Advice from a Yogi, Anne Frank and a First Lady

If you ever want to start your day off well, go for an early morning walk with a yogi (aka someone really into yoga).

That's what I did to start off this fabulous Friday.

My yogi friend was drinking green tea and was full of positive energy... which I needed as I have been berating myself all week as I attempt to complete my grad school application which I was steadily convincing myself would never get me accepted.

She stopped me in the midst of putting myself down over failing to write a "good enough" purpose statement for my grad school application. She told me something that she had just learned in her yoga teacher training and it was incredibly profound:

"If you wouldn't say it to someone else, you shouldn't say it to yourself."

Dang.

So true.

But, how often do we - especially women - put ourselves down? Whether over body image or boys or grad school application inadequacies. 

I always work so hard at encouraging other people BUT often fail to do the same for myself. I am my own worst critic.

Well, I plan to quit it.

I invite y'all to do the same.

What if instead of telling ourselves we aren't good enough for [insert your own personal insecurity in here], we told ourselves something positive that we appreciate about ourselves?

It doesn't have to be as cheesy or high energy as this, though it is adorable and one of my YouTube favs ;)

This little girl's daily affirmations may be a bit extreme BUT what a great example of being grateful and pleased with who we are and where we are in life.

What if we started each day off the same way?

Not endlessly picking apart our "flaws" but appreciating our hair or home or whatever and telling ourselves that we "can do anything good"?

I believe that the power of positive thinking would have impressive effects.

One of which is happiness :)

My friend's positivity made me happier by the end of our walk AND, conveniently, her tea bag's tag summarized it well with this quote on the back:

"Inspiring others towards happiness brings you happiness."

Even in the midst of grad school application stress, I can find something to be happy about.

One reason I know this is because Anne Frank in the midst of putting her life on hold and hiding to avoid being persecuted or killed during the holocaust said this:

"Whoever is happy will make others happy too."

Isn't that impressive? In the midst of her rough circumstances, she chose to be happy.

Happiness is a choice.

The first ever First Lady of America, Martha Dandridge Custis Washington, said this:

 "The greater part of happiness or misery depends on our disposition, not our circumstances."

We can choose a disposition where we put ourselves down and feel miserable OR we can choose to be nice to ourselves and be happy, making others happy too.

I hope you will join my yogi friend, myself, Anne Frank and Martha Washington in choosing to be happy and thinking more highly of ourselves.

Remember, "if you wouldn't say it to anyone else, you shouldn't say it to yourself." 

Rooting for the Underdog/dolphin... and other precious animal videos

“Never tell a young person that anything cannot be done. God may have been waiting centuries for someone ignorant enough of the impossible to do that very thing.” 

                                                                                          - G. M. Trevelyan 


This weekend I saw Dolphin Tale, the story of a young person who did the impossible.

It was one of the most heart-warming movies I have seen in a loooonggg time... all about the story of an underdog, er... underdolphin beating the odds and learning how to swim and live without a tail. All because one little boy believed in her and loved her.

Soo cute.

I highly recommend the movie but, if you can't wait until then, see the amazing dolphin here.



And if that wasn't heartwarming enough, check out these other adorable animal videos :)

1. Otters Holding Hands. Gah! So freakin cute.... you must wait until the end and watch for the kiss!!! 

 

2. Cat Hugs Kitten. I am totally a dog person and have never owned a cat, but still, this is super sweet. 

  

3. The Sneezing Panda. Only 16 seconds long but long enough to make you smile :) 

I hope this brightened your day!

Now go save a dolphin or hug a kitten or something else precious like that ; )

Shooting for the Moon: Graduation and Women Who Changed Our World

I graduated. A week ago, today.

Holy sh- wait. That would not be very Southern Belle of me ;)

But, gah! It really happened!?! 


Saturday, May 7th, I crossed the Cistern (yes, Cistern... not an auditorium stage. We do things differently at C of C!).

 No cap and gown... white sundresses and summer tuxedos :)

I hope you aren't jealous! 

A week later, the beauty and charm and celebration of the ceremony has settled.

Now, I have to enter the "real world."

And, I am excited-nervous-frightened-pumped.

What do I hope to do?

What any Southern Belle Feminist would:

Change. The. World. 

Lofty - yes - but, as they say:

Whether you've just graduated or not,

I hope you're shootin' for the moon, too.

If you need a little inspiration, check out these 125 women who shot for the moon and changed our world.

