Empowerment 101

This Friday I had the privilege of going to a conference at the university where I work. It was sponsored by our Women's Network and was comprised of women from our university and those from other colleges in the state.

Let me stop you before your roll your eyes at the thought of going to one of these conferences. I'll just tell you up front it was quite a blessing for me to be there and I know my boss' invitation to go was no mistake. God wanted me to be there to here the many messages that the two female speakers delivered. Dr. R. Barbara Gienstein, the President of The College of New Jersey and Kirstin Carey, Founder of Orange Tree Consulting, had quite a few things about empowerment that I really needed to hear.

Speaking to the ladies for a minute here, it's a fact that we often operate our lives at a lower standard than we could and I am just as guilty as the rest of us. And there are a lot of reasons why we aren't up to our full potential. I know for one, I am always tired because of a under active thyroid and I am sure so many of you can relate (guys too!) with your own health issues. Add to the equation a job that may keep you stressed, kids whose needs never seem to stop, and just too many darn things in life to accomplish! Of course we are having a tough time succeeding.

Thankfully the two women speakers made several wonderful points to help me and the rest of the audience from drowning in self-pity. Want to know how to empower yourself? Here are a few suggestions (and these apply to you too guys!):

• Stop talking negative to yourself. If you tell yourself you are going to fail, you are.


• Give a firm handshake when you shake some one's hand. They'll have more confidence in their dealings with you.


• Keep the right company for social activities. Associate with people who going to build you up, not bring you down.


• On a professional level, encircle yourself with others who are like-minded and are willing to help when needed.


• Continually commit to bettering yourself even if progress takes a long time.

I bet we can name many other things that will help us hold our head high or empower us as they say. We'll probably visit this again in another post. For now, let's just be thankful for these reminders and that God placed these two wonderful women in front of me to encourage me to better myself and to be able to write about it to encourage you to do the same.

Wishing you "Blessings from Above,"
Denise