Megan Johnson Huber

Please meet our Guest Blogger, Megan Johnson Huber. It really takes courage to be vulnerable and fully responsible for our lives! And … when we decide to be honest and authentic with who we are (when the shades are closed and no one is looking), there is a child like freedom to it! Perhaps you have experienced this yourself. I was touched by Megan’s Story and her willingness to share it with you. I trust you will find value for yourself. Real power is fueled by courage, building our confidence and thereby allowing us the ability to serve others.

Leslie Flowers, Founder

MEGAN’S STORY

The Confidence to Be You

She was 24 years old, 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighed all of 100 measly pounds.  Half a PB&J on wheat, a few pieces of pineapple and a bowl of cheerios were her “meals”.  On occasion, she’d secretly binge and purge, feeling so proud of herself that no one even noticed.  Her thoughts were consumed with calorie counting, food, weight, exercise, control, judgment and secrecy.  Thinning hair, receding gums, no energy, blurry vision, trembling hands.  No one noticed.  No one asked.

On January 1, 2005 she walked into a Gold’s Gym in Raleigh, NC and asked for the best trainer on staff.  Her soul and bony body were battered, beaten, lifeless and screaming at the top of their lungs for help.  Tears flowed.  Head in hands.  Sigh of relief.  A new beginning.

I haven’t shared this story very often until recently as I now know its stories like mine that represent millions of women all over the world.  Perhaps you’ve not suffered from an eating disorder, but if I know the Universe, a part of me is inside of you and you’ll take another step toward tapping into your inner strength as a result of my story.  For many years, I struggled with body image issues and believed that in order to feel and be loved and accepted by anyone, I had to be thin and look like the young girls on every magazine cover I was reading at the time.  This was an illusion that I created which eventually became my reality.  Because of this belief system and the fact that my thoughts supported those beliefs, I got exactly what I thought about all the time.

For years I did what I thought I was supposed to do and acted how I thought I was supposed to act based on the world, people and society around me.  My outer style reflected someone who just blended into the crowd.  The day I walked into that gym and asked for a trainer, my 24 year old story ended and I began a new destiny.

It was time for the 12 year old girl inside of me to stop running the show and for me to develop my own individuality starting from the inside, my core being, my higher self.  When I began moving forward from this place, my desires became clearer and my true self began to show up in all areas of my life, which has made all the desires of my life thus far much easier to manifest on the outside.

The Universe wants to work with you!  The more life experience I have the more I’m able to relinquish control and jump into the truth of God’s love for me.  We are created with a purpose that does not bless or benefit anyone when we go for what isn’t our authentic self.  “Just be yourself” sounds so obvious, but it takes a fierce amount of courage to drop the conditioning of who we’re “supposed” to be, what we’re “supposed” to wear, how we’re “supposed” to make the money or who we’re “supposed” to marry.  To fully embrace and become the most magical and natural state of you takes inner strength and feminine courage.

When I fully tapped into my inner strength and feminine courage I began to express my style, personality and passions on the outside, matching how I truly felt on the inside.  I began making choices based on what I “wanted” rather than on what I thought I “should” do or who I “should” be.  Life truly is easier this way!

MEGAN’S BIO

Two and a half years ago, Megan went from working 70+ hours a week as an educator in both a face to face and virtual high school to breastfeeding, changing diapers and watching daytime tv.  This lifestyle change sent her down a path of shock, postpartum depression and an identity crisis.  But, what falls down must eventually make its way back up.  Megan used this seemingly blessed time in her life to reinvent herself, to identify her purpose and be the change that her heart truly desired to see in the world.   She set out on a journey filled with just as much trial and error as success which has landed her here in front of you today.  Megan’s own personal and professional transformation to live a bigger, better, bolder life is the fire that drives her to inspire and empower other women to live a life business that is inspirational and important to them – an authentic life that is lived ALL IN.

If you enjoyed Megan’s Story, you can
FIND MEGAN at the links below.

THAT is the Question!

• Apt navigation of the business landscape is required for success.
• Men have inherited skills that set that the context for business — and those skills are missing for women and result in women remaining invisible and not credible in business.
• The results from the long time “fat pay gap” has single full time working mothers up nights worrying about making ends meet, even when making well over the poverty level.
• From Skirts to Shirts identifies, distinguishes, and makes available to working women, those skills specific to playing effectively anywhere in the business world, by providing quick actionable training with palpable results.

