What Women Know

2010-05-27T15:45:00.000-07:00

What Women Know About . . .
writing a book!

Well we have almost finished writing our book and will be publishing it in September. It has been a wonderful adventure learning and hearing from so many women. We feel that this community that we have built is only the beginning of a flow of women's wisdom from all around the world. Please visit us on our facebook page and leave us a message.
Thanks
Michelle and juliet xx

2010-05-01T06:31:00.000-07:00

What Women Know About . . . Wisdom

Thank you to everyone that has visited our blog and facebook page. We are coming to the conclusion of our book and there is very little time left to submit a contribution or piece of wisdom. It has been a wonderful journey meeting so many women on Facebook and here on the blog and we hope that you will all enjoy the book once it has been published. It is available to pre-order on Amazon.co.uk and will be in all good book shops in the UK and Ireland from September.

We have found women to be very wise and open to sharing their knowledge. We hope to continue collecting stories and writing more of What Women Know - women's wisdom is always growing and we are very excited to the see the connections and similarities between women no matter where they are from in the world.

Thanks Michelle and Juliet xx

2010-04-10T09:08:00.000-07:00

What Women Know About . . .Health

Vitamin D prevents colds and chest infections, boosts the immune system. Lots of people nowadays suffer from Vitamin D deficiency because they don’t get enough sunshine and we work in offices all day, and use sun-block all year round. But you need to get into the sun for your body to manufacture Vitamin D, we don’t get it from food alone. Get plenty of sunshine and daylight in the winter time and take Cod Liver Oil!
Yasmin, 42, General Practitioner.

Cranberry Juice prevents and treats simple cystitis and can prevent urinary tract infection – drink it every day and you’ll have a healthier love life!
Emer, 37, Midwife.

Vitamin A cures acne. Dermatologists actually use this in high dose in Roaccutane, an anti-acne treatment which is very toxic. Carrots contain natural, non-toxic vitamin A in safe doses. If you’ve got acne you should rink carrot juice every day and you’ll see your skin improve very quickly! If you hate the taste of it mix it with apple or orange juice too.
Marguerite, 38, Dermatologist.

If you have any advice that you would like to give regarding common or not so common ailments - send them to us here or on our facebook page.
We are taking lots more contributions before we complete in May
best wishes
Michelle and Juliet xx

2010-04-05T15:51:00.000-07:00

What Women Know About . . .Angels

I love the Angels and ask for their help on a daily basis, my son can see Angels, I encourage both my children to thank the angels every night and ask the angels for help while trying to find things in the house, I do Angel nights were I do angel meditations my friends love them! Maria, 38 Reiki Master, Dublin

I attended a workshop in IET recently – it was very nice and involved meditation and relaxation and writing down issues we had and trying to sort them out with the assistance of spirit. I have found several people close to me following alternative ways of addressing spirit since the decline of the Catholic Church. But the amazing thing is when you talk about angels the response is fascinating. Some women will laugh out loud. Others will nod their heads in agreement that it is all nonsense but I have a theory that they are hiding behind their real beliefs. Every religion on earth regards, respects and acknowledges angels – they may not be called the same thing but their energetic presence has always been used to express details and … Like many spiritual practices such as reiki and yoga there is a requirement to focus on the forces that make us living and thinking human beings – this force may be called god, spirit, energy, the universe, Allah, buddah or whoever you chose and what I am finding is that this energy that we all seem to want more of and help from is there for us. Michelle

I always ask my angels to get me parking spaces and trolleys that don’t need coins in the supermarket – it works almost every time! Don’t forget to thank them – they love that! Pauline, Psychologist, 66, Dublin

We would love to know your thoughts on agels - send them to us here or on facebook page - what women know

Thanks
Michelle and Juliet

2010-03-31T14:09:00.000-07:00

What Women Know About . . .Building an on-line community!
We are very excited about the way our book What Women Know is growing . . . we've reached over 500 women on our Facebook page, and we're getting over 1500 hits a week! What Women Know on Facebook is a fantastic page of sharing, wisdom and friendship between this community of women, of all ages, from all backgrounds and from many different countries. When we came up with the idea for this book, we had no idea where to start. We wanted to write a book of wisdom for women, and we knew that women have got a lot of wisdom that they share with one another. We wanted to find a way of getting at what was in women's heads, and collecting our shared experiences into a book . . . a book written by women for women. Women's wisdom is a quiet thing. The main institutions of wisdom are governed by men, and are articulated by men: women's wisdom is ignored by the institutions of society. The powerful social structures, religions, banking, governments, often ignore and even refuse to acknowledge women. But women are the creators of life. We bring up the next generation. We are the educators, the healers, and the managers of everyday finance, economies, and social enterprise.
What Women Know started off as an idea for a book – and our book will be published by Hachette in September 2010 as a beautiful gift for Christmas. But the most exciting thing that's come about as a result of this idea for a book of women's wisdom, is the online community that's grown out of our search for ideas. Through our Facebook page, we've tried to reach out to women everywhere to encourage them to join in our discussion, give us ideas, stories, knowledge and wisdom about money, love, friendship, work, health, spirituality, everything that matters in our lives. And the group is growing! It just goes to show, how important community development is, and how wonderfully creative women are in their own homes and offices, all over the world.

2010-03-31T10:13:00.000-07:00

What Women Know About . . .The secrets of a happy marriage!

Happy Marriage = no secrets, a certain amount of compromise, being friends as well as lovers, listening as well as talking to each other, doe's not work for everyone but has for us so far Collette, 53, homemaker, Dublin

A shut mouth!
Mary, Author, Cork

When buying a bed get the very biggest that your room will allow. You may not realise it before you have a family but you will need that extra space for your kids when they climb in in the middle of the night or the next morning. As you get older and grumpier it is best to have more space between the two of you also. Remove bedside lockers if needs be to make space for the bed!
Cathy 46, Dublin, Mum of two

Keepp those words of wisdom coming in please and you can see our daily posts on facebook
lots of love
Michelle and Juliet xx

2010-03-24T11:43:00.000-07:00

What Women Know About . . .Aspirations of today's women

I would love for my 4 sons to be best friends and count on one another through their adulthood, I've always told them when I am gone you only have one another so learn to depend on one another. To cherish Family, treat all people the same, help those less fortunate without thought of reward or accolades, a belief in a higher power, and someday to teach that to their own, if they have children..and of course that their grandmother was the most awesome person ever! Kasey,
L.A.

