It occurs to me, watching all those angry, frustrated, fed-up women. . .

Perhaps it is only hormones that makes women put up with so much of everyone’s shit.

Maybe, when we’re in our mid-to-late late 30s, 40s, and 50s – we’ve had enough already.

Perhaps it’s the lack of estrogen that makes women finally stop. Putting up with the world’s shit, I mean.

Post from: Blisstree

Hormones On Oprah

A tip for your self esteem during a lifestyle change. . .

Don’t weigh-in if you’re on your period and experiencing the PMS Pain Body. If you do – you will take it personally that you’re right back where you started.

Take the week off. Not from exercise – because I’ve found that if you are carrying the pain of all women, everywhere, since the dawn of time – that vigorous exercise and yoga is a really good thing to do with all that negative energy. The endorphins to the brain are priceless too.

But, definately boycott the scale during that time. It’s just another way to show yourself some kindness.

Post from: Blisstree

Boycott the Scale during Pain Body PMS

I’ve been reading Eckhart Tolle’s book, The Power of Now.

He introduces the idea of a Pain Body. The Pain Body is also discussed in great detail in his other book A New Earth.

Basically, he says that one part of the human condition is a pain body. We have personal pain bodies that result from things that happen specifically to us. But, we also have collective pain bodies that come from being members of a group – women, for instance.

Tolle says that because of several thousand years of oppression, repression, violence, rape, battery, harassment, slavery and sexism baby girls are born with a collective pain body associated with being female. Carl Jung spoke of a collective consciousness, a similar idea.

PMS and menstruation is when women tend to identify with or lose ourselves in our pain body, Tolle says. This results in physical symptoms like cramps or headaches for some women, but also in bad attitudes, negativity, anger or frustration in many women.

In other words – one explanation of PMS would be psychic pain for all crimes against femininity throughout history – starting with Eve. There’s a great deal to be pissed about.

The degree to which this affects women is determined by how much they identify with the collective pain body of women or being a woman.

Feminists, for example, might identify with the pain body deeper because their identity as women is stronger and they are aware of and focus on crimes against women in general. Feminists identify strongly with “what men have done to us” and the resulting pain.

Likewise, a “submissive wife” would feel a high degree of the feminine pain body as she associates a large part of her identity with “the curse of Eve” and taking care not to step out of her “proper role.”

Both are a version of a “victim identity” and keep women in bondage to the past. But, there is true power and peace available to women in the present moment, says Tolle.

The cure for PMS and identification of the Collective Feminine Pain Body, Tolle says, is to stay present during our PMS or our menstruation cycles and recognize our bad attitudes, cramps, emotional roller-coaster as “just the pain body” and try to dissolve and “transmute” the anger, pain, unforgiveness into forgiveness, love and peace for the crimes against womanhood historically.

Thus transforming our psychic pain into true psychic and spiritual power.

Post from: Blisstree

PMS = Women’s Collective Pain Body

At RealAge.com you log on and take a test about your exercise, eating habits, vitamins and supplements, social habits, diseases or illnesses and vices like smoking and drinking.

I updated my Real Age this week and I’ve gotten SEVEN YEARS YOUNGER as a result of my lifestyle changes in the last two years. Since last year I’ve reduced my Real Age by nearly THREE years.

Chronologically I am 35.4 years old, yet my Real Age is only 32.5.

When I began my dramatic lifestyle change two years ago, I took the Real Age test. I was 33 at the time, but because of my lazy-ass lifestyle, my pack a day smoking habit for 20 years, and the demon of anxiety and depression that controlled my life, not to mention living in a horrendous environment that made me sick with allergies all the time – I was 38.5 years.

Screw That.

In 2009 I’m upping the ante again. I never want to make any changes I can’t consistently do for the rest of my life. Last year I maintained my weight at 166. Being able to maintain for one year has given me more confidence because I know I made a true lifestyle change that will last. Now, I’m ready to step it up and make more – as I wrote last week in The Secret to Weighty Resolutions.

I started on Christmas Day so it’s been 14 days. I’ve been dedicated to running before the family starts their day. And I’m doing it. Few logistical issues I’m working out, but overall I’m loving it.

It’s dark when I head out to the 1 mile track at the park, so I get to see the sunrise during my run. Awesome. That scary looking guy – the only other person out there at that hour – was sent by God to protect me. He’s getting in his morning run in, the same as I am.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays I follow my run with an hour of yoga. It’s still the kindest thing I do for myself.

I’ve lost 2 pounds. I’m logging my calories and educating myself about what I’m eating. In turn, I’m making better choices based on actual facts and not just my own theories about how many calories might be or probably are in foods I eat. It’s impossible to eat consciously if you don’t even know what’s in your food.

Go take the Real Age test and come back and tell me how old you really are. Are you happy with the results? What are you going to do about it?

Oh, and check out Weighting Line if you started the year with a weight loss goal in mind.

Post from: Blisstree

I Keep Getting Younger Every Year

Whatever they are saying about the economy I’m not seeing the negatives.

Everywhere I look there is potential and opportunity.

