Girlphyte Magazine recently interviewed Charlene on the principles women can help women build the best life possible.  Read on for female insight on confidence and empowerment!

Q:  Confidence and self-worth are elusive goals for so many women.  You’ve achieved so much.  Where did you find your courage?

A:  When we choose to act with courage we open the floodgates to our authenticity.  Megan Raphael and Jennifer Byron said this when they wrote the book “The Courage Code” – a collection of stories on women who have rediscovered their self-worth and confidence. We build upon these ideas as a result of our soul journey and life experience – they are not necessarily skills we are born with. When we stop choosing our course of action out of a sense of obligation or desire to keep everyone else in balance, we no longer need to compromise ourselves by diminishing our own value.  Out this simple act of self-love, we are healed and empowered. Embracing our own authenticity is about self-celebration, whether in the form of choosing a new career, writing poetry, or learning to dance when we are in our 60’s.  Authenticity builds upon the awareness of our own unique gifts. One of my own life lessons was to learn to love myself, develop my voice, and teach others to do the same, so I gave up my left-brain corporate and research world in favor of teaching women to rediscover who they are at a fundamental level. So, my own brand of courage comes from demonstrating that which I need to claim and solidify.

Q:  How does the Goddess principle inform a woman’s work ethic?

A:  The Goddess is a powerful metaphor of a woman’s self-image.  Sometimes identifying with female deity makes women radiate with awareness that they are part of a huge, cosmic equation, but mostly, it’s about opening our hearts as fully as possible.  To stop denying our human experiences as a way to evolve our collective consciousness.  Culture and society has devalued that for so long, it’s time for a Goddess revival. When we begin to know the feminine principle, we begin to understand the path to human evolution. Part of this is about practicing the power of intuition, patience, a reverence for nature, and the knowledge of the holy unity of all things – all fabulous and natural capabilities of women. 

Q:  As you share these principles with women, what is the most startling transformative moment for women?

A:  They realize that they want to marry traditional masculine ideas of rule, reason, passion for order, structure, science, control and left brain with a feminine perspective on matters.  They understand that a balanced life, and self-actualization, comes from a balanced point of view, meaning that we must be aware of both sides of who we are.  They realize that validation from having a strictly male value set on success and careers is no longer necessary.

Q:  Women are such effective communicators, contributors and connectors yet continue to be undervalued in the workplace.  What is the key to changing the environment?  Or can we only change ourselves?

A:  Because women learned the corporate work tradition from men, they thought loosing their emotional depth, intuition, and seeing the gestalt improved performance. This is the first assumption to unseat when we desire change. A woman’s brain works differently than a man’s.  Generally, we have 33% more neuronal fibers in the corpus callosum, the dense fibers that link the two hemispheres of the brain.  Women have more connecting neurons between the left and right brain, so we tend to use both sides more than men when problem solving.  In the workplace, women have been conditioned to think like men – believing that compartmentalizing problems and lineal thinking is the only way to manage people and complexity.  To change the environment, first learn about your eyes, ears, brains, and all the amazing gender-based facts of who you are.  Be empowered by how you are wired. Harness that, celebrate it, and know you are not a mini-man.  Congratulate yourself on your inherent capabilities and bask in your own wonder.  When you do that, circumstances and people will change around you.

Q:  Your work with the homeless reflects the depth of your belief in the ability of your approach to reinvent women’s lives no matter how desperate their circumstances.  What is the most important thing you say or do when connecting with these women the first time?  Have they surprised you?

A:  I teach them their reality changes when they believe in the power of the mind. Defining their expectations of life, relationships or job success is first about moving forward into the present moment and shedding guilt, fear and self-doubt.  We can’t succeed at anything if we have no room for personal growth because it’s often taken up with a victim mentality and unforgiveness.  Emmet Fox, a 1940’s Unity Minister said that without clarity of knowing what you want and feeling the passion for it in the mind first, the universe can’t get a clear message on manifesting your reality. So, I teach the homeless about mental equivalents and affirmations because these are concepts easy to grasp and it helps begin to develop new automatic programs in the mind.  Overall, they are incredibly motivated to change.  That’s been a real myth buster.

Q:  What is your legacy to women?  How do you wish to be remembered?

A:  My vision is to get as many women as possible to understand that they are individual sparks of Divine power.  A woman is a whole image of creation, not a sub-set.  There is nothing blemished, sinful, or unworthy about being a woman. When women finally claim they are part of the universal I AM, which means they are timeless and unlimited, they will know they can’t be anything else. If am a teacher that walks this planet and can successfully communicate those ideas to both men and women, I will cross over to the other side with a kick in my step.