I am a woman and I aspire to get through my day in a peaceful pleasant way. I aspire to be accepted for who I am, not who everyone wants me to be, I aspire to breath and inhale the beauty hidden behind the hustle. I aspire to be myself in a commercially influenced world.
Shelly Texas

Depends on where the woman lives and which political or cultural system decrees the limits to what she can achieve. Some aspire to the right to chose their own life partner, while others the right to equal work opportunities.
Mary, Author, 53, Ireland

Thanl you ladies and please keep sending those words of wisdom into us
Michelle and Juliet xx

2010-03-19T04:04:00.000-07:00

What Women Know About . . .Money

A girl that I went to school with had a very highflying business man for a father. In the course of his career he frequently made a fortune and lost it again. She had to move from palatial houses to ordinary semi detached houses and back again to a mansion during her childhood. The advice she gave to me was simple.
Appreciate what you have because there will always be someone with more than you and there will always be someone with less.
I have used this as my mantra and it has made me content with everything I have at the different stages of my life
Caroline, mum of four, 44 Dublin

It is ok to want nice things once you don't let them define who you are and form no attachment
Michelle, pilates teacher, 42 Dublin

Have painting parties with your mates when you decide to decorate/redecorate.. Sweaty hard work made lighter with many hands, and a few well-deserved drinks after with a bite of grub. Who needs to hire a painter/decorator!
Theresa, 41, HSE employee, Cork

These are some of the gems that women have contributed to our facebook page - you can email us here or contact us on facebook if you have other stories or words of wisdom to share
Thanks
Michelle and Juliet xx

2010-03-17T03:06:00.000-07:00

What Women Know About . . .celebrations

Happy St Patrick's Day to everyone. We hope that you enjoy this day of celebrations.
It is a wonderful chance to spend time with your family and friends expressing what it means to be Irish - it is easy to forget in todays world the things that matter. But days like these give us a chance to appreciate our identity and community.

We would love to hear your stories of how you spend today.

lots of love
Michelle and Juliet xx

2010-03-10T02:28:00.000-08:00

What Women Know About . . .Having your own space.

I used to believe that the kitchen was the heart of my home and loved the fact that my computer and my writing desk was parked in the kitchen, where I cooked, listened to the radio and where my daughters sat at the table doing their homework. As my writing grew I really needed to have a study in the house, but as we only have one spare bedroom for guests and so I didn't feel I could justify taking it over as a study. So for years I crunched myself into the corner by the range, surrounded by paperwork. I became unhappy. I wanted to move house. I started fighting with my husband because he didn't want to move. For three years, I fought with my husband because he loves our house and I didn't.
Virginia Woolf wrote a wonderful essay called A Room Of Ones' Own in which she says that the reason women haven't been able to become great artists, composers, writers is because we never have a room of our own in our own houses (unless we are wealthy enough.) Anyway, last month, I made a big decision. I've converted our guest room. The bed's gone. The guests will have to stay elsewhere. . . but for the first time in my life I've now got a Room Of One's Own.
I love my room. It's my favourite place in the house. It's tiny, it over looks the street and it's just got my desk and chair and a few shelves. Nothing much. But I haven't fought with my husband since. I feel happy here. I feel calm and I feel like working. And I like my house again too.
Virginia Woolf's right. Guests don't matter as much as we think they do. Every woman needs A Room Of One's Own.

2010-03-08T03:44:00.000-08:00

What Women Know About . . .work

• Passionate about work
• Relationships at work –( knowing how to read people)
• Glass Ceilings
• Juggling everything
• Myths and Multitasking
• Balancing Our Lives
• Successful women (this section to replace intelligence/personal development)
• Finding Time and being creative

Wwk about health

• Dealing with stress
• Nourish your body (sleep and sunshine)
• Breasts
• Choosing the right doctor or healer
• Working through sickness
• Growing Old
• Mindfulness (abortion and post natal dep)
• Exercise for health
• Staying well

What Women know About Friendships
• fair weather and foul weather friends
• Toxic friends
• Streamlining your friends
• Male friends – Gay Best Friends . . .
• Making new friends – friends you just connect with
• Nurturing Friends – Friendships for Life

WWK about children

• The Cycle Of Giving Life.
(Pregnancy – Miscarriages – Giving birth)
• Now that I have it what do I do with it? (babies – breastfeeding sleep)
• Toddlers and Tantrums (food, toilet training.)
• Networking Mums
• Sibling Rivalry
• Parenting And School
• Teenage Kicks
• Mothers And Daughters – Mothers And Sons

Wwk about spirituality

• Spirit and the universe
• Do we need Religion?
• Gut instincts – your inner voice
• The spirit inside of you –
• Yoga, prayer and meditation (setting time aside to be spiritual)
• Do you believe in Angels?
• What are we doing here?
• Where are we going?

These are some of the chapters and subsections of our book - please think about any contributions you may have for it...
thanks michelle and juliet xx

2010-03-08T03:41:00.001-08:00

What Women Know About . . .
Beauty

• Inner Beauty – Outer Strength
• Beauty Truths, Beauty Myths
• Bodies –Skin – Wrinkles – Necks
• The fashion diet- long term strategy
• Handbags and Shoes – (Flip Flops at Weddings)
• Beautiful At Every Age
Wwk about money

• What is real wealth
• How much do we need?
• Live well on a Budget
• Financial Independence
• Gratitude – bringing more into your life
• Giving money away

Wwk about men

• How to meet a man –( internet dating)
• The habits of men
• Falling in love
• When to lose a man or marry him
• Secrets of happy Marriages
• Divorce – the chance to change your life
• Life without a man -

Wwk about Sex

• Love and the mind body spirit connection (physical mental and emotional)
• Sex for pleasure (contraception)
• Getting in the mood
• When harry met sally Orgasms
• Love your Vagina – (stds – how we view our vagina etc.)
• Why do women have affairs
• Enjoying sex as your life changes

please will you consider the above topics and if you can think of a story or contribution that fits into the following headings then please send it to us or post it in the comments section
thanks
michelle and juliet xx

2010-03-07T09:42:00.000-08:00

What Women Know About . . .children

You have to pinch yourself every day to remind yourself of this: your children don’t belong to you. They are a gift that you are given for a short, short time. They are on loan to you and very soon you’ll have to give them away to someone else . . . so make sure they still like you enough to call by every now and then.

Make your child’s lunch box more interesting – write them a little note – or even better write on the banana/fruit skin – they may have a better chance of eating the fruit. My mum used to do it for me.

Do try this at home – tell you children the facts about getting pregnant – get your daughters to understand how their cycle works and abolish the urban myths. Show your sons how to put on a condom (you can use a cucumber for a demonstration!) and tell them not to assume that the girl they chose to have sex with will take all the responsibility to prevent conception.

If you have suggestions or stories about raising children we would love to hear them. We have our facebook page up and running now and you can find it under - what women know

Thanks and remember the first 40 years of parenthood are the hardest

lots of love
Michelle and Juliet xx

2010-02-21T05:02:00.001-08:00

What Women Know

We are now on Facebook with our page

What Women Know

Please post us your comments or stories and experiences about life and matters that are important to women

Work, Children, Love, Friendship, Sex, Money, Spirituality, Health

We are compiling all of the words of wisdom that women from all over the world are sending us and we will acknowledge every contribution.

