Hello my dear friends,
I’ve missed you all. I hope that you have had a wonderful summer. I’ve been a busy little bee since I last saw you all in April. Now I am humming along. In September, I will be doing a series of personal growth workshops for women at a local Adult Ed Community, also developing a Self Esteem workshop series for local pregnant teenagers in the county and in October, I have plans of doing many of those same workshops and expanding them to other women in regions including Manhattan. By February, I will be doing a workshop for the Learning Annex and presenting it at 4 of their locations, New York, Minneapolis, San Diego and Los Angeles.
As many of you know, after I got certified as a coach, I had a tremendous realization that I did not want to focus my work on incest survivors. That was a heartbreaking realization. It led to several months of tremendous sadness and depression. I had no clue how to proceed. I had already created the corporate name, Brave People International, Ltd. and felt deeply tied to the name for several reasons. I’ll share that story in more detail in future posts.
Jana Stanfield: “Andrea, You Are A Powerful Speaker”
I still can’t believe that it was just a year ago, when I first met Jana. Jana Stanfield is a famous motivational speaker and singer. She does keynote concerts sharing her story through her music. She’s the perfect mix of humor, passion and sincerity. I met Jana last year at the Jack Canfield
seminar in Las Vegas. I fell in love with Jana’s music from the first moment I heard it. It was so inspiring and moving. Jana wove her music throughout the 8 day seminar and it made a major positive impact on me. I ‘d like to tell you a story.
On the last day of the seminar, we all broke up into groups and presented our stories to each other. Jana and I were in the same group. After all the presentations were finished, Jana came up to me with tears in her eyes, took me by the hands and told me, “You are a powerful speaker.” Nana would be so proud of you and you are the perfect person to create The Nana Cares Non Profit. and help so many abused women and kids. Her words left a powerful impact on me. In NLP, that is called an auditory anchor.
“What Would I Do Today… If I Were Brave?”
During that whole week of Jack Canfield’s, “Live Your Highest Vision Seminar”, Jana had inspired the group with her story and her music. She is a powerful motivational speaker who shares her message through her music. It’s incredibly inspiring and will reach down to your core. I loved all of her songs but there was one particular song that deeply touched my soul. The song is called, “What Would I Do Today If I Were Brave.” Since I was so inspired by that song, I decided to purchase her package of CD’s so that I could enjoy them at home and the next day while on vacation.
On the day following the seminar, I was in Calfornia with the family. Eager to enjoy a morning jog, I put Jana’s Brave Faith CD into my walkman. As I began to warm up, I strolled leisurely down the street, listening to the music, just feeling very relaxed and ready to enjoy this time to myself. As the music played, I began to experience different physical sensations, like feeling warm and tingly all over. Strong feelings began to churn inside of me. as my mind flashed on images of people I met at the seminar. As I listened to the song, “What Would I Do Today If I Were Brave” I visualized seeing myself at the seminar, smiling, dancing, singing with the group. Suddenly my brain flashed on an image of Jana at the end of the presentation. I saw a replay of when she came up to me and talked to me. I could see her clear blue eyes, just like my Nana’s, I remember being mesmerized by her eyes. They were so much like my precious Nana’s, filled with passion, sincerity and love. I remember feeling so safe in her presence, just like when I was with Nana.
In my head, “I could actually feel her picking up my hands and cradling them in hers. I felt warm, safe. I heard the music pour from my headphones as I remembered the look in Jana’s eyes as she spoke to me after my presentation. I started to hum quietly to the music.
Then I heard her speak in my head. I kept hearing her words, Andrea,”You are a Powerful speaker.” As I listened to the words of the song, I walked past orange blossom trees that lined the streets, smelling them, filled with images of the memories flooding my brain and the passion in my heart felt during my presentation, I began to sing the words to the song softly.
Brave Steps To A Primal Opening
The question flooded my brain. What would I do today… if I were brave? I became a little more brave and sang a little bit louder. I picked up the pace of my walking as I got more excited, I sang even louder and with more intention. People were starting to notice. I was feeling more and more passionate, my brain flooded with images of me speaking to audiences of hundreds of women from above a stage platform. Something primal opened up in me. Within moments, I realized that I was walking down the street, singing at the top of my lungs, smiling and connecting with people, looking directly into their eyes, reaching their souls. The connection that I felt was incredible. There was a love and passion that I felt that was indescribable. It was at that moment that I knew that I had to pursue this dream, this vision. I had a message for the women of the world and a duty to share that message.
