Vered’s Blog

November 7 is Election Day in United States. Even though I’m not an American this senate election is exciting to me. If the Democratic Party will win, as the poles predict, for the first time in history the head of the biggest party in the senate will be a woman (Nancy Pelosi - House Democratic Leader).

This might be the first sign for what is waiting for us in the election of 2008 for the US presidency, where most speculations are saying that both Hilary Clinton and Condoleezza Rice will be running and we might witness history taking place where the United States will have their first woman president.

But long before Hilary, Condoleezza or Nancy Pelosi there was a woman that influenced the affairs of the State not by being the wife of but due to her own power and individuality.

By no mere coincidence November 7 is not only election day but also the memorial day of one of the most impressive and powerful women in America history - Eleanor Roosevelt.

Eleanor Roosevelt may not have been the best mother, but she was voted the most admired woman in America. She was painfully shy and lacked self confidence for most of her life, but she was called “the First Lady of the Western World.”

She was berated for interfering in affairs of state, but she was the eyes and ears of the president. She was raised in a wealthy, cloistered society that knew none but its own, but she spent her life as a champion of the underdog. Despite what some people want us to believe, she was no saint; instead, she was a woman ahead of her time, a warm, loving, sincere, kind, wise, strong, disciplined, very human person who used her talents and position to help bring about much needed social change.

Eleanor Roosevelt made it her mission to give every man, woman, and child equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Her vision for the dilemma of the human kind was now protected in the so-called “Universal Declaration of Human Rights.�
Eleanor Roosevelt once said that, “You get more joy out of giving to others, and should put a good deal of thought into the happiness you are able to give.” Her humanitarian efforts on behalf of children, the oppressed and the poor earned her the love of millions throughout the world.

From a shy, awkward child, starved for recognition and love, Eleanor Roosevelt grew into a woman with great sensitivity to the underprivileged of all creeds, races, and nations. Her constant work to improve their lot made her one of the most loved, and for some years, one of the most revered women of her generation.

World-renowned, respected, and admired, Eleanor Roosevelt made many lasting and meaningful contributions to the welfare of mankind which has stood the rigorous test of time. She was always dedicated to helping others. She taught at a school she had set up for poor children. She also ran a factory to employ jobless people. In addition, she was an advocate for equal rights. She was, as President Truman said, “First Lady of the World.”

Eleanor Roosevelt is a role model for the Feminine Leadership quality of giving. She used to say: “the most important thing in any relationship is not what you get but what you give. …the giving of love is an education in itselfâ€?. Maybe that’s the most important lesson we should all learn. Eleanor Roosevelt stood up for it and can be our teacher in how we can do it in our daily life. Her legacy is about giving and equality.

Let November 7 be a day of giving. Who can you give your love to today?

This week is dedicated to Inanna the Sumerian Queen of Heaven, (pronounced eh-na’na). Her teaching is all about the challenge of leadership. The ability to rise and fall again.

The Goddess Inanna ruled the people of Sumer, and under her rule the people and their communities prospered and thrived. Inanna was the queen of seven temples throughout Sumer. Probably the most important Sumerian contribution to civilization was the invention and creation of a standard writing and literature. Their literary works reveal religious beliefs, ethical ideas, and the spiritual aspirations of the Sumerians. Among these works are the hymns and stories of Inanna - which recorded a time in history when the patriarchy was beginning to take hold, and the position of the Goddess, although strong, was changing.

The hymns to Inanna are beautiful, poetic, and a testament both to her power and to her humanity. She outwitted Enki, the God of Wisdom and her grandfather, and she endowed the people of Sumer with wisdoms and gifts that inspired and insured their growth. Inanna herself is the Goddess of Love, and it is this aspect and power - creativity, procreativity, raw sexual energy and passion - that generates the energy of the universe. Her coupling with Damuzi is one of the most erotic and passionate passages in literature. The marriage is one of body and spirit, and Inanna’s passion and expectations link her to women all over the world.

The Goddess Inanna decided to descended to the realm of the underworld, the domain of her sister Ereshkigal. Inanna was Queen of Heaven and Earth, but she knew nothing of the underworld. Her quest for clarity and knowledge, as well as her sense of duty as Queen and Goddess, led her to the Earthly realm in the first place. She was a powerful ruler, and yet she felt a strong desire to challenge herself further. “My daughter craved the great below,” was the response of her father upon learning of her descent and death in the other realm.

