Dear Lovely Woman, Last week, as a part of International Woman’s Day, I reposted a couple versions of a familiar statement on my Facebook page. The first: “Behind every successful woman is another woman.†For many, I’m sure the word ‘man’ could be inserted to make it an equally true statement. The second one states, “Behind every successful woman is herself.†[…]
Do Your Peeps Give You Confidence? Read More »
Dear Beauty, Have children’s books ever clarified your thinking? I love the ones where a lesson is skillfully embedded into a simple story. Today I’m thinking of the beloved book, The Blind Men and the Elephant. You may remember, these six men each touched one part of the elephant and were completely confident that their limited
Self-Worth Lessons from the Blind Men and An Elephant Read More »
Dear Beauty, I wrote this blog a while ago, and in light of what’s going on in our country this July of 2020, let’s revisit its relevancy: I don’t know about you, but every once in a while I face a situation where I can’t see my way through. It feels like being in the
Waves of Hope Move You Forward Read More »
Hello Earthly Woman, Recently, a friend sent me a wonderful prayer that has become a part of my daily meditation ritual. The prayer honors the feminine nature of God, something  lacking in the traditional Christian culture. It seems to me it is time to honor the feminine along with the masculine in every aspect of
A Prayer to Our Loving Mother Earth Read More »
Hello Strong Woman! This week, I’ve been thinking about the benefits of knowing the backstory of strong and powerful women. The world can be a scary place, and hearing the stories of other women who have survived challenges, and then thrived, inspires me. I feel as if somehow we are walking hand in hand through the
Why Do I Need to Know Your BackStory? Read More »
Happy New Year Lovely, Ready or not, January is here again and our journey into 2017 begins. Since my name is Jan (shortened from Janice many years ago because I always thought Janice sounded like somebody’s mother), I feel like everyone’s talking about me when they use this abbreviation. However Jan./January was actually named after
Hello There, January! Read More »
Dear Gifted Woman, This is truly the Season of Giving. Our escalated motivation for giving might comes from the millions of twinkling lights we see around us, or memories evoked from hearing traditional holiday music, the gift of the Christ child, or maybe through Santa’s magical way of giving us what we want. No matter what is true for you, it’s a
The Magic Giving Circle Read More »
Dear Wonderful Woman, Women know friendship. I bet you have at least one special friend you run to whenever you need to process the world during times when life seems to be spinning out of control. It’s like a healing balm for gray days. It’s helpful to sit with a friend and a cup of coffee (or with a
Your New Story-New Perspective Read More »
Dear Wise Woman, Today’s guest writer is someone I have admired for a long time. Carol and I were in the same cadre at Prairiewoods (a Franciscan Retreat Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa) as we worked to get our masters degrees in servant-leadership. She’s is a retired bank examiner and now, among other hobbies, a
Finding Yourself in the Swamp-Carol’s Voice Read More »
