There is so much to tell you!

So, today’s SPARK! is a potpourri of happenings to catch you up on our thriving and growing community – so you can make plans to be as involved as you wish.

In addition, I’ll share some exciting news, too.

(You’re going to find out the Woman on Fire who WON the stylish KiraGrace yoga jacket for participating in our recent survey!)

First …

Happy Mother’s Day to you!  And, if you don’t have children of your own, I bet that you are supporting and nurturing many others. So this day is for you, too.

Happy Mother’s Day to my own inspiring mother — Mary Lue Phillips, who is Women on Fire member #00001! With her grandson and our nephew Tyler, 11.

Thank you to everyone for your interest in our recent trip to Paris.  It was incredible!

The 10 Women on Fire who joined me in France – Angela Ittu, Becky Adams, Doni Belau, Jamie Eslinger, Jill Dulitsky, Kim Davis, Lisa Umberger Arundale, Michelle Whittaker, Susan Kruger Woodcock and Tandi Musuraca — are still bubbling with enthusiasm after our inspiring adventure and transformative experience.

I feel so uplifted from shaking up my day-to-day activities by doing something so out of the rut.  My challenge is to keep the new energy, ideas and super positive feelings going!

And, so far, so good.

Because immediately after Paris, I traveled to Columbus, Ohio where I attended our coaching group called Life, Ignited led by the amazing Jan Allen.  I got to meet with the fabulous participants of this life-changing group.

Life has certainly ignited for these Women on Fire in their monthly coaching group in Columbus, Ohio! From left: Nicole Lovett, Mary Jo Hudson, Jan Allen, Keena Smith, Jane Juergens and Laura Tiberi.

Then, on to two teas in Columbus at our new tea party location The Cambridge Tea House.

This Women on Fire Tea in Columbus featured several Ohio State University students, staff and faculty and it was such a joy to hear their dreams and stories.

The following day, another tea hosted by Jan Allen and Tricia Simpson, seated on the far right end of front row, was held in Columbus. We celebrated Tricia’s birthday!

After each tea party she attends in New York City, Woman on Fire Janette Barber frequently announces: “the tea party always works.”

What Janette means by that is that women leave a Women on Fire event feeling inspired, supported, heard, understood and connected.

In this day and age you hear so much discussion about the importance of communication.  Well, I believe you can communicate and still not feel connected.

Think about many of your interactions with others.  Do you feel valued?  Heard? Cared about? Cheered on? Accepted for who you are?

When the answer to those questions above is a resounding YES, you most likely are feeling emotionally connected.

From what women always tell me, the emotional support that occurs between and among women in our community – whether on a trip to Paris or at a coaching group or a tea or retreat – is what makes the difference to feel truly connected and empowered to go for your dreams.

I am so proud for all of you for the way you treat each other with love and respect and caring and compassion.  Being emotionally connected helps enormously to live the life you dream of.

So, before I leave Columbus, I want to tell you about another exciting happening there this fall.

Woman on Fire and Ohio State University student life assistant vice president Tracy Stuck and her team of phenomenal young women – Ashley Sinram, Jodi Poth,  Yvonne Delaney, Amy Laine, Shannon Melampy – will host a Women on Fire Day on Friday, September 21.  OSU’s vice president for student life Dr. Javaune Adams-Gaston is also instrumental in creating this amazing event!

So, if you are an Ohio State graduate or affiliated with OSU in any way, you can be invited to this inspiring day that will pair 50 experienced women with 50 college students eager to learn from you and share their lives, hopes and dreams.

Also, mark your calendar now to attend our annual Women on Fire Retreat! This year it will be held on Friday and Saturday, October 26-27, 2012 in Chicago.  Look for details in a future SPARK!

And, finally …

You didn’t think I’d forget, did you?  I am so excited to tell you the Woman on Fire whose name was drawn out of our famous straw basket to win the KiraGrace yoga jacket!

Here we go …

Congratulations … Julie Quackenbush of Dublin, Ohio!  Julie, you will be receiving your new jacket soon, courtesy of Woman on Fire yoga clothing designer Kira Karmazin.  I wear the same jacket and I can tell you it is the best!

