You have found the perfect lot on which to build your new home. Now you have an abundance of decisions to make. Where will the house sit on the lot? You will have to decide this based on the total square footage of the house. What kind of features are you hoping to have. These are the things to consider, storage, a laundry room, a home office, a bathroom downstairs, a full bath upstairs, and a family room.

Consider the future? Are you just starting out and planning a family? Do you need a guestroom for visitors? Flexible house plans are probably the best option for you. You don’t want your house to end being too big in the future. If it starts getting small, make sure you allow for expansion if necessary, and make sure it is according to your local zoning laws.

How does the house plan you have chosen fit on the lot? If the lot is deep and narrow you don’t want a shallow and wide house plan. Where will you place the house so that you get the maximum exposure to sunlight in the morning and in the evening? Make sure the windows are where they are supposed to be.

Check the zoning laws where you are building your house. There may be a limit in the height of the house or on what percentage of space your house can take up on the lot. Be open to suggestions. You can go with a pre-drawn plan or a custom plan that is drawn to your specifications. Another important item is how water drains off of your property. You would want to build the house on the rise of a hill rather than at its base. At the base the run off could do damage to the house.

When thinking about your house in general, does the house style fit in with the neighborhood? You wouldn’t put a large Victorian house in a neighborhood that had ranch style homes and vice versa. Find out if there is an agreement with your city or town regarding the type of houses that is acceptable for that area. The size of the house is important. If it is too large or too small it will stick out like a sore thumb.

Will a lot of changes have to be made? There will be changes at some point to add a garage or change the size or shape of a room is fairly easy but you had better be prepared to pay a lot more for custom plans.

When you are thinking of the rooms determine what percentage of total square footage will this room take u p. If the master suite takes up twenty percent of total space is okay if you are also going to use some of that space for a reading area. If not consider a plan with a smaller bedroom. In order to determine the total space of any room you multiply the length times the width and divide that by the total square footage of the home.

You may want a dishwasher or an island in the center of your kitchen but sometimes you have to do a trade off. For example, if you want a dishwasher but will have to lose some cabinet space you must decide which is more important cabinet space or the dishwasher. The colors inside the house are most definitely important. If you want each room to have its own color the best plan for you would be a closed plan which would create separate individual rooms. If you are going to have a solid color throughout an open floor plan might work for you.

If you want the space consider planning a room switch. A room that is now being planned as an office can become a guestroom or a nursery. An extra bedroom could be come a work out room or a family room/library. If you are building a garage consider adding an extra bay and making that a workbench or a potting bench. Once you figure all of this out and you have the plans all set you can if you haven’t already choose a lot. With an organized search you could find a plan that comes very close to your ideal home. Once you get the plan you can make any necessary last minute changes.

Building a home is probably the most complicated decision you will ever make. The plan for your new home can be either custom or pre-drawn. Custom plans are more expensive but the expense of pre-drawn plans could be as well if you request any modifications to them. Check with your city or town for their zoning laws. You will hopefully be in your new home for long time so make it what you want it. Enjoy your new home.

(c) www.1st-4-house-plans.com

Reprint Rights feel free to publish this article on your website but you must agree to leave all active links contained within ‘About The Author’ intact and “as is” and NOT hidden behind a java or redirect script.

About the Author
Martin Smith is a successful freelance writer providing advice for home buyers and consumers on purchasing a variety of
Dream Home which includes
Cottage Plans,
Beach House Plans,
and more! His numerous articles provide a wonderfully researched resource of interesting and relevant information

Have you ever had the experience of a stranger coming out of the blue and having a piece of information that you needed? Have you ever been steered away from making a mistake by a friend or stranger in the right place at the right time? Can you recall what this felt like?

Have you ever sensed your role in another person’s manifestation of an experience? You perhaps gave them something, or did something that felt right for you and for them was an uncanny coincidence. Have you ever found yourself in the right place to provide something important for another person? Perhaps you felt compelled to talk to a stranger and you had the piece of information they were looking for?

