Posts Tagged ‘women’

 

“To live in accord with love is to set your heart on fire. In the crucible of such an inferno all convention burns away. What’s left is an entirely new kind of existence, one full of passion, presence, and infinite possibility.” - Raphael Cushnir

 

 

 

 

“Even the most exalted states and the most exceptionally spiritual accomplishments are unimportant if we cannot be happy in the most basic and ordinary ways, if we cannot touch one another and the life we have been given with our hearts.”

 

- Jack Kornfield from “A Path With Heart”

 

Happy Valentines Day and I hope that these quotes help to ‘set your heart on fire’ with love!

 

In peace & mindfulness,

namaste,

Zoey

 

 

 

Remembering and honoring our veterans and praying for peace & unity!

Namaste

Zoey

Happy Diwali, October 26, 2011

Diwali, or ‘festival of lights’ is celebrated by many people around the world, particularly in South Asia and signifies, among other things, the triumph of good over evil.

It is customary to light candles and share sweets and snacks with family and friends to celebrate Diwali. Enjoy some special time today with your family and friends.

Wishing you a wonderful day!

In peace, light & mindfulness,

Zoey

The Little House Society of South Delta invites you to attend ‘Grace and Gratitude’ today to say thank you to the community for the generosity to help rebuild the House:

October 22
2 – 5 pm
Kirkland House
Ladner

The Little House Society is ‘committed to reducing and preventing the harm associated with alcohol and drug abuse and support the efforts of abstinence based recovery through collaboration, education, and facilitation with stakeholders in South Delta BC and beyond.’
Little House Society

Women Power! Topaz Lotus Life & Leadership Coaching Gem for Women

“A leader will find it difficult to articulate a coherent vision unless it expresses her/his core values, her/his basic identity…one must first embark on the formidable journey of self-discovery in order to create a vision with authentic soul.”

~ from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (Good Business)

Gain clarity on your personal life and work vision!

Use the following ideas to help gain clarity:

1. Think forward; in five years or ten years or fifty years, how do you want to be living your life?

2. Use a vision board, clip pictures out of magazines that represent your future life and work.

3. Write a ‘press release’ for yourself and your effective leadership legacy.

4. Write your own obituary. What do you want to be remembered for?

5. Determine your core values. You may wish to use questions from my previous post.

6. Dream, engage your mind and spirit!

Namaste

In peace & mindfulness,

Zoey

wisdom coaching for your heart & soul

Zoey Ryan BSc., PCC

Professional Certified Coach with the ICF & Legacy Leadership Trainer

Topaz Lotus Life & Leadership Coaching

Life ~ Leadership ~ Executive Coaching for Women

inspiration | innovation | clarity | wisdom

“Live with intention.
Walk to the edge.
Listen Hard.
Practice wellness.
Play with abandon.
Laugh.
Choose with no regret.
Appreciate your friends.
Continue to learn.
Do what you love.
Live as if this is all there is.”

~ Mary Anne Radmacher

When I am coaching women, a question I often ask is, “what is the one thing, that if you did it consistently, would have the greatest positive impact on your life”?  I hear answers like exercise more, drink less coffee, lose weight.  While all of these activities no doubt will be positive, I’m reminded, as women how we are so busy, “doing”, feeling like we need to change ourselves and seldom stop to just be more of who we are.

I recently had occasion to ponder “the question” and my “year in review”.  I sank into the stillness of my home and began listing what I was thankful for.  What I realized was that it is the very small, simple things in life that bring me the greatest joy and sense of fulfillment, not tasks and certainly not “self-improvement projects.  I get a sense of fulfillment from things like hearing my children laughing, the mist over the water, the depth and comfort of a longstanding friendship.

As I sat that early morning, I was reminded that the positive impact was a result, not of ‘doing’ but of ‘being’, of allowing myself reflective time to sink into the “beingness” of me and open to the power of thanksgiving, gratitude and blessings. For me, using gratitude and blessing brings a feeling of putting on the “rose coloured glasses”, a feeling of objectivity, a sense of expansiveness.

I was challenged recently in my commitment to this belief when faced with an unexpected and painful loss in my personal life.  I found myself slipping into a place of hurt, blame and criticism.  The word “blessing” popped into my mind and I quickly said a blessing for the situation.  It went something like this; “blessings on this situation as I know that it is all for the best and that through the pain and sadness, a greater good will come.”  By saying those words I was able to set aside the “righteous victim voice” of “poor me” and had the sense of an easing and softening of my emotions.