Thank you to everyone who completed the survey and we will share results from it soon.

Be sure to check out Kira’s wonderful website and her inspiring Grace Yoga project to provide financial sponsorship to teachers and yoga studios for providing yoga and mindfulness training to children.

And, last but not least …

Thank you for all of your positive feedback on my recent interview with ABC-TV reality show Shark Tank star and real estate mogul Barbara Corcoran.

If you aren’t yet a member and receiving these monthly inspirational interviews with fascinating women, I hope you will give yourself the support to be a part of this monthly program.

My dream is that you have your dream.  And, my wish is that on your path you find emotionally satisfying friendships to pave the way!

The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page. ~ St. Augustine

~~~

Yesterday I returned from Paris where 11 Women on Fire experienced the trip of a lifetime together.

We laughed and cried.  Listened and empathized.  Honored and celebrated.

We experienced days with four desserts! And, evenings with fine French food and wine.

Every woman on the trip carried a full plate prior to coming on the trip.  So, for each of us, Paris was a chance to stop, to breathe and re-calibrate our lives, and then to return home inspired and re-invigorated.

Years ago, a very talented colleague of mine, the writer Sue Ann Jones, referred to fashion or life make-overs as “The Before. The After. And, After The After.”

And, so it occurs to me that there are at least three powerful stages we go through in moving toward our dreams and deepest desires.

First, there is the excitement, the notion, the possibility of a goal or dream that inspires you to something better or greater for your life.

Take the paris trip, for example.  Several women on the adventure wanted to have a fun experience with other women; others wanted to take a break from overwork and overwhelm; still others wanted to “re-do” Paris after an unpleasant past experience.

Each one listened to the inkling or desire to follow her heart.  (Is there something in your life right now tickling your imagination?)

Next, there is taking action to make it happen.  You may launch a business, go on a vacation, move to another city.

With the Paris women, they signed up for the trip and started to plan.

And, finally, there is the reflection after the experience.  In this stage, you receive the wisdom, feel the glow, and apply the experience to a new and improved life.

For the women who went on the trip, I watched us each transform in a magical way, and I saw the three stages at work in us all.

Going to Paris was a lifetime dream of mine, and the trip proved to hold dreams within dreams.

One of them was my own “Before. After. And After The After.”

For a while now, I have been wishing for a new look.   Something different, but I had no clue what exactly.  It was just an inkling.

And, in Paris, with the help of renowned magazine cover hair and make-up stylist Rita Dell’Orco, my wish came true!

The Before

Rita Dell’Orco working her magic

The After

And, finally, After The After – living with the new

Wherever you are with your dream – maybe life has gotten in the way; maybe you need support and nourishment; maybe you need confidence – you can be assured  the stirrings inside you are waiting for expression.

And, perhaps something as simple as a new haircut you love, will get things moving in the right direction for you!

Keep us all posted on your dreams and goals in the comments section below.

Hello from Paris!

This past week has been the long-awaited, much anticipated Women on Fire trip and Vision Day® in Paris.

It’s been magnificent and I hope you’ve seen the many posts about our trip on Facebook and Twitter.  We want to share as much of this magnificent adventure with you as possible.

It was a deeply touching week here in Paris – and I’ll tell you why.

You might think it was seeing the Eiffel Tower for the first time …or eating at the Michelin 2-star Restaurant Helene Darroze … or learning to ride Segways and buzzing about the streets of Paris.

Paris by Segway! We had a blast zipping about Paris on Segways. The 11 Women on Fire from left to right: Susan Kruger Woodcock, Jill Dulitsky, Angela Ittu, Tandi Musuraca, Doni Belau, Debbie Phillips, Lisa Umberger Arundale, Michelle Whittaker, Kim Davis, Becky Adams and Jamie Eslinger

Or you might think it was shopping the fresh markets with a French chef. Then taking the ingredients back to his cooking school kitchen to learn how to whip up from appetizer-to-dessert (including cheese and wine) the most fabulous French meal.

Yes…

But no.  What was most deeply satisfying was something else.

The 11 women on this trip spent the week in Paris together sharing our dreams, our hopes, our challenges.  We listened to each other; comforted each other; cheered each other on.