© The Goddess Network, Inc. and Charlene M. Proctor, Ph.D.  2007.  All Rights Reserved.  See http://www.thegoddessnetwork.com/connect.php?page=eshow for more empowering thoughts! Register for The E-Show, a series of enlightening lectures!

Whether negotiating a huge vendor contract, writing books, organizing volunteers, or making dinner for our families, women have always expressed their higher self in the form of service to the people they love.  In a nutshell, that is what “soul work” really means - to create something of value from the deep space within and flavor it with a unique talent. It’s about exploring your limits and maybe bringing the bottom line along for the ride.

However, achieving personal growth through work means being consciously aware of serving a cause without losing yourself in the process. How do you continue to remain positive in the workplace? Here are four important reminders that will help you feel good about what you do:

Work with a Loving and Generous Heart.  It’s good for the soul

Spiritual teachers spanning across many mystical traditions already noted our biggest work challenge.  It is to demonstrate our authentic self in our work - no matter if we’re at home with five kids or running a Fortune 500 corporation. In terms of specific tasks, have good intentions for your organization and the people involved.  If you cook with love, the person who eats that meal energetically receives the benefit of your positive attitude and thoughts.  I think that applies to any form of work!

As a form of self-expression, work allows us to re-create ourselves as a form of living art because we are the channel for the Divine.  Although that concept might be difficult to digest when we are pulling a sales call after being up all night with a crying baby, know this:  when we achieve conscious awareness of what we do well, we are instruments of a higher power.  We can change the world into exactly what we see fit – a vision crafted from the best of our emotions such as love, healing, forgiveness, compassion, and faith.  We can educate someone, lend a hand, or teach self-sufficiency in any number of venues.  Or simply create a beautiful object.   No matter our job, as long as we are aware of our power to do it with loving-kindness, we are contributing to the formation of the world and the values of those who will follow after us. Never underestimate the benefit of any form of work that is done with a generous spirit.

Remember your Source.  Know your true C.E.O.

No matter our wisdom tradition, when we take a moment to remember our spirit and pull light into ourselves, we experience a connection with divinity. Often, it is our individual awakening to service and the human condition.  God or Goddess… there are a thousand names and flavors by which we summon our inherent power. Power is a choice.  We don’t fall into it by accident, nor is it given by a secret society where only a few key members are invited.  We are born empowered, as we all are individual sparks of divinity.  The only difference is everyone is in different stages of awakening.

When we consciously co-create our reality with this spiritual partnership, we inevitably inspire others to open their hearts as wide as possible to the energetic fusion called “embodied spirit.”  Yep, hopefully you got the memo - we are not the body.  We are eternal, energetic, infinite, empowered beings, with all the tools from the get-go.  Our career objective? We are here to remember it all over again in a physical setting.  It’s soul development school from the minute we arrive until our last day.  We’re supposed to spread the light! So, when the going gets tough at the office, look at the bigger picture.  Know who really does your employment reviews and what you are really here to do.

Appreciate your unique specialty

Be thankful for what you bring to the world - whether it is creating jobs for others, sharing visual beauty, enhancing communication, or helping others move from crisis and poverty to self-sufficiency.  Whatever your work, know that the world needs your voice.  You matter, because you are an expression of a higher power. Your soul work is needed in the world, no matter the pay scale.  Celebrate your calling and march proudly, wherever you spend your day.

Have a Cause
 
Career success has paved the way for women to champion today’s most exciting causes.   Women now constitute 46.6% of the U.S. labor force and hold 50% of managerial and professional specialty positions.  Consequently, they are beginning to hold a great deal of purchasing power, especially in business ($1.5 trillion). Women purchase 83% of all products and services - a huge market force.  Success and control over the checkbook has translated into a new form of independence called strategic philanthropy.  

Whether at the office or at home, this collective spending power has an interesting effect on creating new pathways to peace and healing.  Women have developed a strong voice and a big resource base to address causes that matter specifically to the female gender, such as sponsoring a sister overseas, helping homeless mothers, or creating specialty rooms for sick children.  They’re translating their soul work in diverse ways and shaping the world with hands using feminine values that make sense.

Remember, doing our soul work moves us beyond our careers.  We can participate in a collective spiritual partnership spanning the globe.  At that empowering moment, we are taking a turn being Divine, by celebrating our path in exactly the way we see fit. Think from the heart and make certain your work is evolving into a personal truth. May you bloom and grow today, no matter where you work, and always be filled with the brightest light imaginable!

© The Goddess Network, Inc. and Charlene M. Proctor, Ph.D.  2007.  All Rights Reserved.  See http://www.thegoddessnetwork.com/connect.php?page=eshow for more empowering thoughts on corporate soul! Register for The E-Show, a series of enlightening lectures!

