There's been a theme in my life lately of incorporating music into my life and career. This week, I was asked to provide the music and visuals for the "All One People" Toastmasters speech contest and I did. It was a great experience.
I've also been reading a book titled The Four Spiritual Laws of Prosperity by Edwene Gaines to really embrace the idea of doing "my work" and prospering while I'm at it. My Master Mind group: Savvy Soul Sisters has been a tremendous boost in that direction, special thanks to Cynthia Lamb for helping me to see irrational beliefs I had about myself and business that I wasn't able to see on my own.
I'm wanting to step into my authentic life, including my unique career and I'm wanting to do it with gusto starting in June. Part of that journey has been to work on forgiveness and healing. It's been amazing what has transpired simply as a result of communicating with my dad and being willing to let go of the past. Not only have we healed any discord between the two of us, healing my relationship with my father has drastically improved my marriage. In addition to that, my dad told me this week that since the forgiveness work we've done with each other has been so helpful, he's decided to do the same work with all of his children and the healing is taking place all through the family.
As a result of challenging and changing my beliefs, I've had a lot of mind shifts and "ah-ha" moments. Sometimes I feel like a walking "ah-ha" moment. One of the things I realized is how I've been miserly by withholding gifts I have to share. You see, because of my own fears and insecurities, I have sometimes held back or even denied opportunities to be of service to others and to share my gifts with them.
Part of the gift is my ability to listen to just about anything without being shocked or taking it personal. I help people get things off their chest and I help them to see a fresh perspective.
It just so happens that in the past couple of weeks, everyone wants to talk about sex or death. In the sex category, I've had a few people come to me lately to tell me how childhood or teen sexual assault has impacted their ability to enjoy sex as an adult with their committed partner. They want to get over their trauma and pain so they can enjoy today more fully and I don't blame them. My guess is that this phenomenon impacts many people, male and female and frankly, given my personal and professional experience, I can be of tremendous assistance to a lot of people in regards to this topic.
The question is, will I step up to the plate and do this work fearlessly or will I allow all the should's and doubts and fears of what people think to hold me back? Truth is, without support I would probably just hide and convince myself that I wasn't ready yet. But since I have amazing support, I think I might be willing to stay in the flow of what's happening and see where it takes me.
My husband seems to be open to and intrigued by what's transpiring and I'm working with an excellent coach Nick Pfenningwerth to see about how I can incorporate sex and sexuality into the overall "Galvanized" package.
Starting in June I'll be doing webinars, coaching and hypnosis on topics to help women and men become strong enough to enjoy their own life without worrying what other people think and without letting the past hold them back. It looks like before I can do that, I'll need to live it. Though there are some fears and hesitancies attached to that I welcome the exhilaration that comes with being fully alive and living a life of love and service versus fear and withholding. I already have a couple of opportunities lined up this coming week to help me face fear head on. I'm sure I'll have more to share in next week's episode of Galvanized Facebook Friday. If you don't want to miss it, be sure to subscribe.
If I had to give this week a title, it would be Creativity Crash Course.
You see, I'm on this whole "love not fear" kick which calls for an incredible amount of creativity because fear is very sneaky and has endless ways of manifesting itself. I had to face a bunch of fears this week. Fear of losing my husband, fear of sickness, fear of being out of control, fears of being "found out", fears of not being good enough, fear of public speaking and more. Fear knocked on the door of my peace many times and each time, I had to deny it's pleas and make a conscious decision to choose love.
Let me give you a couple of examples.
This week, my husband and I have spent more time than usual dealing with doctors. He's been in serious pain, and I've stepped into the role of caretaker more deeply than usual. My husband has kidney stones and he has blood in his urine. I know, I know, "Too Much Information" but I have to say, when I saw that blood, my heart dropped.
It wasn't just about the blood, it was the fear that my husband could die and it was the fear of having to go on without him. It was unsettling to say the least. But if I was to choose love, not fear, I had to switch my mind to how I could make his experience a little less painful. How could I be of service?
