WOMEN POWER BLOG

Welcome

My name is Ann Vanino. I am a professional coach, organizational consultant and owner of Moving Forward Coaching & Consulting. I am a resident of Antelope Valley and served on the founding Executive Board of the Antelope Valley Women’s Conference.

My passion, as a coach, centers on personal power - helping individuals to find their own gifts and bring them confidently into the world. Often, power is given a bad name. I think power is a good thing, if you use it for the good of all.

In my blog, I will examine elements of personal power, share stories of personal power and invite you to share your ideas with me. It is my wish that all women lead empowered and fulfilling lives

You Have a Dream

You Have A Dream

Martin Luther King had a dream. He’s not the only one; you have a dream inside you too. What’s your dream? It’s time for your dream to take flight. Are you ready for take off?

The most beautiful vision of our world is one in which each individual lives their dream. Finding your dream can be a journey. Have you heard of the concept of The Hero’s Journey? The Hero’s Journey is a structure that has been used throughout time to tell stories and create myths regarding the human adventure.

Many contemporary authors have resurrected the concept of The Hero’s Journey starting with Joseph Campbell. One author, Christopher Vogler, has a compelling way to describe The Hero’s Journey. He is a story analyst for major Hollywood film studios, has consulted for Walt Disney on The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. He believes that “Filmmakers are storytellers. The best of them have utilized the principles of myth to create masterful stories which are dramatic, entertaining and psychologically true.”

Vogler lays out these stages of The Hero’s Journey in his book The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structures for Storytellers and Screenwriters:

l The Ordinary World – the hero is in their everyday, common world
l The Call to Adventure – seeds of change are planted in the hero’s life
l Refusal of the Call – the hero hesitates in the face of change and the unknown
l Meeting the Mentor – a mentor, teacher, guide shows up in the hero’s life
l Crossing the First Threshold - the hero commits to the adventure
l Tests, Allies, Enemies – the hero enters the journey and encounters challenges
l Approach to the Inmost Cave – the hero finds the heart of their journey
l Supreme Ordeal – the hero faces the greatest challenge
l Reward - the hero survives the ordeal and is recognized and rewarded
l The Road Back – the hero returns to the world
l Resurrection – the hero must reenter the world as a changed person
l Return with the Elixir – the hero commences a new life

What does the hero’s journey have to do with your dream? I think each individual finds their dream in a very similar way to the hero’s journey. Try it out. Can you see stages of the hero’s journey that you have encountered? Have you been faced with change and refused the call? Have you had a mentor come into your life? Have you been tested?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on your dream and your hero’s journey. I’ll be writing more about this as we explore Women Power.

WOMEN POWER BLOG

Welcome to women POWER blog. My name is Ann Vanino. I am a professional coach, organizational consultant and owner of Moving Forward Coaching & Consulting. I am a resident of Antelope Valley and served on the founding Executive Board of the Antelope Valley Women’s Conference. My passion, as a coach, centers on personal power - helping individuals to find their own gifts and bring them confidently into the world. Often, power is given a bad name. I think power is a good thing, if you use it for the good of all. In my blog, I will examine elements of personal power, share stories of personal power and invite you to share your ideas with me. It is my wish that all women lead empowered and fulfilling lives

Is Your World Ordinary or Extraordinary?

October 15, 2008

Is Your World Ordinary or Extraordinary?

I’d like to continue with the discussion in my last post, where we looked at the stages of the Hero’s Journey in myth and story structure. In the first stage of the Hero’s Journey a character is in the ordinary world but soon begins a life-changing adventure.

What is your ordinary world like? Is it a place you want to be? Does your ordinary world reflect the best of you? Ordinary is defined in Webster’s Dictionary as “a kind to be expected in the normal order of events”. Do you want your life to be ordinary or extraordinary? Everyone has the potential to live an extraordinary life. To do so requires uncovering your unique gifts and having the courage to live your dreams.

What can you do now to make your life extraordinary? Here’s a simple step you can take: eliminate five tolerations in your life by the end of this year. Tolerations are the things that you allow to exist in your life that do not serve you. They may not be glaring problems but they drain your energy and you’d be better off without them. Start by identifying five aspects of your life that qualify as tolerations. Consider what it will take to rid yourself of them. Then, do it. Here’s a bold step you can take to make your life extraordinary: make an act of power. An act of power is something you do that will change your life forever. This is big. It can be doing something you dream of or making a radical change that will make your life better.

Are you willing to make your life extraordinary? Once you believe that it is possible and begin to take action, things will flow. Here’s a quote to inspire you:

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, the providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way. I learned a deep respect for one of Goethe's couplets:
Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!”

- William H. Murray, The Scottish Himalaya Expedition, 1951

You can do this. I believe in you. Move out of your ordinary world and live an extraordinary life.

Welcome to Women POWER

My name is Ann Vanino.

I am a professional coach, organizational consultant and owner of Moving Forward Coaching & Consulting. I am a resident of Antelope Valley and served on the founding Executive Board of the Antelope Valley Women’s Conference. Moving Forward also specializes in coaching and consulting for workforce development programs.My passion, as a coach, centers on personal power - helping individuals to find their own gifts and bring them confidently into the world. Often, power is given a bad name. I think power is a good thing, if you use it for the good of all. In my blog, I will examine elements of personal power, share stories of personal power and invite you to share your ideas with me. It is my wish that all the women of Antelope Valley lead empowered and fulfilling lives.

Do you know your gifts?
Our society has a way of beating you down. It wants you to conform to its view of who you should be. If you conform, you will be accepted. That is your supposed reward. But, there’s a hitch. In order to conform, you must stifle your own uniqueness. Society does not like differences. It sees safety in numbers. An upstart could unsettle things. Society does not celebrate each person’s uniqueness – so how are you to find your gifts? Here’s a way to get started. Think back over your life to times when you were happy. What were you doing? Think about times you made a positive impact on others. What was it you did to have that impact? See if you can find some clues regarding what your gifts are.

Take a moment to do some visioning. Find a quiet space and settle your mind. Ask yourself, “what are my gifts?” See what comes. It may be a symbol, a word or a full answer to your question. Write down what comes to you.

There is a wonderful quote from Marianne Williamson that encourages us to bring our gifts into the world. Until next time, I will leave you with its beautiful message:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

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About Ann Vanino
In 1996, Ann Vanino founded Moving Forward Coaching & Consulting. Moving Forward's coaching and consulting guide individuals to career success and fulfillment and organizations to maximum performance.

Moving Forward also specializes in coaching and consulting for workforce development programs. Ann's passion for this work centers on designing youth oriented and market driven workforce development programs and strategies, providing career coaching for young adults and creating collaborative workforce development stakeholder groups.

www.MovingForward.net