Kick Ass Author for Congress

One of my all time favorite authors and lecturers, Marianne Williamson, is running for Congress for California’s Congressional District 33. Hell yeah! While I have no desire to move to LA, and politics and party lines aside, it would be so fun to vote and fill in that box by her name on my ballot. What an inspiration her words have brought to my life. It brings me joy and inspires me, and hopefully it will inspire women to vote, and to get off their ass and open their mouth and speak up.

The very first Marianne Williamson book I read was in high school, called “Return to Love.” I still have my copy of that book, with all the tabs and highlighted quotes and notes. The pages have become worn with age because it is not a book I read once or twice, it was a book that sustained me during some tough times in my life. I can remember being a sophomore in high school, away at boarding school, and that book would go with me everywhere. Return to Love is her take on “A Course in Miracles” which I never got into, but her explanation and personal experience was just the right story I needed to hear at a time when what I needed most was a showering of love in my life. Here is a quote that resonated with me and was very marked up in my copy of Return to Love:

“People who have the most to teach us are often the ones who reflect back to us the limits to our own capacity to love, those who consciously or unconsciously challenge our fearful position. They show us our walls. Our walls are our wounds–the places where we feel we can’t love any more, can’t connect any more deeply, can’t forgive past a certain point. We are in each other’s lives in order to help us see where we most need healing, and in order to help us heal.” page 107

Over the years I read quite a few of her books. The two that I remember and stand out to me the most (if you were interested and wanted to crack one open) are “A Woman’s Worth” and “The Gift of Change.” Of course the feminist in me found solace in A Woman’s Worth. It is a book that looks at women’s issues from a lens of healing, rather than lacking. The Gift of Change really looks at our lives and how we can shift and change our world, this one has a very spiritual twist.

I encourage you to read her announcement and why she is running for Congress on the home page of her website. If you live in the 33rd Congressional District, vote, vote, vote!

#Inspiredbymarianne

Are Women Paid Fairly?

I am a bit cranky about this…yesterday I was reading the Daily Worth newsletter. Often I scan through their emails quickly and move on, but this time I read it entirely. It was about a bill that is being voted in on Congress today on the Paycheck Fairness Act. I wonder if this Act is going to pass, I want it to, but many news articles mention that it is not going to pass. How is that possible?

I am appalled. Come on folks it is 2012 and women STILL have to fight to have equal wages. Seriously? What a joke. Just like this Daily Worth poll, I had no idea that this Act was even up for vote. If we knew, would more women back and fight it? Yes, I think so. Why do we even have to fight this? If we are truly all created equal, why do we need to fight for workplace equality? Does it mean men add something to the job that women are not capable of doing? The last time I checked the only thing a man could do better was pee standing up. Was there something else I was missing?

As you can tell I am seriously appalled that Congress has to even waste time on this – it should have been passed years ago. It makes me question all the other things that might still be unequal for women. Are women still looked at as not strong enough? What other biases exist about women that still need to be expunged?

I need help with this, I am really struggling to see the bigger picture of why this is even a conversation. Thoughts?