Links That Light Us Up

27th Edition

TGIF Women on Fire! We hope you have a fun weekend planned! Wherever you might be, let these links help you sail smoothly into the end of your week.

Best Sochi Shot—Who says you have to go all the way to Sochi to experience the Olympics?

Best Olympics Accounts to follow- photo from @olympics@olympics

Best Rom-Com—Nothing says Valentine’s Day like a rom-com movie marathon.

The 50 Best Romantic Comedie by Josh Jackson Paste MagazineJosh Jackson via Paste Magazine

Best Grab & Go—Breakfast can get a bit hairy. Try cutting down the morning chaos with one of these quick and healthy recipes.

23 on the go breakfasts that are actually good for you from Christine Byrne via BuzzfeedChristine Byrne via Buzzfeed

Best Puzzle Pieces—Still need a thoughtful something for your valentine or “galentine”? Look no further!

Personalized where we met puzzle from RedEnvelopeSignals

Best Green Thumb Guide—Cure the winter blues with a little bit of green :).

The best plants for indoor use from Amber Interior DesignAmber Interior Design

Best Giggle—Stressed? Overwhelmed? Need a break? Watch this ASAP!

Best Sweet Treats—These recipes compiled by Brit.Co are sure to make your sweet tooth sing!

20 Valentine's Day Dessert Recipes via Brit.Co

Best Table Talk—Never have a boring dinner party again! These clever conversation starters not only make a fun gift, but they also can make a great meal even better.

Table Topics-Happiness EditionTable Topics

We hope these links light up your weekend, and we can’t wait to see you back here next week!

xo

The Women on Fire Team

P.s. Do you know what love language you practice? Find out here with Women on Fire’s February Book to Live By.

 

July Book of the Month

 

This month’s Books To Live By choice highlights our July theme — Following Your Dreams!

Women on Fire’s July 2013 choice is:

Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms The Way We Live, Love, Parent and Lead by Brené Brown

Many of you are already familiar with Brené Brown from her insightful TED talks on vulnerability and shame, or her recent appearance on Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday.

But for those of you who are hearing about her for the first time, Brené is a powerful writer and speaker with sharp insight and wit. She is the author of  six books.

Daring Greatly is her latest and my new personal favorite of hers.  In it, she helps us to understand and recognize the power of vulnerability, and how true whole-hearted living is derived from worthiness.

Brené walks you through her own journey of opening up and maps out easy to follow strategies for how to let your guard down. She helps you come to realize that only through breaking down our barriers are we able to soar above our expectations and allow ourselves to be worthy of the success we desire.

So it’s easy to see why she’s a Woman on Fire, right!? I was so enthralled after reading this that I couldn’t wait to share with you.

I urge you to consider ordering  Daring Greatly and any of her other titles— or two of each to share with another woman in your life.  Acting on her powerful messages is a sure way to move toward the dreams in your life!

I’ll let Brené have the final word:

What we know matters, but who we are matters more. Being rather than knowing requires showing up and letting ourselves be seen. It requires us to dare greatly, to be vulnerable.”

Enjoy and as always, let me know if you’ve read and what you think!

Links That Light Us Up

4th Edition

We are back again with more amazing links to share. Thank you all for your wonderful responses to our earlier three editions!

We are THRILLED that you apparently love the links we love, too.  Be sure to send Meredith@womenonfire.com your favorite links, and we’ll share with everyone.

OK, here we go …

The latest links that light us up:

Best Bling– These Kendra Scott earrings have us swooning! And, they come in every color imaginable.

Kendra Scott earrings[pinit]

Best Snack- We’ve never met anyone who would turn down a potato chip — especially a BBQ sweet potato chip. Jessica from How Sweet It Is will show you how to make these homemade beauties.

BBQ sweet potato chips via How Sweet It Is[pinit]

Best Experiment– Have you heard of ‘Email Bankruptcy‘ yet?  We certainly hadn’t until we read this article. The idea is that you delete your entire inbox to start fresh, to allow the important emails to flood through again, and to regain your sanity. We aren’t brave enough to try it over here but maybe you are. Let us know!

Email Bankruptcy via Levo League[pinit]

Best Summer Sounds– What could be better than a curated playlist of the TOP summer songs since 1962? NPR already did the work. All you have to do is press play!

