Illuminated Woman

My Spark Was Ignited – A Recap from Attendee Deanne Winterton

admin — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 05:20:36 +0000

I have a contact and an old friend, Deanne Winterton, who wrote an article on my for the Standard Examiner in February. She attended on Saturday of Ignite Your Spark and wrote about her experience. I really love this perspective of seeing what it was like from a different pair of eyes. Thanks Deanne for sharing your story.

“I woke earlier than usual on Saturday morning, driving an hour to my destination in Sandy, Utah. I had left my husband and four children sleeping behind me, hoping they could do without me for one day, hoping the home would still be standing when I returned. It had taken a little prodding to get my husband to agree to a full day of babysitting duty. But I guess how I got to the Ignite Your Spark 2010 event was not the important part. It was the fact that I got there.

After checking in and ping-ponging between buildings a bit, I found the room where Megan Sillito would be presenting. The event’s founder and Illuminated Woman CEO, Angela Johnson, highly recommended this particular presentation. Since I had 30 minutes to kill, I started reading the program guide. In it, Megan was described as a transformational facilitator. The description seemed a little ambiguous to my analytical mind, but I was up to figuring it out.

As I sat waiting, I met Tina, a friendly woman from Kansas City. All the sudden, I didn’t feel quite so all alone. She had attended the event the day before as well, and assured me we were in for a treat. She said she was getting prepared to cry, as she had found herself doing at each of the presentations the day before.

After entering the room, we made ourselves comfortable and I met Sheila, a woman from Chicago. I honestly was a little amazed to find women from across the nation at the event. We exchanged pleasantries and dug in to our chairs. But we wouldn’t be staying there for long.

**Megan Sillito

Megan Sillito: Author & Genius Coach

“This is about experience, not information,” Megan told us soon after being introduced. “To live a genius life, you have to get out of your comfort zone. If you want more, you have to go places that are not seemingly natural.”

Megan told the audience that our brains like to solve problems. With every problem our brain successfully solves, it gets and a rush and craves more. Unconsciously, we continuously create problems for our brain to solve. But why waste precious brain power on negative problems? Instead, she suggested that we feed our brain problems that we actually have control over, things we have the innate strength and ability to solve.

She calls it “play your strengths.”

“Ask yourself daily what strength you want to play that day,” Megan said. “The universe will respond.”

For example, a flower can only be a flower. A tree doesn’t know how to be anything other than a tree. If we are a “flower,” we should not spin our wheels—or petals, in this case—aspiring to be a Spruce. It just isn’t natural.

The problem is, we don’t often have a firm grasp on what it is we are designed to be. We need helping seeing the blueprint we were created from. Megan calls it our “genius” and “intelligence” that we are encoded with from conception.

“Most of our parents and teachers didn’t mirror our genius back to us,” Megan said. “We grow in intelligence by recognizing strengths in others and being recognized by others.”

In her own words, what separates Megan from the normal person is her “capacity to see people’s natural intelligence.”

I was ready to test this gift, so willingly followed Megan’s directions to form a group with three other people. Well, it was obviously Tina and Sheila. Megan told us to get out of our seats and start our own improv while answering various questions to members of our group. One person was to answer while the other two were to carefully watch in an effort to discover that person’s strengths.

“You are here to get an expanded perception of yourself,” Megan said. “You can’t integrate information until you have an experience with that information.”

Sheila acted out what she loved to do when she was a child: reading everything she could get her hands on, including facts and stories from various foreign places. Tina explained that sometimes, she just has to get away from the outside world to recharge. I demonstrated that time flies when I write, even when my toddlers constantly interrupt me with their requests for hugs and drinks of water.

Tina cried, as promised, when Sheila and I told her that her strengths were knowing her limits and refusing to offer her loved ones any less than all she had to offer. Sheila took notes as we explained her strengths of appreciation, learning, and sharing. I took Sheila’s lead and took my own notes as my group members listed my strengths.

It is a cherished list: focus, curiosity, interpretation, understanding the importance of motherhood, balance, love of children, and ability to adapt.

Megan asked us to discuss what we had learned with our groups. Tina, Sheila and I both discovered we all considered ourselves introverts. I guess even on the micro-level, birds of a feather often flock together. But we were each an introvert who was worried that we were somehow not O.K. Needing our space, craving the quietness, and multi-tasking around children are not faults. Just the opposite. They are evidence of our strengths.

Several audience members echoed our experience.

“I listened for genius,” one woman said. “It is a powerful place to stand, and helps me go to a deeper level with the compliments I give others.”

Another woman said of one of her group members, “I forgot your name, but I know your soul. We are all connected in a web, and this cracked it wide open.”