So? You may be thinking. “We already knew this. It’s always been this way.”

Why is this important more NOW than years ago?

Several reasons actually …

1. As a result of rampant divorce, women are not just ‘thinking’ about being in the business world — they are smack in the middle of it! They have to be because they are raising families on their own.
2. Inherent male skills set the contextual business landscape in which we operate and have done so for thousands of years. Men use these business ‘skills’ by default.
3. Women learned to navigate and set the context for a different landscape … home and family. Those skills do not serve in business.
4. The skills men use by default to conduct business are easily learned by women. Once learned women are less transparent and can match the context like men do.

Over the past 10 years I have been observing and studying how men behave in the corporate world, and how that behavior is completely different than the way women behave. What are men ‘doing’ that woman can adopt to meet men shoulder to shoulder in business?

Now there is a new program for women to LEARN the skills men use inherently to even the corporate and business playing field! The program reveals  easy-to-learn-and-use skills that will have women appear less transparent and more powerful in the corporate world. Women will be finally listened to and heard … as they are already ready and willing to step into matching pay and jobs with men … now, not someday maybe!

I will debut this unique and interactive program the last Friday in March at People Builders LLC Final Friday Forum in N. Raleigh with both men and women participating. Not only will women learn some amazing and powerful skills that will change the way they operate in the business world, men will be contributing as well.

The big debut is at the Southern Women’s Show the last weekend in April at the State fairgrounds in Raleigh, where I will present this on Lifetime’s Balanced Living Stage as a seminar several times. You can also find the schedule here.

If you are wondering “what happens when women begin to OUT EARN men” for doing the same work … you have vision! It will occur … we just do not know when.

When this happens, MEN will wake up and wonder “what happened here” and begin to learn the skills women have always known. Then the roles will reverse again.

Meet Style & Mindset Creator Leslie Flowers

My purpose is to give you access to your beautiful mind, your beliefs, how you got them, and if you like, how to change them to give you a life of joy and success. I will be inviting guest mind and self image experts to provide valuable tips and content to further this purpose. And of course our outer style is an integral part of our joy and happiness in life.

So let’s start with this supposition:

Self image for happiness +no style savvy = average results
Low self image + style savvy = average results
Self image for happiness + style savvy = Our BEST shot at Success!

Style & Mindset is designed to give you clear access to your self image by understanding the subconscious mind, the precise process that yielded that image, and then the tools to create a new image of success, all by design. Concurrently, the program provides basic techniques, tools and tips to easily and frugally dress ourselves to feel wonderful and enjoy life’s successes.

Then we do have the BEST SHOT AT SUCCESS! Very few people match inner strength with outer style. Those are the few that are few who are wealthy, happy, and healthy in all areas of life — at work, at play, at living life!

We often wonder why we aren’t wildly successful and others we know enjoy this result. If we don’t know the WHY, then we typically do nothing. Well, what is there to do?
The first step in discovering our own self image is to understand ‘Attitude.’ What is it? Have you heard someone say “if you would just change your attitude,” or “you’ve got a great attitude?”
Mystery solved: Attitude is made up of three components.

Thought + Feeling + Action = ATTITUDE

Examples:

1. If we want a particular job and we might say to ourselves “I want it, but I’m not smart enough,” or “the job market is suffering and there aren’t enough to go around,” the FEELING associated with those thoughts is not a happy one.
2. If we want a particular job and we say to ourselves, “I want it, and I’m just the one for that job!”, or “the job market is wide open in this area and they’re looking for folks to fill positions,” the FEELING associated with those thoughts is one of happiness.
3. The feelings generated by holding a thought (and that image) consistently, in spaced intervals, over time generates a particular vibration.

Negative and/or self demeaning thoughts = low vibration
Positive and/or self confidence thoughts = high vibration

That vibration begins to attract things we want and people we need, to us … once we have taken ACTION.

Low vibration = negative Results
High vibration = positive Results

You can begin reshaping your own self image by intentionally ‘catching’ yourself when you say something negative to or about yourself, then consciously think and hold the opposite thought, and almost instantly, your vibration will increase in amplitude, and you will feel better.

Time for a CHECK UP – FROM THE NECK UP?

