Happiness | Michele Woodward

All The Cool Kids

August 21, 2011 By Michele Woodward Leave a Comment

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All the cool kids do 5am spinning classes.

All the cool kids are into yoga.

All the cool kids are in the river, floating on inner tubes with a six-pack trailing behind.

All the cool kids make millions each year working on a laptop at their local Starbucks.

All the cool kids work for non-profits.

All the cool kids hunt.

All the cool kids eat quinoa and flax.

All the cool kids eat vindaloo.

All the cool kids eat hot wings.

All the cool kids wear Prada.

All the cool kids wear Birkenstocks.

All the cool kids wear Wranglers.

All the cool kids have an endless travel budget.

All the cool kids go on silent meditation retreats.

All the cool kids go to the amusement park on the Fourth of July.

All the cool kids commune with nature in mountaintop lodges owned by wealthy friends.

All the cool kids hike.

All the cool kids fish.

All the cool kids have assistants.

All the cool kids use antique fountain pens on recycled rag paper.

All the cool kids have several step-kids.

All the cool kids live in New York.

All the cool kids live in Sedona.

All the cool kids live in Ohio.

So, how about it , you wanna be a cool kid?

Plenty of choices above.

Kinda confusing and conflicting choices.

A little overwhelming.

How do you sort out what it takes to be cool?

Cinchy.

Believe it or not, there is a little voice in you that knows. Knows how you are at your coolest.

That little voice is your internal guidance system.

And you may have forgotten how to steer by it.

You may have been overruled by stronger people who told you that you don’t know what you’re talking about. That they know better.

And you believed them.

So you stopped listening to your little voice. You lost your map. And forgot how to know yourself.

And now you’re seeking. You’re pushing. You’re striving. Unfortunately, still toward what other people are telling you is right.

Wanna stop? Why not go ahead and be a cool kid on your own terms?

Just listen to that internal guidance system, and make your choices according to what feels right to you.

You.

The coolest kid around.

Who makes her own damn list of what’s cool.

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Filed Under: Clarity, Getting Unstuck, Happier Living Tagged With: choices, cool kids, happiness, internal guidance system, personal sovereignty, self-confidence Leave a Comment

Hope.

August 14, 2011 By Michele Woodward Leave a Comment

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There are people who will tell you that hope is not a strategy. And I completely understand that perspective, especially when I hear my mother’s voice in my ear saying, “Wishin’ don’t make it so” (and she would throw on her twangiest twang as she said it, too).

But hope can be a powerful, powerful thing – especially when it’s tied to a really clear vision of the future.

Have you got hopes? Could you make a list of them? A list of your dreams? Your vision of the future?

I know I can.

I hope I’m healthy into my old age.

But wishin’ don’t make it so, does it?

What do I have to do to make my hope a reality?

Feed myself nourishing foods, get moderate exercise, see the doctor from time to time, have friends, enjoy myself.

Looking at it that way, doesn’t getting older seem like a ton of fun?

I hope I’m financially secure throughout my life.

Again, wishin’ ain’t gonna fill up my bank account. So what do I need to do?

Work smart, invest well, save responsibly, spend reasonably.

[I like that - especially the work smart part.]

I hope I’m always connected to engaged, happy, fun, caring people.

Well, to be connected with engaged, happy, fun, caring people, I need to make sure that I’m engaged, happy, fun and caring myself.

You never get what you aren’t willing to give, do you?

The exciting prospect is that to achieve this I get to keep learning new things, doing new things, meeting new people. I also get to be open, and vulnerable, and nurturing.

Now, that sounds like a wonderful way to live.

I hope my children are happy adults.

You know what? I’m going to take that back. Let me be more specific.

I hope my children are good partners. Good parents. Good neighbors. Good friends. I hope they find meaningful work. I hope they remain in touch with their own resilience.

I hope they find joy.

I hope they have hope.

Because hope is a vision of how the future might be.

How our lives could possibly be if we just line up square behind that hope and make it a reality.

Just like rock breaks scissors, darlings, hope squashes fear.

We hope we can, so we do.

Like magic.

Hope, when it’s backed up by steps toward a vision of your own creation – yes, in that case, hoping sure does make it so.

