Oprah’s show last week on the book Women, Food and God really affected me. (For a free excerpt see Oprah.com.) Funny that it wasn’t food or God that were shocking, but her emphasis on women and relationships.
There were two things in particular I found worth sharing here:
1. How our obsessions with ______ (food, clothes, money, etc.) affect not just our relationships with our self and others, but our society and the world as a whole. If all of our energy is going on how to fix ourselves (our weight/body), how much less energy are we giving to the world? I realized that maybe the greatest disrespect we are doing to ourselves and the future of our world is by pushing down our emotions and holding back our gifts. It’s a sad disturbing situation that I think every woman, myself included, needs to change for good. Let’s celebrate who we are! Banish our negative thoughts and fully embrace what we have to offer the world. I think as women we have a responsibility to support each other to be better and live more authentic lives, growing closer to who we are meant to be while leaving our former insecure selves behind.
2. Surround yourself with positivity. When Oprah talked about love and relationships, her words of wisdom were so powerful and moving it brought me to tears. She said when someone isn’t happy for you and your successes, it isn’t about you, it is about their own self-loathing. I think when we improve ourselves, there are still uphill battles to fight and one is the reaction you get from those around you. When you succeed you are a mirror that reminds others of what they haven’t accomplished and what they haven’t yet achieved. We need to learn how to get beyond our ego and refocus our attention on what we need to do instead of flailing in the sunshine of someone else’s success.
These are two important, yet difficult things to master. Yet, they are certainly necessary in the pursuit of your dreams. Surround yourself with negativity (like the phrase misery loves company) and you’ll only be as good/happy/successful as those you’re with. Focus on what you’re not good at and what you haven’t accomplished and you’ll sabotage yourself up that ladder.
How do we empower ourselves?
Be kind. Open up to the possibility of hope, love and dreams. Find positive, loving and supportive people in your life. Connect to something bigger than yourself whether it’s god, the universe, your own inner soul. Then ever so slowly, lift yourself up, and find your own path, the path that will take you one step at a time toward the life you were meant to live and the woman you were meant to be.