Love and thanks

Michelle and Juliet xx

2010-02-14T04:51:00.000-08:00

What Women Know About . . .Love

It's Saint Velentine's day and a wonderful time to celebrate love. Nobody knows for sure who St Valentine was or if he existed - there are lovely stories of the Christian Velantine who was martyred on 14th February and who left a love note for the jailer's daughter and signed it 'from your Valentine.'
But one thing is for sure - the date 14th of February is very close to the pagan festival of Lupercalia which was a day when the godesses of women and marriage were celebrated. So today is a day to be enjoyed for all women and for all women to enjoy all those that they love.

‘Love is all you need!’ according to The Beatles and it’s something every woman knows. From the time we are little girls we are constantly searching for the one true love. Well how about this for a proposition – what if there isn’t just one? What if there are tens and hundreds of people you have met in your life all eligible to be your one true love? Love is a wonderful feeling that is often confused as being something we get from someone else. A great idea – a bit like going to a fast food joint and getting a fix when you are hungry. It will fill you up for a short while or provide comfort on your way home from the pub after one-too-many but to really feel good after eating you need to put good food in your mouth.

The real secret of love is to start with your self. This may sound corny or egotistic and to some repetitive – but it is true. Real love comes from within your self. It’s simple really and when you give yourself the right to love yourself you will be amazed how many other people will start to love you too. Being dependent on someone else to provide you with love is putting a terrible burden on that person. Here is another suggestion – if everyone loved themselves truly then they would not feel the need to be jealous or hurtful to others because they would be content with themselves. It’s a good place to start!

Happy Valentine's Day

Lots of Love from
Michelle and Juliet xx

2010-02-11T02:54:00.000-08:00

What Women Know About . . .Healthy Eating

Juicing is a great way to get all of your nutrients and goodness from your fruit and vegetables. It’s also a great way of encouraging young children to eat healthily. I involve my children in the chopping and juicing process and then they are more likely to eat the end product.
Maria 33, artist, Dublin

A good way to get kids to eat fruit is to make smoothie lollies. I usually make a banana and ice base with orange or apple juice and then add fresh summer berries in the summer and frozen raspberries or strawberries in the winter. I use the blender and pop the mixture in the lolly moulds. When the kids look for a treat I take one out of the freezer and they are getting something that’s good for them!
Michelle Jackson

When you are feeling hungry the chances are that you are probably thirsty so take a drink of water or juice first just in case. Lisa nutritionist 34

Diets don’t work. The secret to weight lose is to eat less and walk more!
Deirdre 40, sailor, Dublin

Think yourself thin – if you don’t think you are overweight you will give off the impression that you are thin. Notice how you want to eat less when you lose weight and feel better as the pounds fall off. The positive effect of getting fitter and slimmer creates more positive attitude.
Karen 26 fitness instructor, Australia

When I want to put myself off eating I think of the thousands starving around the world and it works.

Junk might taste good but it isn’t actually food – as in feeding your body. Sugar based junk might give you a quick energy boost but it really is only temporary – you need to eat more live food and raw food to actually feed your body. A jelly or piece of chocolate is a dead food. Same goes for well done meat – eat it rare because when it’s well done all the nutrients are cooked out of it. Never ever over cook your vegetables!
Anne home economics teacher 50.

If you would like to contribute to our book 'What Women Know' please email me on michellejackson@eircom.net - we have nine chapters coverin the things that matter most to women

Thanks for reading our blog

Michelle and Juliet xx

2010-02-08T14:03:00.000-08:00

What Women Know About . . . Mother's Wisdom

On the subject of advice from mothers:

My mother used to tell me when I was asked out by a guy that I didn't
like to go out with him anyway. "You never know who you'll meet in the
process!" she used to say! As it turned out she was right and I did marry the friend of
one of those very boyfriends!

Meeting Mr Right: She would say “you will meet him when you are least
expecting it; you will be filling up your car with petrol and look
over to the next pump and he will be standing there”. 16 happilly
married years later, I still look at the next pump every time I fill
up with petrol (don't tell my husband)!

Thanks Catherine and Suzie for sending us your mother's advice.

Please keep sending us your stories and experiences or commenting on our blog

Michelle and Juliet xx

2010-02-06T15:19:00.000-08:00

What Women Know About . . .Gratitude

It is difficult to be unhappy and grateful at the same time.

Thanks Freida for that very useful piece of wisdom. It is also very difficult to be sad if you smile. Laughter is a wonderful remedy for all sorts of ills.

I think more laughter and fun is needed everywhere - in work, at home, in our relationships and especially with our children.

Children know how to have fun - they laugh on average 380 times per day compared to adults who may only laugh 15 times on average.

What is the most positive piece of advice you have been given recently?

What have you done recently to make yourself or those around you laugh or be happy?

Let us know - we want to put it in our book or email us at michellejackson@eircom.net

Thanks!

Michelle and Juliet xx

2010-02-05T17:01:00.000-08:00

What Women Know About . . .appearance

Who cares what you look like?
I was on a wonderful weekend treat to a spa hotel with my friend. We had been released from mother and partner duties for two whole nights to lounge around and chat and eat and be pampered. It was my first time at a spa but my friends second so she used to the whole fluffy towel experience. I had come from a work meeting and then collection of my daughter and frantic packing and all I could think about was how hairy my legs were and concern whether or not I had packed a disposable razor in my bag. However on our first night we were too tired and giddy to do any major repair work so instead went straight down to dinner and drank wine for the evening. The next morning my room mate who has recently had a baby and is still in the post baby figure stage was feeling too self conscious to expose herself in her swim suit. I was more concerned about my hairy legs so had a pair of track suit bottoms underneath my fluffy towel. After breakfast we ventured into the spa area and she walked straight into a friend of hers that she hadn’t seen for years – she too was hiding under her fluffy towel.
“Oh you’ve caught me wearing my swimsuit that doesn’t fit me anymore!” she gasped to my friend. All my friend could think of was – you are a size 8 – what are you worrying about? All I could think was – you have waxed your legs – what are you complaining about? We all hid under the fluffy towels while we let the masseuse work on our feet – which we all felt were inoffensive enough to expose.
Later when we went for our walk my friend said how she felt so conscious of her weight and I realised that we are all so consumed by our own inadequacies that really nobody is interested in anyone elses. And anyone who is perfectly groomed and immaculate all of the time is wasting the effort because really we are all only thinking of ourselves! I found this liberating and later went down the spa in my swim suit and ditched the razor!

If you have a story or words or advice that you would like to share with other women and see printed in our book email us at michellejackson@eircom.net or leave a comment on this blog including your name, age and occupation.

Thanks for visiting us
Michelle and Juliet xx

2010-02-03T15:04:00.000-08:00

What Women Know About . . .

