The Journey to Self Discovery

The auditions were harsh and the requests even more difficult. I showed up to a modeling job interview only to find a pompous SOB sitting behind the desk giving me the once over, to walk the imagined runway to sit on his lap. I didn't want to believe that just being who I was, was enough. It was enough, yet no one told me or the pompous SOB! I had power and to scream out, to refuse his advances and to report him. That was my final interview for Vogue. His advances scarred me. I lost my power but now I am super again just because I see others who may end up where I was. So I run back down the road I got off of so many years ago, just to scream!!!!!! I am enough and I don't deserve your grooming or abuse. I can be a woman the sexual being I was born to be... and so can you. My story is this story.... The depiction of these girls is not prudish , but it’s also not fraught with a kind of anxiety that seems to hold young girls implicitly responsible, by t...

The crispness of a new shirt, the thrill of polished shoes – graduation day euphoria still lingered as I approached the imposing office building. My first real job! But then, a rogue thought snuck in: "Is this the right place for me?" Suddenly, butterflies morphed into full-blown fear. What if I hated the work? What if I was a total flop? Worst-case scenarios flooded my mind: getting fired, unemployment, financial woes. The Positive-to-Panic Plunge That one thought had triggered a mental U-turn, derailing my initial excitement. We've all been there – one random thought spirals into a vortex of anxiety. The culprit? Our minds, often running on autopilot, feeding negative thoughts until they snowball. The Power of Stopping the Spiral But what if the moment that negative thought pops up, we simply let it go? Like flicking off a switch, we banish it and reclaim our positive mind space. Imagine the control! Mastering Your Mind, Mastering Your Life Eckhart Tolle offers powerf...

Faced with failure, how do you respond? All of us fall short of our targets from time to time. Some people are resilient enough to wallow in it briefly and bounce out of it, but others let it defeat them. Here are some ‘’dos’’ and ‘’don’ts’’ of regaining your self-confidence after a defeat: *Increase your expectations of yourself Your failure has you feeling like you are not good enough to achieve your goal. Establish a higher bar for yourself, even if it scares you. Remember,  you will always get what you tolerate . If your expectations of yourself are low, your results will be of low quality.       *Set a new realistic short-term goal Set a goal that is realistic to get you back on track. Get an easy win under your belt. *Surround yourself with people who are already doing it right Find someone that has what you want, ask them how they did it, then do it yourself. *Don’t use negative self-talk ...

Child sexual abuse affects tens of thousands... Book Teaser 3214 - AllAuthor Research indicates a connection between bullying and child sexual abuse, with bully/victims (those youth who bully their peers and have also been bullied) especially at risk for child sexual abuse. Good Touch Bad Touch theMovie We teach our young children all sorts of ways to keep themselves safe. We teach them to watch the hot stove, we teach them to look both ways before they cross the street. But, more often than not, body safety is not taught until much older — until sometimes, it is too late. Research conducted by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that approximately 1 in 6 boys and 1 in 4 girls are sexually abused before the age of 18. You want to hear something even scarier? According to the US Department of Justice (nsopw.org), only 10% of perpetrators were strangers to the child and 23% of the perpetrators were  children  themselves! These statistics do not su...

It’s always possible for a higher level of consciousness to infuse our experience in any moment. Say that you’re disappointed by something that someone says or does. You can stew in the story of what happened, or you can bring kindness to the pain you feel. Stewing in the story keeps you stuck and separate. And being kind to your emotions is more spacious and less stressful. You’re letting consciousness in by being aware of your in-the-moment experience—instead of being lost in the story. I’ve noticed a lot of people complaining recently, and it strikes me that they are totally caught in their stories. Someone was complaining about getting parking tickets, and I thought to myself, “This suffering is so unnecessary.” Read the signs and follow the rules, and like magic, you’ve freed yourself from getting tickets and the need to complain about them. And there’s no more room for enjoyment, presence, and peace. This is everyday awakening. In any moment, we can re...

We've all had that one someone that always criticized everything that you've did or not even to give you positive reinforcement.  Both wear away at your self-worth and self-esteem.    N egative criticism does not only hurt emotionally but can also hurt your interests, or about what you are interested in… Most negative criticisms are not even true.  They are often more of a first response by, people who don't really know about your situation. Even if the criticism is technically true, it’s not worth paying attention to. John Maxwell said that life is 10% of what happens to me, and 90% of how I react to it. Negative criticism calls attention to what we may or may not be weak at. If someone was to tell me that I will never be a great writer because I can't spell. I would have to say… “yes”, it's true that I can't spell. But that’s what spell check is for.  And I may never be the best writer out there, but as long...