by Lorri Ratzlaff

I’ve been part of this very powerful group of women on Facebook for the last month now. The creator of this group, my dear friend Nathalie Villeneuve, who had a vision.

The funny thing about visions, is often people see the same thing at the same time, they just don’t take the same action. Thank GOODNESS Nathalie took action!! As a way of answering Nathalie’s question “How Do You Feel The women of facebook will Evolve…I’d love a glimpse of your vision…

” I’d like to introduce myself a little, and give you a glimpse into Lorri, and how I feel this group is going to evolve. As this group has grown and developed over the last 4 + weeks, so have it’s members. I am no exception. We are women of many countries, races and perhaps even religions, yet have come together with a common purpose. To support, love, uphold, admire, adore, empathize, sympathize, laugh with, cry with, learn from and teach.

I have to say that I have almost solely learned so far (unless I have taught something that I’m yet unaware of), and could not be more grateful. I am a woman of great passion, but have learned that without direction and focus that passion just flails in the wind. I am a woman with a voice, but have learned that without speaking my mind and my heart, I will never get heard.

I have a great burning desire to help single moms (and single dad’s too if they’re not trying to hit on me *wink wink*) and teach them that they don’t have to live pay day to pay day and near poverty line, but have learned that forcing what has been the beginnings of my solution, due to sheer enthusiasm, is not the way. I have learned that every woman (and person) must find their own way, that I cannot make them follow me; I can only assist and offer myself to them in love and acceptance. I have learned that even though I FEEL I am not as eloquent and learned as some, I am ME and I LOVE me and I ACCEPT me, because this is how God made me. You have all helped me remember this. This group of women elevates and restores a crippled soul.

This group of women are sisters of the heart and mind, not blood, but does that really matter? I don’t think so. I see this group evolving into one of the most powerful forces in my life, and the lives of every woman it touches. It is love, and it is hope. I am forever grateful for The Women of Facebook and although my story is not extraordinary, I am honored and humbled and grateful to share ME with YOU!!

But as I continued to read about it I found that so often, people don’t really understand the nature of positive thinking. Positive thinking is a form of thought which habitually looks for the best results from the worse conditions.

It is possible to to expect the best for yourself even though things look bad. And the remarkable is that when you seek good, you are very likely to find it.

“A positive thinker does not refuse to recognize the negative, he refuses to dwell on it”.

:::: Why Do Some People Struggle So Much With Positive Thinking? ::::

Although the life-changing power of positive thinking is available to all, some people experience difficulties in making it work. This is because of some strange psychological barrier that stands betweenthem and the full use of positive thinking?

One that keeps coming up is simply that they do not want it to work. They do not want to succeed. I know this sounds a little strange but as Dr. Peale states in his book; “The Power Of Positive Thinking” it is the reason a lot of people fail to stay positive.

:::: We Have All Heard About “Fear Of Success” And Thought; “Not Me”… But What if…::::

Actually, they are afraid to succeed. It’s easier to stay in a self-pity mode so we often create our own failure and when a suggestion (such as positive thinking) comes along that will help overcome that failure, we subconsciously see to it that the suggesstion doesn’t work. In that way, we believe the principale rather than ourselves is at fault.

When we understand such unhealthy mental reactions, then positive thinking begin to work.

Here are a great quote a couple printed on the back of their business cards.

A story was written that once they had there cards printed with this quote on the back and started to hand them out..wonderful things started to happen to them. Really fast, their business flourished and they became really wealthy.

Here’s a quote (Maybe you’ll want to copy it on a card and carry it with you)

“The way to hapiness is to keep your heart free from hate, your mind from worry. Live simply, expect little give much. Fill your heart with love. Scatter sunshine. Forget self, think of others. Do as you would be done by”.

To Your Brilliant Success!

The decision to change my thinking habits continues to impact my life in fantastic ways!

I want to invite you to start creating new thinking habits for yourself and also share this concept with your loved ones. How to install success habits can be so beneficial for children because I think they can train their brain to think in a new and better way even more easily then we can because they have not been exposed to as much negativity as we have.
Write down and share these affirmations …
1. I will be as cheerful as possible.
2. I will try to feel and act a little more friendly toward other people.
3. I am going to be a little less critical and a little more tolerant of other people, their faults, failings and mistakes. I will place the best possible interpretation upon their actions.
4. Insofar as possible, I am going to act as if success were inevitable, and I already am the sort of personality I want to be. I will practice “acting like” and “feeling like” this new personality.
5. I will not let my own opinion color facts in a pessimistic or negative way.
6. I will practice smiling at least three times during the day.
7. Regardless of what happens, I will react as calmly and as intelligently as possible.
8. I will ignore completely and close my mind to all those pessimistic and negative “facts” which I can do nothing to change.
To Your Brilliant And Limitless Success!
~ Nathalie

Writing With Love

Welcome To:

Women that Connect “Blog Festival”

Great exposure For You  ~ Great Value For  All Women!