With tears of joy running down my cheeks, continuing to sing, I had a plan. As I raced back to the hotel, I knew that I had to contact Jana and ask her to mentor me. I wanted to be a motivational speaker and share my story with women, teaching them the things that helped me to change my life. It was time for me to step up and be the voice.
Storytheater: Now I Am The Voice… I Will Lead, Not Follow
The months that followed, I did everythng I could to get more comfortable speaking in front of audiences. I took public speaking workshops and had heard of a professional speaker in Colorado named Doug Stevenson. I had read a book of his called, “Never Be Boring Again” Doug teaches people how to transform their presentations by engaging their emotions by sharing a personal story. This was a very unique type of storytelling called, “Storytheater.” With Jana’s words from her brave song inspiring me, I flew to Colorado Springs and worked with Doug and 5 other colleagues at a 2 Day Storytheater Retreat. After that, I was convinced that I had a gift to share so later in the month I returned to Colorado Springs and dida weekend of private coaching with Doug. In that time, I was on my feet refining my stories and and we designed a powerful frame for a keynote weaving 6 stories sharing different messages. For more information on Doug and his work go to
http://www.storytheater.net.
My Speaking Debut: Gather The Women Conference In Texas
A few weeks later, I followed Jana to an amazing International peace conference in Dallas, Texas called “Gather the Women”(http://www.gatherthewomen.org) She was onstage singing and asked for a volunteer to show the sign for the word, “Brave” I rose my hand and volunteered. She called me up onstage. That was my chance to share publicly how much her music had inspired me. Without thinking of being afraid, I began telling the group of 200 women my story of how Jana and her music had inspired me. The women stood up and applauded. After that, Jana and I sang, What Would I Do Today If I Were Brave.” together on stage. I was buzzing, electricity was coursing through my body, tears of joy rolled down my cheeks. I was beaming, glowing. I knew at that moment that I had found my calling to inspire women and offer them the tools so that they could use to change their lives.
Daily Inspired By Jana’s Music
Every single day from that point, that song held even more meaning for me. I sang it all the time, everywhere. It drove me, it moved me, it inspired me. It was a call to action. That was when I decided to pursue coaching. You know what happened next. Through coaching with all of you, over the past year, I changed on a quantum level. I became strong, confident and clear. I was motivated to do whatever it took to create change for the women of the world. And so, I want to thank you all my colleagues for driving me, inspiring me, validating me and teaching me to always ask better questions.
Although I am still deeply moved by Jana’s song, I feel that Brave People International, Ltd. does not do my work justice. I want more. I know that I am not able to handle the challenge of working solely with sexually abused women. There are so many wonderful, qualified therapists out there who can offer the kind of healing that I received. My journey was a long one and there were many wonderful friends, teachers and loved ones in my path there to love and inspire me to move forward and never give up.
Already Brave, Now Seeking More
Within a short space of a year, I had crossed over the line from being a BRAVE WOMAN to a JUICY WOMAN. I was now deeply passionate about life. I attached a new meaning to everything. I understood how important it was to be grateful. I had found a gift that few people will ever have, I was now living a life of joy. That was my gift to share with other women, my joy and wisdom. I embraced life. I was able to transform the pain from my past and make that my shining jewel. Now I can look back on all of the past abuse, and realize that it was my ability to transform and change the meaning of that experience that has made me the beautiful, passionate, self expressed, loveable woman that I am today.
From Brave To Juicy
I have moved so fast and so far since that day walking down the street in Anaheim, California. I AM BRAVE and now I’m more. I AM JUICY!!!!!! I’m here to make other women realize that they are JUICY too. Depending upon how we choose to focus, that becomes our perspective. That leads to certain choices and consequently those lead to other experience and actions that arise out of that focus. When I moved from being brave and carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders, to being JUICY, my life truly transformed. God Bless You all for helping me to cross over that bridge. I love you, all!!!