Megan warned us against holding our loved ones in the wrong place.

“Where you’re seeing your boyfriend is where you’re holding him,” Megan said. “Where are you holding yourself?”

Megan suggested mentally visiting that one moment in our life when we hit a peak.

As the audience members sat with eyes closed, taking deep breaths at Megan’s insistence, my mind went backward almost 15 years. I was reliving the moment I won an important contest, my mentor encircling me in her congratulatory embrace and the walls of my high school auditorium reverberating with applause. I realized that this was a peak because my peers were collectively pointing out one of my strengths.

“Make an agreement with yourself to live from this place,” Megan told us. “Listen to your longings just a little longer. Perfect your genius.”

She also encouraged us to share the day’s experience with those around us.

“Recognize your essential self. Recognize the package we came in and sometimes forget to open. Let someone help us open it,” Megan said. “Teachers of all ages, be it Christ or Buddha, had the capacity to see beyond where a person sees themselves. You don’t have to like other people, but where would your own expansion be if you could see the gifts in people?”

**Nicole Sherman

Nicole Sherman - Bank Executive & Motivational Speaker

I was almost sorry to see Tina and Sheila leave for their next breakout session. But their replacements quickly found seats next to me. We were ready to hear Nicole Sherman’s advice on how to “align yourself with the energy of money.”

A bank executive with decades of experience, Nicole was a refreshing ball of energy. She told the audience to let go of comparison, judgement and jealousy in order to create abundance in their lives. The problem is, money is often the common ground to compare, judge and experience jealousy from.

“We give money energy,” Nicole said. “Money is an energy exchange in tangible form.”

To keep that energy positive, Nicole suggested living by two equations.

First, divide your age in years by 2. Then add a percent sign after the figure. For me that would be 16 percent. Save that figure from your income, “or any money that flows into your space,” in your savings account, 401K, under the mattress, or just for yourself, Nicole said. The magic to the formula is that as you age, the percentage you are saving grows as well.

Secondly, give or “outflow” that same percent to others, either as tithing to your church, a contribution to charity, or some other worthy endeavor.

“Money has a flow to it,” Nicole said while constantly tracing a figure eight in the air. “It flows in and out and it serves.”

When either the inflow to ourselves or the outflow to others is stymied, the cycle stops bringing us abundance, Nicole said. It’s similar to a cough drop lodged in the windpipe, she said. Just as we need life-giving oxygen, we also need a flow of money, both in and out.

“We are so used to having it all right now, using second mortgages, home equity, and credit cards,” Nicole said. “You literally can’t have inflows and outflows because we’ve strapped ourselves to where we have stopped the flow of money.”

Nicole asked audience members to gather in groups of four to explore their fixed beliefs about money. Sitting next to a middle-aged mother, conservatively dressed wife, and loudly dressed businesswoman, I explored my fixed beliefs. And Nicole challenged each of them.

I watched as the middle-aged mother discovered she was using money as an excuse to distance herself from a strained marriage. “I would rather take on an extra shift at work than face the problems I have at home,” she said.

I marveled at the businesswoman’s tale of a childhood spent living in buses and hopping place to place, “because money is only something you get if you are meant to, if you have the right name.”

But I think all three of us were taught more by the conservatively dressed wife, who admitted through tears that she was only staying in her marriage because she did not have the means to support herself without her husband’s help.

Other audience members related their fixed ideas about money: that it is something to be feared, something they were not worthy of having, something they need to be better stewards of.

“We have attached fixed perceptions all around money,” Nicole said. “The things we spend our money on—homes, cars, clothes—only have the value YOU give it. It doesn’t matter what you pay for things unless you give it energy to matter. You’re in control of that energy.”

Nicole asked each audience member to draft their own partnership document with money, complete with a date and signature. The document addressed two questions: What “money” can count on from me, and what I ask of “money.” The partnering documents that audience members came up with were enlightening and varied.

“Whatever you give your energy to in life automatically expands,” Nicole concluded.

**Bridget Cook

Bridget Cook-- Author and Speaker

Maybe the momentum had been building, or maybe it was because I have known Bridget Cook for years. But my own breakthrough came during what was my final session. Her presentation actually drew a tangible action from me, something I could actually get my hands on and run with.

Bridget is the author of many published works, including the best seller Skinhead Confessions: From Hate to Hope. I am very familiar with her writing ability, but what I didn’t know until that day is that she is a domestic violence survivor. The fact gave impact to her message that day.

“You were created on purpose,” Bridget told the audience as more and more women filed in, some sitting on the floor. “We are not our history, or what has happened to us in the past. We are a result of the choices we make. It is our choices that make us special.”

