Happy International Women's Day!

A day to truly celebrate WOMEN and all of their goodness. We have come a long way in so many ways and it is important to educate all young women of this fact, to celebrate it and to be proud. I do worry that many young Australian women have taken the gifts that our head strong female predecessors worked hard to give us, for granted. While fashion trends and music videos appear shocking they really have been around the block (pardon the pun) decades before. It is our inner confidence and self respect, or right to equality in the home, work place and in greater society that the young women of today need to take hold of. Our ability to do good and to be heard, despite what we look like, what clothes we wear or how we style our hair.

There are so many women in today's world who are still struggling to be given the chance to seek education or to marry who they choose. Some who are raped, abused and used daily and cannot seek help from their Government let alone their local community members. It is a horrible thought for many of us to even imagine and it is for this reason that a lot of us don't. We know we are lucky and we figure someone else will help those women fight their battles. Someone else will donate money to that charity, someone else will speak up and say STOP!

Top left: Me and Anne Summers (after she gave me some great advice about following dreams)
Top right: My fortune cookie contents, LOVE it! Bottom left: TEDx goodie bag. Bottom right: My
little TEDx buddy Maire...who I declared my head shave to.

On December 1st I had the privilege of attending the local event for TEDxSouthBankWomen at the Brisbane State Library. A day that I longed for and a day that did not disappoint. Many of my friends and family have had the brief run down from this day and many more know that as a result of that day I am now shaving my head to raise funds for the Leukaemia Foundation. What a lot of my family and friends don't know is that after having attended this life changing event I have granted myself a gift of greater self confidence, a louder voice and a stronger social conscience. For example many of us feel uncomfortable when we find ourselves in a conversation that turns racist or sexist or religious. When horrible remarks, jokes or comments are made that offend our values and morals we often bite our tongues or divert the conversation (well not all of us). I personally used to laugh nervously, remain silent and then change the subject completely. This reaction doesn't change the other person's viewpoint but neither does getting into an argument. However factual observations and statements are necessary and I find it can help terminate the conversation whilst also making that person feel 'regretful' for even opening their mouth!

Perhaps is it just a maturity thing that comes with age....OR perhaps not! I always thought I was a late bloomer (my whole life) and this as been proven correct (not because I'm still waiting for my boobs to come in!). A lot of the women who spoke at the TEDx event were under the age of 25. In fact the whole day was only made possible because of the belief and hard work of one 24 year old woman by the name of Laura Stokes.

Here is an article that was recently published in the Sunday Mail crediting the young life of this hugely inspirational woman:

Dare to be DIFFERENT! I think that is the best piece of advice you can give any young person, male or female.

I also want to end this post with a few links to some of the actual footage of the speeches from Dec 1st, 2012. If you can make time to watch them, you could find yourself feeling empowered to use your voice in aid of helping others too. 

Happy International Women's Day!

With realization of one's own potential and self-confidence in one's ability, one can build a better world.

Dalai Lama 
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/dalai_lama_2.html#F4ydSXxS1wZmD99q.99 

The Business of sharing by Lauren Anderson:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFEz-kXsSOs

It takes a Village by Justine Bloom:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcL-mReH0eA

A list of things I want to talk about - Tendy McFly
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTOnC-hQWTU

Something needs to change by Justine Flynn
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oeRbwS6NaE

Theres no such thing as being just a wife by Jonothan Duffy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj7S58LFgcA

Anne Summers Speech: 'Sexism & Misogyny
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mz47O0phbCs

Think it, wish it, see it

I know I have harped on and on about the power of dreams this year, but I am genuinely still surprised when they actually manifest...because they do!! The mind is a truly powerful thing, back that up with belief and motivation and you would be seriously FREAKED out at what can materialise.

I am a dreamer, always have been, always will be. My teachers' in Primary school picked up on it and I was always embarrassed when my name would be called out in class, waking me from a daydream and informing me to stop staring out the window. Of course I now understand their frustrations having become a teacher myself...an Art teacher no less! Daily I am dealing with classes half filled with teenage dreamers...because the Arty students are of course the most CREATIVE!

I also remember a particular day in Year 6 where our teacher had us fill in a quiz to find out whether or not we were EXTROVERTS or INTROVERTS. I loved this lesson!! I finally found a label for a bunch of qualities that I saw in myself and honestly thought to be, well...rather weird. I was the kid that played in my room on my own, quite happily for hours on end. While I also enjoyed playing Barbie's with my friends, I treasured the moment when they would finally leave so that I could whisk myself (and my dolls) away to the worlds I created in my mind. YEP I was one of THOSE weirdos!!!

