Say, “I am empowered!”.  No, no.  Say it out loud.  “I am empowered!”  You said it, right?  How does it feel?

Does it roll off your tongue easily and with conviction or …

Does it sort of get stuck and you feel kind of small or in some way it just doesn’t feel right to you?

If you are one of the many women who is living your life fully empowered, I applaud you!  What I am about to share could still impact your life.  However, I woke up very early this morning with a message on my heart for so many of the women I know (many followers of The Wonder Woman Challenge) who do NOT feel empowered or could at least live from a more empowered place.  In either case, read on.

“I am empowered!”

If you are not living empowered you are living power-less.  As women we so often give our power away leaving us in a very stuck place in life, which in the end leaves us with not as many options as we would like and often need.

It is very uncomfortable and down right depressing to wake up one day realizing that, as a woman, you have no choices in life or at best very few.

On the surface The Wonder Woman Challenge can look like a fun and fluff program, but in reality it is a program to teach us about who we really are, to love ourselves, becoming more authentic, finding our joy, AND living empowered.

Say it again, “I am empowered!”

Are you really?  Do you want to be?  Have you had enough living without the choices in life that you desire and need?  Have you had enough living power-less?

Have you had enough sitting in the backseat of YOUR life?  Yes?  Then you are ONE decision away from hopping in the front seat of your life to live more empowered.

What do I mean?

I am taking my own personal Wonder Woman Challenge to a whole new never before level, a bootcamp per se and I’m opening it up to you, my readers, to join me.

With God as my pilot and me as the co-pilot, I am stepping up (within my own authenticity) into courage to say, “I have had enough sitting in the backseat of my life living a power-less existence!”

“I AM empowered!”

The Wonder Woman Challenge Bootcamp will dramatically change our lives, yours and mine.  Along with creating more love and joy in our lives, we are going to:

• improve our health – what would that look like for you? Weight loss? A  more fit body?  Less dis-ease?

• improve our finances – what would that look like for you? If you don’t already, what would it be like to have your own money to do with as you please? What if you could impact your food budget?  What if you could have affordable maybe even free transportation?  What if you could save money?  What if you could lessen your family’s financial burden even in a small way?  And for some, what if you could put food on the table for your children?!  (There are lots of single mom’s out there super struggling having to “shop” at food banks.)

I am saying, yes, to truly living an empowered life The Wonder Woman Challenge way from a place of self-love, self-care, self-nurture! And as I am impacting my life, I will be impacting the lives of others and you can too!

The Wonder Woman Challenge Bootcamp – “I am empowered”!

I know but I know that this message resonates with a certain group of women who are hand picked for this kind of bootcamp.  Let’s find out if you are part of that group.  I sure hope so!  Email me at:

wonderwoman@shileennixon.com (subject line: TWWC Bootcamp)

Letting love flow,

Shileen

You ARE a beautiful phenomenal woman! Step into and embrace ALL of who you are … because YOU are woman!!

What does this video stir inside of you? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment below.

The purpose of The Wonder Woman Challenge is to fill yourself up with love so that you can give love to others from your overflow.  That way you are giving from a place of abundance rather than one of lack.  Holidays like Valentine’s Day is no different.

One way we fill ourselves with love is to be creative, in whatever way that fits us.  I love to be creative.  It motivates and inspires me not just in the realm for what I am creating, but also spills over into other areas of my life.

Well, for Valentine’s Day my crafty creative bent came out to play.  Oh my!  When the inspiration hit there was no stopping me … all h#@@ broke loose in my house until I had all the supplies and, of course, that meant staying up late.  It was SO much fun and even more more fun giving my homemade Valentines and treats as gifts.

Below are the promised pictures and information for my projects that many asked for on Facebook.  I hope that you become inspired to create something … anything!  Something that takes you away from the mundane.  Something that takes your head out of your to do list.  Something that lets you play again like a child!  Something that will fill your heart and spirit with love!

