International Women's Day

Today is International Women's Day.

We are standing on the shoulders of those who came before us. Thank you.

Thank you and deep bow to all who fought for women's right to own property, to vote, to have bank accounts, to hold political office, to have soverignty over their own bodies.

We have some rights, and some rights are being eroded as we speak and we still have a lot of work to do for equity for all people of all genders.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, on average, women are still earning 83 cents for every dollar that a man earns. That figure has not changed much in the past 20 years.

This makes my blood boil.

We have been conditioned to believe that women and nonbinary people are worth less than men... that we are worthless... that our value is less, our contributions are worth less, valued less, that we have to work harder to be as deserving as men. Because money determines our value.

This makes my blood boil, too.

I can feel the steam coming out of my ears as I write this. Borrow my anger. Borrow my passion. If you can't feel the injustice in this, borrow some of my love.

(HINT HINT! Your anger is powerful energy that you can use to create what you want! It takes the same creative energy to react as it does to create. What would happen if you used your energy from this day on to create the world you want to live in?)

Before I started sharing mindset, meditation and mindfulness practices that help you make great money doing what you love and contribute to the kind of world you want to inhabit, I was a documentary filmmaker making films about climate change and biodiversity.

As a filmmaker, I had the privilege of traveling around the world and closely observing people and the planet.

I saw the high level picture and the minutiae on the ground. I saw the cosmic bicycle chain -- how everything affects everything. How the health of the parts contributes to the health of the whole system, and how no part is greater than any other part. Everything serves.

That's why I'm on a mission to offer an alternative to the dominant paradigm of inequity and to help you make more money (without having to work more hours or sell your soul).

As a filmmaker, I understood there was a time and place for the drone shot (the high level view) and the extreme close ups, the action shots and the reaction shots, the low angle shots, the tracking shots. The diversity of shots all have a place in the movie. We need all these different perspectives to get our arms around the whole story, because the whole story is bigger than any one perspective.

Biodiversity is good for the planet and good for humanity.

Monocultures, on the other hand, deplete the soils, lack nutrients, and lea to death. If you plant only monocrops, eventually nothing can grow there.

What I learned as an award-winning environmental filmmaker who has made dozens of films about climate change and biodiversity, is that YOU play an integral role in the health of the planet.

Your opinions, your unique skills and perspective enrich the planet, and you matter. When you don't contribute your wisdom, share your voice, express your art, the world is a little bleaker and more monochromatic because you didn't add your genius to the mix.

Can you imagine a world in which all the birds sang the same song? in which there was no diversity of culture or language or art? in which everything was bland and bleak and dull and there was no contrast at all?

It's a privilege to live in a world of contrast and differentiation which contributes to the full spectrum of amazing-ness and abundance that's here right now for us. I want to remind you that you are part of that amazing-ness and abundance.

What I also realized as a close observer of climate change is that we all have inner weather patterns ("whether" patterns). Our inner environment creates our outer reality. The inner weather pattern is constantly changing, and it's beautiful observe the night sky of the mind.

We all experience from time to time the turbulent storms of self-doubt, self-sabotage, what if they don't like it, what if I fail, what if this doesn't work for me, what if I'm the laughing stock.

These self-imposed clouds of emotion and fear can move through us and add beauty and wonder to our experience if we hold the nonjudgmental space of awareness, just as the sky holds the nonjudgmental space for the clouds to arise and dissolve during the day and for the stars to come out in all their twinkling glory at night.

But what if we get stuck in our inner climate cycle of What If?

Over time, if unobserved and therefore uninterrupted, the momentary what if becomes an automatic habit, that turns into a chronic case of what-if-itis that inflames us and makes us feel sick, stuck and stressed.

I could see this all playing out on the screen of my own mind, so I took what I know about filmmaking and created a business from it. I didn't intend to become a mindset expert. I intended to soothe my own self-doubts and insecurities. I intended to heal my own chronic pain.

And I did, in ways that blew my mind, because I discovered the vastness that is beyond anything my mind ever imagined

“Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.” - Arundhati Roy

The world that is possible and is on its way to you right now is a world in which?you are paid well for your gifts without having to work harder or sell your soul.

It's a world in which?you are honored, heard, respected, loved, adored, appreciated, recognized and worthy.

It's a world in which?you embrace all your emotions, your strengths and your weaknesses, your vulnerability and your power, and you realize that your contribution matters greatly.

It's a world in which?you no longer demonize yourself (or others), in which?you no longer blame yourself (or others), in which you?no longer unconsciously argue for your limitations.

It's a world in which?you no longer apologize for being a millionaire.

In short,?you no longer give your power away?to the patriarchy or to your parents or to your past or to your problems.

Happy International Women's Day!