“My imagination makes me human and makes me a fool; it gives me all the world and exiles me from it.”
–Ursula K. LeGuin

~~~ ***~~~

What Are The Benefits?

• One huge benefit to participating in The Women That Connect Blog Festival is that you will get to help grow a wonderful online community and inspire women to break out of their shell and decide to embrace transformation!
•  Another big benefit is cross promoting with other women. You will get to know them and read about their experience. The keywords here are  ”Having Fun”!

What you need to do:

~ Sign in as a member on www.WomenThatConnect.com (If not a member already)

~ Write a blog post (theme below) of approx: 300 words.

~ You can add a video and pictures and link   to your blog and social media links… (As many as you want)

~ Write a brief description of the blog post you just wrote and promote it on your blog (if you have one) by linking  it to the full article on WomenThatConnect.com

~ Promote your  posts with your list and on social media.

~ Have your blog entry done by between now and February 18TH( The sooner the better)

What I will do:

~ Share your blog post and syndicate it on (facebook) TSA syndication and other facebook syndication groups

~ Syndicate with Onlywire

~ Share post with my list

~ Share post to “The Women of facebook” group and “The Women of  FB Page”

What is the Theme for January – February

This is an opportunity to share what brings joy and fulfillment in your life. Give a bit of advice on what can help other women live a more fulfilling life and tell us a story of transformation if you want…stories are a great way to connect.

You can share advice and tell others what you do, talk about your profession or passion!  This is an awesome way to offer tips and share your experience  and allow other women to learn from it.

Please don’t hesitate to ask me questions or connect with me for a fun chat!

Send me a message on facebook or call me 203 440 4441

Looking forward to a great collaboration

~ Nathalie Villeneuve

Picasso-Vision

A woman, courage bolstered by a few drinks too many, accosted Picasso at a function.
“Mr. Picasso,” she barked, “could I ask you a question?” Picasso humoured her. “Why
don’t you paint people properly?” she exclaimed. Picasso looked quizzical, “What ever
do you mean, madam?” The woman rummaged through her handbag and produced a
black and white photo of her husband. Thrusting it under Picasso’s nose she
continued, “Like this! Like this! This is how real people look, not like your awful
paintings of them, with the eyes all over the place, and the ears on top of the head!
This is my husband, you see?” Picasso took the picture from her and inspected it
casually. He paused, and returned the photograph to her sniffing, “He’s very small and
flat then, madam, isn’t he?” First lesson of modern art: not everyone visualises things
in the same way. Do not try to force your inner pictures to become “photographic.

We all need to have our own unique vision! 

Freedom is Vision 

(Inspired by Psycho Cybernetics, 1960, Author Maxwell Maltz)

People often  fear, consciously or unconsciously, that

if they define their goals and make them precise they will

in some way lose their freedom to  be spontaneous.

Some say it takes away from living  moment to moment.

I don’t think it’s true…

In fact, it’s only through personal vision that man can

achieve psychological freedom in any significant sense of

the word!

We have goals and desires whether we decide to face them

or not. By picturing our goals we accept the truth of our desires

in an authentic way that  allows us to deal with, their contradictions or negative self-talk.

If I have no vision I am motivated by conflicting and unconscious motives.

If I have a vision I have the freedom to resolve these conflicts and to refine, modify and improve my goals.

No vision means no control.

Is Your Vision clear and define? Do you have a vision board?

As you might have guest, I am an artist. I studied graphic design but my true love is painting. I call it “emotion of women on canvas because I mainly paint women.

My daughter Meghann loves to paint as well. I feel so strongly about the quality of teaching our kids receive because it makes them appreciate Art.

The school Meghann goes to has strong Art programs. One of the great thing about the program is that it integrates the arts in core subjects throughout the curriculum. That’s definitely a wonderful way to have children view art as a culture.

Recently while discussing with one of the music teacher, I was told that the stage lighting system for the school auditorium is about to give out…now I hear the sound system is not doing well either!

The Art department needs around $1500.00 to get brand new lights so we can see our children shine even brighter! As for a new sound system…I don’t know yet.

I went ahead and offered to do a painting to raise money at this year’s winter concert and I created it on December 31. We will do a double take and sell ticket during the Spring concert as well!

It’s awesome when we start to discover our children’s interests and especially their love for Art and music. If they express the desire to take lessons I think it’s important to encourage them.

Enrolling them at the YMCA is a great start! This will get them to meet other kids with similar interests. This is so important for their social life and to express their talent outside school. In a way it add a dimension to their interests in developing new skills and this opens doors for them to see what is possible.

So I am excited to donate this painting to the Music and Art Department of my daughter’s school and I hope we can raise enough money to get a new lighting system! This will lift the spirit of the teachers and it will have our children shine like little stars!

Let me know if you have done something similar or know someone who did…I would love to know if you have ideas that could help us promote this before the spring concert.