There’s an Economic Women’s Revolution going on right now in the world and we’re going to see women explode onto the landscape. In large part because so much business can be done on the Internet. More and more of us are asking, Why not me? Why don’t I start that business I’ve always dreamed of?

This year, women will stop the futile wait for The Market to give us equal pay and we’ll create our own opportunity. We’ll create jobs , not apply for them.

We’ll have the backing of a pro-woman government to help assist us.

I’m a part of that. I’ve got my own business going and I expect it to really take off in 2009. I’ve laid the groundwork, crested the learning curve and I’m ready to push it into a new stratosphere.

My husband has a freelance design company that’s also really going to take off. Together our economy will be better than it’s ever been our entire married life. We’ve learned the hard lessons and sucked it up through the hard years and dedicatedly applied ourselves to become disciplined about money. We know what to do now and money is coming our way in 2009. Phew. Finally.

I’m redesigning and republishing my girl blog on Jan. 12 and I’m so excited about it.

I’m excited to be with b5media and Blog Fabulous and hope to take it and my relationship with my readers to a new level.

I’ve also found some local resources that I’m taking full advantage of. I’ve joined Toastmasters, an International public speaking club and I’m joining the Northeast Texas Writers Association. I’m getting a huge adrenaline rush from speaking in public.

This year I expect to make a real professional income consistent with my education and experience. In fact, I will accept nothing less.

My husband and I will help other couples be happily married.

We’ll be more happily married.

I will continue my organizational strategies, I’ll work 35 pounds off my body by putting in the effort and energy to care about what I eat and how much I move.

Is anyone else feeling this optimistic and enthusiastic about ‘09?

Post from: Blisstree

2009 Predictions

Last year I wrote about my resolution to get organized in a post titled Anal Retentive Compulsions in 2008.

In July I saw that people were still reading that post and took another look. Then I cleaned up and organized my office – which was still a mess – and posted the transformation in Resolutions Revisited.

If, 6 months later you realize that people are going to hold you accountable it’s a good motivation not to fail. To fail is hard on the soul – to fail in public is enough to make me clean my room and get organized like I said I wanted to in the first place.

I’m going to cultivate anal retentive organization to the point of compulsion. That way in 2009, 2010, 2011 . . . (you get the picture), I won’t ever have to think about it again.

I wrote.

Well, do I look anything like Kate Gosselin, mother of twins and sextuplets AND the most organized and sometimes anal and compulsive woman on reality television to you?

But, did I accomplish my goal?

Absolutely.

My house is pretty dang organized. It’s a little messy frequently because we have two kids. Hey I saw how the rest of America lives on Oprah’s Clean Up Your Messy House and I’ve got some relatives who have this hoarding gene going on. Compared to that I’m a dream housekeeper.

Every few months – around birthdays and Christmas and the change of seasons – I go through the toys and clothes and donate the ones we’ve outgrown.

Now that we’ve got a large enough house for the necessary storage our world is a billion times more organized. And I realize you have to keep working at it. You’re not going to be “organized” and then walk off and leave it for 10 years and have it stay that way.

Between Christmas and New Year’s is a great time to look at the messes and clutter piles and clean them up. By New Year’s Eve I’m going to sort through the 2008 photos and put them on a disk for storage and buy a photo book of the ones I enjoy best. Organized. It seems like the perfect time because no one is really going full throttle with other things during that week.

I’ve learned this great lesson this year. If I don’t take the time to organize my life – my things, my time, my email, my day, my work load, my schedule, my priorities – it will cost me unnecessary grief.

It was always the time to do the tedious and meticulous work of organizing that held me back. No one has ever lied on their resume more than I did when I copied “detail oriented” on my resume. Laughing Out Loud. I am not naturally detail oriented. Details, until my 35th year have seemed like such a waste of good time and energy when there was a big picture to think about. But, as they say God is in the details. The meaning lies in taking the time, slowing down the process, not missing it by rushing through, making life easier by putting things in their proper places.

I’m a million times more organized in my house and I’m becoming a million times more organized in my work. I’ve made sure I take time for my exercise and meditation and friendships.

In truth it is not wanting to waste money on organizational tools that has held me back so many times before. In July I realized my office was unorganized because I didn’t want to waste money on a $7 file hanger. Stupid. But, I get it now. The tools save me so much time and energy it’s not a waste. I’m learning to invest in the tools. Enter new iphones that will revolutionize my inability to follow and keep a calendar. It will be a great organizational investment.

If you trace any bad habit back far enough there is always a wrong or incorrect thought behind it.

If you change the thought you can change the habit.

My thought was: It’s a waste of time and money to get organized.

I no longer believe that’s true.

I’ve changed the thought to: It’s a waste of time and money NOT to buy and learn to use the proper tools to be organized.

In 2009 I’m going to keep up the skills and lessons I learned in 2008. I’m going to put more of these lessons into my work and my work day.

I’ll be so productive in 2009 I’ll look like an overnight success.

Tell me, did anyone else make a similar goal last year and did you stick with it?