Bridget spoke of the daughter of a serial killer who found the strength to discover her own greatness. That woman is the central figure in Bridget’s book Shattered Silence: the Untold Story of a Serial Killer’s Daughter.

Women in the audience followed Bridget’s lead, speaking of domestic and sexual abuse that they had struggled to overcome. They were extraordinary stories that called forth many tears.

Bridget wrote two words on the whiteboard, each word containing the same letters but in different order: CREATOR and REACTOR. “Which will you be?” Bridget asked the audience, begging them to put pen to paper.

My pen flew to my paper, although I believe I failed to answer the exact question Bridget asked that day. You see, I have always wanted to write a book, but not one that was just a fictional story. That is the reason I looked up to Bridget: she embodied a goal I had set for myself, or in the very least displayed that a normal person like me could obtain a lofty goal like that. Her books are about real people—real stories. For a while, I thought I would do the same: find a person with an extraordinary tale to tell and help them tell it. Being a journalist by training and trade, I was pretty confident in my writing and interview abilities. I thought I just needed to find the right person. Raising four small children, I don’t get out much or meet a lot of people with extraordinary stories to tell.

But that day, as I sat obediently taking notes, I met the person whose story I believe I was meant to tell. I met myself, while admittedly looking at myself in a very different light. Thanks, Bridget.

“You can be a catalyst for healing,” Bridget said. “Where there appears to be no life, life can be reborn. Women know more about birth and rebirth than anyone. There are no weeds in the garden of life. As women, we bring color where there is no color.”

I believed her.

Now, the words to my own story have begun flowing and are just begging to be told. It is the start of my attempt to cope with the huge hole my estranged brother has left in my family, an attempt to document all the stages of grief and mourning as they happen.

I don’t know what my story’s future holds, but I do know where I wrote the first lines: at the 2010 Ignite Your Spark event.”

Me and some powerful women…getting over it!

admin — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:32:20 +0000

This is from Dino Watt, one of our amazing speakers at Ignite Your Spark 2010. All I can say is WOW! Thank you Dino for capturing this so beautifully – truly inspiring!

Dino Watt: Marriage Expert, Author, Speaker

From Dino:

“This week I had the opportunity to work with Lisa Nichols from The Secret. It was great to hear her inspirational message again.
This time however, I was actually able to participate in and host a speaker panel with her and about a dozen amazing other women (listed below). As the only man on the panel, it was awesome being amongst them and hearing their message of hope, inspiration and motivation. As we all sat on the panel answering questions from the VIP crowd about various issues that always come when starting out on the entrepreneurial path, I realized two things that were very important about everyone on that panel.

The first thing I realized was every single person up there started from the exact same mental place…doubt. Every one of us can tell you our story of self doubt and fear that we had when first starting out in our respective field. We all said things to themselves like, “who would listen to me?”, “What if they doubt or reject my message?” or “Will they compare me to _______?” allowing their Little Voice to stop them from living in their genius. Whether that doubt lasted one minute or one year, we all had it. However, the second part I realized was actually the most important part. In every single story came the moment when they chose to ignored that voice and got over it.]

Too many people allow their Little Voice to stop them from moving forward with their dream. They get stuck in the details instead of making up the details as they go along. They refuse to step into their greatness and allow their light to shine. Now, I know that sounds cliche, yet the fact is too many people play it small and as one of the panelist said, “Your shyness is the highest form of selfishness.” just think about all of the people you are not effecting by playing small. Your message literally has the ability to change lives and if you don’t share it you could actually be the cause someone NOT reaching their full potential.

I believe we are all on this earth to do one of two things. We are either going to positively affect people or negatively infect people. All of these women, (and myself) are doing our best to positively affect people through our message. We do are able to do this not because we no longer have that self talk, we are able to do this because the message is too important to listen to it and allow it to stop it. We literally have to get over it because we know the message we have is unique to each of us and needs to be heard by all willing to listen. Just like the message you have in you is too important not to share.

If you are even thinking of starting out on a journey of entrepreneurship and yet that little voice is stopping you from doing so, do yourself and all those faceless people you are bound to help a favor by getting over it. Remember the only difference between the feeling of fear and the feeling of excitement is the emotion you put on it.
So get excited and take that leap of faith into your dream and someday soon you will be on a panel of like-minded people. Then your story will be one that will be inspiring others who have a message to share but just don’t know how to get over it.

