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Smart Women Keep Their Inner Door Open

April 3, 2008 By Joy Chudacoff

Our family went to the Santa Barbara Zoo this past weekend. I love this zoo because it’s not overwhelming (you can see everything in about 2 hours) and Santa Barbara is a favorite spot of mine to relax. When we entered the exotic birds area, a sign on the door read, “For the safety of our birds, please close the inner door before opening the outer door.” That really made me chuckle. I thought, “Well, I don’t think the women will have too much trouble remembering this!”

What do I mean? Many women keep their inner door closed tight with a double-bolt lock on it and have misplaced the key to open it. What inner door am I referring to? The one that leads to our inner thoughts…our inner life. Yes, you do have an inner life. It’s that voice of intuition and deeper knowing that we all experience. It speaks almost in a whisper so that we can barley hear it. Why? Because the outer door…our outer life, is wide open. It lets everything in; the noise, traffic, emails, cell phones, iPods, co-workers, never-ending meetings, grocery shopping, homework, community volunteer work. Have I covered it all? How could you possibly have the time to locate the key and then get the door open on your inner life when the outer life demands so much?

I Love Public Speaking!

March 30, 2008 By Joy Chudacoff

Thursday night, I had the opportunity to spend the evening with a group of women from www.WonderfulOnlineWomenLA.com. These women have formed a community where single women over 50 can come together to have dinner and conversation about navigating life and dating in the Los Angeles area.

Ellen, the WOW organizer is quite resourceful and amazing. She hosts gatherings where women and men can come together in a safe, fun setting to meet and learn more about one another. I spoke to these women about “Creating The Spark; Igniting Passion for The Work and Life You Love.” It was well-received and timely as many of the women are looking to make changes in both their personal and professional lives.

Spend Time With The “Nutritious” People In Your Life

March 27, 2008 By Joy Chudacoff

I have had such a great week. My mom came out from Florida to spend Spring Break with us. It’s been good to reconnect with her and also watch her continue to form a special bond with Jack and Jenna.

On Tuesday, I had the good fortune to spend the morning with my Women’s Alumnae Circle. These women are remarkable. They continue to stay on a path toward new growth and learning. Always open to change and looking at their lives through a new lens. I am always energized after being in a Women’s Success Circle.

Smart Women Are Great Gardeners

March 27, 2008 By Joy Chudacoff

As I was unpacking a box in our new house the other day, I found a beautiful drawing that my son Jack had done when he was in Kindergarten last year, in the spring. It’s 4 pieces of paper layered together with drawings and these 4 words: seed, roots, stem, flower. There is a lot of sunshine and rain above to illustrate how growing something meaningful needs both. When Jack saw it, he immediately began to explain to his younger sister Jenna how this works. “You plant a seed, give it water, then a root grows, then a stem and then you have a flower one day.” Wow, if only it were that simple!

Realizing a big idea, dream, or goal is a lot like planting a seed in your garden. The first step is to decide which seed (idea) you want to plant. There are so many choices. Which one seems to be the perfect fit for you right now in your life? After you decide what seed you want to plant, you need to learn about that seed and how it needs to be cared for to get the best results.

Rebel Woman – Carolyn Howard

March 20, 2008 By Joy Chudacoff

There are two types of “Spring” going on in my life this week. First, my children are on Spring Break from school so we are fortunate to have a lot of family time. And second, today is the first day of Spring. It’s a great time to begin thinking about the seeds I will plant to grow and nurture myself, my family and my business.

Spring provides a perfect environment to grow something new and beautiful in your life. I hope that you will take some time this week to look out at “your garden” and make plans to grow something new.

Keep reading to hear more about a Rebel Woman making things happen in her life right now.

