carry great hope.

                                                                        Maureen Simon