Sometimes I felt like I was fighting with myself. Against the me that wants to ask "what about me?" Against the me that wants to dwell on the fear and drama of what might happen if/when I lose my husband "someday". I think the pull to dwell on drama goes way back, at least as far as the teenage years of watching soap operas and reading teen magazines, but I can speak from experience that choosing love feels a lot better than living in fear.
Since my husband has been down and out, I've been in charge of walking the dog. I used to dread walking the dog but since I'm in the "love not fear" mode, I looked for ways I could enjoy the time. I put on my iPod, listened to some tunes and last night I had the inspiration to practice my speech for the Area 2 Toastmasters contest while I was out walking. It was a blast.
Talk about overcoming a fear. I was delivering my speech in a very loud, animated way as cars whizzed by on Ocean Blvd. Call it crazy or call it bold, all I know is I used to be afraid to practice my speech in the closet of my own home! Now, I could care less what people think. I'm a public speaker practicing for a speech contest, whadda ya expect?
I liked practicing my speech in that manner so much that I might do it again even if I don't have to. It made my practice time feel more realistic and powerful than practicing inside my home alone. I pretended the people in their cars and houses were my audience and I was telling them all a story. This helped me get more clear on my timing. It seemed like it was more true to how I want to communicate in front of the live audience.
And that brings me to another aspect of my Creativity Crash Course. I just won a speech contest at my Agape Toastmasters club, which means I go on to represent my club at the area contest which means another opportunity to overcome fear. A lot of fear. I am literally pushed up against my own wall. I'm competing in the Tall Tales contest and prior to February 19, I'd never told a Tall Tale. But since I won (gulp) I will be busting through a new barrier on March 2 when I tell a Tall Tale for the second time, only this time there will be a lot more people there and I won't know them as well as I know my fellow Toastmasters at Agape. I have daydreams of disappearing into thin air. I consider the possibility of backing out. Neither one is going to happen if I have anything to say about it. Love it is. Love for me, love for life.
Another fear-busting experience for me was co-facilitating a Money Magnetism teleseminar with my WE-WOW Master Mind partner, Nick Pfenningwerth of Creative Wealth Building on Wednesday night. I have to admit (even though I'm afraid) that money management has been my greatest life challenge to date. I literally have money fears and I was pressed face to face with them all week long. Nick made some excellent points about why people repel money and what they need to do to attract money. I did all the homework he recommended and I'm determined to make peace with money. Love not fear...right?
I guess the success for me is that I flowed through the whole week without freaking out completely, throwing a fit or any other unfavorable response to life. Thanks to learning and applying some of the aspects of CBT and A Course in Miracles as well as some amazing warrior workouts with Your Next Victory, I've been able to remain calm, peaceful and resourceful in a time of unpredictability and nervousness. My goal is to continue to handle life in a "love not fear" manner and to take on new challenges in the spirit of adventure and personal growth.
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By far, the wildest thing that happened to me this week is that I had a visit with my dad. I realize that a daughter visiting her dad isn't necessarily a big deal to anyone but if you knew the history of my family, and especially if you could read my journals or hear the thoughts I had about my dad throughout my life, then it would all make more sense. To put it in context, this is only the 4th time in my entire life that I've been face to face with my father and I'm 45 years old.
I started to write a little bit about the shift in our relationship about 2 years ago in this blog. The short story is, I had no contact with my father throughout my entire upbringing. I met him face to face for the first time when I was 20 and I spent most of my childhood alternately wanting desperately for him to come "save me" and hating his guts for leaving me. No letters, no phone calls, no nothing...only my mind creating stories of how my dad doesn't love me.
Well, that version of our relationship is old news and a new relationship is forming. This is only possible because we both sat face to face about 3 1/2 years ago and he asked to be forgiven. He explained himself. He let me ask questions and tell him my side of the story. This only took a couple of hours. Now we spend time talking about what is going on in the present and this week, we walked to Chronic Tacos in Long Beach and sat and enjoyed each others company. I got to show him my house and my office and he got to show me photos of the rest of the family. We have started a new relationship.
