All About Women | Women

For those women who have attended any of my groups, know that I begin every session with Cheryl Richardson's Grace Cards. Grace cards are a deck of 50 beautifully illustrated cards with a simple self-care message on each. I use the cards at the start of all of my group sessions as a centering, a prayer, and an ice-breaker. It gets everyone to share and tell a little bit about themselves so that everyone in the room knows them too.

I have shared here and in my groups, that I am going through a transitional period right now. I am facing some definite unknowns and there is a level of fear. I will choose to do the next right thing, and do it afraid. I love the saying, "And this too shall pass." I know that intellectually, but it's still right now, and hasn't passed yet!

Every morning as part of my morning ritual, I pull 3 Grace Cards to see what the Divine has to say to me. Sometimes they are just reminders to stop and take a breath. I can forget this, especially in the throws of transition. The Grace Cards have a way of bringing me back to what is authentic. So, what cards "found" me this morning?

Silence: Be still.
Awaken: Keep your eyes open.
Peace: When we balance silence and activity, we discover true peace of mind -- the source of all joy and happiness.

Of course, I began to cry. So, what's the message?

And this too shall pass -- if you would just be still, staying aware and alert, true peace will come.

And so it is.

Coach Carolyn

Being a woman of purpose, I too sit and reflect on the posts I write, especially the purposeful questions. This particular question is a meaningful one for me right now as I am in a transitional period on my journey. Although I am a woman of inner peace, there is this crazy and wonderful thing called life that just keeps getting in the way. Whenever the storms of life come at me, I must reshift my approach to the way I deal with that particular storm.

I cannot and will not allow the storms to get inside of me. I must resist the temptation to become less than my divine self. I remain centered, knowing and trusting that the Great Divine Spirit is there to protect me, and walk me through whatever storms may come my way. This is a deliberate and conscious choice and not an easy one to cultivate. But it can be done.

Our natural tendency is to revert back to our old patterns of behavior, our old and limiting ways of reacting -- even though none of these behaviors ever worked for us in the past. We reach for the familiar, even if the familiar does not seve us. We must learn new ways of tapping into our authentic beings and pulling out what will serve us -- emotionally, physically, and spiritually.

Whenever I am in a space of unrest or upset, my natural tendency is withdrawal and shutdown. As a child, I truly believed that if I was invisible, then no harm could come to me. I carried this message into my adult life. It may have served me minimally as a child (children are meant to be seen and not heard), but it definitely does not serve me today. In fact, it annoys the heck out of the guys I date. So I continally get the question, "Where are you?" or "Where did you go?" It does not serve, me or anyone I choose to be in communion with.

So, what do I really want? To be free to be -- knowing that I am a work in progress; knowing that life is a process; knowing that I am a unique and wonderful expression of the Divine; knowing that I am going to stumble sometimes, then get up and hopefully help someone else who has fallen; knowing that I am a woman of peace, passion, purpose and play!

Write to me and tell me what you really want. Either leave me a comment or email me. This is a journey to be travelled together, not alone.

Wishing you peace, passion, and purpose!
Coach Carolyn

Greeting of peace, Purposeful People!

I was privileged to be invited to the Meetup Headquarters in SOHO to have lunch (quite delicious, I might add) and chat and share with the Meetup Staff and other organizers about our meetup experiences. It was a wonderful experience. And, yeah, it's a REAL business. The offices are quite nice and inviting.

Of course, I got to chat with CEO Scott Heiferman again. Then the brainstorming began! For those of you who don't know me, I am an avid dreamer and brainstorming is just dreaming out loud with other people! Rock on!

Anyway, Scott loves our meetup model, the fact that it has purpose; and wants to "spawn" it. So he hooked me up with Maya, and well, more to come on this later.

I want to thank Linda, Katie and Derrick, my meetup hosts, for their fabulous hospitality. Also, a wonderful shout out to the entire Meetup Staff for their warmth, encouragement and the cool eats! Keep up the great work guys!

And to my Becoming a Woman of Purpose members -- doesn't all this just give you more passion to come and share? I know it does me. So hope to see more of you ladies at the June meetup.

Peace, passion, and purpose!
Coach Carolyn

"What do you really want?"

How many times in our lives do we stop and ask ourselves this question? Well, hit the pause button, sit, and be still while you ponder and reflect. Then journal. If the answer comes as a surprise, don't let it go, follow up with another question. Then take a breath and sit with the question.

Let me know what comes up for you.

Peace,
Coach Carolyn

I tell this story to all of my workshop and lecture audiences because it speaks so much about life and purpose. And being part Cherokee, it speaks even louder.

A Grandfather from the Cherokee Nation was talking with his grandson.

"A fight is going on inside me," he said to the boy.

"It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves."

"One wolf is evil and ugly: He is anger, envy, war, greed, self-pity, sorrow, regret, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, selfishness and arrogance."

"The other wolf is beautiful and good: He is friendly, joyful, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, justice, fairness, empathy, generosity, true, compassion, gratitude, and deep vision."

"This same fight is going on inside you, and inside every other human as well."

The grandson paused in deep reflection because of what his grandfather had just said. Then he finally cried out; "Grandfather, which wolf will win?"

The elder Cherokee simply replied, "The one that you feed."

So, which wolf are you feeding?

Wishing you peace,
Coach Carolyn