Thought for today!

On a daily basis ask yourself what do you want from life? A lot of us go around miserable saying we aren’t happy because we aren’t getting or doing what we want but in order do this you need to be very clear and ask yourself the question. Then write it down. It is a great way to bring clarity and focus to your question.
You can subdivide the questions into sections –
• Emotional needs
• Material needs
• Spiritual needs
Be honest with yourself no matter how bizarre the request.
The amazing outcome of this is that you usually already have or have access to get what you want because we all want different things.
It is also a good idea that while you write these points you also acknowledge the things that you already have that are important and fulfil your spiritual, emotional and material needs – this will help you give thanks and gratitude and help you feel content with what you already have.

2010-02-03T14:59:00.000-08:00

What Women Know About . . .
We are writing a book of empowerment for women called What Women Know.
Women have a wealth of experience and knowledge inside of them that they learn and use to help them on life’s journey and this is an opportunity to record this knowledge and share it with other women.

So what is the best bit of advice that you have ever been given that you would like to share with another woman?

We intend to dedicate a chapter to each of the following themes:
What women know about… health, love, relationships, death, work, children, money, sex, beauty, spirituality and men.
Each of these chapters will be subdivided into headings – for example the chapter on marriage will include single life, finding a man, divorcing etc…

Please send us your stories and tips here or email them to us at michellejackson@eircom.net
Thanks and we look forward to hearing from you
Michelle and Juliet xx

2010-01-31T12:00:00.000-08:00

What Women Know About . . .Love

Many thanks to one of our Facebook friends for sharing this wonderful story with us. She wishes to remain anonymous but we think she must be very proud to be able to write this story.

A true love story...
Both of my grandparents were not in the best of health, my grandfather living in a hospices dying of cancer. My gran was also staying there waiting for a place in a nursing home. It was a few days before my granddads 80th birthday and he kept saying that he was not going to be around to celebrate it, he would be meeting with St. Peter then. They decided to throw a small surprise party for him and first got my gran made over. Her hair was done, make up put on and a new dress for the occasion. She was wheeled in to his room and granddad said "My God Chrissie, you are every bit as beautiful as the day we married. And I still love you as much." As you can imagine there wasn't a dry eye in the place. That night he passed away in his sleep. After 60 years of marriage, 21 children (5 sadly passed away as babies), I've no idea of how many grand-children or great grand children there were, that had to be the most wonderful thing to hear. My gran lived for another 18 months.

If you have any advice, tips, stories or affirmations that will help other women and you are happy for us to share them in our book please email us at michellejackson@eircom.net or write a comment below.

Thanks
Michelle and Juliet xx

2010-01-30T03:47:00.000-08:00

What Women Know About . . .Women

This lovely email was sent to us from a friend on Thursday and we wanted to share it with you...Michelle and Juliet

After more than 50 years of living in this world, here is what I've learned:
THIS SAYS IT ALL:
Time passes.
Life happens.
Distance separates.
Children grow up.
Jobs come and go.
Love waxes and wanes.
Men don't do what they're supposed to do.
Hearts break.
Parents die.
Colleagues forget favors.
Careers end..
BUT.........
Sisters are there, no matter how much time and how many miles are
between you. A girl friend is never farther away than needing her
can reach.
When you have to walk that
lonesome valley and you have to walk it by yourself, the women in
your life will be on the valley's rim, cheering you on, praying for
you, pulling for you, intervening on
your behalf, and waiting with open arms at the valley's end.
Sometimes, they will even break the rules and walk beside you...Or
come in and carry you out.
Girlfriends, daughters, granddaughters, daughters-in-law, sisters,
sisters-in-law, Mothers,
Grandmothers, aunties, nieces, cousins, and extended family, all
bless our life!
The world wouldn't be the same without women, and neither would I.

Happy days!

2010-01-29T02:08:00.000-08:00

What Women Know About . . .Men and crisis!

Thanks Lesley for this lovely bit of advice -

My Mum told me very early on in life that you can't really change someone, particularly a MAN, you might just be able to influence them a weeny, teeny bit, but THATS IT ! So why has it taken me till I'm 50 to believe her?? I've also learned recently that crisis bring out qualities in people that are not always what you expected, you will certainly find out who your real friends are ( and its not always the obvious candidates..!.) and you will always find huge support and strength from unexpected quarters. That is what makes just about anything cope-able with.
Oh, and a last word from Mum, ALWAYS wear good knickers, cos you never know.....Lesley Bishop

We are gathering lots of stories and tips at the moment and sorting them all out for our book which will be on the shelves for Christmas so please get those tips and insights to us asap...Thanks Michelle and Juliet

2010-01-26T11:29:00.000-08:00

What Women Know ...about health

I was over 50 before I learned that my body is smarter than I am, knows much better what is and isn’t good for me, and responds more authentically and quickly than ever I can. However, I was several years older before I really began to listen to what it tells me.
And I don’t seem to be alone. Because more and more women are telling their stories, I am learning that many of our bodies have ways of telling us when to extend a hand, when to notice that something isn’t right for us, when to step away from a situation, when to set a boundary.
Just as there are various ways that we each have positive physical reactions when we’ve met someone’s needs without condition or been of service when it’s really needed, I’m beginning to understand that we can each have our own physical reaction to people and situations that have the potential of being toxic for us.
My body’s signal begins with a slight queasiness, which often gets worse before I consciously recognize it. Lately, I’ve gotten better at responding to the sensation early enough to do something about whatever is causing it before I’m too far into a situation to get out easily and before I’ve done myself or anyone else any real damage, for which I’m increasingly grateful.
But that hasn’t always been the case. I was 15 when I first began dating my former husband. A bit sooner than the appropriate length of time designated by our culture for such a thing, he kissed me. At the time, I was surprised that he had moved so “fast” and thought that the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach was due to his breaking the “rules.” That queasiness, however, was strong enough for me to “drop” him. Over the next six years, that scenario played out over and over again, until in the seventh year, the queasiness disappeared, I fell in love, and I married him.
Over the next 30 years, I ignored, denied, ate something, quit eating, and kept really busy in order to fight the sporadic bouts of nausea, which after five years were most often directly related to my discovering yet another one of his affairs. Looking back on that part of my life now, I can see that if I had been willing to put all those occurrences together rather than package them up individually and shelve them away where I wouldn’t have to deal with them, I would have learned to listen to my body way before my 50th year.
I now see the queasiness as my body telling me that I was about to be knocked away from my centre onto uneven, unstable ground where I wouldn’t be able to keep my balance, that my instability and vulnerability would bring on nausea as the toxicity of the situation got worse and worse.
For a close relative of mine, her body’s early warning system is a lump forming in her throat; for one friend, it’s a headache caused by a muscle tightening in her left shoulder; for another, a cold sore on her lip. Of course, there are physiological explanations for all of our reactions and ways of treating them medically and psychologically. What I know is that it is important for me to trust that my body will tell me when I need to pay attention, to recognize the message quickly, and to work with my body to overcome, eliminate, or avoid whatever is causing the reaction.
I am incredibly grateful to be working in an environment that often gives me an opportunity to practice what I’ve learned and hopefully to continue to get better and better at walking the walk. Sue Booth Forbes

2010-01-22T15:29:00.000-08:00

What women know about Time

Time seems to go quicker the older you get because each year that passes is proportionally a shorter part of your life than the last – my maths teacher explained to me that when I was ten one year was a tenth and when I reached twenty it would be a twentieth which is a significantly smaller portion. It made great sense to me and since then I haven’t batted an eyelid at the speedy passing of the years as they are all of exactly the same length as they were when I was a child – it’s just my perception that has changed.

