This past week This past week I had the honor of joining over 1,000 women at the International Women's Summit in Phoenix, Arizona. What an inspiration! Anita Moorjani, author of Dying To Be Me, was my original draw to the summit, but by the end, it was difficult to name a favorite.
For example Marianne Williamson was one of the speakers, one from whom we have learned for many years. She strongly (and yet gently) called us to a new focus - the action of less media and more real eye to eye connection with family and friends. Something she did left a big impression on me.
When it came time for Marianne to answer questions from the audience, she stepped down into the audience and stood face to face with those who came to the mic. Wow! I’ve not seen that before. She was living out her message in a very impacting way. She left her platform, or could we say, she left her agenda and was completely focused on the person who was addressing her. She made genuine contact with the women who came to be with her. They had concerns and she was listening intently, with no agenda of her own.
One question came from a twelve year old girl who asked how she could help her classmate in sadness and grief. That got the audience’s attention! My inner self was waking up to some important questions within myself that perhaps we each need to visit anew: Is it time to return to a personal connection to show the love that we are? Where and when can I really hear what someone else is saying, what someone is needing, what someone else’s concerns are? Where and when will I be willing to step down from my platform/agenda and just be?
Where and when will I next consciously choose to pay extra undistracted attention to someone, even if it isn’t convenient? When will I just get up real close to really hear? It seems to me that the best time for this is Now and the best place is Here, wherever I am. Where can we leave our platform/agenda behind? Maybe it's time to revisit Marianne's book, A Return to Love, 3/15/96!
~Barbara