Being a Smart Woman means more than merely having an immense intellect. She is savvy and responsive and progress through her life with power and grace. She has an internal compass to direct her. How many of these traits are you willing to obtain and embrace as your own?
1. A Smart Woman knows she has the power to create her life the way she wants. She does not rely on other people to get her needs met. She knows her self-esteem comes from within.
2. A Smart Woman acknowledges that she is a spiritual being on a human journey. She knows she is connected to a power greater than herself. She contributes her energy to the betterment of the planet.
3. A Smart Woman is in constant motion towards well-being. She resolves her unfinished business. She is committed to her physical and emotional health.
4. A Smart Woman seeks understanding and alignment with her higher purpose. She embraces and expresses her authenticity. She knows that she has value and worth.
5. A Smart Woman minds her own business. She doesn’t gossip. She doesn’t get emotionally invested in the decisions/choices others make.
6. A Smart Woman has a private profile and a public profile. She has clear boundaries around sharing her personal details. She trusts the people she lets into her private profile.
7. A Smart Woman accepts that making mistakes is human. She admits her mistakes as soon as she makes them and moves on. She does not apologize when she is not wrong.
8. A Smart Woman radiates personal power. She makes her choices and decisions from a place of power. If she does lose her balance, she easily regains it through her sense of self.
9. A Smart Woman knows that looking after herself: ‘being selfish’, isn’t a bad thing. She knows that everyone benefits when she is healthy and well She understands that she can’t give what she doesn’t have herself.
10. A Smart Woman seeks balance in all areas of her life. She is aware of her work to home balance. She is committed to taking excellent care of herself in all respects.
11. A Smart woman has excellent social skills. She is comfortable representing herself in a professional manner. She conducts herself with power and grace.
12. A Smart Woman surrounds herself with positive energy. She chooses empowering and supportive friends. She seeks a career that affirms her passions, skills and intelligence.
13.A Smart Woman trusts her inner self and her instincts. She doesn’t play little so some one else can feel big. She affirms her intelligence, skills and creativity and does not hide these qualities.
14. A Smart Woman asks for help when she needs it. She humbly acknowledges her need for support. She is ready and willing to offer her support when appropriate.
15. A Smart Woman knows that she is a work in progress. She knows that ‘perfect’ is an illusion She knows that ’she will never finish growing and she will never get everything perfect.
So, there you have it. Can you affirm that you are a Smart Woman? Take a moment now to feel good about your worth, your competence, your Woman Smarts. Because being a Woman is Power!
“Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely.” ~Karen Kaiser Clark
Life can be a persistent teacher.
When we fail to learn life’s lessons the first time around, life has a way of repeating them to foster understanding.
Over the last few years, my life was shaken up by dramatic circumstances. I resisted the impermanence of these events in my life and struggled with embracing change. When I resisted the lessons that change brought, a roller coaster of changes continued to materialize.
When I was twenty-four years old, I had plans of working in the US of A where my course, Sports Therapy is in demand. Yet it turned to be a misfortune that I was deported at my arrival in Detroit Airport due to harassment of these black officers.
The deportation was sudden and unexpected, catching my family and friends by surprise. I felt devastated that my hopes of becoming a Sports Therapist and probably taking up further studies didn’t turned up to be the way I planned it.
Fortunately, I got back to my old track in TV Sportscasting and got blessed with a lot of job offers. This time I prayed for something else, a career where I can experience the World and luckily after 6 months of waiting came an International Cruise Ship offer for being an Activity Supervisor.
Life was moving much faster than I was able to handle, and that was the same time I had my first relationship with someone I didn’t expect would come along. I was torn of leaving him because I knew I prayed for him, yet I knew this was an opportunity of a lifetime I couldn’t spoil away. He didn’t want me to leave but I did it because I had to grab that opportunity to grow and fulfill myself.
I felt overwhelmed by my new environment in the cruise ship, new faces, different cultures, new friends and a world all on my own --- kind of easy knowing how Ms. Independent I can be. Although, the distance grew us apart and I had to end the relationship because my focus that time was for my personal growth.