Love Notes

This is not the greatest picture but this is so cute.  This was a gift for my son’s girlfriend.  I made cute little paper fortune cookies with love notes my son wrote for each one.  I found this idea at One Lucky Day

Be My Valentine Treat Bucket

I gave these cute treat buckets to my family members.  The buckets came from the Dollar Tree.  I covered Hershey Bars with very cute Valentine wrappers and made individual Valentine S’more packets.  The candy wrapper idea is from Anything But Perfect and the Valentine S’mores is from Welcome to Pittiepat Paperie

Chocolate Chip Valentine Cookies

These are just regular chocolate chip cookie bars but I used Wilton’s Brownie Combo Cutter and piped a little icing on them.

Well there ya have it!  Remember, a little (maybe a lot) of creativity is good for the soul!!

Take heart!  God is doing something new!!

In my last article, Do You Value Yourself?, I wrote about how the hardships of life can take it’s toll on our self-value.  But, Isaiah 43:1 tells us that we belong to God and He knows our names.  God’s love and value for us is like no other and it is this knowledge that carries us through the rough points in our lives.

Today I am writing about those rough points.  Times are rough for so many right now here in our country and certainly in other parts of the world with Haiti in the forefront.  May the Lord be with them providing miracles of provisions, healings, and salvation both physically and spiritually, and much comfort.

I don’t know what you’re struggling with today, but I encourage you to stop wrestling with the issue in the sense of wanting things to go back to the way they used to be.  Don’t we do that?  I know that I will find myself in that position from time to time.

We say things like if only this didn’t happen or that didn’t happen.  If we could just get things back to the way they used to be then life would be easy.  We will even make a plan on how to get it there, but does it really ever work out?  No.  Why? …

… Because life is forever changing.  Change is a good thing.  The quicker we wrap ourselves around the change that we are in the middle of the better off we will be, along with those around us and our situation.

“This is what the LORD says— he who made a way through the sea, 
a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:

Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.See, I am doing a new thing! 
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? 
I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.

The wild animals honor me, 
the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the desert and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.”

~Isaiah 43:16-21

Take heart!  God is doing something new!!

Whatever your situation is, embrace it!  Instead of dwelling in the past, look up and out!  God is doing something new in your life!  He is making a way for you in your desert.  He is making provisions for you, His chosen, so that you can proclaim His praise!

Glory be to God!

Self-care sets the stage for creativity and inspired ideas.  Personally, I have found that the better I take care of myself the more inspired ideas I receive.  Anytime during a walk, a bubble bath, working on an art project, listening to music, gardening, etc., I can receive an idea that can get my blood pumping with excitement.

Do you ever experience that?  How do you react to your inspired ideas?  Are they met with resistance and judgment or with an open heart and courage?

An inspired idea can become an inspired reality when we embrace the idea with courage taking the next step in front of us.  It doesn’t mean that it has to be a long drawn out process as we can move as fast as we’re willing to go.  But sometimes we get stuck in resistance and fear for lots of different reasons that I’ll not cover right now as that can be a post all in itself.  So the best way to conquer fear and/or resistance is to act in courage by taking the next step in front of you.

Maybe you’re thinking that you don’t have any inspired ideas or dreams.  Many women have spent years taking care of every one and everything to the point they are numbed out and their dreams have become buried.  This also means that inspired ideas are rare.  Is that you?  Then I suggest you start playing immediately to create joy in your life!

The more we consistently nurture ourselves the more inspired ideas we receive, and also the more in touch we’ll be with our joys and dreams.  This also means that you will begin to move away from depression if this is something that grips you.

Speaking of depression.  I’m acting on an inspired idea and taking the next step in front of me to achieve it.  I’m compiling stories of how women have overcome depression.  The stories will more than likely be put together in an e-book although that’s not totally determined yet.  This is a “women helping women” project for the purpose of giving hope and encouragement for so many who struggle with depression.

If you have a story or know someone who has a story please email me at wonderwoman@shileennixon.com for information on how to participate.

We have discussed that:

1.    Self-care sets the stage for inspired ideas and fulfilled dreams.
2.    When the ideas come you must embrace those ideas. Take courage and act on them quickly before they die out.
3.    Embracing these two concepts will help to move you away from depression and towards your joy.

Are you practicing self-care?  Are you receiving inspired ideas?  Are you courageously acting on them?  When was the last time you allowed yourself to dream?

Please leave a comment with your thoughts.