Your Top 3 in 2019

I love this time of year and I take it very seriously. Many years ago, I had this horrible sensation that time was running out. My babies were growing up, my job was all-consuming with no real sense of fulfillment, my husband was busy living his dreams and I was starting to feel my age. Yet, I plugged away. Life had become one rote habit after another and, yet, in every sense of the word, I was “successful”. From the outside, I had it all. Most of the time, however, I was left wondering,

“Is this all there is?”

Some may call it mid-life, others a crisis, but for me it was a catalytic moment in time.

While we never really know why some things happen, what happened next was a true ignitor, launching me on a new trajectory and completely resetting my priorities. Not that I didn’t always put family first or believe that love was more important than money, but, until that moment, I was measuring my life by a stick that others had created.

And then it happened. A series of life events that led to the closure of my private practice, a forced reduction to part-time medical work, some threatening emails from people I respected and considered friends, many nights of confusion drowned out only by a river of tears and, as time would reveal, an opportunity of a lifetime. Not everyone is so lucky.

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A Quest for Imperfect Authenticity

There is something beautiful about age, we all know it. We admire our elders, acknowledge their wisdom, embrace their advice and learn from their mistakes. But, for some reason, we loathe aging ourselves. Our Empowered Women’s Circle held a Women’s Retreat recently and the overwhelming theme was a deeper desire for authentic self-confidence. 

Women are up to big things, many running personal businesses, most running households and everyone running their lives in a million directions. Yet, we are leaking energy that would be better used to bring us home safely to ground zero, launch our businesses, be mindful with our loved ones and laser focus our lives on the things that really matter.

It’s because of the eye-opening conversation we had at the retreat that I’ve been overly sensitive about what I’m seeing in the medical news lately.

FDA issues a warning against vaginal laser rejuvenation procedures that are intended to make a woman her "best self". A California doctor is disciplined for prescribing the very same bio-identical hormones that are prescribed every day in our very backyard without any recourse. Young women are on a quest for the "perfect" vagina. 

Here's the real question: Where is the search for inner beauty, for self-acceptance and for unconditional love?

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Need more time? Do this.

I always think of harvest season as a time to re-evaluate life. For me, the fall is both a chance to 'take stock' and an opportunity to do things differently. When I think of how this time of year lends itself to new practices and new habits, I’m excited by the potential to change the ‘feel and function’ of life in my home. 

Some very small adjustments can create more calm and peace for my family and this time of year has me searching high and low for ideas.

All this reflection forces me to slow down and breathe when I would otherwise be panicking about all that there is to action, organize, schedule, sign and submit. I’m easily overwhelmed by tasks as my 3 children head back to school and re-enter the organized chaos of extracurricular activities. This year is no different.

What I am about to share will not only change your approach, it promises to harmonize your home-life too.

If you adopt this idea with self-compassion, dedication and focused attention on personal priorities, the opportunity to make this upcoming academic year the best EVER is very real.

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Santa Fe Shooting

It's easy to get emotional and lay blame when something so devastating as a school shooting happens in our country. And from my perspective, it's also easy to feel, very deeply, the pain that the children of our world are living with every day.

It makes the work of empowering women and providing them a hand so they can be leaders and role models in their homes so much more important.

Women are the future.

Healthy, adult, resourced women innately understand non-violent conflict resolution, compassion and a sense of social justice. It is through feminine characteristics of connection, empathy and love that women create space for processing emotions, taming fears and extending hugs. Women run their households, raise their children and provide leadership at work. Men do too but only when they can tap into their healthy feminine side. And women need order, structure, strength and achievement-focused goals drawn from the masculine in all of us.

The world is changing and we, as powerful women, need to realize our essential role in shifting the tide. And not just for our children (the ones who live in our homes) but for ALL children. And for all adults who were once children.

When people feel alone, hopeless, isolated and unable to reach out for help it's everyone's problem.

When children take guns and kill their friends because they are so angry they feel trapped and out of options, the consequences belong to all of us.

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