Feeling the Sunshine!

It's hard to believe that it was only three months ago that I had a dream that I was speaking to a room full of young girls. Although, I couldn't tell from the dream exactly what I was speaking about......when I woke up a little voice God told me exactly what my message was.
It wasn't long until I turned my dream into a vision and then the vision into my purpose: to educate, inspire and empower young girls.

After talking with hubby and doing some serious research I decided to begin a mentoring program for young girls called 'I Love Me! Unconditionally. I reached out to a small group of parents who I thought may be interested in having their daughters attend a week long summer camp for girls. I could not believe the positive response that I received which just confirmed that this IS my purpose. Then I got busy planning and preparing the topics that I would address as well as the activities to go along with the daily workshops. It was amazing how it all came together so smoothly, almost as if I had been planning this for years.

The summer camp was called the I Love Me! Summer Workshop for Girls and it took place July 11-15. It was an amazing week! Not only did the girls learn how to trust and believe in their dreams this week.... so did I! By the end of the week the girls had shared their feelings, recognized their strengths and weaknesses and learned that the way they feel about themselves is more important than how others feel about them. They bonded with each other in ways I couldn't even imagine and they made life-long friends. Both the girls and their parents want to know what's next for I Love Me! Unconditionally... this is just the beginning of what is in store so stay tuned...the best is yet to come!

Friday night after the camp was over I celebrated the success of the week curled up on my couch with a glass of wine and some yummy Chinese food. After I finished eating I opened up my fortune cookie and it read:

"Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves"

Instantly tears came to my eyes because today I am really feeling the sunshine!

Check out the website to read more about I Love Me Unconditionally.
www.ilovemeunconditionally.com

Educating, Inspiring and Empowering Our Girls!

As a mother of two daughters I know the importance of teaching girls how to love themselves unconditionally. Did you know that 7 out of 10 girls believe they are not good enough or do not measure up in some way, including their looks, their performance in school or their relationships with their families and friends? When I read this statistic it made me wonder just when do our girls lose their self-confidence? When do they go from little girls who do not have a care in the world filled with confidence and self-esteem to girls who are filled with self-doubt who do not love what they see when they look in the mirror? According to The National Report on the State of Self-Esteem, the self-esteem tipping point happens during the transition to teenage years. These years are the most crucial for girls; this is when they stop communication with us - the adults in their lives.

I saw this first hand when my oldest daughter was making this transition...she went from a little girl who would come home everyday and tell me everything that happened in school from first to last period, to a teenager who trusted and confided more in her friends then in me. Now that she is a young adult we are back to the relationship we had when she was younger, but we missed out on some important communication during those teenage years. What is very interesting is that most girls wish to have open and frequent conversations with their parents - but sometimes they don't know how or are not sure what our reactions will be to what is going on in their lives.

Educating, inspiring and empowering young girls to love themselves unconditionally has become one of my biggest passions. I believe in the importance of empowering our girls and helping them build the strength needed to deal with the many challenges they will face in life. It is because of this passion that I started I Love Me Unconditionally, a mentoring program to help girls build healthy, positive self images.

I recently posted about stepping out on faith and following what I believe to be God's purpose for my life. So using my role as a mother and my background as an educator I started the I Love Me Unconditionally mentoring program for girls and I am proud to say that this summer we will be having our very first I Love Me! Summer Camp where girls will participate in fun activities while building a strong sense of self esteem and of course celebrating all that is fabulous about being a girl!

I am so excited about this new endeavor and I believe that if I can help just one girl learn to love themselves unconditionally then I know that I am fulfilling God's purpose for my life!

That little voice

It all started with a dream. In the dream I saw myself in a role that I had never imagined myself in. However, when I woke up I realized that it was my destiny to become that person in the dream.

The whole day I keep thinking about the dream. I keep telling myself I couldn't possibly take on this responsibility. It would require so much time, work and sacrifice. But that little voice wouldn't let me stop thinking about it. Then I convinced myself that I didn't have the qualifications to take on such a big role. But that little voice led me back to the computer to look up successful people in these roles and found they have the same or similar qualifications as me. Then I thought, "What am I thinking? I could never do this alone and no one is going to be on board to help me bring this to fruition." But that little voice had me to talk to two other women who I know always have my back and they said..."let's do this". Then I thought my husband would never go for the idea it's too far fetched. But that little voice had me send him a page long email at work (although he is super busy) detailing the whole business plan and he replied immediately saying it was a wonderful idea.

So I guess the little voice won and the new journey in my life begins. It's a wonderful yet scary feeling but I know that it is part of fulfilling my purpose!

Isn't that little voice God amazing!!!!

Living My Life on Purpose!

I recently realized that I am in constant competition with myself. When I finished grad school I was so relieved not only to have my masters in education but also to finally have some free time. But then I had that feeling again…that feeling of what else should I be doing? So I joined a committee at work so that I can help create professional development goals for teachers. But was that enough? No! So I volunteered to be a member of my school’s PTA executive board because I wanted to plan more opportunities for parents to become involved in their child’s education. Then I started a blog, and now I am constantly thinking of ways I can use it to inspire more people. I couldn’t figure out why I always have this need to do more? Then it hit me, I am trying to make my life count. I am trying to live my life on purpose!

Many of us live such busy lives following the same routine not giving much thought about what our purpose is on this earth. For years I thought my only purpose was getting up every morning and getting my kids off to school, going to work, coming home, cooking dinner and starting it all over again the next day. While taking care of my family is a big part of who I am, I know now that I was made intentionally for a purpose.

My purpose in life is to educate, inspire and empower others. This is my passion, this reflects who I am inside. However, in order for me to realize this I had to:

1.Step out in faith and try new things that interested me.
2.Listen to that little voice that was pushing me to follow my dreams! (It was God!)
3.Be patient.

Each day I try to fulfill my purpose in some way. This has not only brought me a new kind of happiness but it has helped me to love the life that I am living even more!

What is your passion? How are you living your life on purpose?