Great Link about Codependency

One of my FB friends posted this link today and I thought it would be helpful to post here. Great information about codependency and taking responsibility for our feelings. Good advice, ladies!



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Women of Wisdom: Special Blog Tour Stop

It's an honor for 2 Higher Ground to be a stop on the Women of Wisdom book tour:
Women of Wisdom is a journey through sixteen years of one of the largest women’s spirituality conferences in the world, a very unique conference that has impacted thousands of women’s lives. Authors Jean Houston and Margot Anand both exclaimed separately to me – “Kris there is nothing like this in the world” – and they have traveled around the world. The book will continue to impact women, as they experience the wisdom and gifts of the sixty contributors in the book.

The Women of Wisdom book gives women access to powerful, inspiring women leaders and their message for women to step into their power, own their feminine gifts, and learn to speak their truths. WOW provides role models who will inspire women to discover their dreams and their purpose.

Additionally the book shares stories from women whose lives have been changed by experiencing these women’s messages. Evocative art, poetry and experiential exercises enhance the book’s message, providing diverse ways to experience the spirit of the feminine.

Included in the book is my own story of how I started Women of Wisdom, which has been an empowering story for women to hear. My story began with reading The Feminine Face of God, by Patricia Hopkins and Sherry Anderson. Shortly afterwards I had a vision of bringing these spiritual women leaders to Seattle. And I immediately set that in motion at Seattle Unity Church, where I was a board member.

I realized this was something more than just a conference when I welcomed people at the first night of the conference, February 11, 1993, and I stated “Welcome to the First Annual Women of Wisdom Conference.” It has become a movement for women to come together in community and explore their potential, and to honor and support one another. This conference has continued to grow and be strong for seventeen years now and that is a testimony to the power of the vision, and the importance of women realizing the value of their unique gifts to share with the world.

In 1998 I realized I had a wealth of material in the tapes of the talks from these nationally known best selling authors and that they would make a great book. I had a dream to share this with other women. I would get phone calls and emails from women asking me if there was an organization like WOW in their city. Not everyone has the luxury to travel to conferences and experience life changing conferences and this book will provide that opportunity to many women.

In addition, the powerful women who participated at the conference in different ways – artists, musicians, writers, local presenters and WOW leaders – would contribute to make this book a holistic experience of exploring the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual aspects of being a woman, giving the reader the full conference experience.

The women’s movement has led women to evolve to such heights as running for the presidency of
the United States. However in workshops I have given women have shared how isolated they feel. They don’t feel honored in society for their feminine gifts and how they don’t feel comfortable or safe speaking what they feel, what’s inside their hearts, whether it be in the workplace, home or other. In sharing women’s stories in the book, women will relate to their experiences and gain strength and support through the validation of the feminine that is expressed in the book.

Many of the authors in the book share how there is a lack of balance of the feminine in our world, and how we’re at a critical time where women need to become equal partners towards creating the solutions to the many crisis facing our globe. Jean Houston shares her experience of Women of Wisdom in the foreword of the book:

“Women of Wisdom is in the forefront of the biggest change in human history – the only change that will assure our continuity as a species. Those who organize and participate in the Women of Wisdom experience, know that for a new world to be born we have to bring a new mind to bear. Critical to this is the rich mind style of women that has been gestating in the womb of preparatory time, lo, these many millennia. In their ebullient and evocative conferences WOW demonstrates a tremendous change in who we are and how we do things.”

”Playing their part to usher in feminine mind, WOW emphasizes process rather than just product, and making things cohere, relate, and grow. Cultures in which the feminine archetype is powerful are almost always non-heroic, they tend to make things work together, each piece has its part to play.”

“Men and women will be released from the old polarities of gender that force them into limited and limiting roles, and qualities of intelligence will be added to the human mind-pool that will render most previous problem solving obsolete. Linear, sequential solutions will yield to the knowing that comes from seeing things in whole gestalts, in constellations, rather than in discrete fact…. And it will ring an ecological ethic, along with a new partnership between men and women, in which the human acts in concert and in partnership with Nature to bring about more symbiotic ecological relationships.”


Women of Wisdom book offers solutions and ways to manage these problems

The WOW book addresses these problems and gives women hope for the future as they learn it is important to:

• Speak their minds
• Become leaders
• Share their stories
• Follow their dreams
• Find a balance of work, families and friends, and take care of themselves.
• Honor their feminine gifts

We all know the story of putting on your air mask in an airplane first so that you are able to help your child. It is important for women to support other women in their growth, in their choices of careers, and that it’s time to stop feeling the need to compete with each other. But first women must develop an awareness of their own personal issues and fears and what stops them from becoming the leader of their own lives.

We are conditioned to look outside of ourselves for the answers to these problems that we face in our lives. This book will draw the reader inside, to discover the answers to their issues, their problems that seem overwhelming. The book takes them on a journey in search of the person and dreams they left behind; dreams they may have had as a teenager or college student.

The audience that is drawn to this book desires a safe avenue to explore and take that inward journey and they want support. WOW offers support as a conference and will continue to do so as a book, reaching thousands more people. The book gives suggestions on how to find and open the door into that journey. By reading the stories of other women, they will gain the insight as to how they might change their life. They will be inspired to begin the changes they seek towards a fulfilling life. Women desire to connect with other women, but may not know how. This book will open them to look at the possibilities and their potential, by finding women to connect with, whether it’s women they read about on the pages, or women in their neighborhoods, at work or in their life. This book will be the catalyst to begin that soulful journey.

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We invite you to go to this page - www.wisewomanpublishing.com/womenofwisdom.html - to access the order page and then go back to this page and enter your order confirmation code and your email address. That will take you to the sign up page for the Women of Wisdom enewsletter, once you join the WOW book group you will be sent an email with a link to the bonus gifts that are available to people who buy the book today. You can later opt out of being on the Women of Wisdom newsletter list if you choose.