I call this interplay between individuals ‘Dancing.’ We dance with others during every day of our lives. When we are open and willing, we participate and assist in the manifestation of their experience and others do the same for us. Some of these experiences are positive, and we feel like we are in the very flow of life. Other experiences are more challenging, or even negative, and can leave us questioning how we came to attract such a negative or painful experience into our lives.

Law of Attraction and Relationships:

As a therapist, coach and individual, I have come to understand the Law of Attraction as an extremely powerful force which effects our lives, whether or not we are aware of how it is working at any one time. Simply put, what we give our focus, emotion, and attention, we attract into our lives. Moving towards deliberate attraction requires an awareness of our intention, attention and emotional state. In a sense, we move from subconsciously creating events in our lives to consciously and deliberately affecting our experience.

When talking about the law of attraction in relationships, several questions come up. These include: Can we attract a specific person into our lives? Am I responsible – did I attract – this abuse from my colleague, partner, friend, or family member? How can I attract the relationship I want?

One of the issues these questions have in common is a search for where our responsibility ends and another person’s begins.

Matching (Picking our Partners)

Everyone that you attract into our lives and engage with, are a match to something that you are vibrating at either a conscious or subconscious level.

If we want to know what you are vibrating, look at who you are attracting. It is a perfect match!

There are different kinds of matches to our vibrations. The most obvious is when we get a similar match.

Ideally, we want to feel empowered, optimistic and joyful and attract other empowered and optimistic people to us in all aspects of our life. When this happens, there is a sharing and connection that feels wonderful. It is a perfect match!

When feeling down, (low vibration), you may attract a friend who calls to complain about all the things they are down about. In this case, our low vibration is attracting someone of similar vibration. We will often engage with the person and stay at that low vibration or perhaps collectively go lower. How does this feel?

Other Matches

Have you ever had a friend or client stuck in a ‘victim vibration’ who seemed to attract abusive partners in their romantic or business relationships? Their vibration as a victim can be a match to a potential abuser. A second match to the ‘victim vibration’ is the rescuer. Rescuers, victims and abusers create what we know as the ‘victim’ or ‘drama’ triangle. These three roles vibrate matches to each other and individuals often get stuck moving from point to point in the triangle. In one relationship they may be the victim. IN the next, they mat be the rescuer or the abuser.

For example, many of the youth I have worked with in custody fall into this trap. They are often violent to ‘rescue’ a friend or to avenge a wrong. When caught, they feel victimized by police. When sentenced to custody, they feel like a victim of the justice system. They talk about getting even (offender role), blaming others for their situation (victim role) and wanting to stay with their boy or girl friend to keep them from getting into trouble (rescuer role). They continue to attract the same three matches into their lives and custody becomes a revolving door.

There are other less obvious variations of this triangle. Chronically sick individuals, very desperate or needy people, often vibrate matches for people who try to help them or use them in some way.

DRAMA TRIANGLE

Vulnerability

Most children and many adults live their lives unconscious of the law of attraction and the many other forces at work in creating their experience. Such people are unaware of the effect of their attention, focus and emotions. Their energy may be scattered rather than focussed and their emotions may be mixed and reactive. Such people are ‘vulnerable’ and can become unconscious participants in the more focussed and deliberate manifestation of others.

We know that most offenders pick their victims. This is a fact. They unconsciously or consciously match vulnerable children, adults, (banks etc.) at an intuitive level. Younger children, the elderly, or adults with disabilities are often chosen for this reason. Children, and some adults are then vulnerable to become part of a more deliberate plan and action by someone with greater intention, emotion and focus.

In addition, there are individuals who use these same laws of attraction to manifest power for themselves, or harm to others. They believe they are right, entitled, or are unconsciously driven to such experiences. In some cases their focus is collective and extremely powerful. Terrorists and other fear-based organizations are examples of this dynamic.

Free Choice

I once had a very amazing conversation with a Native teacher about the three concepts of destiny, potential, and free choice. To the best of my recollection, this is how he defined these concepts.

