Women Who Thrive, Change The World!

As we come near the end of another year I am reflecting on the life moments that have given me the most joy.  What wins hands down is kindness.  Those acts of generosity of spirit and fulness of heart that we as humans are meant for.

The kindness can be doing small acts of giving that are completely unexpected as an overflow from the fullness that we feel in our own lives….or they can be simply being open to receive the offerings of others.

As I reflect on my year there are so many “kindness events” that I am filled to overflowing.  It would be so hard to choose just one particular exchange, but…..if I had to choose just one for “giving” and one for “receiving”, this is what I would say.

In giving I was inspired to assist a “disabled artist” to have a new found pride in his creative gift.  Click on the link here for that story (Learning How To Dance In The Rain) .  In receiving I opened to the gift of a home to stay in for 3 months when I relocated to Austin this July, given by a woman who has to be one of the most generous souls on this planet!

Now these two examples don’t stop at the act.  They continue on because everyone in the exchange is changed inside, never to quite be the same again.  An example of this is shown in the video below.  Kindness does indeed travel in a circle!

I invite you to make a list (write, sing, art piece, collage or silently to yourself) of all the times that you either gave or received kindness this year as a way to feel gratitude for the life you have been given in 2011.

For another resource for kindness please go to this website: www.helpothers.org and request free of charge “Smile Cards” – experiments in Anonymous Kindness.  TAG – You are it!

WEBSITE:  www.ResonanceWithLife.com

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:

www.BreathingSpaces.net
www.NaturalWealthJournal.com

Today I watched a video of a talk given by the Dali Lama on women.  What he said in essence is that there is a “lack of human affection” in our world today….and that women are the ones to turn that around.   Our naturally compassionate and feeling nature often lead the way in daily interactions.

This is not to say that men don’t have this as well, but we as women are designed for it.  After a few funny stories the Dali Lama made a statement that would potentially upset 1,000’s of years of a lineage that is based on very defined practices and beliefs.  He said he was open to a female Dali Lama!  Needless to say this would be quite a paradigm shift for many, many people…but what if this did happen??

Following on the heels of this I was re-inspired once again by Caroline Casey who gave a TED talk on how extraordinarily far belief can take a person.  I won’t spoil the story for you, so you will have to devote 15 minutes to it in order to find out what happens.  You won’t be sorry that you did!

I am asking myself right now, “am I pretending to be something that I am not?” or “am I absolutely being truly myself”?   Good question to immerse in!  Enjoy the video and Caroline’s story…she is one of those innately compassionate (self and other) women and just by being fully herself inspires us all!


Caroline Casey on Moving Beyond Our Limits

Activist Caroline Casey tells the story of her extraordinary life, starting with a revelation (no spoilers).   In a talk that challenges perceptions, Casey asks us all to move beyond the limits we may think we have.

WEBSITE www.ResonanceWithLife.com  (New offerings!)

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:

www.BreathingSpaces.net  (watch the video of me on the Daily Breath page & see Sneak Preview of book to be published in January!)
www.NaturalWealthJournal.com

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For a great Christmas present for those hard to buy for younger teenagers on your list take a look at this.  A great and adventurous read that even you will not be able to put down…with a female heroine!

CLICK HERE

You Are Not Crazy!

This weeks post will be brief as I am giving you, the reader, a link to a recent Huffington Post article written by Yashar Ali – a man who has women’s well being at heart!  The title of this article is “A Message to Women From A Man: You Are Not “Crazy“.

You will find a well written insightful article that explains something that Yashar calls “gaslighting”.  This term, used by mental health professionals, explains a form of emotional manipulation “to describe manipulative behavior used to confuse people into thinking their reactions are so far off base that they’re crazy.”  This most often happens to women, but everyone experiences a form of it at times in their life.

As women it is important that we understand and be aware of anything that may take our voice away. That has the potential to diminish the authentic expression of who we are.  One more awareness to leave any remnants of “victim” behind.

Your comments would be appreciated as we learn from each others stories!

WEBSITE:  www.ResonanceWithLife.com

(Newly revised website! Take a peak at my book preview – Our Daily Breath –  due to be published in e-book form January, 2012!!)

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:

www.BreathingSpaces.net
www.NaturalWealthJournal.com

There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom“.  ~Anais Nin, 1903-1977, Author

In a time when women are coming to the forefront in many different ways all over the world, the video below struck me as a reminder to each one of us that need encouragement and inspiration to keep taking those steps forward.

There is great power that lies sleeping within each of us, and when awakened into action is formidable and unstoppable.  Hold my hand sister and walk with me awhile….

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:

www.BreathingSpaces.net
www.NaturalWealthJournal.com

WEBSITE:

www.IgniteWealthNow.com

Embrace Your Inner Girl

Always do the thing you fear the most.
Courage is an acquired taste
like caviar.