Smart Women Make Amazing Things Happen

March 20, 2008 By Joy Chudacoff

The month of March is a very important month if you are a basketball fan. It’s “March Madness” and there are games from every team around the country participating in playoffs and finals all month. We are big basketball fans at our house. I was watching a game this week with my children and a commercial came on for the NBA. Their slogan this season is “NBA—Where Amazing Happens.” They were highlighting their best players and talking about reaching dreams and goals. It got me thinking about placing ourselves in the right environment so that “our amazing happens.”

I’m a big believer that women need the right environment to make their amazing happen. I rarely come up with my big ideas unless the environment is right for me to be creative. I like a quiet, reflective environment where I can see lots of nature—trees, flowers, grass, blue sky.

Rulers and Rebels

March 14, 2008 By Joy Chudacoff

As I entered the Library at my son’s elementary school today my eyes immediately gravitated to a fantastic display at the entrance in honor of Women’s History Month. The bold title of the display is “Rulers and Rebels – Extraordinary Women of our Time.” Wow—powerful words. Reading those words sent a tingle through my whole body.

As I reflected on this later in the day, I became keenly aware of how true this has been in the history of women’s lives in this country (and around the world.) We must certainly be “rulers and rebels” to achieve the firm foundation that we now stand on. The women who went before us must have held on to dreams not only for their future but for the future of all women who would walk the earth after them.

Smart Women Dare To Dream

March 14, 2008 By Joy Chudacoff

Recently, in one of my Women’s Success Circles, we had a conversation about the difference between a dream and a goal. The majority of the women agreed that a goal is something that is attainable while a dream is unattainable. One member said, “It’s something you think about but it would probably never happen.” While I understand the thought process, I don’t agree with it. I realized a dream within the last week and it was really through the power of intention that it became a reality.

I want women to know how strong the power of intention can be. I have been “dreaming” for more than a year about living in a community where my children could walk to school. Notice that I said the dream was about seeing my children “walk to school.” I had developed a dream, an intention about the lifestyle that I wanted for my family.

Women Are Like Tea Bags

March 6, 2008 By Joy Chudacoff

My good friend and smart woman, Beth Osisek recently gave me a coffee mug for my birthday that reads, “Women are like tea bags. You never know how strong they are until you put them in hot water.”

Well, let me tell you, I’ve been in hot water this week! I have learned a most challenging (but needed) lesson. About 7 days ago, I woke up early one morning to do some work on my computer. I went downstairs, got my coffee and sat down ready to do some creative work. Guess what? My laptop hard-drive was dead, died, gone—never coming back. Guess what else? I had not been a very smart woman when it comes to backing up all of my files. I have spent the last 7 days sweating out the possibility that I may have lost most of my valuable information.

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Filed Under: Joy's News and Updates Tagged With: Smart women, Tea Bags, When to Let Go

Smart Women Know When to Let Go

March 6, 2008 By Joy Chudacoff

Every day as I leave my house, I am drawn to a large tree across the street, with beautiful branches and leaves. For awhile now, it has been shedding its leaves. Yesterday I noticed for the first time that all of the leaves have fallen off, leaving the tree bare. Nature has a way of making room for new growth.

Our family is preparing for a big transition this week. We are moving from a house that we have lived in for 10 years. It’s the home where my husband Greg and I began our life together in marriage. It’s the only home our children, Jack and Jenna have ever known, so it holds a lot of memories that are valuable to us. It also holds a lot of other things! Things we have accumulated over the years that are not part of where we are going. We have a lot of possessions that are no longer a “fit” for us. I am finding it hard to let go. It can be challenging knowing what to keep and what to let go of. I’m not alone in this dilemma it seems. I read recently that the storage unit business is soaring as people accumulate more than they have space for and they cannot bring themselves to let go.

Smart Women Keep Their Inner Door Open

I Love Public Speaking!

Spend Time With The “Nutritious” People In Your Life

Smart Women Are Great Gardeners

Rebel Woman – Carolyn Howard

Smart Women Make Amazing Things Happen

Rulers and Rebels

Smart Women Dare To Dream

Women Are Like Tea Bags

Smart Women Know When to Let Go

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