NPR music- Songs of Summer Playlist[pinit]

Best Place to Take a Dip– Looks like paradise right? Here’s 23 more unreal pools that we wish we were floating in!

24 pools you need to jump into via Travelrew[pinit]

Best Celebrity Moment- So we already loved Kristen Bell, but after seeing this we love her even more. Who knew sloths could be so cute!?

Best To-Do List– As if you didn’t already have enough on your to-do list– Here’s 101 revolutionary ways to be healthy. #53, #92 and #101 are really speaking to us.

101 revolutionary ways to be healthy[pinit]

Best Secret Skill– Ever buy flowers from the grocery store and realize that they don’t look as good in the vase as you thought they were going to? Yeah, that would be us, too. But never fear! Erin from House of Earnest has put together a wonderful how-to for simple flower arranging.

DIY flower arranging- House of Earnest[pinit]

Best 2-Bite Treats- Who says you can’t make ice cream sandwiches out of Ritz Crackers? Joy The Baker shows you how to make these insanely delicious, bite-size buddies.

Ritz Cracker Ice Cream Sandwhiches via Joy The Baker[pinit]

Best Tool For the Future- So we really love this idea. Now you can take those life lessons you just learned, write them down and send them to yourself. So, in a year from now when you find yourself in the same spot you’ll know that everything will work out just fine.

Write a letter to your future self via ohlife[pinit]

We hope you love these links as much as we do! As always let us know what you liked and what’s lighting you up on the Internet, too!

xox

Women On Fire

[plinker]

 

 

THE question to ask yourself

Hello to our wonderful Women On Fire community!


Women on Fire Tea in Columbus last week led by Jan Allen — From left: Jennifer Tewell, Jane Juergens, Arlene Alexander, Roxanne Crocco, Cheryl Hooker, Sara Diehl, Julia Prudhomme, Mary Ann Crawford, Jan Allen, Teresa Tyson, Lis Gibson, Patricia Wynn Brown, Kathy Nutter, Tricia Simpson, Mary Beth Ingram and Laura Tiberi.

Speaking of the power of our community, congratulations to everyone who attended the Women on Fire gathering led by Jan Allen in Columbus, Ohio last week.  I look forward to meeting many of you and seeing you at the Retreat in Chicago on Oct. 26-27!

This week I want to share a strategy with you that has changed my life and the life of many clients I coached over the years — and the strategy is one simple question!

You may already practice this strategy and good for you, if you do.

If you don’t or aren’t sure, by simply applying this question to your way of thinking, you’ll see positive results very quickly.

Before I tell you the question, here’s a little background …

I come from a family of positive thinkers. Parents from meager beginnings who believed — and I’m proud to say proved — anything is possible.

How was it for you?  Were your parents primarily positive or negative?  No matter, you can choose to change which direction you’re coming from at any time.  And it’s important for your success … and your health.

The Mayo Clinic reports that people who focus on the positives instead of the negatives live longer, have lower rates of mental illnesses and depression, are less likely to suffer from colds and cardiovascular disease and cope better with stress.

Still, I was a cranky teen-ager whose father marched me to the mirror and told me it would be good for my attitude if I repeated into my reflection: ‘I will greet each day with love in my heart.’

No matter how much fuss I made, my Dad just lovingly guided me to the mirror and never waivered in his view of the world as a happy, positive place and our individual duty to uphold that.

So I developed some very good habits, thanks to both of my parents, to see the glass half-full instead of half-empty.

Even so, now that I’m an adult I shudder to think of the times I’ve complained about what I don’t want, don’t like, don’t want to see happen in my life.

Wrong strategy!

Instead, how I find my way forward is to ask this simple question:

What do I want?

That’s right.  That’s the question to ask yourself.  What do I want to have happen? What do I want to be in this world? What is the result I’m looking for?

Things always seem to click right into place when I go with the more positive aspect of what I want!

So how are you doing when it comes to saying what you want instead of what you don’t?

There is a slight twist to this.  I’m reminded from the joyful, ever-positive Esther Hicks of Abraham-Hicks that if you only know what you don’t want, just consider what the opposite of that is — and transform it into what you do want!

Every time you hear someone go on and on about what they don’t want, you can even gently ask them: ‘what do you want?’  Be prepared for blank stares, but you will be doing those you care about a great service!

Good luck with knowing what you want.  And feel free to share your dreams and heart’s desires in the comments section below.