In her innocence, she wrapped herself in ego, transformed into garments and jewels, and began her descent. Her sister Ereshkigal, upon hearing Inanna at the gates of the underworld, demands that Inanna must give up all of her earthly trappings before she can complete her journey. There are seven stations through which Inanna must pass before she meets Ereshkigal, her sister and rival. At the seventh and last, she meets Ereshkigal, who seizes Inanna and hangs her on a peg to die.

By the time she relinquishes her final garment, she is no longer the commanding Queen. She is open, exposed, and vulnerable. This knowledge, and acceptance of her vulnerability, as well as her first-hand discovery of the necessity of sacrifice and death for the cycles of life to continue, increased her power, her understanding, and her beauty.

Inanna’s encounter with Ereshkigal can be seen as a meeting of the creator and the destroyer - the light and dark aspects of the Goddess. For modern women, Inanna is a powerful role model. She indeed has it all: she is Goddess, protectors, sensuous, a politician par excellence, intelligent, beautiful, and powerful. She is aware of her position in the world, of her great responsibility.

We, like Inanna, challenge ourselves, often taking ourselves to task to know more, learn more, be more. But in the doing, in living this life, we too must know the power of the underworld and its mysteries, as well as know the power of compassion. Our personal growth, suffering and pain can be likened to physical death; our psyches journey to the underworld again and again. Old ideas, old visions, identities die; myths are shattered, and are created anew. We rise up, like Inanna, aware of our vulnerabilities, and the strength created from them.

Inanna is here to tell you that a journey to the Underworld is the way to wholeness for you now. It is time to dance with your shadow, reclaim what you’ve denied, and embrace your own Dark Sister/Dark Self.

You need all those aspects of yourself that your parents, caregivers, teachers, society have deemed unacceptable in order to achieve wholeness in your life. Whether it is your talent, your beauty, your inner vampire, your anger, your madness, you are required to surrender to the journey and embrace your dark side.

If you are already in the Underworld, the appearance of Inanna may signal that the time for your return is at hand. Journeys to the Underworld to embrace your dark side are a law unto themselves. They take a much time as they need to take- you can’t just fit them into your schedule. When it is time for you to journey, you will and you will not be done until you return. Take comfort in the fact that all journeys to the Underworld do end and that you will indeed return-much different from who you thought you were when you went.

We’ve just finished our first weekend in a year’s program called The Life-Skills University.
The major part of this weekend was to set goals for the coming years and create a direction in life that would lead to living happily and successfully.

As I was watching the people go through the process I’ve noticed that the younger ones (ages 19-25) were struggling the most when it came to setting goals in the areas of career and job.
It might sound logic but for me it was a surprise. I would have expected that people that are young would still remember their dreams and would try to go for it. I was expecting that the younger generation would be more open and daring to follow their heart and fulfill their dreams and find a job that they love and not just to pay the bills.

As a child, I remember my father, sitting in his room, surrounded by his books, writing.
His work was his love. Later in his life, when most people have retired, he was up early in the morning, busy with his work. It gave him, both a meaning to life and kept him young.

My mother never liked her teaching job, although she was very successful. She retired early and kept searching for satisfaction, without success. She became bitter and sad.

Until today I cherish the lesson I learned from them:
“Find a job that is your hobby, your art.”

As children we all wanted to be somebody. A fireman, a pilot, an artist.
As we grew up, we realized that our job must also pay our financial and social bills.
So we sold our passion and love for stability and security.
We rationalize by saying that ‘work is work’, and pleasure will come later.
But does it?
When was the last time you found the time and energy to do the things that you really care for?

What if your work could follow your heart’s desire? What if you could really do what you love to do?
Finding it might be difficult, as we have lost touch with what we enjoy most.
It has been too long since we have given ourselves the chance to connect to it.

So, how about taking some time off and instead of complaining about your job, start searching what it is that you love doing.
Find out what is it that you are good at, where your talents lie and what comes both naturally and easily to you.
Recall childhood activities that you once loved.
Become aware of the situations that bring out the best in you.
Discover what values are important to you and what you would like to see manifested in your work.