Destiny: Is an opportunity to fulfill a life’s purpose. It is a predetermined circumstance that will manifest at some point in life. Some Native groups believe that we are born with predestined challenges that were agreed upon by our ancestors before our birth. Other Native groups believe that there are ‘deals’ made with other souls before birth to be part of their enlightenment challenge here on earth.

Potential: When we are challenged, the experience has the potential to be a powerful healing or destructive force. If we rise to the challenge and act out of integrity and grace, we heal both present and past issues related to the event. If we fail the challenge, we hurt ourselves and others involved.

Free Choice: We all have free choice. This is why we cannot attract a person to us who does not want to engage with us. We choose whom we engage with and we choose our actions.

We attract matches into our lives. It is our choice to engage with them or not. We are responsible for our actions. They are responsible for what they choose to do.

As we become more aware, we can also consider matches and experiences as powerful information and feedback as to what we are vibrating. We can also choose to engage or not engage, stay or leave. We can also choose to use this information to move ourselves to a different level of vibration.

Implications for Law Of Attraction Practitioners

Working with Others

Many of my coaching and counseling clients have been engaged in some form of the drama triangle (above). I have found the Law of Attraction tools to be very helpful in teaching an awareness of their emotions and how they are affecting their experience. They can learn that when they are in a ‘poor me,’ or ‘victim’ vibration, they are going to attract matches and choose to engage or not. They also learn the importance of changing their vibration and witnessing a change in the people they attract. By choosing a different vibration, they become empowered and even begin to heal!

Implications for Practitioners and Coaches

For law of attraction practitioners and coaches, we put out the intention of assisting others and attract such experiences to ourselves in the form of clients. We offer ourselves as ‘helpers’ for individuals who are choosing to manifest events in their lives. This experience is often very intuitive and joyful. We feel like we are in the flow of life.

Have you also experienced this intention bubbling over to experiences outside of you practice as well?

At times, we will attract people who will want to elevate us to heroes and rescuers. They will say things like “no-one understands me but you.” “Without you I would be lost….” They want direct advice – for you to make the decisions. This however, does not empower, it keeps them in their comfortable ‘victim’ role. Counselors and coaches may become seduced into the role of rescuer and join the client in the drama triangle. How might this impact our lives outside of the office?

In Closing

As law of attraction practitioners and coaches, we can share powerful information and tools to empower others to make their own decisions and assume a new kind of responsibility in their relationships. We can empower others to dance with grace and integrity towards joyful and fulfilling relationships!

Rebecca Hanson is a Master Law of Attraction Coach. Thousands of people have enjoyed her talks or articles about real-life experiences and how she found the “nugget of truth” in every situation. Now she has such a deep grasp of how faith, beliefs and thinking work that she is able to lift others to a higher level, very quickly. You can contact Rebecca at Rebecca@YouCanHaveItAll.com or on her website at www.youcanhaveitall.com and sign up for her free “Museletter”.

Rebecca has also written a book called, “Law of Attraction for Business: How to create a business or attract a job you LOVE!” To find out more about this book and other information check out www.lawofattractionresources.com/

As somone who has lived in both places, I can tell you that country living certainly beats the hustle and bustle of city life! Living in a rural area has advantages that simply can’t be bought at any price.

In the city I was bombarded with the sounds of horns blowing and sirens blaring. In the country I’m soothed by a chorus of whippoorwills, bullfrogs and crickets, along with the pleasant sound of a cool breeze flowing through the trees.

On congested city streets I had to deal with frustrated drivers and careless pedestrians. On winding country roads I have to try my best to ignore the postcard-like beauty of the farmland and forests so I can keep my eyes on the road.

Yes, country living is the lifestyle that I, like most people who have had the opportunity to experience it, prefer. Instead of pushy salespeople knocking on my door hoping to leave with some of my money, I have warm, friendly neighbors dropping by with baskets of fresh vegetables from their gardens. Not to sell of course – they simply enjoy sharing the rewards of their country lifestyles with others.

Living in the country means that I can get up at 8:00 in the morning and enjoy a leisurely jog down a deserted lane or simply sit on a riverbank under a huge shade tree with a fishing pole in my hand.