How to make time?

Nobody knows better than a woman how to juggle the hours in the day – the key is to prioritise – it used to take me six months to write a novel when I was working full time – now that I am writing full time it still takes me six months – I just have filled the time that I used to spend working with other things!

After giving birth the thing that struck me the most was – what did I do with my time? If only I could have that time back I would appreciate every moment and do all of those courses and visit all of those places that I couldn’t do now that I had the responsibility and commitment of an offspring. Of course we need to experience the loss of time to appreciate how precious that is – also with that new realisation you need to relish the precious time you are given with a the wonder of a small baby – time moves fast for them too and before you know it they will be crawling and walking and running out the door!

What's your view on time - dont forget to post us your stories and opinions or email them to michellejackson@eircom.net

love Michelle and juliet xx

2010-01-20T14:10:00.000-08:00

What Women Know About . . .The Universe

“You are the centre of your universe.” Nobody else in the entire world knows how it feels to be you. You are unique and your perception of a given situation is completely different to everyone else’s. If you ever find yourself stuck in a train at rush hour maybe look around and watch the body language of your fellow passengers. Each and every person will have a different perception of the experience. Some may be anxious because they need to get home to relieve childcare – others because they have a date. Some might be happy not to be home at all after having a row with their partner before leaving that morning. Those sitting down are comfortable – those standing up might want a seat. Life is a journey and it is all about how we perceive it. So why not hop aboard and enjoy the ride!

On a lighter topic a peri menopausal friend of mine who has turned 43 turned to me last week and announced...
"I had a period last week - I really enjoyed it!"
There is hope for us all!!!

Please keep the question in mind - What is the best piece of advice you have ever received that you would like to pass onto other women?

you can email to us at michellejackson@eircom.net or post on this blog

Lots of love

Michelle and Juliet xx

2010-01-19T14:45:00.000-08:00

What Women Know . . .if you were to give one piece of advice to another woman what would it be?

The posts are coming in fast now and looking really good - I got some beautiful stories today - two in a coffee shop!
"Always maintain your independence!" was Janet's advice - a very clever artist

We also received this inspirational story from Emily - take a look

Just over a month ago I was getting very down on myself for having been single for so long – at the age of 24 I’ve been single for nearly 4 years and am constantly surrounded by couples, I never seemed to meet anyone and if I did they’d end up being the same loser bloke who only wanted one thing. If someone was to ask me “Why have you been single for so long?” my answer would have been “because guys aren’t
interested in me / I have no luck with men / I’m just not attractive
to the opposite sex”. Recently I spent three weeks in Thailand
travelling with a friend – it was a complete eye opener – an amazing
experience – I gained the confidence to speak to everyone I met, made
lots of friends and learned to not be shy with the opposite sex -
people liked me because I was friendly, open to new experiences and
approachable. One of the guys I made friends with had feelings for me
– although he didn’t tell me directly, but I chose not to act upon it
because I was having such a good time and didn’t want to break the
dynamic of the group – he asked me “So tell me, why have you been
single for so long?” And then it hit me – here I was with a guy I
liked but didn’t want to evolve our friendship any further than it was
because I was enjoying my time with him as it stood, and I answered
“You know what? It’s because I chose to be. I haven’t found anyone
I’ve wanted to share my life pattern with enough to undergo a
relationship, I’m perfectly happy in my own company and until the
right one comes along I’m happy to stay that way for as long as it
takes.”

The thing I hadn’t realised was that you make a lot more decisions
when it comes to relationships than you think you do – it’s just
convention that leads you to believe otherwise. And if you have been
single for a while and think you’re unattractive and not approachable
– think again, it’s quite the opposite – you are in fact a strong,
stable, independent person who is so happy with themselves that they’d
rather be by themselves than settle for something second rate.

Another saying I think is definitely worth mentioning – something my friend always tells me:

We’re here for a good time, not for a long time. - so never waste an
opportunity!!!!

Hope that helps

Emily, 24, just starting her life

2010-01-18T15:57:00.000-08:00

What Women Know About Teenagers . . .There is an anthropological reason why your children become so awful when they become teenagers – it is so that you are willing to let them go and they can love someone else.
- anyone else agree?

we have a list of ten themes that we are going to write about in our book and everything in life can fit into one of them so if you can answer....

What is the best piece of advice that you can give to another woman?

then you have a contribution for our book - which looks like it will be out for christmas ladies so send those stories in asap

thanks Michelle and Juliet

2010-01-17T08:19:00.000-08:00

What Women Know

Every woman has a story that will inspire others. Every woman has got a piece of advice that will solve a problem for millions of other women. You’ve probably got a piece of knowledge that you’d just love to share with all the woman in the world because you know what a difference it would make to all those other women if only they knew what you know now!

This is what this book is for and so that’s why we’re writing to you, to ask you to think of the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given as a woman.

If you’ve got a story that you think will inspire others, something that gave you a new understanding of the world, a story that you know will inspire or empower others, please send us that. Make it as short as possible, just a few sentences is enough.

Or just send us an affirmation – something important you believe, something you want others to know.

For example: One of my own personal affirmations is based on my experience working in a hospital, caring for elderly women dying of cancer. I noticed that every time someone is coming near to death, they seem to want very few possessions around them. They start to like the room uncluttered, they try to “let go” of baggage and trappings. Lots of women spend their whole lives working really hard and giving up a lot of fun to pay for pension plans, stocks and shares, adding “investments” to their lives. You can spend you whole life worrying about your bank balance. But what I know about life (and what I’m always telling other women who worry about money!) is this:

The day you die, you don’t want to look at our bank balance. You want to look at your photographs.

My “best piece of advice” is this:

I was going in to school to sit my Leaving Cert, a bag of nerves, and my mother said to me as I left the house, knowing that I really wasn’t properly prepared for the exam: “The most important thing is that you look nice.”

