Empowerment with the Right Person

Women are thriving, but barely at times, being pushed and pulled in so many directions.

There never seems to be enough hours in the day to get all the tasks completed at work 

and home.  Somewhere in this mix, their identity can get lost, you!  And then personal identity, self-improvement, decreasing anxiety, addressing long-standing issues affecting your life are pushed aside as each day, and month, year goes by.  Well, you are just too important for that to continue!  I did the same thing when I was working. But that was before I met Beverley Glazer.  Now she is an active part of my life and I hope you make the same choice.  Here’s why:

Beverley has an exceptional background in counseling, therapy and coaching for self-development and a multitude of issues for women.  It is not that easy to find someone with such a diverse background. The advantage of this is the extra insight she can bring to any situation. You may come to someone for direction/opinions with one thought in mind and easily it may cross over completely into another area. With Bev, she can spot it pretty quickly and work with you on everything. 

My primary draw to Beverley is the passion she brings to her work. Even after 25+ years of working in the field, she still approaches what she does with the love and caring of making a difference in other’s lives.  An example of this scheduling. She opened her practice to now be worldwide. No longer do women have to be tasked with leaving home or the office to work with her. If you view her site, and contact her, she works with your schedule and makes it work around your life even offering online courses. 

The fact that a woman with her experience would create a one hour, sixty minute course you can take by telephone or skype speaks volumes. Who does this? You have the opportunity to talk with a unique woman about your needs and not be dissected by someone with an agenda of questions and diagnostic tests to keep you coming back for more. So many of us detest that!

We all need to make changes. Talking to friends is great, reading articles and getting on the internet is good legwork. But nothing replaces having a tour guide. Without it, it is like going to Paris on a vacation without a guidebook or a map.  So much time will get wasted and the visit may be a lesson in frustration.  Having a tour guide will help you get the max out of the trip or a great guide book can get you right where you want to go. Many of us have found Beverley is like that with women’s lives.  She helps create and direct your steps for where you want to go, what you want to change, and she gets you there a whole lot quicker and easier. The best part is you get a supportive coach cheering you on every step of the way.

We all have our own goals, at least we should. Too many friends rely on each other to solve them. And honestly, it gets old getting dumped on.  Objectively listening and expert advice far exceeds the later. Take your time and put it to productive use with someone who has a proven track record with folks.  Read Beverley’s blogs and see her mentality about life, it is not necessary to take my word for it.  

To quote Beverley, “Making changes does not have to be painful or frustrating. It should be elevating and transform you.”  And yes, we can all do it, and move our lives forward far better than we imagined. Life should not be a rut.   

  

Women focus too hard on being mothers to those around them, somehow falling into that nurturing role.  Also, it becomes culturally acceptable for us to work on changing people with dysfunctional behavior or ‘saving them’.  What about us, who is saving us?   Without even realizing it, we become part of the problem and we need saved. And we need to focus on doing it, now, sooner not later!

Stress and anxiety needs to decrease. Hitting personal goals should be on your agenda and actively worked on. Accomplishing this is proven to lead to a more joyful fulfilled life. Beverley is honestly one of the few coaches that actually enjoy being a part of your progress, your success and your ability to move on beyond her reach. A Beverley ism: “I’d love to offer you insights and advice so that you can attain your happiest and highest self. “

Do yourself a favor and follow her website below or any of her other forms of social media boards.  Too many people I know have given up hope on being able to reduce their weight, their stress or improve their morale. They have issues in their life and have a hard time seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.

Beverley is the one that can help you find and fill those gaps and approach life with a new

attitude!  You will find, like me, her wonderful sense of humor will leave you smiling. Her caring nature will make you feel you are not alone. Her directional signs will empower you and guide you to be and go in the direction you desire.  The only thing stopping you is putting the key in the ignition and starting the engine.  

On a personal note:  I connected with Beverley over a year ago or more. I can’t remember a pre-Beverley time. I learned that her ideal clientele seemed to fall in the range of +50 women. Furthermore, these women all had one thing in common. All seemed to be going through transitions of one sort or other and had issues associated with them.  That was a good definition of where I was.