City folks have the convenience of a store on every corner. I get to enjoy the tranquility and peace of mind that results from watching colorful birds flitter around my lawn or deer grazing in my neighbor’s pasture field.

Yes, I do enjoy my country lifestyle very much! Having spent much of my life living in various cities around the world, I can now enjoy the peace and tranquility of my country home. For me, a country lifestyle makes it easy to look forward to the next day!

About The Author

Rick Rouse is the owner of RLROUSE Directory & Informational Resources, which features hundreds of interesting and useful articles on a wide variety of topics. Visit him at http://www.rlrouse.com.

Westminster, MD (WJZ) ― Quaint and cozy is how Westminster describes its historic Main Street. Now, as WJZ’s Gigi Barnett reports, tattoo parlors that want to set up shop may be banned soon.

Westminster’s Main Street could be a slice of Americana. It has family-owned shops, small stores and beauty boutiques all open for business, but the one shop the town council wants to ban are tattoo parlors.

“I just wish they would see that it’s not going to be a bad thing. At least give it a shot,” said Jason Nightingale.Nightingale owns Tiki Tattoo. He’s fought the ban on downtown tattoo shops since it was first proposed.”They’re saying that we should be happy with the point that we’re allowed in 70% of the city limits, but 70% of the city limits are areas like high-dollar rent, shopping centers and malls. Downtown offers more affordable rent,” he said.Tattoo shop owners say the image of body art is changing.

More people are getting tattoos and that could draw more money to Main Street.”Times change and perceptions chnage. Once it gets to the masses, everyone decides it’s okay,” Nightingale said.”I think they should allow it. I’m coming to spend money in the town,” said Chris Gernand.The town council’s ordinance would ban any new parlors from setting up shop on Main Street. All of the existing ones would be grandfathered in. The town council says tattoo parlors just don’t fit the image of Main Street.”Restaurants and small shops.

That’s really the core of what we’re looking for,” said Westminster Town Councilmember Greg Pecoraro.But town councilmembers like Pecoraro who talked to Eyewitness News by phone say they have the backing of many people who don’t want tattoo shops on Main Street.”Most of the people who’ve contacted me who live in the city seem to think we’re doing the right thing,” Pecoraro said.The Westminster town council takes a vote on the tattoo issue on Feb. 12.

For all your Tattoo Aftercare needs visit Black Cat Tattoo Aftercare

According to the Congress of the International Society on Thrombosis & Haemostasis, a report released on August 10, 2005 elaborates how “Cocoa is the New Red Wine…”

In Southampton, England, a research team headed by Dr. Denise O’Shaugnessy, presents new evidence that drinking a cup of cocoa is benefiicial in the prevention of potentially life-threatening strokes and heart attacks. Per Dr. O’Shaugnessy, “Cocoa contains a substance called flavenoids, which are also present in red wine. Flavenoids can be preventive for coronary heart disease…”1

What exactly are “Flavenoids?” Flavenoids are chemical antioxidants that help to lower cholesterol levels. Not only effective in boosting immune systems, flavenoids help in the fight against heart disease, support weight control, and can even shield against some cancers.

Cocoa powder and chocolate, especially, contain sources that are rich in high quality polyphenol. According to one Dutch study, research discovered that chocolate contained a rich source of polyphenol flavenoid catechin — which had four times the amount found in tea!2

In addition to cocoa and chocolate, apples and grapes are great sources for flavenoids. Some other good flavenoid sources include: blueberries, cranberries, hazelnuts, pecans, pintos, pistachios, plums, red kidney beans and small red beans.

Guilt-free chocolate? Perhaps. Like all dietary consumption, certain foods are best used in moderation and should never replace the advice of a professional practitioner.

To learn more about flavenoids or natural wellbeing and health, feel free to peruse our Holistic and Naturopathic directories at Holistic Junction today.

