‘The wound is the place where the Light enters you.’ – Rumi

Four days before this past Christmas, Life delivered a kick to my gut that sent me reeling -on many levels- and drove me so hard to my knees, I struggled for two weeks before I could remotely regain my footing.

During this time, I was shaken to my very core. Unable to eat or sleep, or find my way in the bleak blackness of it all, I began noticing a very strange phenomenon.

As I struggled through my days and nights, folks started coming out of the woodwork complimenting me. ‘You look great!’ ‘There’s so much light in you!’

I’m a very private person, so these compliments came from folks who knew nothing about my loss, or the ensuing grief that threatened to consume me.

This got me thinking… Read the rest of this entry »

Be the perfect wife, perfect mother, perfect friend, perfect boss, perfect hostess… the pressure to be perfect is everywhere in a woman’s life.

Is the road to happiness paved with perfection, or are women somehow being deceived?  Martha Stewart has built a phenomenally successful empire around perfectionism.  I think it’s harder for women since Martha came along.

It’s exhausting just to think about the “P-word”.  We think that everyone knows that perfection is non-existent.  If that’s true, then why is it so difficult for many of us to stop tilting at windmills?
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Throughout my career, it’s been my mission to do everything within my power to help women- AND men- reach a healthy place of self acceptance-and let me tell you, at times it’s been an uphill battle, especially when addressing body image and self esteem issues.

I deeply believe how a woman accepts herself depends largely upon the cultural and societal norms that prevail in her day to day life. Nowhere is this more apparent than as a woman hits midlife and begins the processes of peri menopause / Menopause.

Women’s responses to Menopause and the aging process in general vary significantly.

The more Menopause is viewed as a ‘loss’ -of youth, vitality, beauty- the more likely a woman will experience pain, illness and emotional issues as she makes the transition.

Coincidence? I don’t think so!
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