When you do the work you love, it becomes easy and effortless, because work becomes a source of energy rather than a drain. You continuously grow and develop while creating for yourself a space of love and friendship. You tap into your creativity therefore remaining young and alive.

So how about making your hobby your work?!

I’ve just seen an incredible clip and was wondering how did our idea of beauty become so distorted?

Watch this powerful insight of the transformation of the “girl next door” to billboard model!

Amazing isn’t it?

Is this beauty for you? If so, what does it say about the original girl from next door?
What does it do to our own self-esteem, those of us that are “less� fortunate not to get this treatment?

Would love to get your comments, thoughts and stories of self-esteem and beauty.

Have a great day!

Marianne Williamson wrote: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us, it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

But still people do not believe that they can actually make a difference in other people’s life. We tend to think that what can I do, I am insignificant and cannot do much. However, each person makes a difference. Every person can start making a difference in other people’s life by simple taking a step. This is the type of leadership that makes the real difference.

It’s like throwing a stone into a pool. It creates ripples that quickly spread and reaches far and fast.
That’s the Feminine Leadership way of making a difference. It’s not about follow me!, see how great I am and do what I tell you to do! But about – I’m doing what I’m doing and spreading it around so other people can carry on and do it also. It’s the ripple effect.

Watch how one man used this ripple affect and spread some love in a simple way. Listen to the story behind his actions and see what you can learn from it.

Isn’t this amazing? Can you see how one man/woman can make a difference?

What can you start today that will make a difference in other people’s life?
If you can’t come up with something – how about just hugging the people around you?

Have a huggable day!

Not all women are great examples of Feminine leadership. Being a woman does not automatically mean that you act upon the principles of Feminine Leadership.
Indira Gandhi, is maybe, one of the best-known women of the 20th century. However, Indira is one of the best examples that powerful leadership is not necessarily Feminine Leadership even when it’s done by a woman.

Feminine Leadership is about being ethical and taking care of your people. It is about being authentic and honest and most important it is about servant leadership and not dictatorship.
Indira Gandhi might have been a role model of breakthrough for women, in the sense that she has managed to rule a country where women are being regarded as second rate citizens in a time when women were expected to stay at home and take care of the family. That on its own is a huge success; however it is not serving the idea of ethical leadership and Feminine Leadership.

Indira Gandhi was born on November 19, 1917, in a family that was at the center of Indian freedom movement. Her father Jawaharlal Nehru and grandfather Motilal Nehru were at the forefront of Indian freedom struggle. Her mother Kamla Nehru, although less involved politically, was subject to political arrest by the British. Indira Gandhi had a lonely childhood, with some of her most vivid remembrances being the entry into her home of British policemen.

Though she was spoiled by her grandfather Motilal, Gandhi later recalled she felt “insecure.” She was four years old when her father and grandfather were first jailed for their activities, then the jailing became frequent. Because of the insecurities of her childhood Gandhi hardened herself and resolved not to be hurt, as her mother had been. Growing up in the sole care of her mother, who was sick and alienated from the Nehru household, Gandhi developed strong protective instincts and a loner personality.
This on its own just shows that Indira Gandhi adopted from an early age the element of the loner, which contradicts the feminine energy and the Feminine Leadership qualities.

Among the major achievements of Indira Gandhi as Prime Minister was India’s role during the liberation war in Bangladesh including humane handling of refugees and winning of 1971 war against Pakistan. Indira Gandhi gave direction to India’s economy to reach the declared objectives of democratic socialism and greater social justice for weaker sections. It was under Indira Gandhi’s leadership that the signing of Shimla Pact with Pakistani Premier Z.A. Bhutto and the signing of Indo-Soviet Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation took place.

Indira Gandhi nationalized banks, abolished privy purses of maharajas and conducted the first nuclear tests at Pokhran. Describing the test as for “peaceful purposes”, India became the world’s youngest nuclear power.
Indira Gandhi also initiated special agricultural innovation programs and extra government support that finally resulted in India’s chronic food shortages gradually being transformed into surplus production of wheat, rice, cotton and milk. The country became a food exporter, and diversified its commercial crop production as well, in what has become known as the Green Revolution. At the same time, the White Revolution was an expansion in milk production which helped to combat malnutrition, especially amidst young children. Gandhi’s economic policies remained socialistic and did not bring major industrialization. This would finally occur in 1991, with the opening of the Indian economy.