That we could come together in this nurturing way was more touching and inspiring to me than anything else on this trip.

My best friend Jan Allen and I always say of each other, “as best friends, we take notes about life and share them each other.”

And, that is what happened when 11 women, most of whom did not even know each other before Paris, came together to share love, life, work, motherhood, dreams and goals.

More than one woman said to me over these past few days in Paris, “I had no idea how much I need the company of other women.”

So here in Paris, we laughed and cried and celebrated and turned our attention to next steps forward in our lives.

While you don’t have to fly to Paris for support like this (although I certainly would not stop you!).

Please know that sometimes it takes getting away in a purposeful and planned way to stop and take stock and breathe again.  And to be in the company of and to hear from other women to see the way forward.

So… 

What I would want for you are loving and caring women to spend time with regularly; women who cheer you on; women who accept you for you; women who celebrate how far you’ve come; and women who believe you and your dreams.

“Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.” ~ Jane Howard (1935-1996)

With love to you from Paris ~

Do you ever fear your dreams may not happen?

I do myself sometimes.

Like losing weight.  I’ve tried everything under the sun to return to my svelte self of my 30s.  I eat healthy.  Walk at least 3-4 times a week.  Skip bread and pasta.  Never eat fast food.  Meditate on “releasing” extra pounds.

Still, the scales never budge and those 30 extra pounds hug me tight.

Oh, well…more on that in the future.  I’m not giving up.

In the meantime, I have plenty of other dreams coming true!

And, tomorrow one of them is happening.

This little Eiffel Tower box of soaps, a gift from Woman on Fire Angela Ittu, has been my daily reminder that my dream of going to Paris is coming true!

I’m going to PARIS for the first time ever – and taking 10 Women on Fire with me!!

And, this experience-of-a-lifetime all grew when one woman who was “burned out” — and unsure how to make a living doing what she really loved — decided to follow her spark…

Doni Belau, on the right, and I during one of our lunches to plan the upcoming trip to take Women on Fire to Paris!

Several years ago, Doni Belau attended a Women on Fire Tea in New York City.  And, as we always do at a tea, each participant shares what she is “on fire” about – or not.

Doni was the last woman to speak that day. When it was her turn, she was a little sad and very thoughtful.  “I must admit,” said, “I am burned out.”

She went on to say that listening to the plans, enthusiasm and joy of other women “on fire” about their lives inspired her to think of a step forward.

“So, I’m going to take a sabbatical — and go to France,” she announced to the cheers of everyone else!

You see, Doni loved all things French and possessed great knowledge of France and Paris, in particular.  Up to that point, it was only an avocation.  To make a living, she was in a totally different line of work as a consultant.

And, so she arranged to go to France for a few weeks.

When she returned, she knew what she wanted to do!  She would start a travel website and a business to host trips for women to Paris.

In 2009, The Girls’ Guide To Paris with all the latest happenings in The City of Light was born.  Today, Doni even has her own radio program on Overseas Radio Network.

And, now we are going to Paris…a dream and celebration for the women on the trip.

Thanks to Doni, who made her own powerful dream come true, there will be 11 Women on Fire in Paris next week riding Segways, sipping tea at Laduree, preparing a meal under the tutelage of French chefs — and many, many other activities!

We will be celebrating life and fun and our own next steps in life. The process of dreaming big starts all over again for the women on the trip.

I’m smiling at the ripple effect of one woman pursuing her BIG dream and the joy it is bringing now to us and so many others.

And, don’t worry, we won’t lose touch with you while we’re away. We’ll check in on Facebook, on Jamie Eslinger’s daily blog, and on this blog, so you can come along for the ride, too!

What is your big dream?  How will you make it happen?  What do you need for inspiration, strategies and support?

For me, I’m actually hoping that going to Paris will inspire the strategy I need next to lose a few pounds – double cafe mocha with chantilly and pain au chocolat, anyone?

A few days ago I interviewed real estate mogul Barbara Corcoran and ABC TV’s Shark Tank star for our monthly Women on Fire members’ CD program.

(She was an absolute hoot — funny, candid and inspiring, and I can’t wait for you to hear her wisdom! If you’re not yet a member of our monthly membership and CD program, I’ll leave the details for you in the P.S. section below.)