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How many ways are there to get "unstuck"?

Funny you should ask. I recently remembered that there was a book out there titled, "Getting Unstuck," and decided that it was time for me to check this one out. When I went online to see if I could find the book at my local library, I came up with four different books all titled, "Getting Unstuck." I did what any very confused person would do, I reserved all of them. All of them are slightly different; addressing the same type of issue from different angles. I figured it might be helpful to break them down here and give you a brief synopsis of each in case you are looking for the same type of information.

The books include:

1. Getting Unstuck: Breaking Through Your Barriers to Change by Dr. Sidney B. Simon. This book is focused on helping you identify what "stuck" means as well as developing some simple strategies for getting yourself over the hump and heading towards being more satisfied with your life. Published in 1988, this book has some great ideas in it for how to address the barriers to happiness that may exist within your life.

2. Getting Unstuck: Escape Three Traps Women Face Today by Linda S. Mintle, Ph.D. This book addresses three main areas: Anxiety, Depression and Eating Disorders. Dr. Mintle talks about how our thinking influences our emotional health and how to know when we are stuck in self-defeating patterns. This book is definitely geared towards women and helps you to deal "honestly and openly with the depression, anxiety, and pain that can block your way to a full, productive life." Published in 1999.

3. The Life Plus Program for Getting Unstuck by Robert Handly and Jane Handly. This book has a slightly different title, but included Getting Unstuck so I stuck it in here anyway. This book talks about how to use what the Handly's call POWER tools to help us deal with guilt, anger, or blame. Thinking positively and overcoming obstacles are the main themes running through this book. The authors share their personal experiences with overcoming obstacles to help you see what you can do if you change the way you think. Published in 1989.

4. Getting Unstuck: 8 Simple Steps to Solving Any Problem by Dr. Joy Browne. Dr. Browne talks about how we need to accept that sometimes setbacks are necessary to help us move towards something we didn't even know was waiting for us. A very positive way of looking at the negative in our lives and seeing how they have led us toward something better. In this book, Dr. Browne gives different scenarios in which the person is struggling to find an answer to a perplexing question in their lives. This one was published in 2002.

All of the books have good points and bad points, but for the most part it really depends on what kind of "stuck" you are. If you are stuck in a pattern of feeling bad about the things that are happening in your life, you'd probably benefit from reading some of #4. If you are a woman who is having problems with anxiety or depression, then check out #2. If you need motivation to take a step forward, choose #3. If you just need a general guide to moving past some negative patterns, then #1 might work best. Or read them all, it can't hurt to check out all of the available information. The point is that if you are feeling stuck in your life, there are a number of things you can do to get past it. You just have to be willing to do a little work.

Hope this information is helpful to you. If you find resources that are related to this topic that you would like to share here, please send them to us! We'd love to include it on the blog.

Take care!

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Acknowledgement

Just the other day, my sister and I were taking a walk and we saw these two ladies practicing a belly dancing routine right out in the middle of the park. They were doing a great job and my sister said to me, "I think I need to say something to them. I should let them know that it's great to see women out doing things like this." I asked her what she meant by this and she said that you just don't see women being so free and self-confident out in public. I thought about this for a bit and decided that most women probably don't feel comfortable enough with themselves to let themselves be happy. This got me to thinking about how important it is to let the women in our lives know when they have made a positive impact on us and that their presence and involvement in our lives is very much welcomed and appreciated.

It then occurred to me that this just doesn't happen enough. When we are asked who our role models are, we often cite famous people in history. As I think about my life, however; I cannot credit famous people with truly motivating me to be a better person or helping me understand that I deserve to be happy. Yes, there are famous people who definitely inspired me, but they weren't able to have the kind of impact on me that friends and family have had, yet I've not always been as quick to publicly acknowledge the women I know in real life. For me, the list includes a number of teachers and a few other ladies who played a big part in my life at crucial moments. My list is below:

Susan Samuels
Linda Stephens
Joan Butz
Barbara Czestochowa
Anne Dunn
Cheryl Eresman

These are just a few of the women who have made a lasting impact on me and I would like to take this opportunity to say a public, "Thanks," to them.

As you think about your own list of role models today, who would you include? Would it be your neighbor from down the street? How about that nice lady at your church or even your third grade teacher? Take a moment and let them know this today. It will mean so much.

As for the two ladies in the park, my sister did take the time to talk with them and let them know how nice it was to see them out practicing their routine. They told her that they were getting ready for a show that they had to do and that they were very nervous about it. She told them that they were great and they seemed very relieved that we genuinely wanted to compliment their efforts. Lift each other up as much as possible. If we don't do this, who will?

Take care!



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2 Higher Ground Poetry Contest Winner!

Congratulations and Happy Mother's Day to our 2HG Poetry Contest winner, Jenelle Gaines! It was so difficult to choose from the entries we received and we thank everyone who entered. Jenelle captured the spirit of the contest with her entry titled, "What it Means." Jenelle is a mother, activist, and writer who lives in Enon, OH and her poem is absolutely what we were looking for here at 2 Higher Ground. And so, enjoy:

What It Means

To be a woman you must have poise,
And hold your own with all the boys.
To be a woman you must have class,
And know when it’s time to use your sass.
To be a woman you must have grace,
And know when you’ve fallen out of place.
To be a woman you must rejoice,
When you finally find your hidden voice.
To be a woman, you must be all
The higher you climb, the farther you fall.
To be a woman you know this well
And the story of the climb is yours to tell.

Congratulations to Jenelle Gaines!

Stay tuned for our next contest!



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