At first I thought that she was being trite – but actually she was right. When the chips are down, there’s often not a lot you can do about a situation if you aren’t prepared for it, if your luck is against you, if you’re out of your depth. But if you look nice, you feel good, you have more confidence and people tend to smile more at you – so you’re already winning.

We hope this gives you an idea of the sort of contributions we’re looking for and so we’d really love you to join in.

Or just email to us!

We want to acknowledge all contributions so let us know how you’d like to be identified in the book. We’re suggesting something like,

Jackie, 72, doctor.

Or Jennifer, 45, teacher.

Thankyou!!!

Really hope to hear from you. This is such an exciting project and we've had such brilliant stories already we feel that this is going to be a fun book.

Lots of love from

Juliet and Michelle X

2010-01-11T09:24:00.000-08:00

What Women Know Questionnaire

Calling all the ladies – please take time to look over this and give your wisdom to help other women….below are a list of topics that we feel are important to women. Please look over the list and put down in the coment box or email any gems of knowledge that you are willing to share with other women in the form of a short story, joke or affirmation relating to this list.

You may wish to remain anonymous or you may wish to put your name to your quote or story. The option is yours and thank you for contributing – together we will build a book of positivity that will go on to help other women.

Many thanks in anticipation – Juliet Bressan and Michelle Jackson

We are also contactable on the following sites and addresses
www.michellejackson.ie or www.julietbressan.com
michellejackson@eircom.net

Ageing and Alcohol, Acceptance - Breasts and babies
Counselling and children and coffee - Dreaming and Depression and Divorce
Energy and Exercise and engagement and education - Food, Fun, Friendship - Gestation, God and gossip - Health, Heart and home. Intelligence - Joy and jewellery and juggling and juicing - Kissing
Love and laughter - Money, Meditation and Marriage - Normal, nature and nudity and nesting - Optimism, Osteoporosis, Orgasms - Pain, Passion and Patience - Quality of life and Quarralling
Reiki, relationships and relaxation - Sex and Sunshine and skin. Teenagers and time - Universe and Unique - Vaccination and vagina and vaccuming and vanity and valentines - Winter and work and weddings - Xray and Xpertise - Yoga, yoyo and yummy mummy - Z is for zzzzzzzzzzSleep

Your name:

Your occupation:

Age: (entirely optional!)

Story or affirmation to be attached: please be as funny, sad, wise, honest or knowledgeable as you can be!

What Women Know . . . about Friendship

2009-11-07T05:36:00.000-08:00

I had an operation recently that got complicated. A wound infection – something I’d not anticipated, and its effects were far worse than any fear or deformity I’d been left with as a result of the Op. Being a doctor doesn’t always help, when you’re actually ill. I tend to get very introspective, feel like a failure, and become deeply depressed, take to the bed and feel desperately sorry for myself. For several weeks, I didn’t want to talk about my operation to my friends. I didn’t want them to know that I’d been ill. I didn’t want to appear week. No fun. Old. Pathetic. Frail. Disabled. All the stuff I dread. Denial was the way to proceed, I decided. Even my closest friends were excluded from knowing what was wrong.
People started asking questions, naturally. Where’ve you been? Why haven’t you answered my calls? Why aren’t you coming out? When can we meet in town? Why has it been so long since we’ve had lunch? Interestingly, my male friends were more likely to be taken into my confidence than my female friends. I told one male friend who called, that I’d had an operation and was a bit under the weather, and asked him to teach a few classes I had to teach. He never asked me what was wrong, or how I was feeling, but just said he was happy to step in and that was the end of that. I was relieved. He had respected my privacy. I admired him tremendously for not asking me for any more information about my health.
Another male friend phoned and asked me to lunch. I declined, saying I’d just had a little operation and wasn’t feeling well. He sighed, and then asked, “Does this mean I have to come around to your house and bring you grapes?” I shuddered and told him that grapes were the last thing I wanted to see – my husband had filled the hospital ward with them every day while I was in. “He turned it into a grape-crisis centre then?” my lovely male friend quipped, making me roar with laughter, and with that we changed the subject and agreed to meet next month for lunch. I was relieved and grateful for his lack of interest in my health, and the fact that he turned it into a joke.
My female friends were so much harder to fend off. They persisted in asking why I hadn’t confided more in them. Why was I so insistent on keeping things to myself? Didn’t I want them to help? Couldn’t I see that they wanted to do something for me? I felt intensely irritated. Interfered with. More and more depressed. But my wound infection did not heal.
Eventually, one very dear friend whom I hardly ever see ( she’s very busy) phoned me up, and when she discovered that I’d been ill, completely ignored my request to be left alone and turned up half an hour later with cakes and flowers. I was dreading having to see her. I was exhausted. All I wanted to do was crawl back into bed. The house was filthy. The washing-up hadn’t been done. I had nothing in the house to offer her to eat. My friend and I sat in a cold, uninviting kitchen and chatted about very little. I was my usual reticent self about my operation, and she respected this, offering sympathy and optimism, but mostly offering company. I didn’t bother unwrapping the flowers, thinking that she could have saved me a job by not bringing something into the house that would now require me to seek out a vase and clip their stems.
But I felt an awful lot better when she’d left. It was as if I’d had a sort of injection of energy. I clipped the flowers the next day and put them in a vase. I got dressed for the first time in two weeks and went to see a movie. My wound infection looked as though it was beginning to heal. About time, I thought, thinking that at long last, perhaps the corner had been turned.
The next day I stayed in bed, feeling exhausted, cursing my friend for having tired me out so much. But then, another phone call from a life-long friend whom I hardly ever see. She and I hardly ever see each other and I’ve often grumbled to her in the past that she’s far too busy for me. So, when she turned up at my house and sat in my kitchen, I could only feel pleased. The next two hours passed very pleasantly, and at one stage, filling the kettle for the second time, I turned to her and said, “do you know, I feel very happy now?”
My wound looked an awful lot better that night. Another few days passed with no social contacts, no friends, just me and my husband (who’s been an absolute saint). But the wound stalled again in its progress.
Then, I stumbled across an article published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons found that recovery from a major operation, including a reduction in the level of pain felt by patients, can be improved by having friends. Patients with more friends, even fairly casual social contacts, were more likely to recover quickly after major surgery. Friendship heals wounds. It’s not just a metaphor – it’s actually true.
I love it when science proves something that seems so simple that a child could have thought it up, and yet as humans we’ve been so slow to figure it out. I guess that with MRSA and the threat of hospital-acquired infection, visitors to hospitals are being restricted to family only and this means curtailing friends. But on the upside, people are being discharged home earlier and this is where real friendships can take place.
Interestingly the surgeons didn’t find that the presence of a spouse, children or families are what helps healing – and this makes sense to me. A good spouse is a blessing – but lots of women find that their role in a marriage or a relationship with a man is as the one who heals and nurtures, rather than the recipient of healing. And the same goes for kids and parents. Female friends clearly have a unique and important role in healing – and the American College of Surgeons don’t get stuff like that wrong.

