Reflections

Why is it, as women, that we are so uncomfortable with our reflection? I remember, whenever I encountered one of those horrible lighted magnifying makeup mirrors, even when I was young and cute, I reacted with an AH like I'd been spooked and a thought that I didn't need to see myself quite THAT close up. 




Who doesn't love to see those before and after photos where someone has gone through an amazing transformation?


We see those and find hope, inspiration and strength.


There is so much power and triumph in those before and after photos, yet we resist really looking at that "before" in the mirror.



Much more difficult to look at than our physical reflections is our internal reflections. I had a spectacular speaker at one of my events last month, Dr. Shannon Burke, and she spoke eloquently about how difficult we women find it to stay quiet and still, even though our most brilliant inspiration often comes from these very moments.

Every one of those amazing before and after photos exist because at some point, she made a decision to change that before. To stop being that before. But we can't make a decision to stop being the before if we refuse to look at it.





Now, I am not going to tell you to "step out of your comfort zone" because frankly, I think that phrase has been overused so much that it has completely lost its impact. 

Instead, let's beef up the fight in our fight or flight response and lean in to the fear. Put up your dukes and don't back down from the reflections in those quiet moments. 

We all have things, situations, parts of our lives that we tolerate. Things that maybe don't fit any longer or that we've just not been brave enough or inconvenienced enough to really examine and change. 

Lean in, face the fear and sit in the quiet reflection of you. Dare to look at those things in your life that you silently wish were different. 

Dare to imagine your "After". 

I would love to hear your reflections in the comments if you're brave enough to share...

Commitments and Respect

I read an open letter last week from Sinead O'Conner to Miley Cirus stressing the importance of self respect to the young singer. When we fail to respect ourselves, we can't expect anyone else to respect us or treat us with respect.

We are professional women, we demand respect from others. 
We're horribly offended when someone else doesn't keep their commitments to us. 
So why, is it OK for us to fail to keep our commitments to the person we should respect the most? Ourselves.

We read a book or an article, or see something on the web or the internet and we get inspired to do something great for yourself like exercise, or walk your dog every day or meditate or eat better or get a pedicure once a month. 









But then we get busy with work, or the kids, or a girlfriend needs help or a parent gets ill or any number of other things come up and well... that promise we made to ourselves goes by the wayside. 




And then we feel guilty for not doing what we told ourselves that we would do, and so we make the promise again... and the cycle goes on and on and on.

It's not just doing better at keeping our commitments to ourselves, it's about respecting ourselves as much as we deserve.


When we commit to love and respect ourselves as much as we do our best girlfriend, it's easy to keep all those other promises that we make to ourselves.



What do you think? Do you deserve a little more R E S P E C T from your number one fan (you)? I'd love it if you'd share your thoughts in the comments below.