[photo credit: Michele Woodward]

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Filed Under: Clarity, Getting Unstuck, Happier Living Tagged With: deciding, fear, future, happiness, hope, strategy, vision Leave a Comment

Whoa.

July 24, 2011 By Michele Woodward Leave a Comment

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Whoa.

This week I said, “Whoa” more than once. And, curiously, each time the word took on a different meaning.

“Whoa”, rather short and sharp, when I learned something new. Kinda stopped me in my tracks as the dots connected themselves and suddenly I had a new understanding of a thing previously less understood.

You know that kind of whoa.

I also said an exclamatory, “Whoa!” when a guy cut me off in traffic. Whoa, as in, “Sheesh, what are you thinking? Doofus.” OK, I might have used a different epithet. I will leave my precise word choice to your imagination.

“Whoa,” was on my lips when my 15 year old daughter came down the stairs in a new outfit, hair done, ready to go to a party. That was a rather long, drawn-out whooooooa, expressing “OMG, how beautiful you are!” combined with a measure of “wasn’t she just four years old a minute ago?”

I said a brief and surprised “whoa” under my breath a conference this week when I realized the caliber of the influential women in the room – women who are committed to helping other women succeed.

I’m telling you – it was a Whoa Week, people.

Which is a really great thing because I’ve found:

Whoa leads to wonder.

Wonder. Yes, even with the doofus who cut me off in traffic. Really. In that moment, it was wonderful to be alive, unharmed, and able to ease on down the road.

The is the Way of Whoa.

Doesn’t that just make you want to say… whoa?

I know what you’re feeling. So let me ask you this: Do you say “whoa” enough? Feel that “whoa” feeling frequently?

You know what I’m talking about – that moment of discovery. The complete awareness of your own edges and boundaries. The epiphany of spying something beautiful. That delicious moment of realization that something truly wonderful is happening.

Whether you’re at work, or at home or somewhere in-between, my friends, say whoa and lift yourself out of the hurry, bustle and go-go-go of everyday life.

Walk the Way of Whoa.

Enjoy.

Discover.

Wonder.

Today has got to be your day to say whoa.

[photo credit: Michele Woodward]

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Filed Under: Authenticity, Getting Unstuck, Happier Living Tagged With: Authenticity, happiness, joy, The Way of Whoa, whoa, wonder Leave a Comment

Happy Dude’s Day

June 19, 2011 By Michele Woodward Leave a Comment

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I love men.

I love teenage guys with their fierce self assertion. I like 20-something guys whose eyes shine bright with discovery. Men in their 30s, with a baby in a sling on their chest – dig ‘em. Forty year old guys who coach Little League with that perfect recipe of toughness and pats on the fanny – nice! I absolutely adore men in their 50s, with their deep understanding of the world and how they fit into it. Men in their 60s, 70s, 80s – the frisky devils! I can’t wait to sit next to them at a dinner party.

I do love men.

Thanks to my son, my brothers, my dad, my guy friends, I really understand men, and appreciate how different they are. Because they really are. Men just think differently.

Sure there is research that shows that male brains are wired one way and female brains are wired another. And there is research which shows that there is no difference at all.

But from just living, I can tell you – there’s a difference.

And I’m glad there is.

Cuz, as stated before, I get a kick out of men.

Back in 2009, I gave you What Do Men Want?, and in that piece I wrote:

I believe strongly that what men want most from women is safety and deep acceptance. For much of his life, a man may have been told that he’s too smelly, or too dirty, or thinks about sex too much. He’s also told he needs to be in touch with his feelings, talk it out, feed the baby — while he’s being told to be strong, a lone wolf, and eat what he kills.

A man often gets the message that whatever he does, he’s gonna be wrong. Some how, some way, he’s wrong.

But when women provide a safe place for a man to be all the things he is, right and wrong, smelly and sexy, and give him deep acceptance of his quest, then men can fully relax, be authentic, be themselves… and be happy.

I believe that just as strongly today.

Men need space to be men – whatever that looks like for them.

Father’s Day, for both men and women, is a day to be thankful for the men in our lives. And to honor them fully, we must allow them to be who they are – fully.

Utter acceptance. What a gift.

So, let’s make today about totally digging guys, in all their dude-y dude-ness. You in?

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