~~~..~~~

I dream my painting and then paint my dream.
-Vincent Van Gogh

A child’s attitude toward everything is an artist’s attitude.
-Willa Cather

To draw you must close your eyes and sing.
-Pablo Picasso

People want Art. And they are given it. But the less Art there is in painting the more painting there is.
-Pablo Picasso

Most people would probably get stunned and not know what to say! Well Nancy had the presence of mind to carry a conversation with a young man who did ask her how she lives her life to the fullest and she inspired him by saying, I live my life to the fullest by living in the moment.

They went on carrying a conversation and Nancy was has written a great post inspired from this conversation and I invite you to read it HERE

I had the pleasure to chat with Nancy recently and we use this awesome question as our focus to emphasize the importance of living in the moment.

Take the time to grab a cup of tea, sit back and join Nancy in our  friendly conversation.

I hope you enjoyed our chat…Now how do you think you would have answered such a question? Please leave a comment and share our interview with others

To Your Brilliant Success,

Nathalie

Maybe you will want to give it a try… Here is where I first learned about Zen Circles about a month ago.

They were usually created via brush strokes on silk or rice paper but I used a regular drawing paper this morning. I will go to Michael’s Art store soon to get some rice paper because I love the feel and look of rice paper. Maybe I’ll do another video or at least show you pictures.

When creating your zen circle, use only one brush stroke. That one stroke symbolized the movement of the spirit in a single go, leaving no room for change when it was completed. This was a type of expressionist symbolism. It is believed that only a person who had achieved that “personal enlightenment” could create a true enso circle because the artist’s character was exposed during its creation. This led to many artists practicing an enso circle as a sort of spiritual practice.

The enso circle is a very ancient concept and symbol found in Japanese culture and calligraphy. The circle is associated with gaining personal enlightenment or clearing and freeing one’s mind, as is popularly practiced in Zen Buddhism. The circle is found in many places in modern society today.

 Zen circle that is related to a type of concentration, for the purpose of total clarity. The idea is not to make a perfect circle, it is to make a circle that shows total consciousness. Here’s my first Zen circle on video:

Have fun creating zen circles! Please leave me a comment!

Renee grew up with a successful Mom who was a pioneer in the Network marketing industry. Even though her Mom would tell her that she would be good in business, Renee did not believe her.

For a long time, Renee was told that she was not smart by teachers. In the 70′s there was not so many ways for parents to communicate with teachers so it was hard for young girls to get a clear idea of the possibilities of careers back then.

Even though she went to a counselor to affirm herself and ask to be put in the normal class and not the slow reader class she still had to deal with labeling. She was told that she would probably not go to college so she didn’t need to worry about getting into some specific classes anyway.

As women entrepreneur, we have to re-invent ourselves in a world that is showing so much male leadership. Women who become leaders make very powerful role models which is something that can make such a difference from how girls were labeled in schools in the 60′s, 70′s and 80′s…

Times have changed! Everything is evolving so quickly and in a wonderful way as far as communication goes…I’m glad Renee overcame the labels and was able to become the leader and successful entrepreneur she is today… so there Mrs. Brown…LOL

To me that’s just amazing to think that it was not so long ago that women were just not expected to amount to too much except raising a family and becoming a good housekeeper.

Here are some tips to set your mind right and start taking charge today:

~ Have an open mind
~ Have a positive inner voice
~ Believe that you can accomplish your goals
~ Pay attention to reoccurring negative key words that pop in your mind
~ Set your own “roles” and don’t put so many expectations on yourself.
~ Realize what your strength
~ Give yourself a break
~ Cherish your positive attribute
~ Continue to grow and learn
~ Find your passion
~ Understand Your WHY
~ Find a tool to keep your WHY in front of you (vision board)
~ Seek balance
~ Read personal development books
~ Live by your own set of principals even if it seems hard at times.

After talking with Renee I realized that many women might have had a few too many of these teachers that were less then encouraging about their future. I invite anyone who is dealing with self – doubt and low self – esteem to make peace with these feelings and let them go as they are lies and do not belong to you.

You have to trust yourself and know that you have tremendous potential…Stop believing the lies… they have nothing to do with the person you are now or want become. Renee went from having very low self-esteem to having success and self-confidence… I hope you enjoy our interview…

I recently had a fascinating conversation with Christina Aros about giving yourself the opportunity to eliminate negative self-talk and finding ways to “Breakout Of Your Thoughts”

Here are some great tips to get started and an awesome pep talk from Christina to get you “Unstuck” and start loving yourself!

Love yourself unconditionally …

Start today! Grab a cup of coffee and listen to this short interview…I guarantee you will get enlighten, you will laugh and definitely start your day in a positive note.

Take the opportunity to understand where

you can start to recognize yourself and

Love yourself!

As Christina says; it all begins inside of you and

you’re the one responsible for unlocking the lock

to your greatness. Here’s a great article she wrote

where you uncover a great secret!

  Leap Into Your Life!!!

 Enjoy This Interview!

P.S. Please excuse the appearance at the beginning of the video…I will need to fix that

I would LOVE your comments below on how you think negative self talk is something you are currently struggling with or if you have learned to “breakout” of them? We’d love more tips if you have any!