Barbara Corcoran (Image courtesy of Barbara Corcoran)

Anyway, Barbara said something profound about success that really has me thinking.

And, Barbara should know about success.  She who turned a $1,000 loan from her boyfriend into a business she sold for $66 million!

Barbara said in her experience the single determining factor for success for whatever you want in your life – more than experience, more than money, more than contacts – is the amount of time we take after failing or being rejected to get back up, dust ourselves off and move forward.

The quicker we reduce “oh, woe-is-me” time, the faster we are back on our path toward what we really want. I buy that, Barbara.

“I started getting a higher and higher batting average because I got better (and faster) at failing. I knew how to fail well,” Barbara told me in a wide-ranging conversation about love, life, business, family and success.

And, her insight also made me explore what happens during that “in between” period of losing my balance and pulling myself back up.

In reviewing my own sorrowful history of being knocked down – and spending months and even years recovering – I know part of what kept me stuck – and kept many of the coaching clients I’ve worked with over the years mired in place – is an inability to simply drop “the story,” forgive (myself, mostly) and get on with it.

Forgiving someone or something – whether you’ve been dumped by your lover, lost your job, been violated or wronged – doesn’t mean you agree with what happened.

Forgiveness means you let go and free up your energy to get on with all the good that is waiting for you.

Way easier said than done, I know!

Over the years, my best strategy for forgiving and shortening that “wallow-in-my-pity” time has been to find role models.  People who have had way bigger transgressions to forgive than I could imagine – yet somehow they’ve released the blame and anger and moved on.

Last week I came upon this video for Project Forgive (Video Link).  I hope you can take five minutes to see what happens when an unthinkable event occurs  where forgiveness would seem nearly impossible.

I was so inspired by Shawne Duperon’s Project Forgive, in which we are all invited to share our forgiveness stories, that I invested in it.

My wish for you is that if there is anything holding you back from the freedom to bolt toward your dreams and goals that you will take a page from Barbara Corcoran’s playbook and ask yourself this:

What is it going to take to shorten the time between when I’m down for the count and I hop back up on my feet?

I would love to hear about any of your own experiences with forgiving and being forgiven.  Please leave comments your comments belowfor us all to learn from.

Have a happy week ahead.

I’ll see Women on Fire members on the LIVE CHAT this Tuesday night where we will discuss your gifts, strengths and talents!

May you always be on the path to living your extraordinary life,

Happy day to you celebrating Easter and Passover — and births and birthdays!

Easter with my great-niece Kinsley!

There is a lot of joy in our Women on Fire community so today we’re going to celebrate a sampling of it.

At a tea in Naples earlier this year, Woman on Fire Julie Shepardson of Oviedo, Florida inspired us all with her theme “Year of the Joyride!”  Love that, Julie, and hope you don’t mind me borrowing for today;-)

Happy birthday, Woman on Fire Mandy Pratt of Boise, Idaho with the double blessing of your special day falling on Easter.

Happy birthday on your big day this weekend to wonderful Carolyn Ellis of Toronto, Canada. To dear Nancy Neal of Greenville, South Carolina. And, love to my own mother (Women on Fire member #00001!) Mary Lue Phillips, of Huntsville, Alabama who celebrates being eternally young on Monday!

Big congratulations to Amy Laine and her husband James of Columbus, Ohio on the birth of their daughter Ava Louise this past week.

Amy attended a Women on Fire tea in Columbus last fall and learned a few days later she was having a baby girl.  She sent me an email I will always cherish, rejoicing that her growing baby was coming into the world surrounded by “women who will make her feel powerful!”

And, it was a year ago, that many of you commented on “Hello, Baby Girl,” the SPARK! I wrote when my first great-niece Kinsley, was born prematurely to Ryan and Sarah Ausley of Nashville. Even though Kinsley had great care, it was a harrowing time for all of us.

What a joyous difference a year makes!

Here is Kinsley at Christmas. She’s healthy, strong and growing beautifully. And, she has already developed a taste for pearls.

And, here is Kinsley today as she celebrates her first birthday on Easter with all of our family.

Kinsley with mom and dad Sarah and Ryan Ausley.

Kinsley waiting for cake on her first birthday.

I know many of you are celebrating all kinds of wonderful events and milestones. Please share the joy in your life in the comments section belowso we can all take a joyride together!

