ABWA Beachwood Ohio

“Tracy,
Last evening was wonderful ..such a great/positive speaker/ will she come again?”
                                                                                      -Roz Bettis

“Tracy,
I loved the meeting and it confirms what I’m studying right now!!! How neat is that? … Good stuff. I love to hear women’s perspectives on things. I feel the momentum brewing in your new group….”
                                                                                     -Tricia Blazy

On August 15, 2006, Dr. Charlesye Pratt electrified the women in attendance

at the ABWA, Women of Wisdom meeting, with her topic “Dreaming With Your Eyes Open”. Dr. Pratt revealed how dreaming requires letting go of limits created by past failures, disappointments, fears and the insecurities that plague our thoughts. She suggested we take these negative thoughts and create positive ones.

Dr. Pratt indicated that dreaming while awake can be done by exploring what we want through the use of “Appreciative Inquiry”. This involves eliminating our self-imposed negative thoughts and focusing on the ideal and positive situations that are in our lives today. Appreciative Inquiry uses the four “D”s…

• Discovery - This is not a problem solving exercise, but a process to find out what is already working. When did we succeed? Explore the positives that have come from a situation.
• Dream - This is like a brainstorming activity with no limits. What would the ideal look like if everything was perfect; if nothing was wrong? What are the ambitions that you have been putting off? Why? Let the “why’s” go!
• Design - This requires focusing on what the dream would look like. What do you need to do to create the ideal design? And…
• Destiny - With this information, create a new destiny!

Dr. Pratt provided tips about how this can be accomplished daily. Here are just a few that she mentioned:

Study to be quiet-

Create a quiet space, meditate, pay attention to yourself. Become self-aware.

Change your habits-

Of heart-a hungry heart yearns for something. What is it hungry for?  Instead of seeking external means to satisfy its hunger, search inside yourself to fill the void.

Self talk: habits of conversation. Does your self-talk say “I can’t do that because…”? Change the self talk into positive thoughts. Create positive self talk. Words create words. Let your words bring you up.

Think about thinking-

Use affirmations to counter the disquieting thoughts.

Create valuing and loving thoughts to generate positive experiences.

With daily practice, these activities can help clarify the meaning of your life! Drop your negative self-talk and create a life where you dream with your eyes open!

Thank you for all who attended, and thank you J. Lombari, of CSI Accounting who is also our treasurer, for sponsoring this meeting.

If you would like to comment on the meeting or this article, please do so below…