You have adjusted your attitude. This does not happen overnight, so just start with this practice. You will be reshaping your own self image! You may wish to jot down when you do this practice and what you were thinking.

By Tatiana H. Irvin, The “Energy Intuitive” Coach
www.BareBrillianceCoaching.com
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A sense of returning, coming into fullness, and cycling back into introspection all begin calling to us this time of year.

Fall brings with it a slowing pace to our inner senses and beg us to ponder where our energy and intention have been for the past 10 months of waxing into the activity of fun sun and visceral living.

The season for giving “thanks” is upon us and with that, for many, it will be a return to a concept of home and traditional conformity.

If you are one of many who will be coming “home” to loved ones; family that perhaps you do not continually develop your sense of self with on a daily basis and supporting all that you are releasing and becoming, this may be a genuinely challenging experience.

We often find ourselves knee jerking into old patterns of familiar behavior when placed back into old surroundings. For those that we left behind while out discovering ourselves, there are still outdated versions of you playing in their consciousness. After all, they were unable to personally witness the richness of your development taking place, and need you to lovingly re-introduce yourself to them.

Returning can be gentle and well received when we bring all of ourselves home with us,…. fully present AND fully accepting of the ever-evolving presences of those we love.

How do we accomplish this?

First, set a conscious intention of who you see yourself to be in the here and now, in the comfort of your personal space prior to making the journey. Hold that vision, and anchor it deep within your sense of self. Self-talk is magnificent in grounding this concept.

Second, remember to expect that as much as you want to be embraced for all that you are becoming, so too, do your loved ones. Look for the subtle growth, personal shifts and less obvious milestones that you can revel in with them. Point them out and witness the gratitude that emerges from your attention.

Lastly, find opportunities to bond with and create new memories with those precious souls you are intentionally choosing to spend this cherished time of year with. Rather than defaulting to the re-enactment of the “good ole days”, perhaps finding opportunities to make new connections,…… sharing new ideas,…. new memories.

Being conscious and deliberately choosing how you would best enjoy this time of interaction makes all the difference. Rather than defaulting to the “way it has always been”, set the standard of a new default. Set the intention to bring all of you home. And then be presently surprised in the discovery of how much more is awaiting to make your acquaintance!

By Lauren Paparone, The “Health & Wellness” Coach
Personal Empowerment Inc.

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You’ve tried Mindful Meditation, Breathing and Visualization techniques…now it’s time for you add a few more tips into your Stress Busting Toolkit!

Tool #7 – Manage Your Time

We all have the same number of hours in a day. How you manage your life is the way to make the best use of the time you have.

I have learned to prioritize what I do so I put important activities ahead of the not as important ones. I have removed myself from boards which no longer meet my business or personal goals and have joined new organization which better suit my needs. I try to focus on what is important to me not what others think is important.

Tool #8 – Organize Your Life

Being organized both physically and mentally is a true stress buster. Knowing where important items are how to get to them is a time saver and gives us a sense of being in control.

You know what it’s like when you can’t find an important paper or bill…you go into panic mode. Not only is this stressful, but it also is a terrible time waster.

Tool #9 – Tame Your Inner Critic

Knowing how to control the inner voice, which gives us negative thoughts, is a sure way to accomplish what we were meant to be.

Being aware of negative thoughts, honing in on a technique to push those thoughts away, and substituting those negative thoughts with positive mantras can be a very affective stress reliever.

Again, practice these 3 new tools along with the first 6 and see which ones work for you.

In my next blog in this series, I will provide the last 3 survival tips to put in your toolkit!

&To your success!

By Heather “HeatherO” O’Sullivan, The Self-Worth Coach
www.HeatherO.com
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I’m not sure why this came to me today, but I felt compelled to right this nonetheless.

People are all different.

Some people need to feel important, others need to feel smart, etc.

The truth is, we are all unique in our own way.

We are each given gifts and talents that others do not have.

We are born worthy of all of the great things that life has to offer, and we are all beautiful in our own unique way.

If you take the time to look for it, you will see beauty in everyone. Try it!

Even that little old lady in the drugstore…she has beautiful eyes, or hair, or something.

When you look for beauty, you will find it. Start with yourself!

Look in the mirror and say this out loud:

“I am deserving, worthy and beautiful”

If it is difficult, do it a few times.

How does it make you feel?