Book Yourself Solid – Michael Port
Lately I’ve been involved in a dynamite 15 week marketing program called Book Yourself Solid with Michael Port. It was that program that pushed me to get clearer about what I wanted. With the support of the other 60 people around the world, doing the program I got the support and feedback necessary to know who I want to serve.
My target market is executive or solopreneur women far beyond their 40’s Some are married with kids, divorced, single or empty nesters. They are sometimes overweight and have various other challenges related to compromised health. My main focus is to be a speaker and inspire these women with my story and share my coaching.
The Definition of A Juicy Woman
For me, I see JUICY WOMEN as those women who would often be considered Superwoman. Over the years, she’s overcome adversity only to emerge a sweet, ripe, juicy delicious woman burgeoning with dreams and passions of how she wants to live the next half of her life.
She’s tired of being stepped on, squeezed, pinched, prodded, rolled over, passed over and she’s learned from years of that nonsense that she is no longer going to be a party to that type of thinking. She loves herself and knows that the ripest fruit has some bumps, bruises, wrinkles and sweet spots. That’s her. Perfect in her imperfection.
Now— She’s often the powerful executive running the show, the brilliant and passionate businesswoman dedicated to her career, she’s the mom you call when you need to talk, the Nana you love. You can spot her in a crowd by the passionate, sincere, warm embracing quality of her eyes, she gives the greatest hugs. Men often adore her and women admire her. Sometimes she’s the life of the party and other times she enjoys her solitude, whatever she does, she punctuates it with passion.
When she wants to, she can be the evocative leader of the group or she might choose to quietly inspire others with her wisdom and passion. She loves deeply and gratitude comes naturally to her. She enjoys close, loving relationships with other friends, both men and women. Her passions run deep and she’s bent on making the world a better place. Sometimes she’s a little plumper than she’d like to be and loves herself anyway, knowing that noone is perfect. JUICY WOMEN who have families know how blessed they are. Their families know they are loved and and show their love and respect in return. Oftentimes a JUICY WOMAN will get caught up in one thing and lose sight of her need for balance. Overall, she is all things to all people except to herself. This is the quintessential JUICY WOMAN. It’s all in her, she just needs to be able to open up and receive her own gifts.
JUICY. It’s not just about SEX. Though that is a very important part of the message. It’s about loving yourself, embracing your body, mind and spirit and that gives a woman the ability to embrace, truly embrace others, to throw off the old chastity belts of judgment and jump in and be herself in every sense of the word. It’s about taking every experience and making it as wonderful and as juicy as it can possibly be, from parenting to sex all the while accessing new resources and using them while gliding through life, turning all lemons into lemonade. JUICY WOMEN ARE A JOY TO THE WORLD!!!
Get Fit Fast! It can be done. With the help of my buddy, Christine King, the owner of Get Fit Studio in Delray Beach, Florida, she shows you how to put more activity into your day in little tiny bite sized morsels. Her motto is “You can change your life in 30 seconds. Christine will lead you in keeping fit and doing it the easy way. Sign up to register for her Fit Chat. It’s a free call that she holds every Monday at 12:00 Eastern.
The following is an article written by my dear friend and colleague, Christine King.
Get Fit Fast
Is there such a thing?
Absolutely yes! In the hustle & bustle of your busy day you can find ways to boost your metabolism, burn more calories, and be more fit. And although the old advice of taking the stairs and parking your car
farther away still definitely applies, most people aren’t buying it. They truly wonder how much of a difference doing those things will actually make a difference in how they look and feel.
ALL of our daily activities add up, including taking the stairs and parking the car farther away. But honestly, they will not give you noticeable results in how your pants fit. If you give me 30 seconds of your time each day, I will show you how to make a difference in how your body looks and feels. Will 30 seconds make a difference, YES!
Here’s how you start.
1. Find a watch with a second hand.
2. Begin your day by sitting in a chair (no, I’m not kidding).
3. Stand up and down from the chair as many times as you can for 30 seconds.
If you become tired or short of breath, simply sit down and rest.
I defy anyone of any age to try this activity and tell me that it doesn’t work.
Begin by doing this just once a day, then twice, and then three times (breakfast/lunch/dinner). That equals just 1 1/2 minutes of concentrated activity each day. After you do this for one week, I’ll be back next week to give you another fast fix to getting fit!
Please feel free to email me with any questions: [email protected]