So, ask yourself, the earlier question, “what is the one thing if integrated into your life regularly, would have the greatest positive impact”?  Experiment with using blessings, gratitude and thanksgiving and feel yourself open into a deeper sense of your “beingness”.  Start by making a list of at least 20 things that you are thankful for.  Every day, give yourself time to sink into your “beingness” and feel gratitude.  Send out blessings to your friends, family, all people and situations and imagine the world taking on a rosy glow!

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”

- Melody Beattie,  Author

namaste,

Zoey

Yes, today, March 8th is International Women’s Day and women all over the world are celebrating and acknowledging the realities, the struggles and the gains of women.

While I believe that significant gender inequities  still remain in Canada, there have been improvements.  We are aware of the massive inequalities in other parts of the world however and we need to continue to educate ourselves about this reality.

Learn more about this at: http://www.internationalwomensday.com/

Right here in the lower mainland of Vancouver, Canada, child and teen sex trafficking occurs regularly.  In today’s Vancouver Sun, journalist Gillian Shaw writes “Pimp offers pregnant teen for sex in online ad” and goes on to describe how the internet plays a role in child and teen sexual exploitation.

I believe that it is time for us ‘well behaved priviledged’ women to take our blinders off and learn about the realities right here in our own ‘town’.  Educate yourselves, talk about it, learn the facts!  Make your celebration of International Women’s Day a social action and wear a fuchia ribbon this week to acknowledge that is it “Stop the Sexual Exploitation of Children and Teens Awareness Week”  ! Learn more: http://www.pssg.gov.bc.ca/crimeprevention/publications/docs/fushiaribbon.pdf

Remember, “well behaved women seldom make history” (Laurel Thatcher Ulrich), misbehave a little by educating, advocating and saying “no more” to child and teen sexual exploitation!

peace, namaste & hippy love for generations,

Zoey

OK, so I actually squeezed in 11 books, however, here are the “Top 10/11 Novels” (not in order of preference), that have influenced my life and writing:

1.  ”One Hundred Years of Solitude” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

2.   “House of the Spirits” by Isabel Allende

3.  ”A Prayer for Owen Meany” and “The World According to Garp” by John Irving

4.  ”The Blind Assasin” by Margaret Atwood

5.  ”The Poisonwood Bible” by Barbara Kingsolver

6.  ”Loving Frank A Novel” by Nancy Horan

7.  ”The Mists of Avalon” by Marion Zimmer Bradley

8.  ”Mexico” by James Mitchener

9.  ”Possession” by A S. Byatt

10. “The Fifth Sacred Thing” by Starhawk

peace & namaste,

Zoey

Okay, we’ve almost got plastic grocery bags eliminated – I’ve seen everyone from moms to tattooed biker guys with their canvas bags at the grocery store. Fantastic! We even have canvas bags for sale at my other web site: Hippy Grandma.

But I found myself reaching for plastic produce bags the other day in the produce isle at my local grocery store and wondering what the heck I was doing. You know those little clear plastic bags we put potatoes and beans and carrots in? I had reduced using those bags by a long shot – preferring to not use them at all for bananas or oranges and other stuff that gets peeled or doesn’t drip. But when I bought swiss chard or walnuts in bulk I was stuck using a small, plastic bag.

Then the other day in the checkout line I saw a shopper with all her produce in mesh bags that were clearly reusable. I asked her where she got them and she mentioned The Market Kitchen, a kitchen supply store on Granville Island.

So then I started doing a little research and found a number of great ideas for replacing plastic produce bags. My favorite so far is Lioli, for a few reasons:

1. It comes as a large tote for groceries with six little bags for produce.
2. The smaller bags come in mesh style (for produce) or cotton canvas for things like nuts or grains. (Produce Or Grain – POG. Get it?)
3. The large canvas tote has an outside pocket to hold the little POG sacks.
4. The coloured bags are made with azo free low impact dyes and all lioli bags are made fair wage/fair labour.
5. A portion of the proceeds from all bags goes to the David Suzuki foundation.

Colour me happy!

namaste,

Zoey

Zoey Ryan
life & business coach for women
inspiration * clarity * wisdom * enchantment
www.shaktisage.com
604-323-3700

“Coaching for your heart & soul & the heart and soul of your business.”