What Women Know About . . . Passion, Creativity, and feeling the fear

2009-09-26T10:53:00.000-07:00

What Women Know About . . .passion! And about feeling the fear . . .
This blog is being written so that we can compile a book about what women know, a collection of women's wisdom and stories. So we want your comments, we want you to join in. Click the comment's icon underneath and send us your stories. Your affirmations. Tell us what you know.

I’ve been thinking a lot about passion and creativity. Ever since my publisher asked me, “Are you actually mad, or are you just eccentric?” Naturally, I told her I was merely eccentric and she looked very relieved. But now she has me wondering, because I’m not really in the slightest bit eccentric, I’m actually very ordinary. I just said that off the top of my head because it seemed like the most suitable answer and the least likely to alarm her. Which has me thinking about lying. Because we lie all the time in medicine, in business, in politics, in life. We even lie in love. Are you cross with me? my husband asks me on a regular basis, and I lie. Every time. Because the truth – yes, you are driving me mad! – the truth hurts.

It doesn’t hurt the person it’s directed at, because, let’s face it, most people might sulk for five minutes if you’re honest with them – yes your bum does look massive in that – but they get over it and ultimately they thank you for it. The truth hurts oneself. You don’t say in a job interview, “I’m only here because I’m desperate and I’m getting out of this job the minute something better comes up”, because you won’t hurt the feelings of the interview panel, in fact they’ll benefit from your honesty. You’ll hurt yourself by finding yourself on the dole queue.

Self-interest is the main reason people lie. Companies bend the truth about products because they can’t bring themselves to admit defeat. Doctors lie to patients because we can’t bear to admit how useless we feel. Patients lie to doctors – I hardly eat a thing doctor, I’m just big-boned/congenitally enormous/an optical illusion – because they can’t bear the shame of having made themselves ill.

The worst thing about lying isn’t that it’s immoral, it’s that it’s exhausting. We lie because we need to see ourselves as better, more interesting people than we actually are. And yet, so often the reason we can't change into the people we want to be is because we are afraid.

People who don’t have a passion in their lives will often lie about themselves in order to promote self-belief. But people who are being truly creative in their lives – artists, actors, poets, musicians, athletes – and who are passionate about something other than themselves, are much more likely to be happy with the truth. And so I’ve increasingly found myself asking myself, why this is? Why is it that having a creative life, a life where we are following out passions, leaves us at liberty to be more honest with ourselves?

I don’t know how often I’ve met people who’ll say, “I’d love to do X,Y and Z, if only I had the time. . . I’d love to paint if only I had the time . . . I’d love to write if only I had the time.” These are people who then spend a great deal of time doing all sorts of other things. Watching creative people on television doing the things they think they’d like to do, working in jobs they hate to pay for things they don’t need, chauffeuring their children round and round the neighbourhood so that they can be creative instead. I keep meeting women who’ve forgotten how wonderful it is to dance, because they spend hours driving their kids to dance class. Who’ve forgotten how much fun it is to sing or play an instrument, because they’ve spent so much time nagging their kids to practice the piano.

This generation of children, in the Western educated world, will be the most over-protected generation of children in history. So many parents in city suburbs feel that they can’t let their children play unsupervised, take a bus alone, use the Internet without a parent over-seeing it. And this is quite reasonable, because they feel afraid. All of this child-monitoring is time-consuming. And it stifles creativity. We can’t make anything beautiful if all of our energies are being poured into merely observing the creativities of others. And then I also wonder, what this generation will be like when they become adults? What will a generation of adults be like, if they have never been allowed to feel danger, to experience fear, had to fend off bullies?

Everyone feels that it’s important to be honest. We expect honesty from politicians and we rarely get it, so we increasingly view politics with a mixture of apathy, cynicism and contempt. But at the same time, we want leadership. We don’t want to feel like kids, who have to ask permission to use the Internet. We want to feel we have the power to make our own minds up – and yet, we are training our children to do the opposite, all the time.

The problem is that most parents are more strongly motivated by fear, than by desire for truth.

When my daughter was twelve, she entered a drama competition. She was quite good, and was in the running to be in the top three when the adjudicators had added up the marks. But there was one other girl who was spectacular. She stood out miles. She was a wonderful performer, she had amazing stage presence, she was a natural actor. During a break between acts, I got chatting to her mum in the loos – a nurse I knew through work. She and I talked about what our two girls planned to do at university. I told her that the only thing my daughter was excited about at the time was acting. To which she replied, “And are you going to allow her to do that?”

“Of course,” I replied. I was just thrilled that she’d found something she loved to do. The other thing was that I felt that I had come from a generation in which jobs, careers, money, status, permanency and pensions were all our parents cared about, and that had stifled my creativity and made me very unhappy as I'd never felt I could succeed. I’d wished I’d been “allowed” to study something that I’d been passionate about, rather than something that was intended to “lead to a good job.” So, I was pleased to be able to give my daughter that chance. This woman then burst into tears. She admitted that she was just afraid for her daughter. She couldn’t overcome the barrier she felt, when she thought about acting as a profession. It was all about poverty, missed auditions, working as a waitress in between low-paid parts. It was all about failure.

Perhaps this woman was being very realistic. But I felt terribly sad for her. She wanted her daughter to succeed so badly, that she was afraid of her daughter’s talents. Her daughter’s passion wasn’t making her happy – it was making her feel afraid. Her daughter’s wonderful gifts weren’t gifts to her at all – they were disadvantages.

I met this woman many years later – both our daughters are at university now. And my daughter isn’t studying drama at all! But she has a very lovely life. And I do fear she’ll never be financially independent.I fear I'll be supporting her forever! But I don’t ever fear she’ll fail. And the other woman’s daughter is studying medicine now. I often think of her and hope she’s happy. I hope she feels passionate about it too.

I also think she’s probably had to really change.

What Women Know About Creativity

2009-09-25T02:09:00.001-07:00

What Women Know About . . .Creativity

Creativity is what being a woman is all about. Survival may keep you alive but to be creative is the essence of intelligence. Sometimes women can forget that we are the creators of the species. There is is no substitute for the human womb and the life that we can give!

By nature of our birth women have wider cortex at the base of the brain and this allows us certain gifts such as multi-tasking which were particularly useful during prehistoric times when the women had to fend of attackers from the family their men were out hunting. And even today, the wider corpus callosum in women's brains give us super-powers. Think of a busy woman answering the phone while stirring the Bolognese and fixing a toy for her child – after doing a busy day in the office. She probably has to tell her husband where the butter is in the fridge while it is straight in front of him at the same time too!