This week has been huge for letting go of the past. I got out an old trunk with journals in it from as far back as 1985. My husband and I had a field day destroying and discarding all the journals that were filled with angst, anger, insecurity and more. I feel like I'm operating from a clean slate. I have to credit A Course in Miracles and many of the other studies I've done over the years that helped me to let go of the pain and fear of the past and replace it with love. If you'd like an easy way to follow A Course in Miracles, check out this site: www.the-course-in-miracles.com
I came across a quote this week by Bruce Barton: "Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe that something inside of them was superior to circumstances." I realized that most of the time we are stronger than we think we are and sometimes we have to come close to losing something we value before we dig deep into our resources and access all the strength we have.
This little gif with the cat and the bear (above) is a good reminder for me. I also enjoyed the following TED video: Beverly + Dereck Joubert: Life lessons from big cats as a demonstration of that inner "something" we can all access when something is truly important to us. Be sure to watch it to the end...it's a little disturbing at one point but then becomes very inspiring.
Last week I blogged about how a certain Indian Chief seems to be following me. I discovered that the real Chief is love and I decided to speak about my revelation at Agape Toastmasters on Saturday. If you don't see the video above, click here to watch my speech, "Will the Real Chief (Love) Please Stand Up?"
I used photos in this speech to make my point. I got the idea of doing that by watching a few Pecha Kucha presentations. I did a Pecha Kucha presentation at the Beyond Cars Exhibit in Downtown Los Angeles if you'd like to see it.
Now on to Facebook Friday a summary of my favorite things that I posted on my Facebook wall this week.
On Saturday night I got to experience some roller derby action at the Doll Factory in Los Angeles when the L.A. Riettes battled it out with Team Legit. The final score was 125-96 in favor of Legit. Rinkrat was in the house and documented some excellent highlights from the night. Here are some of my favorites:
If you'd like to see the entire gallery of Michael Zampelli's photos from the evening, visit LAist.com.
I'm beginning to think it might be a good idea to have a Facebook page for iamgalvanized.com that's separate from my Sheri Zampelli page on Facebook. If you'd like to follow my activity on Facebook, and stay galvanized all week long, go to the new page I created and click "like."
This week I started back to teaching at Long Beach City College. In the first night of Introduction to Addictive Behaviors class we talked about all of the things that lie beneath the surface of addiction:
**Defense Mechanisms
**Co-Dependency
**Family Roles and
**Self-Defeating thinking/behavior
We talked about how some people who live in troubled homes become the Scapegoat...the one the entire family blames their problems on. We also talked about how some social workers can dehumanize clients when they lump them in categories with stereotypes like "crack addict", "foster youth" or "pot head."
I always like to stress to my students that you can't tell anything about anyone until you sit and listen to their story and even before that, you have to earn their trust...which can take some time.
One example of how you can't judge a book by it's cover is Ted Williams. Have you heard about the man with the "God Given Gift of Voice?" You owe it to yourself to check it out, it will blow your mind.
Cynthia Lamb, spiritual counselor delivered a powerful speech at Agape Toastmasters describing some of the benefits she's enjoyed as a result of her 2 years of membership.
Cynthia started her speaking experience with lots of "ahs" and "ums" in a manner she describes as "all filler, no content". After using the manuals provided by Toastmasters she learned to be a competent leader and communicator. Toastmasters gave her the courage to pursue her larger goal which is to share a message of spiritual healing through forgiveness with an International audience.
She recently appeared on a panel of experts lead by Blog Talk Radio host, Michelle Ann Johnson titled "Conscious Kickstart" and did a very powerful presentation which included a guided process for forgiveness. She is kind enough to make this available to the world via this YouTube Video. If you need to heal a broken heart for any reason, you owe it to yourself to check this out.
Cynthia Lamb recently earned the highest award Toastmasters offers: Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM) and to do it in 2 years is an exceptional feat.