Wishing you a delightful week ahead ~

P.S. The cake finally came. It was the first time Kinsley ever ate chocolate, and from the looks of it probably not the last!!

Kinsley reflecting on the joy of chocolate!

Happy Bunny, Bunny Day today.

There is a superstition I believe in that if on day one of every month your first words are “rabbit rabbit,” your month will be filled with good luck!

Many years ago our friend (and, of course, a Woman on Fire) Debbie Cook told us about this first-day-of-the-month ritual she shared with her husband – and Rob and I made it ours.

Somehow saying “bunny, bunny” to people I love starts off my month right!

(And, I hope we’re not tempting fate by changing it to the fuzzier “bunny, bunny” instead of “rabbit, rabbit” .

Do you have a fun ritual that keeps you upbeat and positive – and adds a dose of hope to your life?  I’d love you to share it In the comments section below..

In today’s SPARK! I’m going to tell you about three simple strategies — questions to ask yourself and be aware of — that can smooth out life’s wrinkles and help you get where you want to go.  Sound good?

But first, a little story …

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending an Abraham-Hicks seminar with two members of our Women on Fire team — Jamie Eslinger and Regina Blos.

The thrill remains to this day of meeting the inspiring Esther and Jerry Hicks, creators of Abraham-Hicks, many years ago. (Although the blanket I seem to be wearing has long since been retired and forgotten about!)

If you’ve never heard of Esther and Jerry Hicks, the originators of The Law of Attraction material behind the movie The Secret, I urge you to check them out to see if you resonate to their particular brand of uplifting strategies for living your life.

They provide a goldmine of information and inspiration and, if you apply even just one of their strategies to your life, you will be amazed with what happens.

For years, I have read their books, attended their seminars and listened to a monthly CD that keeps me happy, hopeful and on-track with living my life full out.

Even in my darkest, scariest, most resistant moments, relying on their strategies and wisdom gets me through.

It wasn’t always that way.  In fact, I nearly turned away Abraham-Hicks’s help and insight which has provided me with more gifts and peace of mind in the years since than I could ever have imagined.

Because when I first heard Jerry and Esther talking on a cassette tape in 1998, I dismissed them with an ‘oh, brother, another bunch of crackpots as self-help experts.’

Then, as only a crazy-in-love girlfriend would do, I took my then-boyfriend, now-husband to see Jerry and Esther Hicks because he admired them so much.

We attended one of their seminars with about 40 other people (as opposed to the hundreds that now attend their workshops.)

At that first event, no one was more shocked than me! I loved everything Esther and Jerry and Abraham had to say.  Most importantly, I walked away with this life-altering strategy:

* If I focus on what I want in my life and why I want it – and not on what I don’t want – my dreams will happen.

I learned any focused attention and rumination on what’s going wrong or bad simply gives me more of the same!!

From that day forward, I got it!  And, I learned to give myself the permission, joy and freedom to dream and dream and dream about what I want in my life.

And, I started to minimize the drama, the stories, the injustices, the negativity to “prove” not having what I wanted “wasn’t all my fault.”

Today, I am seriously embarrassed at the resistance I had to living a richer, fuller life when I first listened to that cassette tape.

Do you know what I mean? You discount something at first and later discover how it helps you?

That little whisper … that you are not quite ready to hear yet.  But when you do, it provides you with just the perfect, amazing next steps of living a better life.

In the years since, these Abraham-Hicks strategies have further changed the direction my life:

* Point your canoe downstream, release the oars, and get into the flow of your life (rather than struggle, control and fight your way up stream against great resistance.)

* Are you a cooperative component to your wishes, dreams and desires? (Or, do you resist or thwart all the goodness and gifts waiting for you in the world?)

They are strategies and questions I continue to ask myself to stay on track.  And, I hope they are helpful to you, too!

Happy Bunny, Bunny Day ~

Happy birthday, Gloria Steinem!

Today the leader of the movement for women to develop their fullest human potential turns 78.

With Gloria Steinem in her home in New York City (Photo by Avionne Adams)

In last week’s SPARK! I told you what a privilege it was to spend an evening in Gloria’s home in New York City where she’d invited women leaders to participate in a salon for feminist.com.