Flash forward to a student free day in the Resource Centre of the small South West state high school I was first posted to. There we were, a whole school staff (of 25) listening to a strangely happy man (with what appeared to be a permed mullet...I kid you not) telling us all about his Personality Classification system, which was loosely based on the Extroversion Introversion Test. Basically he had categorised his outcomes with headings taken from the Animal Kingdom. Eagles, Kangaroos and Emus were the popular variety for those who had taken up the Teaching profession. He then got everyone to raise their hands on completion of the test to determine that yes, most of the staff group were made up of Eagles and Emus (or something to that effect). Everyone was laughing and revelling in their common traits... all except for me. Turns out I was a Dolphin! A lonely Dolphin too! The only other person in the room that was a Dolphin was the man with the permed mullet and he seemed to take great pleasure whilst informing me of this. It was as if he thought I might join his pod of Dolphins and swim off into the sunset. I was MORTIFIED!!! It didn't help that my colleagues roared with laughter. I did quickly realise that being unique (and an intuitive, feeling, sensitive person) is something to be proud of and the permed mullet man also helped assure me of this....yikes!!

Flash forward again to March 2012.
A lovely and highly intelligent lady friend of mine (let's call her Laura E) shared the following link on Facebook:
'The Power of Introverts': http://www.ted.com/talks/susan_cain_the_power_of_introverts.html

I hope you clicked on this link!! It could change your life too!! Imperative viewing...for some.

I AM A POWERFUL INTROVERT...ME, YES ME!!
Yep, I'm somewhere on the Introvert side of the scale. I'm nowhere near as shy as I used to be...just ask my Aunties and Uncles! I certainly gain energy from others, but I process that energy best on my own.

So yeah I was totally hooked on TED talks after viewing this. This is just what I need, inspiring words delivered in an entertaining and informative way and conveniently available right here on the internet...every single day.

 TED talks are AMAZING!!! The topics you can find and the time you can waste...I mean invest, is just endless. I have since used them as teaching resources in my classroom and to great effect. I have shared them with my friends on Facebook and listened to them on my headphones while falling asleep at night. I easily spent 3 days straight on the June school holidays watching them back to back whilst painting. They inspired me to return to school in Term 3 and complete that Long Service Leave Application.

Anyway back to the power of dreams (sorry for the RAMBLE...thank you if you are still reading), I gave myself goosebumps at the thought of attending a TED talk. Sitting in a room full of intelligent and optimistic dreamers and doers would have to be an amazing experience. Getting to hear the words of those who have dared to try, who have devoted their life to their passion and succeeded, would surely be beyond incredible. I said to my Husband, before I die I want to attend a TED talk. He agreed that it would be a great experience, but we both decided it would SURELY cost a huge amount of money and would SURELY be open to a select few. So I left it at that...a pipe dream.

So as you can imagine when I found out the TED talks were hosting a local TEDx Conference in...BRISBANE....for WOMEN...this YEAR.......I just about lost it!

I instantly liked their Facebook page and started searching for ways to attend, ticket prices, conditions etc. Turns out 100 lucky people would be selected from an online application process. They were seeking 'Women looking to be EMPOWERED' with an optimistic mind set. Surely I fit both of these categories considering I'm about to take the BIG LEAP to follow my ultimate dream goal???? Plus I am getting a little scared as each day passes...that this is actually going to happen.

Matt (the very supportive and encouraging Husband) located the REGISTRATION process and I carefully answered the 'More about me' section and read it over. Deleted it. Wrote it again. Re-worded it. Deleted it. Read it aloud. Got angry at myself and wrote it out again. Then finally hit 'Submit'. Then read it again. Hated it. Closed it and forgot about it...as much as I can forget about anything remotely possible!

UNTIL Sunday morning when I received a congratulatory email for TEDxSouthbankWomen inviting me to attend the Conference as a delegate...FREE of charge. Yep, I totally lost it...in the car...while Matt was driving and pleading with me to stop bouncing around and basically just to calm down.

That's right, I actually got selected from many many applicants to attend the TEDxSouthbankWomen event on December 1st. I still cannot believe it, I'm beside myself with excitement.

What is TEDx and why is this so exciting?

Well for those of you who are yet to discover TED Talks, allow me to attempt to enlighten and change your whole world. No seriously this will change the way you think and if not, well I apologise for getting your hopes up.

This is taken from www.ted.com/

Our mission: Spreading ideas. 
We believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world. So we're building here a clearinghouse that offers free knowledge and inspiration from the world's most inspired thinkers, and also a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other. This site, launched April 2007, is an ever-evolving work in progress, and you're an important part of it. 

Basically it is AWESOME, INSPIRING people giving the speech of their lives about their passions and ideas to change the world for the better!! They are all online and you all need to turn off the television and get online to watch as many as you can...immediately. 

So the TEDx Conference for Women that I am attending is a local event with a the theme of: EMPOWERMENT. The line up of speakers come from a wide range of industries and backgrounds and you can read more about them here:

http://tedxsouthbankwomen.com/speakers/

This is just further proof that if you really really want something bad enough, it can materialise!! Visualisation is KEY. I promise to report back on my experience as a TEDxSouthBankWomen Delegate in December. 11 days to go....