References:

1. The XXthCongress of the International Society on Thrombosis & Haemostasis: Media Release: Cocoa is the New Red Wine
2. World Cocoa Foundation: Antioxidants/Arts IC, Hollman PC, Kromhourt D. Chocolate as a source of tea flavonoids. Lancet, 1999; 354:488


3. Health Bulletin: Using Foods Instead of Drugs for Health

Copyright 2005 — All Rights Reserved
Health Update: Have your Chocolate and Eat it, too!
Report by C. Bailey-Lloyd

About the Author:
C. Bailey-Lloyd – Author of “Somewhere Along the Beaten Path”

Feel free to visit Media Positive Radio — Providing a positive and uplifting listening experience – All the Time! Featuring the finest music from Independent and Mainstream musicians all focusing on the power and greatness of every individual as well as the collective power of unity and brotherhood.

NOTICE: Article may be republished free of charge as long as Author Resource Box (above) is included, and ALL Hyperlinks REMAIN in tact and active.

What is enthusiasm?

Well, consulting good ol’ Mr. Webster, you could stake a claim that enthusiasm is “an absorbing possession of the mind by an interest, study, or pursuit; [an] ardent interest.”

Isn’t that a typical Webster’s dictionary for you? It gives you the literal meaning of the word, but fails to actually convey its true essence.

When I think of ‘enthusiasm’, I immediately think of a wise saying that you may have heard:

“The true spirit of enthusiasm can be found in its own last four letters: ‘I Am Sold Myself’.”

You see, enthusiasm is a lot like passion. One cannot be merely ‘excited’ about something and at the same time be ‘passionate’ about it.

Passion involves every aspect of your existence, combined into one big swirl of dedication, love, and appreciation for something or someone.

Before you go any further in your career – or in your life – you must ask yourself the question, “Am I enthusiastic about what I am doing right now?” If you take into consideration the wisdom in the passage above, you may be surprised at your own answer.

To be enthusiastic about something is to be so involved with the idea of its existence, potential, and prospects in the future, that you yourself believe in it whole-heartedly, 110%.

When you write your sales copy, be sure to let your enthusiasm SHINE through your words. Too many people simply state what a product can do for a customer if he or she purchases it.

Instead, try not to word your copy to be read like ’sales material’. In fact, you should aim to craft your copy like it won’t be read at all! Your words should seem like YOU YOURSELF are standing in front of your customer, discussing the incredible aspects of your product with them!

For example, you may have a sales pitch like…

“Brand new software eliminates the need for hours and hours of keyword searches!”

…But when you let your enthusiasm into the picture, that stale sale pitch could become…

“What would you pay to spend two more hours with your family TONIGHT, instead of working on the Internet? Help has finally arrived!”

You see how much more intriguing the second headline reads? It doesn’t give too much about the product away right off the bat, but it directly represents how your product will HELP YOUR CUSTOMER! Plus, when the line is read, it feels as if you are being SPOKEN TO, not PITCHED TO!

That means more clicks on that link, more people interested in learning about your product, and (if you play the rest of your cards right…) more sales in the end!

Just allow your enthusiasm into your life more often, and I will guarantee that it won’t just be your wallet that will benefit!

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Brett Laffin is the owner and operator of Money2BMade.com! – your one-stop
on the Internet for information on making SERIOUS money online!
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Your attitude changes. You’re sitting in a company meeting, listening to budget jargon, and something about the leather against your skin inspires you to speak up. Maybe it’s the fantasy you just had about being strapped on the back of a Harley that stirs that little extra…..something…..that’s usually absent from business meetings. At any rate, the words that come out of your mouth are brilliant, like gems of wisdom from a confident dominatrix. Against their will, the slaves listen, and they find something about your new financial plan irresistible.

Over time, with different attire hidden beneath that restrictive uniform on any given day, your co-workers come to know you as the confident leader they go to in a tough situation. You mysteriously recieve a promotion, then a raise, then eventually don’t need these people at all. It’s time to go out into the world armed with pink and black satin and lace, and finally follow your dreams. And, smiling, you refuse to give away the secret to your success. If your really looking for fun try some hot black leather. Hmmmmm….the possibilities that can come from that.

Could success be that simple? Perhaps you should ask Oprah, Martha Stewart, and I dare say Donald Trump.