As she has since the 1960s, Gloria continues to urge us to connect with each other for support and to make change and go for better lives.

Since that evening at Gloria’s, I’ve thought a lot about what a difference we make when we champion what it is we wish to improve in the world.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world…it is the only thing that ever has. ~ Margaret Mead

Last week at the Women on Fire tea in New York, I was reminded of the amazing and powerful women in our community who epitomize Margaret Mead’s words.

Here are stories I want to share with you because they illuminate the power of each woman with an idea, an inkling, a possibility to spread enthusiasm and to be its champion to make a difference.

Woman on Fire Pier Boutin, of Housatonic, MA is a mom and an orthopedic surgeon.  In a transition period in her life a couple of years ago, she was on vacation with friends in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco when she discovered a four-year-old boy stumbling about with seriously clubbed feet pointed nearly backwards.

“I couldn’t not do something when I knew how to help him,” she said.  So she arranged for “Little Amed” to come to the United States.  For nearly a year she oversaw the direction of his multiple surgeries and cared for him in her home.

While Pier championed that one little boy, she was also mindful in connecting to his village, helping with health and education issues. (For pictures of Pier and Little Amed, see this past post.)

The friendship and knowledge Pier shared in Morocco has gone beyond just that one little boy, who today can walk, run and play!  The course of his life, in which he was destined to be uneducated, alienated and a beggar, has been righted.

And, until Pier, only a handful of boys attended school in that village. Now, that “Little Amed” is home in Morocco, the local school is filled with boys and girls getting an education.

Pier and her family have been inspired and lifted up beyond their imagination.

Gloria changed the course for millions of women.  Pier’s desire to help one child led to changes in a village and who knows what else!

Both women led movements.

You may not even realize it.  Many of you lead movements, too – whether it is to champion a local school levy as Woman on Fire Kim Dettmer did successfully in her Ohio town recently … or Tracy Stuck guiding college women at a major university to find confidence and direction in their lives … or Andrea Raynor as a Hospice chaplain to lead many through death and dying … or Susan Kruger-Woodcock in leading a movement to help high school students get better grades.

There are so many more of you leading a movement and using your talents and desires to change lives for the good.

The positive energy created by a movement of one person or a group to champion one person, one cause, one group, one program, one belief is what makes a difference in this world.

A movement is only composed of people moving. To feel its warmth and motion around us is the end as well as the means. ~ Gloria Steinem

Who and what in your world are you the champion of?  Where is it all going?  What do you need in order to take any next steps?  Let us know how we can help you by commenting below.

What is it in your life that you really, really want?

Is there a change in the world you want to see; a place to visit; a person to meet; a personal challenge to accomplish? What are the powerful stirrings inside of you asking you to be or to do?

At my own Vision Day a couple of months ago, I wrote out a long list of goals and dreams that I really, really want.

On the top my big stack was this goal:

I have reconnected with Gloria Steinem.

(Tip:  When writing your goals, create them as though they have already happened.  I don’t know why it works, but it does! I’ve been testing it for years.)

When I was a political press secretary many years ago, I had the great fortune on occasion to talk with Gloria Steinem, the gracious and revered leader of the Women’s Movement.

Each encounter I had with her I would walk away so inspired — and always changed for the better.

She would be personally encouraging, honoring and focused on the possibilities of women – singularly and globally – to have want we want and need.

Last week, seemingly out of the blue, my Vision Day dream came true!

Some of the women leaders in Gloria’s living room included actress Kathy Najimy, Carol Gilligan, Gloria, and Kathy LeMay

Only weeks after my Vision Day, thanks to Woman on Fire Ellen Wingard, I was invited to reconnect with Gloria and spend an evening in her home.  Pinch me!

Gloria opened her beautiful apartment to a group of women leaders to celebrate the writer Marianne Schnall who leads an organization near and dear to Gloria’s heart — feminist.com.

As I entered her warm and inviting brownstone on the Upper East Side of New York City, I could hardly believe it. I made mental notes of every thing and every one, because I wanted you to be with me to share it all.