Here are a few of my favorites and some you may have never heard of before:

• Diana, Princess of Wales - activist and icon 
• Nancy Drew - yes, as in the teen detective... I swear I think I read every single book in the series growing up! 
• Rosie the Riveter - hello girl power! 
• Anne Frank - I have been journaling ever since I read her book.  
• Helen Keller - true example that women can overcome whatever life throws at them
• Wendy Kopp - founder of Teach for America 
• Gertrude Belle Elion - medical researcher who helped us transplant organs and fight Leukemia 
• Rosalind Franklin - first to discover proof about the double-helix in DNA
• Jacqueline Cochran - first woman to break the sound barrier 
• Valentina Tereshkova - first woman in space
• Mia Hamm - "She scored more international goals than any other soccer player, and led a generation of adolescent girls to change their minds about sports."
• Wilma Rudolph - "She overcame polio to become a runner, winning three gold medals in one Olympics, the first American woman to do so."
• Eve Ensler - creator of The Vagina Monologues 
• Gloria Steinem - feminist writer and activist
• Betty Friedan - author of The Feminine Mystique and cofounder of the National Organization for Women 
• Jeannette Rankin - first woman elected to Congress... back in 1916
• Gertrude Ederle - "First woman to swim the English Channel (beating the men's record by nearly two hours), 1926."  
•  Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton - suffragists and women's rights supporters
• Hedy Lamarr - "Inventor of an anti-jamming device for radio-controlled torpedoes, 1942." And a glam actress... talk about multi-talented ;)
  
  Clearly, all of these women are talented.
  
  Hopefully, as I enter the real world, I can follow in their footsteps to change the world and succeed in life:
  
  

  Success:  To laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.  This is to have succeeded! 

                                                                       ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
  
  
  

  

  Me, about to "Cross the Cistern"

  
  

  

    And, across, an official College of Charleston alum!
  
  

  Now I'm off to enter [and hopefully change...] the real world! 

  
  

  I hope you'll join me and... 
  
  

  

  
  

"You may all go to Hell - and I will go to Texas"... to celebrate Women's History Month

  

You may all go to Hell - and I will go to Texas. 

Those aren't my words. They're Davy Crockett's. 

But he was onto something. 

Though I don't wish anyone to go to hell, I do wish you'd all go to Texas! 

I recently had the pleasure of visiting over my Spring break. I saw lots of cute cowboys strutin their stuff in their blue jeans, boots and over-sized belt-buckles but I wondered why do they get all the credit as the tough Texans.

I figured there had to be some impressive Texas women. 

And I was right!

Since March is Women's History Month I thought it absolutely appropriate to do (and share) a little research on them ;) 

  

This website had several impressive Texan cowgirls; here are some of my favorites: 

• Angelina: She is the only woman to have a Texas river, a county, and a national forest named for her. In 1690, the name Angelina was given at baptism to a Native-American woman who was educated by Spanish friars at the Mission of San Juan Bautista on the Rio Grande and perhaps also at the College of Zacatecas. She spoke Spanish as well as several Indian languages so she became a translator, including translating for an expedition that founded the Alamo and the city of San Antonio. 

 

•  Sarah Horton Cockrell: (1819 – 1892) She was a very successful businesswoman who built the first iron bridge over the Trinity River at Dallas in 1872 and Dallas' first three-story hotel. Left a widow with small children in 1858, all she had was a stack of debts and her husband's ferry business. She thought big and invested wisely. She set up her own corporations, the Dallas Bridge Company, and the S. H. Cockrell Co., which owned a flour mill. When she died in 1892, her properties were so extensive that her will had to be published in pamphlet form. 

   

•  Bessie Coleman: (1892-1926) She was one of the first licensed female pilots and the world's first black female aviator and barnstormer, had a spectacular but brief career in air shows. She was born in Atlanta, Texas, the twelfth of 13 children. Her mother, an illiterate former slave, borrowed books so Bessie could learn to read. She encouraged young blacks to become involved in aviation. She once refused to perform in Waxahachie, where she had grown up, until blacks were allowed to use the same entrance as whites to the exhibition. Black aviators memorialized her by naming their flying clubs and their magazine after her. In 1990, a street to Chicago's O'Hare Airport was named Bessie Coleman Drive, and, in 1995, the U.S. Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp in her honor.

 

•  Sarah T.Hughes: (1896-1985) She was an attorney, legislator, women's rights activist, United Nations supporter, and Texas' first female state and federal judge. A member of a Dallas law firm from 1923 to 1935, she was elected to her first term in the Texas House of Representatives as a Democrat in 1930 and voted "Most Valuable Member" her second term.She was national president of the Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs in 1952. The national organization spearheaded her nomination for the vice presidency on the Democratic Party ticket that year, the first woman ever considered, though she withdrew her name. And, after Kennedy's assassination in 1963, she administered the Presidential oath of office to Lyndon B. Johnson.
  
   
• Mildred "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias: (1911 – 1956) She earned more medals and set more records in more sports than any other athlete, male or female, in the twentieth century. She dominated the women's events at the 1932 Olympics, winning three gold medals and setting world records in the 80-meter hurdles and the javelin throw. She excelled in every sport she tried and, in particular, won every existing women's golf title. In 1953, she was elected to the Texas Sports Hall of Fame. The only race she ever lost was to cancer, in 1956. 

• Sarah Ragle Weddington: (1945 – ) She is best known for having successfully argued the 1973: Roe v. Wade abortion rights case before the U.S. Supreme Court. She was one of only 40 among 1,600 students at the law school at the University of Texas at Austin. She was active in the Texas women's movement, lobbied in the Texas Legislature for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment and was a founder of the Texas Women's Political Caucus. She was elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1972 and helped with the following: 

• change the law that prevented women from getting credit cards in their own names
• stopped schools from firing pregnant teachers
•  improved the treatment of rape victims.