Agape Toastmasters is that kind of place. I joined 2 years ago and I was shaky and hesitant in my first few speeches. I would get so nervous that sometimes I was practically incapacitated for an entire day. But with practice and support, I became stronger and stronger.
I have used the supportive, creative environment to work out some ideas for a character, (my alter ego) Gal Vanized. When I started Toastmasters I had 7 years of experience as a college instructor under my belt. Somehow I had convinced myself or been pressured to believe that I had to "tone it down" and "be professional". Which meant that pink wigs and punk rock gigs were out of the question.
To that I say, Why?
And this semester I've used music videos in my Introduction to Victimology class to highlight some of the songs that describe the abuse of power and control in our society that leads to crime and therefore victims.
I got bold enough one night to put on the pink wig in my Introduction to Domestic Violence class and tell my story of running away from an abuse filled home to find a better life. What Toastmasters did for me is give me the courage to say what I want to say, how I want to say it.
What will Toastmasters do for you? You'll never know unless you check it out for yourself. Toastmasters is an International, non-profit organization. "The mission of a Toastmasters club is to provide a mutually supportive and positive learning environment in which every individual member has the opportunity to develop oral communication and leadership skills, which in turn foster self-confidence and personal growth."
Click here to find a club near you.
I just got back from Master Mind group and I took a look at the photos my camera has saved from the last 9 days. Let's just say my life is a whirlwind of good things. This blog is an excuse for me to post the awesome photos that represent the past 9 days of my life and maybe to tell a little bit about each photo. This is a week I want to remember.
On Friday, October 22 I was asked to speak at a candlelight memorial for Omar Brown, former Long Beach City College student who was shot and killed in an allegedly gang-related fight. Although the event itself, and the need for it is a tragedy, the positive aspect is that the Long Beach City College community took quick action and pulled together an event to show support and to speak out against violence.
The event was hosted by the Associated Student Body and I want to give a "shout out" to Pamela Marshall for doing a great job pulling everything together. Also great to see Anita Gibbins of the Women and Men's Resource Center and Sabrina Sanders, Interim Dean of Student Affairs.
I was honored that I was asked to speak and I was proud to speak about peace and love, two topics I am passionate about. Below is a photo gallery of the event. I gave my students extra credit for attending and asked them to hold up Get Galvanized signs during my speech so I would have the courage to pull it off. To see my speech on YouTube, click here.
Just less than two days later I was able to join with Cynthia Lamb at an event called Conscious Kickstart - The Future of Alternative Health. The event was organized by Blog Talk Radio host, Michelle Ann Johnson and featured a panel of leaders in the alternative healing profession. It really did give my Consciousness a Kickstart.
One of the powerful points in the day was when Cynthia Lamb guided participants in a journey to Forgiveness. She helped remind participants that we are all "spirit in a body" and we are all worthy. Here is a video of the process that you can use to forgive and heal:
Later in the day, Sound Shrine was there with a Didgeridoo. Evan played the instrument right next to me as I was sitting on the floor and I was definitely feelin' the vibes.
After the show, I was able to speak with E. Raymond Brown privately and we posed for a few pictures. The film was very honest, entertaining and thought-provoking. You can probably expect to hear more about this film in the coming months. Last I heard, it was in the top 3rd highest grossing film at the Rave and it has been extended for theatre play one week.
Click here to go to the Rave Theatre page and see if its still playing. The more people who go, the more press and promotion the movie will receive which means more people will see it all across the nation and around the world. The message in his movie is important and timely, because it shines light on the self-destructive power dynamics that run our world.
Overall I left the theatre with this take home message: we need to wake up and realize who's really in power and we need to step into our own power if we want to survive and thrive. We cannot allow ourselves to be passive victims to the politics of corporate greed.
On Wednesday, I was so galvanized by the events of the week that I took two steps of action toward things that are important and valuable to me. I went to Long Beach City College and taped a short interview with Urban Voodoo about community action and being a part of the solution. I was able to submit the video to 562CityLife in response to their call for the "10 most 'Real' people in Long Beach." To see the video interview, click on the picture below.
