Women Friends

More good news about passage of the health care bill is the fact that it will help end the discrimination against women in regards to health. The National Women's Law Center says this is a giant step toward getting rid of discrimination against women. The bill should lower costs to women because there will be no more gender rating, there will be maternity coverage just like there is prostrate coverage and women will not be turned down if they have had a caesarean or past physical abuse. There is a great article about this in the New York Times written by Denise Grady 0n 3-29-10. Hopefully there will be more good news seep out everyday about the bill and the hate mongers will take a break. I have always had a problem with the fact that viagra is paid for by most insurance and birth control pills are not. I have often wondered why there has not been an uprising with the younger generation of women. This seems so unjust but we just need to continue to push for equality in all areas and that includes pay. Women still lag behind and I am hoping the younger women can change this. Discrimination in any form is a choice of fear over love and in the end....this does not work for anyone. As I continue to write this blog and work on fiction I feel compelled to go back to my roots and write stories about the abuses against women. I am working on a book proposal on a non fiction work that is the story of the absolute worst abuse possible to women and it happened right in the "Bible Belt." If you have any stories to tell me, please, I am always looking for ideas and fodder for stories. Today I am going to sign off with a joke all women will enjoy.

Aging Girlfriends

A group of 40 year old girlfriends discussed where they should meet for dinner. Finally it was agreed upon that they should meet at the Ocean View Restaurant because the waiters there had tight pants and nice buns.

10 years later at 50 years of age, the group once again discussed where they should meet for dinner. Finally it was agreed that they should meet at the Ocean View Restaurant because the food there was very good and the wine selection was good also.

10 years later at 60 years of age, the group once again discussed where they should meet for dinner. Finally it was agreed that they should meet at the Ocean View Restaurant because they could eat there in peace and quiet and the restaurant had a beautiful view of the ocean.

10 years later, at 70 years of age, the group once again discussed where they should meet for dinner. Finally it was agreed that they should meet at the Ocean View Restaurant because the restaurant was wheel chair accessible and they even had an elevator.

10 years later, at 80 years of age, the group once again discussed where they should meet for dinner. Finally it was agreed that they should meet at the Ocean View Restaurant because they had never been there before.

Adventures

One of the greatest things about new adventures is the opportunity to meet new people and to learn about new places. Just today I had a call from a man who I connected with when I moved to Tallahassee about four years ago. He was a businessman and I have great respect for him and his life; perhaps I will write about his life. He told me his story and I believe one of the reasons I liked him so much was his connection to the oil industry and he reminded me of the men I grew up around in Oklahoma. These oil men always appear very gruff and plain spoken and often color their sentences with unique phrases and four letter words. They had a pioneer spirit and a love for adventure. They were also risk takers and many of them have lost and made a million dollars several times over again. This is the oil man and they have been a part of my life experience. I wonder who the pioneers will be today and I hope America will find its way to knew ways of living and new adventures. You need to love the stories of your life and if you don't, it is never too late to start new adventures and new stories. I have completed one book, working on two and have a book proposal almost done. I have gotten my first rejection but I have decided to be relentless. If I can go through menopause and hot flashes, I can deal with a few rejections. And, I am old enough to know that God helps get you to where you need to be and that could be choosing a new direction.

Abundance

Last night I caught the last half of a presentation by Dr. Wayne Dyer the motivational speaker. He was speaking about abundance. Hopefully you are familiar with him, if not, I suggest you read his book, "Power of Intention." He was an orphan for a large part of his childhood because his father was dead and his mother could not support him. Dyer said regardless of his circumstance, he could always attract abundance. He sold soda bottles for 2 pennies each and he always found them everywhere. He said he just recently saw a dime on the pavement. He bent to pick it up and to him it meant, "abundance." It was ten pennies, 5 soda bottles. He was happy to have it and not once did he wish it were a million or something else. This was a good lesson for me. We move toward what we think about and we should think about abundance rather than what we do not have-in all things. I am writing and I believe it will bring abundance to me in the form of meeting new people, having wonderful experiences and being able to support myself. This is what I believe today in order for it to happen. I want to live in abundance and fortunately, I have always had what I have needed. But, I know I can always give more to others whether it be a smile or a warm greeting or a supportive call. I am building a new life for myself and at this time of my life I will build it with a spirit of abundance.

