Women really matter.  At every age, in our roles as Queen, Mother, Wise Woman, Lover, we are all things to all people   We hold our partner, our children, our family, our community and the world in the palm of our caring hand. And it's a heavy responsibility. At the Vancouver Peace summit in 2009, the Dalai Lama said something that rocked the globe when he opined:

The world will be saved by the Western woman.

Fazle Hasan Abed, whose organization, BRAC (with an annual budget in excess of $1 billion) delivers education, health care and microfinance to millions of people in Asia and Africa. BRAC has given $6 billion in small loans to women.  Abed believes that women are the key to solving some of its most pressing challenges.

Girls and women represent the greatest untapped resources of the developing world.

That's quite some plate to step up to! But, when fatigue and the feeling we need to do more, be more and care more overwhelms us and we haven't made room to hold ourselves in the palm of that hand, our ability to hold everything else together suffers.  And so does our health and happiness.  Does this make sense? Yes, women matter – because if not us, then who?

But we are unique...

No ‘one-size’ fits all, each one of us is different. We’re not just the product of what we eat - we're much, much more than a highly evolved ‘eating machine’ that only needs to eat ‘healthy to be healthy’.  If only it were that simple!

And quick fixes won't work...

Just as it can take years to ‘break’, it can take a little time to mend.  Whatever is at the root of your struggle, however attractive they seem ‘quick fixes’ don’t work. They leave us trapped in that cage where the wheel of life goes around and around and around... but nothing changes, because only the symptoms, but not the root cause has been addressed.

You need to commit...

If we always do what we’ve always done, we’ll always get what we’ve always got.

Anthony Robbins and before him Albert Einstein, Henry Ford, and even Mark Twain have all been credited with uttering this profound, but obvious wisdom.  But what matters is the point it makes: We can consciously commit to creating a future that gives us the chance to live the best life we can - or, we can remain passive participants in a future that just ‘happens’ to us and live a life we haven’t consciously chosen. How easy is to 'settle for' - but coming to regret the wasted potential?

You need to ACT...

If it is to be, it’s up to me.

This is a simple, but profound wisdom.  If we want something badly enough to commit to it, it’s up to US to take responsibility, take charge, and stop waiting for someone else to do the job. The fact is, it's going to be you who makes the decision to make the changes that bring energy, vitality and health and it’s up to you to take the first step, however small, and walk consistently towards those goals.