I was dying to take pictures to show you her apartment’s 20-foot soaring ceilings, her beautiful treasures and pictures, her enchanting red bedroom with floor-to-ceiling dark wood bookshelves and dreamy ceiling mural.

Her home is so warm and cozy that I felt hugged being in her space.

But there is a great reverence for her – certainly not from her because she is so lovely, easy and self-deprecating — that to take pictures would somehow violate the sanctity of the honor to be in her home.

A professional photographer roamed about and did take pictures (that I hope to show you someday) while I chatted with Gloria in her beautiful bedroom where the bar was set up.

(This being New York City where you need to make good use of all space when there is only a living room, bedroom and galley kitchen!)

Gloria, who turns 78 on March 25, looked as chic as always – in her uniform of black pants and top with a metal belt wrapped around and slung low to her waist.

She was her warm and engaging self and eagerly asked for me to tell her all about “Women on Fire.”

Even in her own home, she is, as I’ve always experienced her: gentle and giving, curious and empathetic, preferring to turn her attention to others rather than seek any for herself.

Later, in her cozy living room, surrounded by us all and actress Kathy Najimy, feminist writer, ethicist, psychologist Carol Gilligan and former PBS president Pat Mitchell, Gloria told us she has lots of ideas for the future.

She sees women coming together in smaller groups where each woman can express herself and be heard.  She suggests it should be an odd number of participants “so if there has to be a vote on something, there is no tie.”

“Laughter is the only free emotion,” she  said to us. “You can’t compel laughter,” she said, laughing. And, she urged us to always keep “fun and joy, sex and poetry” in our hearts.

As a Woman on Fire, I sat enthralled, honored to be in the room with other women equally eager, empowered and enthusiastic to make a difference in our world.

Then, coincidentally, in the New York Times today, only days after being with Gloria, is an article entitled Gloria Steinem, A Woman Like No Other.

That is for sure.

In the piece, Christine Stansell, a University of Chicago history professor, said of Gloria that she “was to the women’s movement what Martin Luther King Jr. was to civil rights: the galvanizer.”

The piece raised the question but did not answer it.  Who will be Gloria’s successor to lead women?

“Ms. Steinem’s DNA has been scattered into a million cells — in the blogs, as well as in the work of women whose labors do not land them on cable shows…” the article reports.

I believe that is the truth. And, that is the answer to the article of who will lead women.  We will.  We are the million cell the galvanizers — that will continue to change lives for ourselves, our families, our communities, our world.

So, what is it you really, really want?  And, who are you bringing along with you to make it happen?

Thank you, Gloria Steinem, for bringing me and so others along with you all these years. You can be assured the seeds you planted so long ago are blossoming everywhere you look.

Once again, as I did in my 20s, 30s, 40s and now 50s, I walk away from you feeling as though I can take on more of the world that I dream of.  I am so grateful to you, Gloria, my sister Ohioan.

Please share with our community on the Debbie Phillips blog what it is  you really, really want?  It’s inspiring to hear!

I am stuffed – and writing to you from New York City after finishing the yummiest brunch at Nice Matin, one of my favorite restaurants.

My uplifting and treasured friends Ellen Wingard, Edward Beck and Holly Getty. (Thank you, random person on street who took this wonderful photo!)

When I am surrounded with supportive friends who make me feel loved and cherished like Edward, Ellen and Holly, I believe I can go out into the world and do anything.

Who in your life makes you feel this way?  Whoever cheers you on and helps you move forward, I hope you have a date on your calendar to spend time with them!

I am in New York City because I was invited to attend the 3^rd Annual Women in the World Summit, hosted by Newsweek/Daily Beast  Editor-in-Chief Tina Brown.

The summit was a convergence of 2,600 women from around the world and a showcase for some of the world’s most dazzling women change-agents – Meryl Streep, Hillary Clinton, Leymah Gbowee, Gloria Steinem, Angelina Jolie, Sheryl Sandberg, Christiane Amanpour, Sheryl WuDunn and many, many more.

After three days of immersion into the hopes, dreams, conditions and status of women and girls worldwide, I so wish I could give each woman who presented her due.

Instead, I will share the 7 Things That Opened My Eyes.  These were awarenesses that inspire me to want to be part of the solution for a better world.  In some instances, I’m not sure exactly how to help so I will take our Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s call to action as a roadmap.