Unexpectedly, after my contract that same guy who I pushed away pursued me. I didn’t had the face to see him because I tore him apart yet his persistence and determination of wooing me made me decide to give it another chance. Little did we know that it will still throw us again several tests in the relationship that made us both decide to separate ways.
It was a difficult decision, because I thought I’d found my best friend for life in Him...yet perhaps He didn’t see me in that future. My life became engulfed with changes once again as I tried to close the doors to this relationship, start a new business and go on with my usual life, the old Ms Independent me that people loved.
I met the closure of our relationship first with strong resistance and then with profound sadness and loss. How could something that I valued so much, went home for and believed to be forever, cease to exist?
As much as I fought back and resisted each of these events in my life, I’ve since learned to embrace the impermanency of my life and the changes that come my way.
Here are 6 lessons life has taught me on embracing change:
1. Reduce expectations.
In each of my life’s circumstances, I had high expectations for my career, business and my relationship. I had expected each to remain constant and to last forever. But I’ve learned that nothing lasts forever. Nothing.
You can have reasonable expectations of how you’d like something to turn out, but you can’t marry yourself to that result. Reducing or having no expectations about a relationship, a business, or a situation can help you accept whatever may come from it.
When you set reasonable expectations, and don’t expect or demand a particular outcome, you’re better able to manage any changes that do come your way. Unreasonable expectations of life, however, will likely be met with loss, disappointment, and pain.
2. Acknowledge change.
For the longest time, I refused to believe that change was in the realm of possibility in a situation. I’ve since learned that change can happen quickly and at any point.
Be aware that change can happen in your life. This means understanding that things can and will be different from how they are now. Acknowledging change is allowing it to happen when it unfolds instead of approaching change from a place of denial and resistance.
3. Accept change.
I desperately tried to prevent and stop change from happening in my business and relationship by trying to forge ahead even in futile situations.
Instead of resisting, allow change to unfold and try to understand what’s transforming and why.
Circumstances will not turn out the way you want them to, and it’s perfectly all right. Embracing the situation can help you deal with the change effectively, make the necessary shifts in your life to embrace the change, and help you move forward after the event.
4. Learn from the experience.
If you accept and embrace change, you will start looking for and finding lessons in it.
When dramatic changes were happening in my life, I refused to acknowledge them at first, so change left me distraught and without meaning. Once I reflected back and finally accepted the changes, the lessons I started absorbing were profound.
Change becomes your greatest teacher, but only if you give yourself permission to learn from it.
5. Recognize you’re growing stronger.
When you accept, embrace, and learn from change, you inevitably grow stronger. The ability to continuously accept change allows you to become as solid as a rock in the midst of violent storms all around you—even if you feel afraid.
6. Embrace the wisdom.
The more I permitted change and impermanence in my life, the more I grew as a person. Embracing change has brought newfound strength into my life and surprisingly, more inner peace.
When you proactively embrace change and learn to accept it as a part of life, you are filled with more calmness, peace, and courage. When life fails to shake you up with its twists and turns, you realize that changes can’t break you.
You’ve reached a level of understanding in life that some might even call wisdom.
While by no means have I reached that place called wisdom, I’m working through my aversions to change. I now openly welcome and embrace it.
When we can accept change, learn from it, and become all the better for experiencing it, change is no longer our enemy. It becomes our teacher.
Today Ive learned to embrace the wisdom that these changes have brought in my life. To never settle for anything we don’t deserve (if it doesn't want to compromise, don't force it) and to walk by faith in God to surprise us everyday!
So if you want to be truly happy, then don’t be hesitant to embrace change! For the single ones out there, embrace this season and start packing your suitcase again with those non-negotiables you WANT and NEED in your next relationship. God is telling you to pack your suitcase and things you’d like to share with your future partner and be open to Gods suprises because one of these days He will definitely take you on a Grand Adventure at the right time with the right person. I hope you enjoy your next cruise or flight!
