It all started with a good friend who loved to frequent Starbucks.  At this time I was not into coffee, but every time I went out with her we ended up with a coffee in our hands.  I started with Mochas and was deaply in love with them and then quickly discovered a thickness accumulating around different areas of my body.  Bummer!  Then as a saving grace to my pocketbook and waistline another friend of mine turned me on to just getting an Americano with a squirt of chocolate.  This satisfied my need for the mochas, although now I had aquired a pretty strong addi

I have learned the greatest lesson lately.  For years I have been struggling with my personal boundaries with people.  Normally other people's expectations and feelings and needs would spill over onto me and I would take them on as something of my own to deal with, always feeling like I needed to do something for them or just felt obligated to them.  I have started saying no to more and more activities and involvements with people and at first I had terrible anxiety that it would upset this or that person and they would take it personally.  That is just another layer to

I recently watched a documentary called America the Beautiful that made me think about how I think about myself physically.  The movie shows how media shapes our personal physical image.  Let me tell you,  it is not a possitive image.  We compare ourselves to the images we see from TV, movies, magazines and music.  Most of the images that we see are altered either by the photographer or by the computer. When we see these images incomparison to our own image we end up feeling less or not beautiful enough.

America the Beautiful follows Darryl Roberts as he interviews and illustrates the many sources of information, ideas, and beliefs young women are subjected to in our society. The film show how our culture is poisoning women, first in their minds and souls through unattainable standards of beauty, and then even physically with toxic cosmetics many of which have been banned in Europe. This is yet another pointer to the fact that we are living in a age that is hypnotized by marketing and mass media.

I have recently been going to a women's circle.  A women's circle is when a small group of women get together and share time together.  This particular group gets starts by joining hands in a circle and someone sings a song or says a prayer.  Then we sit in a circle around the room. There is usually a talking stick or something to hold while the first person talks. It is passed around to whomever is ready to share their thoughts or feelings.  All things said or shared in the circle is confidential to that group only.