Even though Indira Gandhi’s slogan for her election was “Garibi Hatao” (eliminate poverty) Indira Gandhi’s period is defined by mainly wars, fights and at the end corruptions and not willing to admit to mistakes, which led her to a draconian campaign to stamp out opposition which included the arrest and torture of thousands of political activists; the ruthless clearing of slums around Delhi’s which left hundreds of thousands of people homeless and thousands killed, and led to the permanent ghettoisation of the nation’s capital; and the family planning program which forcibly imposed vasectomy on thousands of fathers and was often poorly administered, nurturing a public anger against family planning that persists into the 21st century.

In the end Indira Gandhi’s government was confronted with serious challenges to its ability to maintain law and order as conflicts between religious and ethnic groups broke out in different parts of the country. After the army had invaded the Golden Temple in Amritsar, the chief shrine of the Sikhs, she became the target for Sikh anger and on 31 October 1984 she was assassinated by her own Sikh bodyguard.

Indira Gandhi died the way she lived – in violence and hatred. Unfortunately, although she was exposed to one of the most peaceful, gentle and noble person in the 20th century, Mahatma Gandhi, Indira had no relation to him and did not follow his line of ethical leadership.

Last week we have taken the road to discover those parts of us that we tend to ignore or are ashamed of. This we have done with the aid of Inana the Goddess that was powerful enough to dare and go into the underworld, which is a representation of our unconscious mind, and embrace those parts of us that we refuse to take responsibility for. This journey has a lot pf power and allows us to heal and connect to our inner power.

This week we are graced by another Goddess that allows us to become authentic and embrace our true power. This week is devoted to the Hindu Goddess Maya.

The Hindus and Buddhists of India worshipped Maya (pronounced my’ah) as the “Material Universe”, as “Mother of Creation”, “Weaver of the Web of Life”, and as illusion. Maya is also worshipped in Nepal, Tibet, Asia, and the Himalayas. Her special attributes are intelligence, creativity, water, and magic. The literal meaning of the word “Mayaâ€? is illusion. Anything that is added to reality is illusion or Maya, and this veiling power of illusion is able to create the difference between “meâ€? and “mineâ€?, or “youâ€? or “yoursâ€?. Maya creates the ignorance of the individual self. Being One with the Universe and the world is reality. Separation is an illusion. This illusion of separation is created by the powers of Maya. On our path of growth we will need to experience first the separation and then realize the illusion of it in order to become One and reach enlightment. Maya is our aid in realizing this illusion and the ability to lift the veils of earthly form to reveal the true nature of the universe.

Maya moves subtly into your life to tell you to face your illusion. It is time to see what is true, what is real. Are you caught in a particular situation and can’t seem to move because it is hard to see clearly? Were you dazzled by what certain reality seemed to offer you and now discover nothing there? Have you been listening to the words people speak rather than what’s behind the words? Maya says it is easy to get caught up in illusion. Wholeness is nurtured when you accept where you are and forgive yourself, become aware of the illusion, then consciously lift the veils to experience the reality. Seeing the reality behind the illusion is what brings you power.

In order to be able to face the illusion we need to be willing to be totally honest with ourselves, and most of all willing to let go of our ideas, point of views and being Right in what we think, and do. The biggest obstacle that stands in our way in lifting the veils of illusions is our Ego and our Mind that want us to be Right all the time.

If you wish to work with Maya this week and start unveiling some of the veils that distract your view from seeing reality as it is and not how you wish it to be, take some time and focus on an issue in your life that is disturbing you, making you angry, or you feel not happy with. First write down in a few sentences the situation. Write down only the facts not the whole story. If you realize that you start writing a long story answer the following 6 questions:

1. Who angers, confuses, saddens, or disappoints you, and why? What is it about them that you don’t like?
2. How do you want them to change? What do you want them to do?
3. What is it that they should or shouldn’t do, be, think, or feel? What advice could you offer?
4. Do you need anything from them? What do they need to do in order for you to be happy?
5. What do you think of them? Make a list.
6. What is it that you don’t want to experience with that person again?

Then ask yourself the following 4 questions:
1. Is it true?
2. Can you absolutely know that it’s true?
3. How do you react when you believe that thought?
4. Who would you be without the thought?

