Do What You Love: New Beginnings

Many years ago I had the pleasure of being introduced to one of the most widely studied Black women writers of our time: the incomparable bell hooks who chose her great-grandmother's name as her pseudonym, spelling it in lower case to focus the attention on her message—honoring female legacies—rather than herself. At age 19, bell hooks started writing what would become her first book: Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism, which would be published in 1981 and later, widely praised. In 1993, bell spun her magic again with Sisters of the Yam: Black Women and Self-Recovery.

Sisters of the Yam is what I and many Black women academics consider essential reading. While written about issues and concerns primarily impacting the lives of Black women, my argument is that bell's care-filled essays can serve ALL women.

In Sisters of the Yam bell addresses the inner well-being?of Black women and tackles the important issues of truth-telling, work, grieving, spirituality, eroticism, reconciliation and forgiveness, community and estrangement from nature while offering strategies for self-recovery.?While Sisters of the Yam was published over 31 years ago, her essays couldn't be more relevant than they are today.

Work, striving, climbing and trying is killing women.

The constant pursuit of work (and thinking about work), whether it be on a W2 or in a business of her own, is sending many women into crisis levels of panic, fear, and other ill states of health.?Mental illness is on the rise, cancers are skyrocketing and despite all that we know now about burnout, too many women have completely fallen over simply from 'leaning in.'?

Women therapists now find themselves in desperate need of therapy and women coaches now find themselves needing coaching, having lost their own sense of clarity, purpose, vision and joie de vivre.?

Women need real solutions.

For this reason and many others I created The Seva Circle two years ago where I bring together women who are ready to design the life they truly deserve so that they can begin experiencing the joy of life lived on purpose by a purpose for a purpose. In The Seva Circle community BIG changes are coming this week.

Where our Career Corner once focused on leadership and providing all of the strategies to help women achieve their desired career outcomes in corporate America our focus is now shifting to help women find and choose Right Livelihood. I deeply believe that as women honor the actions they value - by doing?them - they become more authentic, more reliable, more self-disciplined. They grow to trust themselves more; they learn to listen to their own inner voice as a steady, truthful and strengthening guide for what to do next in their careers and their lives and even learn how to do it.?

As bell hooks describes in her essay on work-life balance, Right Livelihood comes from the teachings of the Buddha, who describes it as work consciously chosen, done with fullness and care, and leading to enlightenment. In its ancient and contemporary sense, it embodies self-expression, commitment, mindfulness, and conscious choice. When the powerful quality of conscious choice is present in our work, we can be enormously productive and fulfilled.

In our new career circle, aptly titled Work Made Sweet?launching on February 1st, I will begin sharing stories, new readings, podcasts and interviews on what it takes to build inner confidence, and self-esteem, and how to listen to one's own self and hear one's own inner voice over the din and clatter of "experts," social media hype and societal expectations of women. Together, we will learn about what right livelihood is and how it leads women to better personal health and personal development.?

Our Financial Freedom Fridays topic will also take on new meaning as we go deeper into the subject of money and see how it relates to feelings of high (or low) self-worth.?We will come together to understand how increased self-trust and high self-esteem inherently leads to material success, and, at the very least, to self-love and self-respect. As many have learned, when people can cultivate inner security and develop a commitment to their own talents, they can earn as much money as they need or want through authentic self-expression, self-trust and self-actualization.?

In our Design The Life You Deserve Mastermind?that meets twice monthly we will continue to examine the phenomenon of mental resistance that blocks mental energy and enthusiasm, robbing far too many women of satisfaction, reward and ultimately their health and mental, physical, and spiritual well-being. There will be more on HeartMath with handouts that help you deeply relax your overactive mind to achieve the level of peace required for strengthening the heart's communication signals with your mind - an essential element for personal leadership.?

And finally, my Design The Life You Deserve: a 5 Day Journey To Renew, Refresh & Reinvent Your Life 2024 Retreat will weave all of the above and more.?As one might imagine, there are only four suites remaining - a clear sign that there are many women who are ready for a new beginning.

Cheers to a new day, new beginnings and a fresh breath of air in The Seva Circle.

If you're a woman on the path to Right Livelihood, I invite you to check us out and if you're a woman who's already found it, I invite you to be a guest on my podcast, Healthy Housecalls With Angel. Just send me a PM.

Be well. Be love(d). Be Good to Yourself.

Angel