~Erica Jong

A week ago now I started questioning what it is that I am doing in my life….in the world.  This inquiry came about as I watched a snippet from a film on the Pink Saris in India and what they are doing to stand up for young girls and women in their country, villages, and homes.

I remember feeling bereft as I watched a very young beautiful girl being questioned by one of the Pink Sari women as to why she was so sad.  Her answer was – “I just want to die”.  Her wish to die was precipitated by being wedded at a very young age to an older man who was filmed asking “why does she keep running away?”.  The Pink Sari woman’s answer was “you keep raping her”.

So many women and girls are faced with atrocities every day all over the world.  They are not valued for the amazing beings that they are.  Deeper than that is the paradigm that has brought about this inequity, violence, and disregard for the wisdom, vulnerability, compassion, empathy, intuition, balance, emotion, and relational abilities of what Eve Ensler calls the “girl cell” in all of us -women and men.

A year ago now I sponsored a woman in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and was able by my small donation each month to put this woman through a year long program to empower her within herself, to give her skills to be financially independent, and to have a support system around her to help her continue on amidst a country that has been in violent war for 12 years.

Now I want to do more.

What can each of us as women/men and girls/boys do to shift this old patriarchal system that has caused our very Earth to be in severe jeopardy?  A system that male and female cannot thrive within.

I invite each of you to view the entire video below, a TED talk by Eve Ensler in 2009 given while she was in India.

I invite each of you to find a passionate way in your own life to shift the “training” that has caused us to lose ourselves.  As Eve said, “Being a girl is so powerful that we have had to train everyone not to be a girl.”

Eve Ensler – Embrace Your Inner Girl

“In this passionate talk, Eve Ensler declares that there is a girl cell in us all — a cell that we have all been taught to suppress. She tells heartfelt stories of girls around the world who have overcome shocking adversity and violence to reveal the astonishing strength of being a girl.


OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:

www.BreathingSpaces.net
www.NaturalWealthJournal.com

Finding My Voice

Maya Angelou has been over the years a voice to listen to.  This video speaks to the fact that we all become “silent” from time to time, and hide out when it is exactly our voice that needs to be heard!

She speaks to an innovative and creative way to release our voice, when we least want to do so.  I invite you this week to dance movements with sound, sing your favorite song, tone with sacred sound, laugh out loud, speak poetry to the sky, roar like a lion or hiss like a snake, or give each color a sound while you paint.

Find your way to finding your voice….even as the caged bird sings.

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WEBSITE:  www.IgniteWealthNow.com  (Natural Wealth)

NEW FREE OFFERING!!

We invite you to go to our website and listen to Richard Cawte’s Sanctuary Creation at:

SANCTUARY CREATION

Here is my review:

Over the many years that I have spent in the study and practice of meditation and imagery I have never come across something with so much depth and potential for deepening and relaxing the mind and body.  

In Sanctuary Creation Richard Cawte’s gentle voice and beautifully detailed imagery take you down into a sensual world of nature where color, breath, and beauty activate all of the senses and drop you into a depth of being from which you can discover what it is like to fully embody your life’s moments.  

What greater tool for daily life than something like this that can be activated and created within you at any time!”   

~ Gaye Abbott, Registered Yoga Teacher

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:
www.BreathingSpaces.net
www.NaturalWealthJournal.com

ANNOUNCEMENT!!  I invite you to go to the Natural Wealth website to see a Sneak Preview of my upcoming book: Give Us This Day Our Daily Breath expected out in e-book and soft cover by 12/1/11!!  Go to the page Be Breathed – Our Daily Breath.

Would love your feedback as the book is not quite finished yet…and your comments would be most welcome!  Also check out the video that took me so many takes….and laugh along with me.

REMEMBER –  Laughter is a series of exhales expressed with uninhibited joy!

Thank you for taking the time to take a peak at the Sneak!

Gaye Abbott           Give Us This Day Our Daily Breath

The “Crazy” Ones

Martha Graham

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”Steve Jobs

On the verge of becoming one of the “crazy ones” is a very ripe place to be.  “Crazy” is being defined here as one who steps way out of any self or culturally imposed boxes and makes the decision to take action on behalf of the heart informed inner voice.  That voice of courage, passion and strength that has never know conformity.

Amelia Earhart

What makes us decide that we can no longer hide out in complacency or fear of being all that we are?  Confidence and determination are certainly a part of it.  Yet I believe that it is deeper than that.  There is a place inside of each of us that has known since the day we were born the purpose we came here to serve.

This may be a quiet purpose out of the public eye, or it could be a completely visible one where there is no hiding at all.  Whatever it is, knowing your purpose with clarity is the starting block on this journey of coming out.