•  Also, under President Jimmy Carter, she became general counsel for the Department of Agriculture in Washington, an advisor to the president on women's issues, and later became a member of the White House senior staff. She now teaches at the University of Texas at Austin, writes, and speaks publicly, particularly about women and leadership.

Pretty impressive, right? 

I bet there are even more impressive women in your own state. So look them up. 

ALSO, celebrate the women in Your. Own. History.

One of the things I did on my trip was visit family and look at old family photographs. I got to see a picture of my great, great, great grandmother!?! Talk to your moms, aunts, grandmothers and others to learn about the women you came from.  

This month's 2011 theme is "Our History is Our Strength." 

I hope you find both.

Happy Women's History Month!!!

STUDY BREAK: My 3 New Favorite YouTube Videos :)

• I have 3 papers due within the next 2 days. 

• I have spent 7 HOURS in the library... today alone 

• Tonight might be the first time I have pulled an all-nighter in college

So, obviously, I had to take a couple YouTube breaks; here is what I found: 

1. This one, I promise, was related to school; I was doing research for my paper on Gender and the Media. This video replaced my previous favorite by Dove. It seriously is FABULOUS!!! And it is under 90 seconds so your study break can be quick too ;)
2. This one is unrelated to school BUT full of very interesting facts so you can still learn something ;)
3. At this point, I have no excuse. This one is just preciously awkward and a good mental break! Plus it has stupendous quotes... get excited!!! 

I hope school is not overwhelming you and that if it is, this provided a good study break for you :)

How do you spend your seconds?

When our life is out of balance, disaster is just around the corner. - Mary Southerland

I feel like my life has been a spinning top, turning round and round, wobbling out of control.

Someone lied to me: They told me senior year was going to be easy. 

WRONG. I have had obligation after obligation after stress after stress after stress... 

spinning and spinning

Whether you are in your senior year of college or not, I'm sure you, at least occasionally, can relate.

We all have what seem to be never-ending tasks that take up our time: meetings, laundry, cooking, cleaning, etc.

The perpetual to-do list.

When was the last time you stopped, got off the merry-go-round and out of the fast lane to take a long, hard look at your life? - Mary Southerland

We are all so rushed: Running from class to meeting to event to the library to work to work out, etc.

spinning and spinning

Even fun things fill up our time: coffee dates, walk and talks, dinners, movies, games, plays, etc.

spinning and spinning

Every morning we are credited with 86,400 seconds. No balance is carried into the next day and every night erases what we fail to use. - Mary Southerland 

We don't get to rewind and re-do our days. Life is not like Groundhog Day.

Each day is what we make of it. Or don't make of it.

Are you intentional in how you spend the seconds of your day? It seems a little silly to worry about seconds but seconds become minutes which become hours which become days and months and years.

Time WILL fly by, if we let it.

Take, for example, Facebook. Hello. I hate how seconds become minutes or an hour whenever I log in. I would much prefer spending that time with my friends face-to-face or perhaps should spend that time working on homework or grad-school applications.

Really though, how do you spend the seconds of your day?

Is it time well spent?

Learn to invest your time instead of just spending it or allowing others to steal it - Mary Southerland

My brother recently shared a story that illustrated this perfectly:

I called him on my way to take an exam, just to leave a voicemail explaining that I would call him later, as I expected at that time that he was in class.

I was surprised to hear him answer: "Hello," he said.

"Hey," I responded, "I thought you were in class. What are you up to?"

No lie; the next words to come out of his mouth were "promise you won't tell mom?"

Now, I should clarify, my brother is not the type to find himself in trouble or in jail or any of the other awful options that immediately played through my mind BUT I was expecting something pretty rough as I answered: "I promise."

"I'm in Nashville, Tennessee," he declared.

Seemingly benign unless you know, as I did, that he was supposed to be in class on the campus of Clemson University, 5 hours away.

At this point, all of my last minute reviewing for my test was useless as my notes were now the last thing on my mind! 

He went on to explain that he drove there with a few friends, leaving spontaneously at 1:00 am so that they could visit the home of one of his friends who was soon to depart for an indefinite mission trip overseas.

Though completely out of character for him to take off on such an unplanned, ill-timed adventure, he reasoned it as follows:

"How many classes have I missed?" - none

"Will I really remember sitting in this class years from now?" - no

"Will I be able to get notes and make up what I miss in class?" - yes

"Will I get this chance again or be able to make up this trip to Nashville?" - no, never

"Will I ever see my friend again?" - maybe, though, probably not

"What would I enjoy more?" - seeing my friend and visiting a new city

"What is more important?" - taking this opportunity, investing this time

So he took off to Tennessee and didn't waste away his time or let the stress of school steal away his seconds. [Disclaimer: I don't' condone skipping classes ;) This, however, was too good and rare of an opportunity to pass up]

Have you let any good or rare opportunities pass you by?

Are your seconds just spinning and spinning away?

Don't let them.

Invest. Your. Seconds.