Hi, Boomers,
I’ve embarked on another journey in my short but lively speaking career. And anyway, who starts a speaking career at the grand old age of 68? Nuts, right?
But before I begin to digress on my digression, I want to express my distress for the fact that you never got to read my last blog. Somehow, the universe swallowed it up and thew it out and I hope someone in the atmosphere got to read it. It was about “don’t make resolutions; make daily intentions.” You see, I’m not a big believer in resolutions, as in “I’m not going to have another cigarette for the rest of the year!. Period. Never.” Yeah, right. Like, I’m not going to bum a cigarette at a party when there is someone taking a puff while I’m having a glass of wine. Hey, I can do that. I went to Berkeley in the 60s; I was a hippie one or sort of a hippie in the 70s. And I don’t want to give up everything, not even sex. So making daily intentions, as in, I’m going to practice yoga today and then I’m going to spend 10 minutes meditating at the end of the day is smoking – no pun intended – good. I’m going to give gratitude every day and that is for sure going to bring me abundance in my life.
Okay, back to my speaking career. If you’ve looked at this website, you will see two new speeches added (hence, the obvious lack of time for blogging). The speech that is near and dear to my heart at this moment is the one about “empowering the new woman.” In preparation for this speech, I have been interviewing women whenever I can to discover their feelings and attitudes about being a woman in 2012 – in the workplace, at home, single, married. Last Wednesday, I gave my speech to a group of female scientists and researchers as they gathered on campus at UCLA. Most of the ladies graduated from UCLA, worked there, or worked in the private sector. Some were out of a job and looking. This is a networking group who empower themselves by giving to each other.
I discovered that the new woman is ready to redefine success, happiness, spiritual integrity, marriage and family and singledom with a renewed sense of enthusiasm and knowledge. What fun it was to speak to them about getting the life they want and deserve as they grow older. The average age of these women was 35 years old. But they were anxious to see what kind of future lay ahead in terms of equality and abundance.
The beautiful yogi who asked me to speak to her group was interested in the concept of feminism and how it impacted women today – if it even impacted women today. My research on the topic of the women’s movement and feminism produced an idea that feminism can be redefined today and that, perhaps, we have entered a post-post feminist era where we no longer have to be concerned with scarcity (those thing we don’t have available to us ) and focus on our abundance (things we do possess and enjoy).
Okay, so it isn’t a perfect world out there. We have subtle forms of sexism and discrimination in some institutions (interestingly enough, it is the universities that are one of the strongest places where males flex their biceps); there is still sexual harassment perpetuated by unconscious men looking for action; and globally, woman’s rights are non existent in some African and Asian countries. And we still objectify women in movies. Women are still paid less than they are worth in the U.S. and Western Europe. But the times, they are a’changing. If women only look at the negative as an impediment and not see the many options as abundance, women will loose the opportunity for choice, strength and passion in their lives.
My speech coach said something profound to me when we were discussing this women’s speech. He said we were born into dependence -our childhood; we strove for dependence in adolescence and young adulthood; and as full adults we need to focus on interdependence as a way to get our needs and desires fulfilled and live joyful and productive lives. This is the future for the newly empowered woman.
Things to think about as we hang out in the universe.
Namaste,
Joan