Anyone who's done a creative writing class, been to art college, medical school, been to the theatre or stood for five minutes in a library or bookshop will see the evidence of women's creative minds. But why aren't women rising to the top in politics, business and the media? Why are we holding back? At the moment, the G20 are meeting in the US to try to put pressure on the world's banks to stop paying out such big bonuses, because the world's economy is in ruins. . . but where are the creative ideas for change?

What we know is that creative women are stronger. Creative women make greater efforts with relationships. And creative women have greater happiness than women who aren't exploring the creative minds that nature gave them.

What Women Know . . . about age

2009-09-20T04:44:00.000-07:00

What Women Know . . . about age

This blog is being compiled in order to create a book of wisdom, written by women for women. . . so please contribute! Click the comment icon, or post an email, and don't forget to tell us who you are, a first name, age and what you do, so that all contributions to our book can be acknowledged!

When compiling topics for discussion on this blog I asked a woman who is in her mid-thirties, what was a topic that concerned her? This woman is beautiful – she has adorable children and a husband who loves her and provides very well for her keeping her in a comfortable home with many luxuries most would only dream of. So when she told me that an area that she was concerned about was aging, I was a bit taken aback. Surely with so much going for this woman she would have the confidence to grow old gracefully and enjoy the wisdom that comes with it. Then it struck me that if she was feeling this way, how do other women feel about aging?
I asked a single woman who is slightly older than the other woman and a psychologist by profession the same question and she was quick to tell me that she felt an area that needed addressing was age. However for a very different reason to the first woman. She started to tell me about her grandmother and the knowledge and sense that she spoke and how she had helped her when she found herself confronted by difficulties. She said that the older woman had a groundedness and was earthed in a way that younger women are lacking. She often had the answers to problems she encountered and a way of dealing with them that she lacked for all her learning. I wanted to applaud and shout from the rooftops for old age because to reach old age it means that we take experience and learning with us. This knowledge gives us an insight into our abilities and creativity as a sex. To fear aging is to fear life itself – for with the demise of the outer shell comes a greater insight. As the layers of superficial importance of unblemished skin and flowing hair disappear under the middle age spread and greying temples – so too comes the wisdom to see that those who value you for your looks and youth are not worth the importance they may have been given.

By the way, my mother’s advice when asked about aging was to always wear a hat in the sun – as she pointed to the lines on her face!

What Women Know . . . About Education

2009-09-18T04:20:00.001-07:00

What Women Know… about Education

Most educators in the western world are women. But as the systems have developed, creativity is seldom encouraged or helped to blossom. Children are told to remember facts and figures that they could just as easily discover with a laptop connected to the internet. But the way we learn and what we should be learning is changing all the time. The economic system is failing. We need to have new ideas about what to educate future generations for. We need to become problem solvers and creative thinkers, instead of swallowing up facts to regurgitate them back in an exam.
What we are learning is also an area for concern. There is a hierarchy of subjects that generally puts mathematics and English at the top of the pyramid followed closely by the sciences and further down the scale are modern languages and technologies – with sport and the arts at the back of the pack. Even within the arts there is another hierarchy, with music and visual arts at the top, followed by dance and at the very bottom there is drama.
This is interesting as most young children enjoy dancing, singing, acting and painting as much as playing with a ball and other sporting activities. And yet, society approves of dramatists, rewards actors, venerates film stars. We tend to start to teach our young people to use their heads more than their bodies from a very young age and in turn knock the creativity out of them. Despite the increase in college degrees and post-graduate degrees, the vocational school system is diminishing. Previously this catered for a huge section of society, without any need for masters degrees. It is now de rigueur to be academic to get a good job – to be super-specialized, to become an "expert." What is missing in the whole equation is the calculation of the cost of an education of the individual.
This is the story of a young girl who was having difficulty sitting still in class in 1930’s Britain. She was brought to a specialist who interviewed the girl and her mother. The specialist examined her, to see what was wrong with her behaviour. He then asked her mother to accompany him outside his rooms and put the radio on as they left. He asked her mother to join him as they then watched her daughter dance around his office to the music on the radio. What the doctor told her mother was that there was nothing wrong with her daughter but that she was merely a dancer. She thought and spoke through the movements in dance and he advised her to take her to dance school at once.
The little girl went to dance school, and discovered that it was full of other children just like her. Children who couldn't sit still.
That little girl is today in her eighties, her name is Gillian Lynne and has had a hugely successful career as one of Britain's greatest dancers. She went on to dance with the Saddlers Wells ballet school and was a dancer in major productions throughout her career – she teamed up with Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber and choreographed the hit musicals Cats and Phantom of the Opera. She is a multi millionaire who has given thousands of hours of enjoyment to millions of people – all because her brilliance was recognised and she wasn’t put on a dose of Ritalin and told to sit in the corner and learn her algebra.
Michelle, 40, Art-teacher.

The world has more inspiring stories like this about amazing women who have shown us how we can live and we would love your feedback on this story. If you have one similar about yourself or someone that you know or even just a story you have heard about someone who's journey has inspired or moved you, we would love you to tell us on this blog.

Click the comment icon and send in or email in a post. . . . and don't forget to sign it! We'd love to know your first name, age and what you do, so that we can use all these stories and affirmations to make a book out of this blog, and to acknowledge all contributions.

2009-09-09T12:41:00.000-07:00

Women's Wisdom is Everywhere

2009-09-09T03:16:00.000-07:00

In September 2009 we decided to make this unique collection of women's wisdom into a blog so that women everywhere could contribute. Women have important power, deep levels of knowledge and vital wisdom and we need to share this knowledge with the world. Trouble is, that we're so busy working, creating, nurturing, leading, healing and empowering others that we often forget to sit down and listen to ourselves!

Most of what we learn as humans is through story-telling. All the world religions and mythologies rely on stories to tell us what we need to know about life, humanity, morality, death, philosophy, ways of being. We learn about how to solve life's dilemmas from reading novels, watching movies, following soap-operas, listening to human interest stories on day-time-TV because seeing what happens to stories is a powerful way of figuring out what works and what doesn't.

Women are problem solvers. We listen. We learn. And we figure out what to do.

Women use other women – our mothers, sisters, daughters, girlfriends. We reach out to each other when we need help. We meet in groups, around water coolers, in book clubs, restaurants, beauty salons, board rooms, operating theatres, staff rooms – and we lean on one another every day for a source of wisdom and support.

Imagine having all the women in the world to lean on when you need advice! Imagine the fountain of wisdom you can tap into if you can "water-cooler-chat" with women from all over the world. . . . . imagine the fun you'd have if you could count on having your girlfriends with you all the time to solve your problems with you!

That's what this website is for. We want you to contribute your thoughts, dreams, aspirations, wisdom, knowledge, affirmations, beliefs, values, and your unique understanding of the world so that other women can lean on your and count on your knowledge and support. Tell us what you know. Tell your unique story to women everywhere. And What Women Know will become a part of your unique voice throughout the world