Once you’ve written those statements have a look at them and turn them around. Turnarounds are opportunities to experience the opposite of your original statement and see what you and the one you judge have in common. Be creative with the turnarounds. They are revelations, showing you the unseen pieces of yourself reflected back through others. Go inside after each turnaround. Let yourself feel it. Ask yourself if any of your turned-around versions seem as true as or truer than your original thought, and if they do, find three genuine ways in which each of them is true.

This work is based on the amazing system of Byron Katie, which I find powerful in unveiling the truth to us.

Have fun this week lifting the veils of Maya!

Can you imagine a world without computers today? Can you imagine doing the simplest jobs that we take for granted without computers? However, how old do you think computers are?
Have you noticed how the science of computers keeps on coming every year with more and more new developments? Today computers are the science that keeps searching for excellence. The people that are responsible for those developments demonstrate the leadership quality of the will to excel.

Not long ago computers were machines that only the Navy, big business and government had. They used to take the space of a huge rooms and sometimes whole buildings.
The revolution of computers opened a new era in human technology and development. The impact of those first computers on our daily life might not be recognized today due to the second wave of revolution that was done by Bill Gates and Microsoft which allowed bringing computers into our homes and daily activities (mobile phones, MP3 etc..) . But without those first breakthroughs that where done in the 40’s and 50’s this new era would not have been possible.

On December 9, 100 years ago, was born one of the first pioneers that created those breakthroughs. This was Grace Hopper. Not only was she a pioneer in the field of computers and sciences, Grace Hopper also paved the way for women’s participation on an equal basis in this field. Even at age seven, Grace Hopper showed a particular love for gadgets, disassembling seven alarm clocks in the attempt to determine how they worked.

Grace Hopper’s parents provided a strong foundation for her inquisitiveness. She shared her love of math with her mother, who studied geometry by special arrangement when serious study of math was still thought improper for a woman. Her father, a successful insurance broker despite the double amputation of his legs, encouraged all his children, through his speech and example, that they could do anything if they put their minds to it. He inspired Hopper to pursue higher education and to avoid being limited to typical feminine roles.

Grace Hopper had many achievements as a mathematician and educator, perhaps her best-known contribution to computing was the invention of the compiler, the intermediate program that translates English language instructions into the language of the target computer. Grace Hopper did this, she said, because she was lazy and hoped that “the programmer may return to being a mathematician.” Her work embodied or foreshadowed enormous numbers of developments that are now the bones of digital computing: subroutines, formula translation, relative addressing, the linking loader, code optimization, and even symbolic manipulation of the kind embodied in Mathematica and Maple.

Grace Hopper was a true visionary; she conceptualized how a much wider audience could use the computer if there were tools that were both programmer-friendly and application-friendly. In pursuit of her vision she risked her career in 1949 to join the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation and provide businesses with computers. There she began yet another pioneering effort of UNIVAC I, the first large-scale electronic digital computer. To ease their task, Admiral Hopper encouraged programmers to collect and share common portions of programs. Even though these early shared libraries of code had to be copied by hand, they reduced errors, tedium, and duplication of effort.

Admiral Grace Hopper symbolizes the leadership quality of the will to excel. Although Grace Hopper had a career decorated with many rewards, she had to prove herself repeatedly. She once said “If you do something once, people will call it an accident. If you do it twice, they call it a coincidence. But do it a third time and you’ve just proven a natural law!â€?

So next time you open your computer take some time to acknowledge those that have given us this freedom!

Have a great day!

Television today has become a drug for most adults and children. They say that the average kid in US watches more than 6 hours a day TV, here in Holland it is estimated as 4-5 hours. In both cases it is obvious that when our mind is exposed to so many hours of mass information, that mostly is negative and frightening, then the impact of it on our world view and how we perceive the world, our life and even our selves is distorted.

On top of this alarming fact we have to add that while internet, which is the second time consumer of kids and adults, is an engaging thought activity, which means that the person has to engage in active thinking while doing this activity, television is a passive one and therefore numbs out our consciousness and actually lower down our intelligence once we engage in it for longer periods. That is the reason why so many busy parents tend to regard television as a good substitute for babysitter. What they do not take in account is that this can become harmful for their child if is being used on long hours (more than two).

However, television does not necessarily become an enemy for our intelligent. Once used correctly it can become a huge source of learning and educational. In order to be able to do that people need to think out of the box and become creative, but more significantly they need to have a vision to see where to take this instrument.