Make no mistake about it, change is challenging whether it is conscious or unexpected.  Viewing adversity as change, not loss or failure, is part of empowered and positive thinking.  Humans develop resiliency through change, both physiologically, and emotionally.  It’s necessary for all life forms to evolve.

Change Your Outlook on Change

Change comes though many vehicles – some hit us hard, others are rather sneaky.  But despite the challenges change brings, we know it is our natural state.  It’s inevitable – the world grows and we grow with it fueled by our emotions.  We are already designed to cry, express sorrow, frustration, anger, resentment, even give up for awhile – and most of us choose to explore these feelings. But we are also designed to have hope, recover, be stronger, and inspire others as a result of change.  You are never, never alone because emotions give us plenty in common - as a society, we are not yet Vulcans.
 
What makes one person triumphantly survive loss and turn it into positive energy, while another in similar circumstances resign?  And how do we change our outlook on change?  It has to do with our underlying assumptions on change.  I have two very dear friends; each had a double mastectomy from breast cancer.  Losing body parts is devastating, not to mention living with the daily uncertainty of not knowing whether you continue to remain in remission.  Yet one woman has forged ahead as a life-force warrior, focusing on triumphs and wins of today.  She doesn’t look back.  The other has difficulty moving forward – not engaging in work outside her home, quitting her job, waiting for “something” to happen while in a state of self-imposed limbo.   They’ve processed their information in completely different ways.  Why?

Change Your Assumptions on Predictability

It’s because people want certainty before they decide to accept change.  It’s a natural reaction.  Certainly our culture has become more comfortable with making choices that have predictable outcomes.  A current cultural disease we suffer from is predictability, reflected in our inability to accept change at a deeply personal level.  It applies across the board to choices we make with our finances, careers, or our relationships. 

Science, especially when applied to health issues, has given us a false security blanket when it comes to certainty. After all, it seems we’ve been able to control nature. We like to think we’ve cornered the market on predictability and good planning, when the truth is we live in a time where prediction is more intuition and common sense than science.  To embrace change, we need to release the umbilical cord we think we have to outcomes of certainty.  In other words, stepping off of the plateau requires a huge amount of trust.  Your fall will be broken somewhere at the right time. Believing that is what allows us to cope.  It is the first step, unsupported by any scientific doctrine.  And it’s a big one.
 
No matter what science pronounces, whether it is in the form of a diagnosis, prognosis, or the state of the environment, there is no sure thing.   Science has already given us permission to accept truth with a margin of error in just about anything.  There is always the possibility something may exist, or not exist, despite what patterns indicate.  Truly, it is a useless endeavor to let science, or proof for that matter, hold you back from moving forward.

Whether it is health, or other issues surrounding job loss, divorce, or death, you will successfully navigate through change and elevate the quality of your life by knowing anyone can beat the odds.  There is evidence everywhere, not just from Christopher Reeves, Mattie Stepanak, or those whose stories you find in People magazine, but from the dry cleaner, your third cousin, your own child.  Almost everyone you know has a story of beating the odds.  Let’s pay attention to the real evidence instead of looking for ways to prove that we can’t make it or the odds are just too great.

Adopt Big Picture Thinking

Adopting a new attitude on adversity requires big picture thinking on the subject of change.  View life, and spiritual development for that matter, as an upward spiral where you experience some of the same lessons over and over again.  Is it because we just aren’t getting what the lesson is telling us?  Perhaps, but that’s not the only reason.  We’ve deliberately put those circumstances in our chart in frequent doses to allow ourselves an opportunity to see how we’ve been progressing on the upward part of that growth spiral. 

Adversity is an inescapable performance indicator – a frequent reminder of our upcoming 360-degree review in how we handle the bumps.  We are meant to be a stronger, more insightful person each time we get walloped.  With each business obstacle, make a stronger commitment toward your goal of service to humanity; each time you grieve, become better at comforting others and showing compassion; after each funeral, return home knowing life is a precious gift.

Affirm Your Ability to be Versatile

With all setbacks, it drives the point home on the one true certainty in life and that is we must use our time wisely to make conscious change in the world. Change is designed to get outside of ourselves and become conscious of our place within a community of souls.  Without change, there is no transformation. Change is good, making us stir the self-development pot a little faster! Let’s affirm together:

“Today I commit to a new path.  I am filled with excitement and anticipation of a new adventure.  Those in my immediate future are already welcoming me as a positive addition to their team.  Divine guidance has found the best situation for me so that my light can shine brightly. I am versatile, refreshing, and my very presence transforms the world.”

© The Goddess Network, Inc. and Charlene M. Proctor, Ph.D.  2007.  All Rights Reserved.  See http://www.thegoddessnetwork.com/connect.php?page=eshow for more empowering thoughts on Resiliency and Change! Register for The E-Show, a series of enlightening lectures!