Most of us push those issues aside trying our best to deal with them on our own but yet not really making measurable progress, if any. I saw her writing about working on career, life, health and family challenges. Her blog covered topics on self-esteem for women and empowerment, and I saw issues on women during the aging process. This, in particular, peaked my interest as here was someone speaking to me. Here was out there who had specific concrete ideas of how to approach this successfully. 

She had a map, so to speak and I wanted it!  Having someone help me navigate the waves and redefine who I am has made a monumental change in my life and those around me. I wish those I know and those I don’t struggling that renewed vigor and love of life Beverley has given me and continues to give me.   

  

If you wish to follow her, Beverley Glazer’swebsite is http://www.reinventimpossible.com/about-bev/

You can contact Beverley on Twitter at @BeverleyGlazer

Or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/reinventImpossible

Suicide is So Often Misunderstood

I read a post on a close friend's Facebook page recently that touched my heart. It was a short but powerful post she about suicide.

Many that follow my page know that I have lost a step-son through suicide. My friend has lost a dear brother in the same way. It is a much more complex issue than what those without the experience frequently think.

Dan Bronold

Society often quickly jumps to false conclusions. In our case, we read many posts on the media page that said Dan deserved to die, good riddance. there was no human compassion, no knowledge or interest in who he was, he had not even had a trial yet, he was guilty by public opinion.  

This post by friend made bears posting here, on my blog, to the many follower. I hope it will be shared and discussed. My hope is it will enlighten those unfamiliar with the topic, reinforce what those of us know and help spread some more information that might be helpful. IT is uncomfortable to discuss but needs to be out in the open and better understood by everyone. 

When I was younger, I had a session on this topic with a group of teens through my local church. Half way through the class, several teens broke down crying, including the tough males who never seemed bothered by a thing.  Most had experienced a loss of someone in this manner.  Wrapping your head around suicide is hard, at any age.  

I have made very few edits to my friend's words only to make it pertinent to the blog, more generic to everyone.

"Can't say it enough...Many people think that a suicide attempt is a selfish move because the person just does not care about the people left behind. I can tell you that when a person gets to that point, they truly believe that their loved ones will be much better off with them gone.This is mental illness not selfishness. 

TRUTH: Depression is a terrible disease and seems relentless. A lot of us have been close to that edge, or dealt with family members in a crisis, and some have lost friends and loved ones. Let's look out for each other and stop sweeping mental illness under the rug. May I ask my family and friends wherever you might be, to kindly pass this information on and give it a moment of support to all those who have family problems, health struggles, job issues, worries of any kind and just need to know that someone cares.

Do it for all of us, for nobody is immune. 

Hope to see this on the walls of Facebook, Social Media locations everywhere, all my family and friends just for moral support for myself and so many others I don't know names of, faces, circumstances. I know some will!!! I did it for a friend and you can too. No personal information needs to be shared. Thank you."

Special thank you to my dear friend for posting this on their page,as a reminder to all of the loss we suffered that is with us forever. When she shared her story, I never dreamed in just a year or so, I would be in a similar

situation but only mine would be my husband's only child, my step-son.  The scars remain and society's reaction is not what you would expect. We must be compassionate and better comprehend what is behind this. Only then can be begin to prevent it also.  Mental illness and health is not a nasty topic or a sign of weakness. 

My husband and I  started a fund at a camp for troubled youths to help prevent teens from continuing down a self-destructive path after our son's death. This Camp is Christian-based and is focused on preventing attendees from meeting a similar fate, helping them get on a path where they can reach adulthood and then not destroy their adult lives. If you choose to research it or donate it, it is listed below.  There are just too many successful stories of lives impacted to even know where to begin. 

May your eyes be open and you open someone else's eyes to the beauty of life and the outreach for those needing help! 

Midcourse Correction Challenge Camp

Attn: Dan Bronold Memorial Fund

833 E. Grand River Ave

Howell, MI 48843

For more info on Midcourse C. Camp, Click Here

The blog below is written by an accomplished writer, speaker, counselor and a former pastor who I am honored to call friend. Ramon Presson and I have known each other for several years. I asked him for an article for my blog that was not one of his hysterically funny pieces but one that reflects on something I think he does so well, puts things in perspective.