P.S. Make sure you check out my site for the next Million Dollar Marriage Retreat in Cancun. www.milliondollarmarriageretreat.com

Speakers on the Panel:
Lisa Nichols
Angela Bussio: The Science of Attracting Joy
Jill Lublin: Free PR Strategies That Create Buzz for your Business
Angela Martindale: Overcoming Challenges to Reveal Your Greatness
Christie Mawer: Express Your Girl Power
Rene Johnson: Mastering Your Personal Power Zone
Andrea Hess: Manifesting Money Mastery
Cheryl Forester: Raw Food Journey: Find Peace & Awaken Your Cells
Deana Leighton & Marci Lock: Honor your Body and Create Lifetime Results
Megan Sillito: Play Your Strengths
Linda Hollander: 7 Business Success Secrets
Nicole Sherman: Align Yourself with the Energy of MONEY
Ann Webb: Use Clear Intention to Create Your Ideal Life
Bridget Cook: Bloomin’ Miracles: Radically Transform Your Life
Joyce O’Brien: Feel Great Now!”

Thanks Dino! And see you in Cancun in April! I can’t wait. Your two-day workshop was amazing, I can only imagine what this is going to do for me and my hubby. You are the best Dino. Thanks for sharing your genius with the world.

The Good Tears After the Meltdown :)

admin — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 10:35:53 +0000

It’s been an interesting day today…

Final preparations are in process. Deliveries of door prizes, gifts for the attendee bags, and coupons have been happening throughout the day. My living room is full of boxes. It looks like I’m in the middle of moving.

I can barely keep up with the phone calls with inquiries about how to get involved. I manifested the perfect videographer and photographers who are passionate about supporting women and artists who are gifting items for the attendee bags…

The speakers on board totally support the vision of what this is really about. They get that it’s more than a speaking engagement. They know they are messengers of hope and inspiration who make a difference on a very real level.

My staff is bending over backwards to make sure that everyone has an incredible weekend. My assistant is spending countless hours making sure that everyone has their first preference for their breakout sessions. Thanks Jenn!

Then tonight, something even more powerful happened. And that’s when the tears came.

Good tears though… (I already had my stress meltdown last week.)

I got something on a much deeper level than I ever have before…even after visioning about this for over a year.

I was working on my final presentation and got to the part about the Spark award, which is being given to our Illuminated Woman of the Year. And I was overcome with emotion. Still am actually…the tears keep coming.

Why? Because the Spark award is named after my dear friend Alison Sparks, who passed on April 23, 2009. It was just over two years ago that she and I were talking about women’s conferences we were going to create so we could make a difference on the planet.

I see the difference this is making for many lives, including mine. And that is what I got on a much deeper level than ever before. It moved me to my core.

I feel Alison’s energy very strongly and while one part of me is sad because she “isn’t here” to see this all come to fruition, the real part of me realizes that she is very much here and very much a part of this. I realize that her energy has touched every aspect of this event and movement.

It feels real now that Ignite Your Spark is happening. It’s been a year in the making.

20 speakers. Lisa Nichols. Changed venue. Really positive changes as a result. 200+ attendees. Mothers coming with their daughters.

Two sisters, ages 10 and 11, are coming with their mom. When I asked them why they wanted to come, there reply was “We have to be there. This is sooo cool, are you kidding?”

Wish I was that wise when I was 10.

I’m like a kid before Christmas. I can’t sleep because I can’t wait to meet the people who have emailed me about why they are so excited to be a part of this.

Women who are launching their businesses the very next week after this event. A woman who is overcoming a very recent loss in her family. Daughters who are bringing their mothers to thank them for empowering them to be the strong women they are today.

A woman who on the same day that she declared to the universe that she will meet Lisa Nichols after watching The Secret, received an email from a joint venture of mine about this event. She’s flying in from the Midwest and arrives Thursday.

In my very own family, there will be three generations there. My grandmother, my mother and I. I am here today because they paved the path for me to walk on.
So as I finish up the final details and make the final inspired preparations of what I get to share with you, I am overwhelmed with gratitude for all those who have made this happen.

See you on Friday when the spark that has been ignited gets much brighter.

From My Light to Yours,

Angela

P.S. There are 34 tickets left to see Lisa Nichols for her keynote on Saturday night. Tickets are $49. Take $5 off with code GRATITUDE.
There are 17 1-day passes left and 23 General Admission tickets left.
http://illuminatedwoman.com/conference/tickets/

I Had a Message That Needed To Be Told

admin — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 06:14:12 +0000

I got a pleasant surprise today.

The Standard Examiner newspaper did an article on me and I thought it would be running next week, but it was in today’s paper.

As I saw the email this morning with the news, I was filled with nervousness and excitement because I wasn’t sure what the video interview would be like. I saw the article and the writer did a fantastic job. Yet, there was part of me that was nervous. My story, including my challenges over the recent years, are now open for the world to see. I’ve revealed my true self with nothing to hide.