On November 30 one of those visionary people is celebrating her birthday. On November 30 1929 Joan Ganz Cooney was born in Phoenix Arizona.
Joan Ganz Cooney is the one of the visionaries and the chief moving force behind the creation of Children’s Television Workshop (CTW) and the most successful children’s television show in the history of either commercial or educational television, Sesame Street.

Before Sesame Street, successful children’s programs were entertainment oriented and appeared on commercial television; educational programs were thought to be boring and pedantic and appeared on public television which garnered a small, more affluent audience. Joan Cooney recognized that television could do more than entertain; it could provide supplementary education at a fraction of the cost of classroom instruction.

Joan Cooney demonstrated that quality educational programming could attract and hold a mass audience and established an organization which continues to produce innovative programming for all ages. And, via Sesame Street a larger, more diverse audience discovered public television, bringing it to the forefront of the national consciousness.

For me Joan Cooney is a wonderful role model for how to think creatively. She demonstrated the focus of Feminine Leadership, which is education and the future of our children.

On this day my intention for myself is finding new and creative ways to educate and learn.

Have a great day!

It’s Sunday and it’s finally looking as if winter is here. Due to Global heating winter this year is very late. Even now looking outside my window, some of the trees still have their leaves on. My garden is still green and doesn’t have the usual brown freezing color of winter and the most surprising thing is that some of the plants still have their flowers. And still it’s a winter day. Gray, cloudy and rainy. The rain is pounding on my roof from the early hours and the only thing I feel like doing is stay in bed, read some books, drink warm chocolate milk (coco) and talk with friends. Perfect winter Sunday day.

These kinds of days are made for connecting with friends, family and sharing good times with each other. No wonder that all religions have some kind of family celebrations at the end of December. Those celebrations have a lot in common mostly full of lights and giving and sharing presents. The most known ones are Christmas and Chanukah but there are more of those light celebrations. But there are more like: St. Lucia’s Day in Sweden, Sint Maarten and Sint Nicolaas in Holland, Loi Krathong Festival in Thailand, Diwali in India and even the modern Kwansaa festival in the African-Americans communities.

All those festival are actually a variation of an old pre-Christian celebration called Yule. Yule was the winter solstice celebration of the Germanic pagans. Since the Yule festival is native to the northern European lands, where midwinter is a time of short days and little light, the original sense of Yule as a midwinter festival had much to do with “bringing back the sun” and creating bright, shining, gold or yellow sun- and fire-themed decorations and festivities. Another connection may be to the brightness of the sunlight glaring off the white snow, or simply the bright glare of the sun itself as it rides low on the horizon. Therefore, likely meanings may be “Shining Time”, “Bright Time” or “Golden Time”. Therefore all the twinkling, sparkling lights that decorates our streets on these days.

As I was opening my mailbox I got this wonderful reminder from my friend that was just the thing for today and I’d like to share it with you.

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE
..one old love she can imagine going back to..
and one who reminds her how far she has come…

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE
…enough money within her control to move out and rent a place of her own
even if she never wants to or needs to…

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE
..a youth she’s content to leave behind…
and a past juicy enough that she’s looking forward to retelling it in her old age…

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE
…a set of screw drivers, cordless drill, and a black lace bra…

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE
…one friend who always makes her laugh…
and one who lets her cry…

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE
…a good piece of furniture not previously owned by anyone else in her family..

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE
…a feeling of control over her destiny…

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW.
…how to fall in love without losing herself…

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW…
… how to quit a job, break up with a lover, and confront a friend without ruining the friendship…
… and how to change a tire!

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW…
…when to try harder.. and … when to walk away…

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW…
…that she can’t change the length of her calves, the width of her hips, or the nature of her parents…

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW..
…that her childhood may not have been perfect.. but its over… !

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW…
…what she would and wouldn’t do for love or more…

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW…
…how to live alone… even if she doesn’t like it…

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW…
…whom she can trust, whom she can’t, and why she shouldn’t take it personally..

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW..
…where to go… when her soul needs soothing…
it can be her best friend’s kitchen table..or a charming inn in the woods…

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW…
…what she can and can’t accomplish in a day..a month…and a year…

I wish you a wonderful cozy and warm day!