Post from: Blisstree

2008 Resolution Revisited – The Truth

So, I have this bad-ass book club and we read one book a month.

The best part is not the book.

The best part is the company.

This month we’re having a Pure Romance Party. And of course, by “romance” I mean “sex props” party.

If you go to the website you just enter in your zip code and a Sex Toy Lady - like the Tupperware and Mary Kay lady – will come to your party and show you the goods.

I may be enticed to become a dealer myself – I think I’d be exceptionally good at it. Can you think of a more fun way to earn some extra cash than to inform and educate women about how to take charge of their own sex life?

We figure Nov. is a great time to buy romantic gifts to share with our husbands or – if we happen to be single – ourselves. I saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, right?

I’m so excited. I looked at the website last night and decided to order the Nympho Niagra Arousal Cream which is supposed to stimulate blood flow and increase sensitivity.

Have you ever had a sex toy party?

Photo source: Pure Romance

Post from: Blisstree

Nympho Niagra at Book Club

I’m posting today because I’m waffling on NaBloPaMo – doing a blog post every day for 30 days. I want to think about it for a few days before I commit completely.

On the one hand I’m working on Saying NO. There are a million good things I must choose not to participate in so I can be effective at the things I REALLY want to do most. More blog posts won’t necessarily lead to where I’m trying to go. A book deal, monthly column in Oprah Magazine, speaking at next year’s Women’s Conference, being actively recruited to write in national magazines, working my way back to professional pay for full-time work, etc.

I was thrilled to hear that b5media will no longer be requiring 6 posts a month. Frankly, I’ve seen no evidence on my particular blog that more posts equal more readers. In fact, it feels like it equals less community participation. Everyone is so flipping busy I don’t want my website to feel like more chores they didn’t have time to keep up with.

On the other hand, it turns out our statistics were totally inaccurate for a while there so . . . I could be completely wrong.

All of you could be waiting breathlessly for a blog post every day – and on weekends you could be severely disappointed that there is nothing fresh here.

So, I’m thinking about doing NaBloPaMo. Because October with its company upheaval and reorganization, Blogtoberfest, and Bloggy Giveaways wasn’t enough stress. I should up the ante on striving during the Holidays. That’s what sane people who want to keep it together do – right?

So, this post is so that I don’t screw up my opportunity to NaBloPaMo before I decide. Monday, when I was planning on posting again will be Nov. 3 and I’ll have missed the boat. Could’ve been the “potential boat.”

I read Mrs. G on Derfwad Manor say she grew her blog quite a bit last year. . . I would do it if only for growth.

What do you think?

Post from: Blisstree

NaBloPaMo – Vacillating

Watch this for instant goose bumps and empowerment, The Women’s Conference.

I want to speak there someday. My dreams are BIG!

Check out the website, www.californiawomen.org and see what kind of power awaits women in this lifetime.

You can participate in The Women’s Conference on this podcast.

Many of the people at this conference declared that women will be the force of change in this country. I know that to be true.

Unleash your inner power Ladies!

I wish I had been there.

Photo Source: TheWomensConference.org

Post from: Blisstree

Instant Goose Bumps

In the battle over our children – parents versus child rapists and child pornograhers – who would you place your bet on?

It seemed child pornographers and clubs like NAMBLA, the North American Man Boy Love Association, whose declared “hobby” is to rape children were winning. With 300,000 known predators the FBI was monitoring, but not arresting or prosecuting it seemed the only rational response was to run and hide.

But, hide where? They wear “good guy” camouflage and mingle among us, volunteering to coach soccer teams, lead the youth Sunday School, and play the part of the perfect step-parent or boyfriend to get close to kids.

But, after being exposed on Oprah a few weeks ago – Half a million, that’s 500,000 – Moms and Dads brought the Can of Whoop Ass on Child Pornographers in the way of the Senate Bill 1738—The PROTECT Our Children Act that passed last week!

That’s right America. You emailed and called enough of your congressional leaders to say THERE ARE JUST SOME THINGS WORTH SPENDING MONEY ON and arresting rapists and child pornographers is one of those things!

While they were all gathered to debate the economic crisis. Oprah and I were nervous that they would overlook this very important bill to protect kids from sexual violence. Instead they took the opportunity to vote for the bill. (Ever noticed how much more likely they are to listen in election years?)

I am so proud of us.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed people can change the world. Indeed it’s the only thing that ever has.”-Margaret Mead

To the 300,000 child rapists and child pornographers out there – I am so very sad that your families – your wives, children, parents, siblings and friends – will be devastated by your arrest. It is profoundly tragic that they will suffer so much.

Please, God don’t let any of those 300,000 people about to be arrested for child pornography be in my life. And Please God, don’t let the FBI arrest innocent people.

Oprah – Porn Ain’t What It Used To Be.

I agree with Bill O’Reilly (SCREAM!!!)

Sexual Urban Legend

Cross Posted on Blog Fabulous.

I am so proud of us.

Give yourself a standing ovation!

Cross Posted on Empowering Girls: So Sioux Me

Post from: Blisstree

You Brought the Whoop Ass on Rapists & Pornographers