“What does it mean to be a woman in the world?” she asked. “It means never giving up. It means getting up, working hard, and putting a country or a community on your back.”

There are many terrible things going on in the world that affect women.  The conference was not about politics, not about women vs. men, not about casting blame.  But rather how can we all join forces — no matter age, religion, political party, nationality — and find solutions.

This was, however, a call to action for women to use our gifts and talents, many unique to our gender, and help to solve our world’s problems.

Here are some topics that opened my eyes:

1) Child marriage is a horrific, pervasive problem in this world – and even in our own country.  25,000 girls under the age of 18 get married globally each and every day, some of them as young as 8 and 9.

In the United States, it is legal (with parental or court permission) to get married at age 12 in West Virginia and age 14 in New Hampshire.   Girls who marry at these tender ages face cascades of lifetime issues from lack of education and health to abuse and poverty.  Laws, customs and family traditions must be changed.

2) Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, at age 74, is an outspoken and powerful advocate for women.  Addressing the Summit, she made no bones about her opinions:  To people who say, “there are not enough qualified women (for elected office and top-level positions), that’s one of the biggest bullshit things I’ve ever heard!”

And, she will always hold a special place in my heart for her most famous quote: “I think there should be a special place in Hell for women who don’t support other women.”   You go, Madam Secretary!

3) Women are exquisitely and uniquely qualified to lead the world’s police and security forces. They bring different and needed gifts to this profession, which is increasingly more and more complex locally, nationally and globally.

Women are “lionesses” when it comes to protecting their families and communities,  innate skills and instincts for creating secure environments, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano pointed out.

Case in point: Washington DC’s Chief of Police Cathy Lanier, a single mother who entered law enforcement to make a better life for her son, is now celebrated for significantly reducing violent crimes in that city.  It has occurred because of her commitment to communication and outreach into the community.

4) “Women are too politely angry,” warned Nobel Peace Prize recipient Leymah Gbowee, in discussing the power of women in conflict zones to replicate her success in toppling a corrupt government and violence in Liberia.  Pray The Devil Back To Hell is a stunning documentary (and one of my all-time top movies) detailing how women joined forces and conquered the violence in their country.

5) Jessica Matthews and Julia Silverman, two 20-something entrepreneurs shared their invention “SOccket Rockets.”  The device brings electricity to impoverished communities around the world and works when kids kick a soccer ball! One out of 5 people in the world don’t have power.  30 minutes of play gives 3 hours of power!

6) Former presidential daughters Chelsea Clinton and Barbara Bush, in separate forums, championed new generations of change-agents.

Barbara highlighted astounding success of her Global Health Corps.  What Teach America has done for education, Global Health Corps is doing to solve health issues and enlisting an entire generation of young people in making it happen.

Chelsea celebrated The Digital Lives of Girls and highlighted innovative young women who are harnessing technology to prevent bullying, to develop self-esteem and supportive communities for leveraging issues that are important to them.  Inspiring to see how Barbara and Chelsea contribute to the world.

7)  Women can change the world. Not that I did not know this going into the Summit.  Walking out, I know it for sure and am ready to take more of the need “on my back,” as Hillary would ask.

And, as she put it so beautifully, ““Women with help from their friends can make a difference.” She urged us to be  “fearless, committed and audacious.”  And, then she sent all 2,600 of us out into the world to make that difference:

“So let’s go for it, and make it happen!”

As we move forward into the next months, I will be asking your opinion for ways that Women on Fire join forces with other women in the world to bring about change, healing and peace to all.

Until then, is there a situation that you want to correct in your life, in your community, in this country or in the world?

You are only one step away from making a difference.

Have an absolutely wonderful week and keep me posted on how you want to make a difference in any aspect of your — and our world.