I told myself to keep breathing…

This article is just the beginning of me sharing my passionate message with the world. My message that anything is possible and moment to moment the only thing we need to do is choose to move forward. Even when things seem too hard. Even when it’s hard to get back up again.

This is dedicated to the brave women before me who have shared their stories and their lives to enrich the lives of others and give us hope.

Thank you to Deanne who did a beautiful job writing this.

Challenges fail to extinguish woman’s light

By Deanne Winterton (Standard-Examiner correspondent)

Struggling through depression, an eating disorder, a loved one’s drug addiction and a job layoff are enough to cause almost any woman to give up hope, but not former Morgan County resident Angela Johnson.

“I was done settling and knew there was more to me,” said Johnson, a Utah State University graduate.

“I tapped into my power. I had a message that needed to be told.”

What came out of Johnson’s desperate, “numb fog” was a light, a light Johnson chose to keep burning when she created Illuminated Woman a year ago.

Some have said Johnson created the women’s empowerment organization after hitting her personal rock bottom.

“Angela’s amazing,” said friend and author Bridget Cook. “She’s been through a lot and come out the other side.”

But creating something out of nothing is a phenomenon Johnson had witnessed plenty times before — and it was something she was determined to perpetuate.

“I saw my mother do whatever it took to make sure we had food on the table, clothes, education and presents to open on Christmas,” Johnson said on her blog about her young adult life while living in Mountain Green.

“At the time, I didn’t realize how good she was at creating miracles out of what appeared to be nothing. My grandma had that same gift of creating miracles out of nothing.

“These powerful women have inspired me to jump off the edge of the cliff, knowing I can fly.”

Angela Johnson - CEO and Founder of Illuminated Woman and Companies

Now 20 speakers, including Cook, are ready to join Johnson in taking the same message to Utah women.

Illuminated Woman is sponsoring the Ignite Your Spark Women’s Conference on Feb. 26 and 27 at the Salt Palace Convention Center.

Already, 100 women from across the U.S. have signed up, and Johnson expects an audience of three times that.

Lisa Nichols — best-selling “Chicken Soup for the Soul” author, teacher from “The Secret” movie and “breakthrough specialist” — is the event’s keynote speaker.

The conference will feature other speakers who will appeal to women of all types. They include entrepreneurs, those interested in improving personal health and wellness, and women dedicated to motherhood and families.

The idea behind the conference is “women can change the world by first changing the world around them,” said Johnson, now living in West Jordan.

And women are the perfect people to take on such a charge, Johnson said.

“Women follow intuition. They are typically more open to change. They are often the change-makers.”

Practically nothing can stand in a woman’s way when she is ready to remove oppression and other roadblocks, Johnson said.

“A woman’s power is not like a bulldozer. It is the power of grace.”

It is a power perfectly suited for the business world, said Johnson, who holds a bachelor’s degree in graphic design, journalism and marketing.

“Women accept that their personal and business life are all intertwined,” said Johnson, who began entrepreneurship with a jewelry business called Intention Jewelry.

“I didn’t know the nuts and bolts of how to run a business, and was nervous and shy,” she said. “Other networking groups weren’t resonating with me, so I decided to start my own.”

That was two years ago.

Today, Johnson’s Biz Divas, with chapters in Salt Lake City and Orem, has attracted 300 women and helped them perfect business plans, pitch their businesses and market their products and services.

“I’m fortunate to love what I do,” Johnson said. “I love empowering women.”

To register for the Ignite Your Spark Women’s Conference, visit http://igniteyourspark.com.”

Celebrating Great Men – Thank You Darol and Dr. King

admin — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 00:35:52 +0000

I ponder on the great men in my life and the world who have made an impact and there are no accidents that today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

I have been in reflection for the past several days. It’s been somewhat of a somber reflection as a dear friend’s husband passed away and we got to celebrate his life on Saturday. It’s hard to lose someone, yet in the very same moment I am full of gratitude because of ALL of the infinite possibilities of where our paths could have led us, we crossed paths and my life is forever touched. It is with gratitude that I honor our sweet friend Darol and the many things I learned from him, even though I only knew him briefly.

During this reflection I think of the other kind, generous, strong, loving, genuine men who took a stand for making their life mean something.

Darol stood and still stands for unconditional love, and to SAVOR every moment of every day. Every day is a celebration. The time to BE happy is NOW. The time to CHOOSE joy is NOW.

And on this day of celebrating Dr. King, it’s fitting that I draw the connection from Darol, Dr. King and the other great men I have the honor of knowing.

