Women in the LEAD

Determined Voices Of Women

 

“The world may be collapsing, but some individuals won’t let that stop them from working for change in its most troubled corners.

International Women’s Day is a good time to spotlight two such individuals: an Afghan activist for women’s rights named Suraya Pakzad and an American businessman, Aldo Magazzeni, who builds water systems in Afghanistan for impoverished villages.  His efforts, undertaken in tandem with Pakzad’s help, make village elders more sympathetic to her work.

Pakzad and Magazzeni run grass-roots outfits that are polar opposites of the huge foreign contractors that filed so badly in Iraq.  At a time when the Taliban is gaining strength, these kinds of organizations need more U.S. support.”

Trudy Rubin “The Press Democrat”  3/11/09

It is so dangerous these days to stand out and support women in Afghanistan.  The Taliban has regained power in many communities.  Women that I know who have been in the forefront of women’s rights in Afghanistan have had life threats.  Their security was short lived.  Take a look at articles and information available on the role and rights of women in Afghanistan.  Send a ray of light or a wish to these women.  Take an action that would support their efforts.  (i.e. Voice of Women Organization or travelingmercies.org)  These groups are new to me but the above article referenced them as being very supportive to women’s rights.  Sometimes we have to step out of our own world, look around and support another.  Many have far less than we ourselves.

Maureen Simon

WOMEN: Are You Working Against Yourself?

These are challenging times for so many women (and men). The stories a number of you have shared are moving and tug at the heartstrings. This week, even I needed a boost --- a shake-up! --- a sudden moment to redirect my thinking in the direction of my dreams and goals.  How about you?

I've not known quite what to write about it, but I've been hoping to find the words that might touch some of you and also free me from my own unintended sense of temporarily being "stuck" in a place where I don't feel like ME. Many times I've mentioned "cherished books" in my library. This morning, I pulled one out and magically opened at random to the perfect story written by Claude M. Bristol. He wrote the original book over fifty years ago; it is still in print. I found it in an old book store some years back. It has a compelling title and subtitle. TNT-The Power Within You: How to release the forces inside you and get what you want. His whole idea is that what we spend our time thinking about is what we bring into our lives. Sometimes even when we intellectually know this truth, our negative thinking seeps back in there. Ever experience this happening to you?

The story Claude Bristol tells about one woman is quite dramatic and of course, I didn't see its connection to my life until I got to the end, because regardless of what "wrong thinking" you are doing and its own story, the same principles apply. ooooh! Somehow the drama makes it easier to see oneself...perhaps with gratitude for what minor shifts we must make in comparison to get back on track. :-)

Claude Bristol writes...
...it is difficult to see ourselves as others see us, to get an outside perspective, an impersonal evaluation of what we are doing to ourselves through our "wrong thinking," that has been contributing to the unhappy conditions we continue to attract.

"...It's not true, your statement that 'a person should always do something for the other fellow, for it pays dividends,' the woman told him. "Since a child, I have been doing good deeds for others but no one has ever done anything for me. ...Practically all of my so-called friends turned out to be merely spongers  and bums. ...I've been "casting my bread on the waters all my life and it has not returned to me yet. Evidently someone else grabs it before it gets back to me," she summed up.

Do you detect a "mental chip" on her shoulder?

...This woman, and many like her, subconsciously "expects the worst while hoping for the best," and of course the worst always happens eventually, because this is the strongest, most emotionalized THOUGHTin her mind. She keeps herself magnetized, not to good, but to bad conditions, and thereby causes "that something," the creative power within, to produce a perpetuation of the unhappy experiences of her past. She expects people to be inconsiderate, to take advantage of her, to extend no help in time of need--and she works the creative law of life infallibly against herself. She is even picturing"someone grabbing the bread she has cast upon the waters before it gets back to her."

Isn't this an "inspired" sample of visualization? What can any one expect from such mental picturing? Certainly not a load of bread, not even a crumb!

You who have gained an understanding of how our mind's function, can see that this unhappy woman is a classic example of one who is operating the power successfully---in reverse!

There is one great, underlying fallacy in the thinking of these types of people. If they could only realize it, they could free themselves from their erroneous, fixed ideas, and snap out of their difficulties in a hurry.

Here it is: People who claim they have never been able to make their higher powers of mind work for them have, on the contrary, through wrong thinking, forced these very powers to work against them. They have caused these powers to produce failure instead of success, misery instead of happiness."

Are you using the power within against yourself?

Ask yourself now, frankly and honestly, have you been doing this, in whole or in part? If you have this is the root of your trouble. There is only one power in you, and you must use it either for good or for ill, as the result of every thought you think, every emotionalized picture you place in your consciousness!

* Change your thinking and you instantly commence to change conditions around you.
* Change the direction of a magnet and it changes the field around it, immediately, automatically.
* Remember...If you vacillate back and forth from good to bad, you lose what you have gained and produce an unsettled, unhappy result.
* You must hold your "magnetization" on what you want until it is received.

This requires an exercise of will, a developed determination, a resolution to "follow through," to stay with your positive thinking, your right mental picturing for as long as is necessary to enable your own creative power with to help you reach your objective.

I will--I will--I will--I will! Say it to yourself, again and again and mean it! Write it down.

A Shared Call-to-Action for the week from ME to YOU...
As I read this story, it reminded me that the wisdom traditions across many faiths also encourage us in this way when we are told again and again that we have been given dominion over our lives. And, because I've tried this on many times, I know it works. It's easy to forget. Go ahead, make a commitment to free yourself of negative thoughts --- just for a week --- and see how differently you feel and how even small unexpected things begin to support your "right thinking."