For more information about lingerie please have a look at this link: Exotic Lingerie | Blouses See Thru

Currently many of us have a certain way we like to wear our hair and one particular way we like the very best of all. As people consider their hairstyles and wish to replicate a famous actor or Movie Star they may not realize that in the very near future this will be much easier than ever before.

You see in the future those of means and wealth will have special settings of how they might like their hair and there will be the Hair Robot in charge of the bathroom. Yes, there will be robotics of the future for the bathroom. There will also be hair cut chains and franchised outlets, which will have these robots. Indeed you will pick from a Kiosk the particular hairstyle you wish to have. Slide your credit card and then wait one second while a screen pops up.

You can then press; “see sample of me!” The machine will take your digital photo and then produce an actual rendition of a picture of you with this particular cut. Let’s say you want to look like Brad Pit or Jennifer Anniston; great then pay your twenty bucks and put your head under the sink for a quick robotic shampoo.

For the wealthy amongst us you can have your favorite settings of you and all the latest new and innovative styles downloaded each month by your bathroom robot from your homes secured WiFi system. You simply take your shower and have your robot soap you up and wash your hair and then put your head into the little unit and viola, new hairdo of the month club in three to four minutes and you are looking good. In the future there will be no bad hair days, trust me. Think on this in 2006.

“Lance Winslow” – Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

The biggest failure in affiliate marketing is not collecting prospects’ email addresses. If you only send your prospects to your affiliate website, you are promoting someone else’s business, not your own. Your goal should be not to sell affiliate products, but to grow your own business.

Here is how you build an affiliate business.

1. Use a lead-capture page.

Get your own website and build a home page. Don’t write a sales letter for your affiliate product. Instead, write an email course focusing on the strongest benefits of your product. Highlight these benefits in a short sales letter that is designed for one thing onlyto get people to subscribe to your course. Then, in your course, promote your affiliate product. The value in this method is that you are actually building a direct marketing business and gaining your own customers.

2. Build your own list.

Spend your time, effort, and money driving targeted traffic to your website. The more visitors you get, the more subscribers you get, and hopefully the more money you make. You can never underestimate the long-term value in having your own customer list. Keep building it. Spend at least 65% of your time in building your list.

3. Reinvest in your business.

When you make a sale, congratulate yourself! Take some of the profits and spend them on yourself. Take your spouse to dinner, go to a movie, or buy another internet marketing ebook! But your goal should be to grow your business. You should take at least 60% of your profits and reinvest them back into your business. How? By buying more ezine ads, adding another pay-per-click campaign, or using some other kind of advertising. Perhaps you could buy an ebook with reprint rights instead of marketing affiliate productsthat way you keep all of the profits.

4. Keep marketing to your list.

You should always be on the lookout for new products to promote. Whenever you find one, write another email series, add it to your autoresponder, and keep promoting to your list. Focus on adding at least one new product and series to your autoresponder every month. Some will get tired of the information you send and unsubscribe, but if you are focused on building your list you will always have many more subscribers for each unsubscribe you receive.

If you follow these steps, your affiliate business will grow into a very profitable direct marketing business.

Jeremy M. Hoover gives away a FREE marketing kit at his website. Go there NOW and get your free kit as a “thank you” gift for reading this article.

So, Boomers are Turning 60. What’s All the Hype? By Dotsie Bregel

Founder and President of the National Association of Baby Boomer
Women and the # 1 site on all search engines for “baby boomer
women.” www.nabbw.com www.BoomerWomenSpeak.com

People should know age has never meant anything to baby
boomers. We don’t care about the years creeping up on us. We
simply care about feeling good and making a difference no matter
how old we are. Especially baby boomer women.

There are 38 million of us turning ages 42 to 60. The sheer
number of us is changing the image of midlife women like no
other generation before. Middle age finds us pondering how we’ve
lived the first half of our lives and what to do about the
second. Some of us are in the grips of a midlife crisis, going
through menopause or even considering cosmetic makeovers. Many
are caring for elderly parents while parenting our children and
working full time. But don’t let that concern you. Boomer women
are reinventing themselves at midlife by choosing to follow
their passions.