Immediately after taping the interview, I went to teach my Domestic Violence class and decided to give my students a little surprise that was out of the ordinary. Lately, we've been talking about the importance of esteeming yourself and not holding back because of fear of rejection or criticism. We talked about the standing true to your values and to your Self.
I figured the best way to get the message across was to be real myself, to not hold back, and to lead by example. So, I took 7 minutes out of class time, put on a pink wig (to help me get in touch with my 16-year-old inner punk rocker) and told the story of how I ran away from an abusive household and why I'm proud that I did. If you'd like to see the speech on YouTube, click on the picture below.
Thursday was the day my new computer came via UPS. What this means, is that it will be even easier for me to pump out more YouTube videos and to do the work that feels like my purpose (sharing empowering information) in a faster, more efficient way.
The week ended with another great meeting at Agape Toastmasters. I was the Toastmaster of the day and since it was October 28, I decided to blame it all on Halloween and go for the gusto. I chose the theme "Alter Ego Extreme" and I dressed in Galvanized gear.
I did my best to act like a rockstar the entire meeting and I definitely accomplished my goal of parading my Alter Ego for all to see. I had a great reaction and I made so many people smile and laugh. It was wonderful. I definitely felt Galvanized.
Call me crazy, (it wouldn't be the first time I heard it), but I've got to tell you something. I know the reason why I've got the guts and stamina to do the things I do. It's because I'm surrounded by people who love and support me (including my Master Mind group) and that is by design. I made that choice. I believe anyone can create the life they want but some people need a little bit of support from people outside their normal social and family circle.
If you need some support, you might want to check out Master Minding. I'm having a sale this month as part of my 20 days to create your reality celebration. It ends on my birthday, November 20. I will be offering the entire I Create Reality package along with the entire Start a Master Mind package for the price of one. The information and support you'll receive in this bundle of products will definitely give you the strength and courage to live your own life. Check it out. Because there's nothing cool about holding back.
The question is, will I step up to the plate and do this work fearlessly or will I allow all the should's and doubts and fears of what people think to hold me back? Truth is, without support I would probably just hide and convince myself that I wasn't ready yet. But since I have amazing support, I think I might be willing to stay in the flow of what's happening and see where it takes me.
My husband seems to be open to and intrigued by what's transpiring and I'm working with an excellent coach Nick Pfenningwerth to see about how I can incorporate sex and sexuality into the overall "Galvanized" package.
Starting in June I'll be doing webinars, coaching and hypnosis on topics to help women and men become strong enough to enjoy their own life without worrying what other people think and without letting the past hold them back. It looks like before I can do that, I'll need to live it. Though there are some fears and hesitancies attached to that I welcome the exhilaration that comes with being fully alive and living a life of love and service versus fear and withholding. I already have a couple of opportunities lined up this coming week to help me face fear head on. I'm sure I'll have more to share in next week's episode of Galvanized Facebook Friday. If you don't want to miss it, be sure to subscribe.
I came across a quote this week by Bruce Barton: "Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe that something inside of them was superior to circumstances." I realized that most of the time we are stronger than we think we are and sometimes we have to come close to losing something we value before we dig deep into our resources and access all the strength we have.
This little gif with the cat and the bear (above) is a good reminder for me. I also enjoyed the following TED video: Beverly + Dereck Joubert: Life lessons from big cats as a demonstration of that inner "something" we can all access when something is truly important to us. Be sure to watch it to the end...it's a little disturbing at one point but then becomes very inspiring.
On Friday, October 22 I was asked to speak at a candlelight memorial for Omar Brown, former Long Beach City College student who was shot and killed in an allegedly gang-related fight. Although the event itself, and the need for it is a tragedy, the positive aspect is that the Long Beach City College community took quick action and pulled together an event to show support and to speak out against violence.
The event was hosted by the Associated Student Body and I want to give a "shout out" to Pamela Marshall for doing a great job pulling everything together. Also great to see Anita Gibbins of the 
Just less than two days later I was able to join with Cynthia Lamb at an event called 