I'll be doing it with you! 
A dear friend shared this special mantra with me one time:
I can, I must, I will! I added I am! It helps me see myself in positive action.

Debbe

Debbe Kennedy
Founder, Global Dialogue Center
Home of Women in the Lead
Author, Putting Our Differences to Work

Through Your Own Inner Lens

“If you try to view yourself through the lenses that others offer you, all you will see are distortions; your own light and beauty will become blurred, awkward, and ugly.  Your sense of inner beauty has to remain a very private thing.”

John O’Donohue “Anam Cara”

We all hold a unique and distinct inner beauty that others do not always understand.  Be sure to view yourself through your own lens as you receive signs and messages and important information from your inner life.  Never be too proud to reject feedback but do so selectively. 

Maureen Simon

Women: Abundance is closer than we think

RELATED AUDIO PODCAST LEARNING SERIES (complimentary)
Money, Sustainability, Abundance and YOU
with Lynne Twist, author and
founder, Soul of Money Institute
Lynne shares moments of insight from her grounding-breaking work, sharing inspiring stories and offering practical ideas for action from her personal journey.

In these tough economic times, it seems one of the best things we can do is fill our minds with thoughts of abundance. Some time back, Maureen shared a post, The Abundance Mentality, and recent communications we received from others indicate most of us are looking for ways to realize the promise of abundance in our lives --- not just in money, but in the abundance of opportunities, abundance of love, abundance of new ideas, abundance of safety and security, abundance of everything we need to reach our full potential and live a productive, rewarding and meaningful life.

Because of all the interest that seems to be emerging from many of our lives, I wanted share a story from my own discovery:

Some years ago, I had an opportunity to meet Susan L. Taylor, Editorial Director of ESSENCE Magazine at a women's conference I was producing. I've not seen her in years, but her impact on me is enduring. So many of her beautiful messages of encouragement are in her book Lessons in Living. Last week, I once again pulled her book from my shelf and opened it somewhere in the middle and found a passage I had marked:

"The abundance we want is closer to being realized than most of us might think. All the good that we are seeking is already ours in formless energy...just waiting for us to say yes by doing the work that will bring it into existence. There are no dreams too great to dream, no ambitions or goals too lofty to achieve. We have the inner vision, wisdom and strength to create the life we want, if we will. But most of us unwittingly sell ourselves short by adopting a self-limiting behavior that can only produce a limited life. We are so much more than we seem....Few of us have an awareness of how precious and powerful we are and of all the blessings life has in store for us."

Susan goes on to tell how Oprah Winfrey had shared with her, years before her phenomenal rise, that she had a point in her life she realized that God wanted more for her than she wanted for herself.

Is this true for you?
Where are you in allowing that abundance of our own strengths,
talents and contribution to blossom?

Each of us has everything we need to "open the gates" so the abundance we seek can come in---abundance of things like: courage, faith, health, wealth, connections, creativity, determination and knowledge. What else would we need if we had these? What this asks of us is to exercise our will to replace any negative self-defeating thoughts with positive, life-supporting thoughts---to truly believe in our dreams and begin living them.

Affirm this day, I CAN, I WILL, I MUST, I AM.

Your thoughts?

Debbe

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

Stretching Our Minds

 

“A mind once stretched by a great idea or new understanding will never fully return to its original dimensions.”

William James

Life is always in motion.  You can never really go back.  Great ideas provide us with the inspiration and innovation that change and add to the quality of our lives.  Stretch your mind today.  Think of a new idea or a new way of doing something.  Notice how this slight change provides a new ripple across your life and affects many other things.

Maureen Simon

Nature – The Garment of Life

 

Nature is the shining garment in which all life is clothed.  The vigor, strength, and power of life are nature’s gifts.  We experience nature through our physical senses, and this experience is often ecstatic.  We tend these days to rhapsodize nature, after a long era of neglect and abuse.  We are each part of nature: if we abuse it, we abuse ourselves and those we love.  If we observe and learn from nature’s beautiful and balancing continuum, we live lives of harmony and justice.

Eckhart Tolle “Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose”

We are all a part of nature and it’s gifts.  It is wonderful to see a universal awakening and increased care for nature.  It is about time.  As we are all from the natural world, our disrespect for nature is a blatant disrespect for ourselves.  It is time for us to respect nature and it’s powers fully in our lives. 

Maureen Simon

Worthiness- Another Choice

“Worthiness, in very simple terms, means I have found a way to let the Energy reach me, the Energy that is natural, reach me. Worthiness, or unworthiness, is something that is pronounced upon you by you. You are the only one that can deem yourself worthy or unworthy. You are the only one who can love yourself into a state of allowing, or hate yourself in a state of disallowing. There is not something wrong with you, nor is there something wrong with one who is not loving you.”

Excerpted from the workshop in Kansas City, MO on Saturday, July 22nd, 2000

Esther and Jerry Hicks

We often hand others power to determine if we are good or bad, worthy or unworthy.  We use the external world as a mirror and often take it far too seriously.  When someone mirrors back information to you it can at times be valuable and at times reflect their own baggage, values and expectations.  It is important to learn to pull from our own perceptions and to begin to learn from internal lessons as well as the lessons that our external environment teaches us.

For many women the subject of worthiness is a touchy one in that we are natural pleasers, peacemakers and appeasers.  These gifts are valuable on the stage of conflict resolution, family life and in our professional world.  However, we must not only judge our worth and value from the mirrors in our world.

Maureen Simon