I feel this article ties in well to a new book he wrote I just got done reading, When Will My Life Not Suck. The book is short, easy to read and excellent, a hard to put down book. Those of us that know this man want the sales to soar. Trust me when I say he has put his heart and soul into this book; he wrote this for everyone as a sort of mission, a calling if you will. The book is not just for the depressed, the lowly or those who need an attitude adjustment, it offers everyone something who pick it up and quickly read it. It is full of his trademark humor, beautifully written, interspersed with a story from scripture compared to present day life. He uses real people as illustrations to make his points (including himself) and yes, I even saw my name mentioned in there too. The compassion of Christ and the blessing of my friend Ramon spills off the pages…buy a copy, you will not be disappointed. If you are, I want to hear from you!

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Truth and Snake Charming

The young lady was willingly doing something you could not pay me enough to do—walk around in an enclosed pit of snakes. An employee of the quaint zoo near Maggie Valley, NC, Allison laced the top of her boots as she spoke to the twenty people gathered around the fenced rim of the rectangular concrete pit, the floor crawling and oozing with snakes. My skin was crawling all over itself trying to get away. Armed with only a short metal pole with a hook on the end, Allison closed the gate behind her and took the several steps down into my worst nightmare. Allison shuffled her feet among the serpents. (“I’m shuffling instead of picking my feet up because I don’t want to step on a snake and hurt it.”) Compassion for snakes seems rather misdirected if you ask me.

Allison would gather up a reluctant specimen with her hooked pole and describe it to us, including whether it was poisonous or not. Most were not, but my heart rate and shallow breathing didn’t seem to register that. In my ecology every snake is deadly and must be avoided or killed—preferably by someone else. But the lady moved easily about the crawlers, talking to the evil creatures as if they were a litter of puppies or flock of lambs.

Talking Back to Fear

Our brave (or crazy) Allison anticipated the question on everybody’s mind, (besides the one about her ever being able to attract a normal husband ): “How can you not be deathly afraid of being in a pit of snakes, some poisonous, all slithering and fully equipped with fangs?”

“You see these boots?” Allie said. She told us what kind of tough material her dark tan boots were made of, but it was definitely not the steel or iron which I would have insisted on. Allie said that a snake bite could not penetrate the hide. Not only that but the height of the boots were calculated to exceed the height above the ground at which any snake ( other than cobra) could strike. “Since snakes do not elevate their heads and strike more than 12-18 inches off the ground I’m safe as long as I don’t fall down in here.” Now I had a new horrific image to paint in my head—falling face-first into a brood of vipers.

Later that evening it occurred to me that while Allison is more inherently comfortable with slimy reptiles than I am, her fear and anxiety were calmed by truth. First, she knew that no snake’s fangs could penetrate the tough boots she wore to protect her lower legs. Secondly, Allie knew there was no snake present in the pit physically able to strike above the top of her protective boots. Thirdly, she knew that as long as she did not fall, she was completely safe.

If the Truth be Told

The words of Jesus came to mind, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” Allison knew the truth about the snakes and her gear and that knowledge set her free from fear, enabling her to stroll among serpents. Think of the logical converse of Jesus’ words: if knowing and believing the truth is what sets you free, then what holds you captive? Yes, you and I are held captive by believing falsehoods, subtle lies, while operating as though the fallacy is completely valid and accurate.

I see clients, friends, loved ones seemingly unable to believe the better truth about themselves and instead give the podium to a magnification of a past mistake, or hand over the microphone to an exaggeration of a weakness. They silence the voice of contrary evidence which affirms their character, intelligence, ability, and worth. I see people who sadly engage in self-branding with damaging nouns and adjectives, or who accept the labels pronounced upon them by others. I wish to help them gaze into a more truthful and grace-filled mirror. I long for them to embrace the line from Calvin Miller’s The Singer that “No man may burn a label into flesh and make it stay when heaven disagrees.” And that, my friends, is the truth.

One of Tennessee’s most published therapists, author Ramon Presson is the founder of LifeChange Counseling & the Marriage Center of Franklin. Visit him at www.LifeChangeCS.org or contact him at ramon@ramonpresson.com (615) 319-6450.