As little girls we lived the simple life. Moms were at home
caring for their children and husbands; dads worked nine to five
and dinner was on the table at six. We jumped rope, played
hop-scotch, married off Barbie and Ken, and played with our Hula
Hoops and Slinkies. Violence in school meant the few boys who
threw eggs at the windows of their least favorite teacher. We
practiced duck-and-cover drills and wore silver bracelets with
our POW’s name and birth date.

The first wave of boomer women came of age during the women’s
movement and civil right’s era. We protested Vietnam while
losing boyfriends in battle. Some of us burned our bras and
helped spark a sexual revolution in the 1960s and early ’70s.

The second wave of boomer women benefited from the women’s
movement. We had greater access to legal abortions and the pill.
We led a metamorphosis from housewives to career women. This
group came of age in the late 1970s and early ’80s. We created
the diet and fitness craze, but were also responsible for
ushering in a society that is more global in its thinking while
becoming more conscious of individual rights and our
environment. In the 1960s, when some boomers were in diapers and
others entered adulthood, society-shaping events took place: the
assassinations of JFK, MLK, Malcolm X, and RFK; racial riots;
Roe v. Wade; the moon landing; and The Beatles. Woodstock, the
celebration of peace, love, and rock and roll, codified a
generational divide once and for all.

As young women we were told the world was our oyster. We should
DO something with our lives. We should never become dependent on
a man. We were the generation that could have it all, do it all,
and be it all. Education, Prince Charming, families,
careers–you name it and we could have it. We chose diverse
paths. Some of us aborted our babies while others gave birth.
Some chose the corporate ladder while others chose to stay home.
Some lived together while friends married. Some of us divorced
and became single moms while others chose to stay in loveless
marriages.

We chose to challenge ideas and reinvent lifestyles. We altered
the traditional role of the sexes as we played tug-of-war with
work and home. Believing the voices we heard, we attacked life
with a vengeance, entering the workforce while exchanging our
roller skates for pumps, candy necklaces for pearls, and wax
lips for lip gloss. We returned to the workplace three months
after giving birth, pumping our breasts at lunchtime. The
societal expectation was for us to work. Our self worth was
questioned when we chose to stay home like our mothers before
us. Staying home meant we didn’t get a pay check and chanced
missing the next rung on that corporate ladder. We felt guilty
leaving our children in child care while our friends who stayed
home felt guilty for not working. At midlife the 40s and 50s are
no longer as old as we once thought. We are more educated,
spiritual, wealthy, and healthier than any generation of women
to precede us. We’ve changed society’s expectation and continue
to redefine womanhood. We will be the biggest and richest market
segment by the year 2010.

At midlife we’re transforming and influencing every segment of
society. With children leaving the nest, we have time to
reflect. We’re going inward, hiring life coaches, exploring, and
finding new direction. We’re seeking spiritual guidance and
questioning if we’ve been true to ourselves or society’s
expectations. We’re searching for peace, solace, and direction
for the rest of our days on earth and the afterlife. We’re
seeking balance and pursuing our passions. We’re no longer
obsessed with being who others want us to be. We’re finding
contentment in who we are being called to be.

We’ve had more choices than our mother’s generation and have
lived and continue to navigate uncharted courses. We are
pioneers in our own right. We’re faithful, loving, and
hard-working women who multi-task to survive. We continue to
better ourselves so we can help those who need us. We come from
various backgrounds carrying different baggage. We love our
country. We’re trying to be all that we can be.

At midlife we’re celebrating and reflecting while experiencing
midlife epiphanies. We are wise women who have lived, loved, and
enjoyed making a difference. And will continue to do so.

About the Author – Dotsie Bregel is Executive Founder the
National Association of Baby Boomer Women, www.nabbw.com, which
encourages women to find their passions and live life to the
fullest. She is also the Founder of Boomer Women Speak,
www.boomerwomenspeak.com, the # 1 site on the Web for baby
boomer women. She is passionate about women encouraging,
connecting, and supporting one another. She may be reached
through her sites.