Dr. Martin Luther King

I often reflect on Martin Luther King in times of worry or self doubt. I look at what he accomplished in his short life and what he stood for and I am reminded that anything is possible.

When people ask me who my favorite hero is, Dr. King is often my answer. There was something about how he believed in the possibilities more than the present circumstances that inspire me moment to moment.

I have a dream….this speech brings tears to my eyes every time I hear it. To have such a dream that the ripple effects are still being felt is incredible. To make a mark on the world starts with a dream and as Darol said, to “Live Out Loud.”

What is your dream? The time is now to create it. I choose to leave a legacy.

Thank you to those who have paved the way for us to believe, dream and Live Out Loud. I love you all.

It Takes Just One Person

admin — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 01:49:26 +0000

When I was talking to my mother today, she asked “Did you hear about the small miracle we created today?” I hadn’t so she proceeded to explain…

Rochelle and Scott at the Marine Ball

My sister lives in Okinawa with her husband who is in the Marines. They live off base with their dog Max. They have lived there for about 18 months now and from witnessing the military life from a distance, I have a deep respect for military families. Being away from home and apart from family and friends doesn’t even begin to describe the sacrifices then men, women and their children make.

So back to the miracle…

My sister Rochelle and brother-in-law Scott are opening up their home on Christmas for some of the young men who are single and have no family so they have a place to have a Christmas dinner and to spend the holiday. She put out the intention to have anyone who is supposed to be a part of their celebration to come. She was originally thinking about four or five people would be coming over for Christmas dinner.

Last night, she discovered that the final count is 14 young Marines will be coming over for Christmas dinner.

After my mom heard this she offered to contribute to some food expenses to show her support for these Marines. My grandma heard about it, my aunt heard about, my aunt’s co-workers heard about it…

Within about three hours a handful of people in Northern Utah heard about what my sister was doing and the envelope of money that was given to my mom to wire to Japan equaled $140. Now these marines not only have an amazing Christmas dinner, they have stockings of treats. Most importantly they have a place to be with friends and feel loved, supported and welcomed home.

When I heard this, and even as I write this, my eyes are filled with tears because of the generosities that we think are small, create memories for people who deserve it. We are the ones who create change, answer prayers, give encouragement and show people that love is possible.

One tiny act, one dollar, one hug and we never know who it will impact.

Thank you to my sister for being the one to say that this year there will be 14 young marines who have a beautiful Christmas dinner with their “new family.” Thank you to those who saw a possibility of where they could make a difference and they did it without question or an expectation of anything in return.

It takes just one person at a time to change the world.

Rochelle and Scott, I love you. You continue to inspire me. It’s an honor to call you family.

How Miracles Are Created

admin — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 01:47:36 +0000

As I worked on this beautiful December day, it’s just one of those days that I keep wanting to cry (good tears mostly). My heart is so full of gratitude that it’s causing my eyes to overflow with ‘liquid.’

Photo courtesy of Scott O. Smith - http://scottosmith.com/

My day started out with watching the sun rise over the snow-capped Wasatch Mountains as I drove to take my darling nephew and his mom to the airport. My nephew whom I lovingly refer to as “Lil’ Zach” is as precious as can be. I’m constantly reminded of how fragile life is and how as a person with a purpose on this planet, it’s up to me to make sure that Lil’ Zach knows that there is love in the world and he feels it every moment at his very core.I keep thinking about everything in my life that has aligned so perfectly that details surpass my expectations.

I will be honest, 2009 has been a challenging year full of growth, learning and more learning. One of the biggest things I have learned is how important it is to keep my perspective focused on the highest good amidst what appears to be a challenge. Persistency pays off.

How perfect for me right? Because I passionately teach the concept that an Illuminated Woman is anyone who believes in the possibilities more than the circumstances. That is how we create miracles.

Today, a friend forwarded me and email and I am so glad a read it because it reminded me of when I received a similar miracle when I was a child. I’m inspired again as I ponder how “random acts of kindness” delivered a porch full of presents on my porch during the holidays making it possible that my family had a Christmas that year so many years ago.

Here is the email from my friend (thank you and my credit goes to the original author):

“In September 1960, I woke up one morning with six hungry babies and just 75 cents in my pocket. Their father was gone. The boys ranged from three months to seven years; their sister was two. Their Dad had never been much more than a presence they feared. Whenever they heard his tires crunch on the gravel driveway they would scramble to hide under their beds. He did manage to leave $15 a week to buy groceries.

Now that he had decided to leave, there would be no more beatings, but no food either. If there was a welfare system in effect in southern Indiana at that time, I certainly knew nothing about it.