Being a self-confessed travel junkie, I am an adventurer and explorer in life. I have tried Paragliding in Croatia, Bungee Jumping in South Africa, Riding a Yellow Submarine in St. Barths, Walking Around the Walls of Dubrovnik, Eating a Live Octopus in Greece, American Regatta in St. Maarten, River Tubing in Grenada, Diving in Tobago Cays and a lot more interesting things…and how can I miss surfing at one of the best surfing spots in my own country?!
That very first wave on the beach in San Juan, La Union seems like months ago, but somehow I can remember it like it was yesterday. Every time I think back to the first time I stood up and found myself able to repeat that again and again throughout that surf session, I can’t refrain from smiling and think just how much the pursuit of waves has changed my life. It has defined me in ways I never thought it would, and left me with the constant desire to be stoked for life. With all of that it’s also brought a variety of lessons that are of significance throughout every part of my life.
SURFING has taught me:
1. Discipline
It is the kind of discipline that I’ve never had in my life. It’s the kind of discipline that I believe you need to make your dreams a reality. It’s a discipline that requires no authority figures to enforce and it’s the kind of dispcline that teaches you the importance of just showing up everyday.
2. Commitment
Somehow after the first wave I made a commitment to myself that I will have the courage to stand up on every given wave. I was determined to do whatever it took as it tested my patience and built my character. It meant putting on a wetsuit and forgetting about the hot sun burning your face and body because I had experienced the greatest natural high in the world. It meant forgetting about the small things, riding out the storm, and giving it everything I had to be able to stand up and surf with the waves.
3. Patience
Ah mother nature, how I love you for your inconsistency, your temperamental nature and your leisurely schedule. As much as I’d love for you to be on my schedule, I’m clearly on yours. If there’s anything that surfing teaches you it’s patience. You are on the schedule of the ocean and you’ll wait patiently sometimes for 45 minutes, for a 10 second moment of happiness because it’s just that good. One last wave is the curse of every surfer because the moment you utter those words you’ll either catch a perfect wave and paddle right back out for another one. Or you’ll catch on that isn’t quite good enough to call it a day. But the moment you utter those words, that final wave seems to take forever and eventually you become truly patient.
4. Persistence
I’ve persisted through conditions beyond my skill level and emerged with an addiction so strong I go through withdrawal on days out of the water. When you’re so damn persistent, some day define you as stubborn. Pay no attention to them and charge forward. They might eventually label you just stubborn enough.
5. Courage
Every single time you paddle out, knowing that all it takes is one good wave, you put yourself in a situation of uncertainty and potential danger. No matter what you keep going back for more and everyday and every moment you conquer fear just a little bit. You find the courage to just keep going because of the ear to ear smile that you’ll be rewarded with.
6. Humility
The power of the ocean will always leave you humbled. A force larger than life with a mind of its own is what your faced with on a daily basis. It teaches you humility and puts things in perspective. Suddenly things that seemed to matter no longer do, even it is for the briefest of moments.
7. Presence
Those of us on a spiritual journey continually seek presence without really ever understanding it. We know logically that the only moment we have is now, but the experience of now, of flow is one we struggle to grasp. Riding waves has taught me presence. When you drop into a wave your mind goes blank and all your thinking about is what the wave you’re on is going to do next. Is it going to close out? Is it going to pummel me? Is it going to take me for the ride of my life?
It may not be the hardest adventure I’ve ever been, but It was the adventure of a lifetime that brought me to some realities in life. I believe that from time to time, the Universe throws us a test, a challenge. It’s life’s way of reminding us that we’re still alive. To shake us out of our comfort zone, to force us to evolve a little more. To see how far we can stretch.
Now, I wake up everyday knowing that I will always have the ocean (life) to look forward too, and no matter what happens, riding waves (challenges in life) will always keep a smile on my face….because it’s these challenges in life that keeps us going and growing!