A couple of years ago I started looking at sugar in my diet. I did not fully understand the affects of sugar on the health of our bodies. Our country is suffering from a massive overdose of sugar. How sweet is our love affair with sugar? Let’s just say we are beyond infatuation. The average American consumes an astonishing 2-3 pounds of sugar each week. In the early 1900’s it was estimated that we consumed less than 20 pounds a year and now it is over 150 pounds a year. The increase in our sugar consumption is not surprising. We eat more processed foods which consist of highly refined sugars in the forms of sucrose, dextrose and high-fructose corn syrup. These sugars are being processed into many foods such as bread, breakfast cereal, mayonnaise, peanut butter, ketchup, spaghetti sauce, and a plethora of microwave meals.

It is important to look at the food you are eating and to examine what it is you are eating and the way it makes you feel. As most of you know, sugar gives a high and then it causes a crash. Many are in this addictive cycle and need to break free of the harmful side effects. The best way to do this I believe is to educate yourself and make better choices. What helped me tremendously was reading the books by Michael Pollan. He explains what happened to food in our country and how it is you can eat to feel better. If you think Wall Street took advantage, you need to know what the food industry has done to us. It is a good read. His newest book tells you how to eat. It has great suggestions and the biggest thing I learned from him that I carry around in my head is, "Eat less, more often, mostly plants."

Appreciating Change and Contrast

The winning slogan for the last presidential election was for change and of course the repeated mantra over and over was, "Yes We Can!" It sounds simple enough but as we all know, change is not a simple action. In order to change, we have to dig up a certain amount of courage and faith-the courage to follow through with the action of change and the faith that it will indeed bring forth the things we want in America. It was easy for me to get on the change bandwagon and although I have been a bit discouraged at times with the very slow progress, I still believe we need to march forward toward the goals and ideals of making this country better. Sometimes what I have a problem with is contrast; the large dark, treacherous gulf between the ideas of different sides. I believe this is caused by fear. Then when you add the fear mongers, you get people really excited and often so with negatively embellished and incorrect information. We have seen this in the health care battle. People can get extremely worked up when they are passionate for change and when they are fearful of it. Fear is a negative word and when it enters our mind, it is an opportunity to examine why and to move toward what we passionately desire not what we fear. This is why contrast is good. If we never saw anything bad, violent or unsavory or heard anything different from our opinion then how is it we could ever live in appreciation? As our country moves toward change and as I personally walk that path, I hope we all do so with appreciation of it and with the goal to make the world and our own lives better. I believe we need to remember, change is about living courageously- not fearfully!

Living a Healthier Life

I was fortunate to grow up as an athlete and a very active woman. I think it has greatly influenced my health. I have always had a great metabolism and more than my share of testosterone. This means I have always had good muscles for a female and I am also fairly assertive. When I started my year of change, as I call it, I became very tired and lost most of my motivation. I noticed that I started getting flabby particularly in the stomach area. I was a partner in a weight loss center at the time and I was working with many women who had the same symptoms or who were having more than normal problems losing weight. I watch what I eat and I know many of them were doing a good job on the diet. What I have decided is watching your weight and exercising sometimes is just not enough. I feel that it is imperative for women to check their hormones. I believe the best way to do this is with a saliva test. It is getting easier to find Doctors who support this. I went to a nurse practitioner. I think the reason it is important to check hormones levels is because of the amount of hormones in our food supply; no wonder our hormones can be out of balance. I found I did not have enough testosterone and I am now taking a natural creme from a compounding pharmacist. My energy level, my motivation and my muscle tone has greatly improved. I feel good again! Let me know what has worked for you!

Midlife Sunrise

What is a midlife sunrise? I am going to define it as moving past 50 seeking the best time of my life. I believe we move toward what we think about and our attitude can attract and give off the energy that we carry with us. It is a ever changing world. The world today is not much like the world when I was a kid; many things have changed, some remain the same. I believe the world is much more complicated then it was years ago with the ever changing technology and unbelievable ability to instantly communicate on so many different formats. The things I feel that remain the same are our desires to connect with other people and wanting to be happy and loved. The good news is....we can instantly visit with other people and we can communicate and hopefully support each other in our journey.

This is my first attempt at a blog. I have seen some really creative sights but in the beginning mine is going to be very simple. I love to communicate and I love to read and write. So, on this sight I am going to share information I think is important to others, particularly to women; on anything and everything. I plan to share information about my new life and my new attitude. I hope you will share your adventures and any information you think may help another person.