I scrubbed the kids until they looked brand new and then put on my best homemade dress, loaded them into the rusty old 51 Chevy and drove off to find a job. The seven of us went to every factory, store and restaurant in our small town.

No luck.

The kids stayed crammed into the car and tried to be quiet while I tried to convince who ever would listen that I was willing to learn or do anything. I had to have a job.

Still no luck.

The last place we went to, just a few miles out of town, was an old Root Beer Barrel drive-in that had been converted to a truck stop. It was called the Big Wheel. An old lady named Granny owned the place and she peeked out of the window from time to time at all those kids. She needed someone on the graveyard shift, 11 at night until seven in the morning.

She paid 65 cents an hour, and I could start that night. I raced home and called the teenager down the street that baby-sat for people. I bargained with her to come and sleep on my sofa for a dollar a night. She could arrive with her pajamas on and the kids would already be asleep. This seemed like a good arrangement to her, so we made a deal. That night when the little ones and I knelt to say our prayers, we all thanked God for finding Mommy a job.. And so I started at the Big Wheel. When I got home in the mornings I woke the baby-sitter up and sent her home with one dollar of my tip money– fully half of what I averaged every night.

As the weeks went by, heating bills added a strain to my meager wage. The tires on the old Chevy had the consistency of penny balloons and began to leak. I had to fill them with air on the way to work and again every morning before I could go home.

One bleak fall morning, I dragged myself to the car to go home and found four tires in the back seat. New tires! There was no note, no nothing, just those beautiful brand new tires.

Had angels taken up residence in Indiana ? I wondered. I made a deal with the local service station. In exchange for his mounting the new tires, I would clean up his office. I remember it took me a lot longer to scrub his floor than it did for him to do the tires.

I was now working six nights instead of five and it still wasn’t enough. Christmas was coming and I knew there would be no money for toys for the kids. I found a can of red paint and started repairing and painting some old toys. Then I hid them in the basement so there would be something for Santa to deliver on Christmas morning.

Clothes were a worry too. I was sewing patches on top of patches on the boys pants and soon they would be too far gone to repair. On Christmas Eve the usual customers were drinking coffee in the Big Wheel. There were the truckers, Les, Frank, and Jim, and a state trooper named Joe. A few musicians were hanging around after a gig at the Legion and were dropping nickels in the pinball machine. The regulars all just sat around and talked through the wee hours of the morning and then left to get home before the sun came up.

When it was time for me to go home at seven o’clock on Christmas morning, to my amazement, my old battered Chevy was filled full to the top with boxes of all shapes and sizes. I quickly opened the driver’s side door, crawled inside and kneeled in the front facing the back seat. Reaching back, I pulled off the lid of the top box. Inside was whole case of little blue jeans, sizes 2-10! I looked inside another box: It was full of shirts to go with the jeans.

Then I peeked inside some of the other boxes. There was candy and nuts and bananas and bags of groceries. There was an enormous ham for baking, and canned vegetables and potatoes. There was pudding and Jell-O and cookies, pie filling and flour. There was whole bag of laundry supplies and cleaning items. And there were five toy trucks and one beautiful little doll.

As I drove back through empty streets as the sun slowly rose on the most amazing Christmas Day of my life, I was sobbing with gratitude. And I will never forget the joy on the faces of my little ones that precious morning. Yes, there were angels in Indiana that long-ago December. And they all hung out at the Big Wheel truck stop.”

I remember the day like yesterday when I was home with my brother and mom and it was almost Christmas. I was probably about six and my brother was 4. I remember feeling my mother worry. She didn’t say anything but being quite empathic and intuitive, especially as a child, I picked up on that energy and wondered what it was about. I sensed it was about Christmas was coming and I knew we didn’t have a lot. I wasn’t worried because my mother was magical and she always seemed to create something out of what appeared to be nothing.

We had the nightly routine of sitting on the couch and my brother and I were dressed in my dad’s over sized t-shirts that served as our pajamas (it was our favorite PJ attire) and read stories. The Night Before Christmas was my favorite and I practically had it memorized. As we sat there that night, there was a knock on the door and I remember my mother looking puzzled, almost worried. Who would be stopping by at that time of night?

When we opened the door I could barely believe the site. Our porch was FULL of boxes arranged around a Christmas tree. I looked at my mom as if to ask permission to see what was inside the boxes.

I don’t remember all of the conversation but just remember the tears stream down my mother’s face while we opened the boxes full of food, gifts and clothing. There were two clown dolls I particularly remember. One was green with purple with green polka dots and the other was green with purple polka dots. I thought they were so cute with the bright orange yarn hair. My brother and played with those all night and we had them for years to come.