As women this knowing can be delayed a bit.  Sometimes we wait in quiet expectation until

Indira Gandhi

our 50”s, 60’s or even 70’s before we take the time to listen to the heart and intuition driven inner voice that Steve Jobs speaks of above.  It is never too late to become what is your hearts desire!

Take me for example.  I turned 63 this year and I laughingly said to a friend of mine recently “I keep calling myself midlife.  Am I really deluded?  If I am at midlife now then I will be living vibrantly until age 126!!  Now that is possible I suspect, but a more likely explanation is that I find life so irresistible right now that every day is like an art piece to be explored.

Jean Houston

My friend wants to redefine midlife to include the years when we are vibrantly choosing to make a difference and passionately following that inner guidance with heart directed action.  I agree with her.  Midlife is whatever we define it no matter what age we are.

Are you playing it safe?  Or have you decided to be one of the ‘Crazy Ones”?

Those crazy ones – make a difference.  Narrated by Steve Jobs

…and then there is Alice Walker

So in the end you can’t even really regret your misfortunes,” explains the beloved author Alice Walker, “because they led you somewhere.”

OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:
www.BreathingSpaces.net
www.NaturalWealthJournal.com
WEBSITE:
www.IgniteWealthNow.com

As our world undergoes immense shifts and changes we, as women, are being asked to “step up to the plate” so to speak.  Many of us know what it is that we are passionate about and are taking heart based action in that direction, and many more are simply entertaining which path (or paths) they desire to walk down.

What is it that calls to us from within?   That call we often ignore while being so busy putting out fires, “making a living”, or being Wonder Woman on all the levels that women actively engage in.  There is something called intuition which feels to me to be the soft whisper (and sometimes loud yell) of that essential nature or Divine self that guides, protects, and attempts to inform us of the next steps to take along our unique paths.

I came across an article the other day called Intuition by Danielle Boonstra in which she beautifully and vulnerably addresses the power of intuition by giving an example of when she was at a crossroads in her own life.  Within a few days of reading this I was given the opportunity to listen in to my own essential nature who has been attempting to get my full undivided attention for months now.

Attention has certainly been given in measured doses here and there, but it wasn’t until a dear friend Lea Bayles  did what is called a Discovery session with me that I realized what belief was sitting on top of the me that is so magnificent that I literally had to put sunglasses on to see her.  A blog post arose from this experience entitled “Resistance is Futile and A Doorway to Freedom”.

The point here is that sometimes there are underlying beliefs or patterns that keep us stuck in a “smaller ego self” than who we really are in our fullest expressions.  The discovery of these beliefs and patterns appears to be part of our waking up and the journey that we are here for.

The next question is, are we willing to take the next step by showing up in a way that is not only our natural “birth path”, but are we willing to reach out a hand to the woman next to us, or even across the world, to support her in doing the same thing.

Following is a video of women that have taken a step into there fullest selves and given the “smaller ego self” a vacation to a far away place.  Yes, it is a journey and one with challenges and pitfalls along the way.  However, are we willing to say YES! in any moment to that intuition that says “Go for it!” in the presence of risk and vulnerability?

I, for one, live within those types of moments every single day and it isn’t always easy to get out of your own “smaller self” way.  Are you willing to reach out a hand, step back into the circle of your life in the fullest way possible, and bring at least one other woman with you?

We are innately interconnected.  Let’s use that very web of life to support each other in lighting up the world within our own lives….. and change our personal and global futures.

3-minute film:  Wisdom From Women….Who Make Things Happen

OTHER BLOGS AND WEBSITES OF GAYE ABBOTT:

www.BreathingSpaces.net
www.NaturalWealthJournal.com

WEBSITE www.IgniteWealthNow.com

The title of this post is something that Claire Dakin said in her talk at the Women On Fire Conference this year introducing Three Sisters – Women Seeding Change.  This concept – “you can’t fail at an experiment” is a way to look at each twist and turn of your life as an opportunity to take action, and to let go of the fear of failure.

I used to ask myself the question, if we as women took the time to step up on behalf of the planet and stopped competing with each other I wonder what would happen?  What I see occurring all over the globe right now is just that – women stepping up on behalf of the planet, our communities and families, and on behalf of each other .

As a committed global group we hold great power to create the change that we desire.

What the video below will give you are two things.  First is an opportunity to join other women towards quickening a successful outcome towards major global reforestation.

Secondly, is to inspire you to experience first hand what it feels like to open completely to the feminine inside of you, and to celebrate yourself in union with women and girls all over the world.

An experiment can never fail – for it is an experiment.  I wonder what great experiments you can create and take action on from the deepest part of your heart?  Be like Claire Dakin and invest in the courage to find out!

Women supporting women – and all of us supporting the Earth.


OTHER BLOGS BY GAYE ABBOTT:

www.BreathingSpaces.net
www.NaturalWealthJournal.com