I know what it feels like to be the recipient of anonymous kindness. That year we had a Christmas. I’m positive that my mother never stopped praying for a way to make it happen. When my dad got home that morning from the graveyard shift, I’m sure he thanked who ever created that miracle for us that year.

This reminds me that just when we think we can’t go on, that it’s too hard, or that it won’t work out, never stop believing. It is that pivotal moment that we step beyond the challenge and embrace a new possibility that there is actual space in our life for the possibility to be realized and manifested into our life. Belief, intention and action is what makes things happen. Just as the women who packed her kids in the car to find a job, when we are unstoppable for our dreams, our dreams meet us at least half way in ways we never expect.

Keep believing. And remember that often times YOU are the answer to someone’s prayer. Your smile. Your kind hand in spite of tension. Your loving tone in the face of anger. Your act of kindness that no one sees or acknowledges. You are the difference for someone.

To those earth angels who left Christmas on our porch over 25 years ago, thank you. Thank you for answering the call to show love. Thank you for reminding us to believe in the possibilities.

Real Beauty

admin — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 07:17:01 +0000

I came across this Dove video and suddenly didn’t feel so bad that I don’t look like the images in magazines. Amazing…

Bottom line? Love myself. Love yourself. Love each other. Just the way we are. It’s saddening to think about the time that is lost worrying about what we look like, judging ourselves, judging others, and never looking in the mirror and really looking at the innate beauty that is there.

Join me in loving yourself more. Today. Right now. It’s time.

Become a Facebook fan of Dove’s Self Esteem fund here.

Thanks Dove for empowering young women to love themselves.

The Glow Project is Coming to Utah

admin — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 04:19:27 +0000

I watched The Glow Project almost a year ago and I could hardly believe it. I had just officially launched Illuminated Woman and the link between the GLOW and ILLUMINATION astounded me. It was then that it was reconfirmed that Illuminated Woman was needed on the planet.

The Illuminating Glow that every person has is more apparent now than ever. When we add our light to each other’s then anything is possible. We are the creator of miracles. We are the creator of peace. It is up to us. And it starts with one person at a time.

When Dotti Durtschi of United Women Consulting recently contacted me to collaborate and bring The Glow Project to Utah, I jumped at the opportunity. Join us on January 19 from 7-9 p.m. at Noah’s in South Jordan, Utah for a night of illumination. Experience the Glow and remember the difference that your light makes.

When you reserve your 1-day pass, General Admission or VIP ticket to the Ignite Your Spark women’s conference February 26-27, you attend The Glow Project in January for free. Get your ticket today and be part of a community that is changing the world.

Details coming soon about this amazing evening of Glow and Illumination on January 19. I’m sooooo excited!

Thank you Dotti for embracing the power of collaboration; together we are creating amazing things starting in our own backyard.

Business Tips: Year-End Planning

admin — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 23:00:06 +0000

Being a business owner is a lot of hard work (and a lot of rewards when we are in our passion). When I started my businesses officially in 2006, I was amazed at what I didn’t know that I didn’t know. I didn’t have an MBA or really know the first step to starting a business. I just had a passion and some corporate experience to start with.

I’m a self-taught entrepreneur with a passion for what I love and a commitment to learn what I don’t know. Additionally, I have a commitment to share my learned knowledge with other entrepreneurs so they don’t have to learn the hard way like I did. One area of business that has made the biggest difference is to get a great accounting and bookkeeping foundation. You have to know your numbers in order to see where you are.

A great resource I have found is Cameron & Associates, Inc. They are down-t0-earth, personable, incredibly knowledgeable and do a great job of education their clients. As an entrepreneur, when a vendor takes the time to educate me while doing a great job at what they do best, I am hooked. When I asked CEO and owner, Marvin Cameron, what tips he has for entrepreneurs as we near the end of the year, this is what he recommended:

Remember, “Tax Planning” must occur before the year ends. The opportunity for most deductions and tax saving strategies occur prior to December 31^st. Therefore, now is the time to review your income and expenses with your tax advisor.
If you are currently renting and are trying to decide whether or not buying a home is right for you, now may be the ideal time to buy for several reasons. One of those reasons, if you meet the qualifications, is that you may be able to receive $8,000.00 in cash from the government. Consult your tax advisor for details.
If you are considering or need to upgrade certain items in your home, purchasing before the year-end may be beneficial. Certain energy efficient products may be eligible for a credit on your taxes of up to $1,500.00. Consult your tax advisor for qualifying items.
If you own a business and are considering purchasing new equipment for the company, the government currently has several different tax incentives in place. Consult your tax advisor for what is right for you.

Find out more about Cameron and Associates, Inc. here.

Have business and finance tips you would like to see listed here? Contact us today.