So here it is Christmas…

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To quote John Lennon, “So here it is Christmas, and what have you done? The old year is over, and a new one’s just begun.”

This song touched me the moment I first heard it. It was written by John and Yoko in 1971 as a protest song against the VietNam war, and every year when I hear it I wonder to myself, “What have I done this year? What have I learned? What can I do to help others?”

I’m never sure when making a list (and checking it twice) how long to make it, but since I was the oldest of five girls (yes, five!) I will share my 5 items that I think are both thoughtful and empowering, and that would make fabulous last-minute Christmas or Hanukkah gifts for women on your list.

  1. Big top 10 thingsThe Top Ten Things Dead People Want to Tell You by Mike Dooley.  Mike is a wise, humorous, and even joyful New York Times best-selling author. If you have lost someone, or are facing that process, this book will help you. It certainly helped me get through the recent loss of my younger sister, Terry.
  2. Money love storyMoney, A Love Story by Kate Northrup. The subtitle is: “Untangle your financial woes and create the life you really want,” and that pretty much says it all. I read it this summer and I then put everything in order and still balance my checkbook almost daily! A great read for gals of all ages!
  3. Playing Big by Tara Mohr. Tara is a personal coach, a writer/poet, and a mother. She encourages Big Playing bigevery woman to quit holding back and “find your voice, your mission, your message.” It was named a Best Book of 2014 by Apple’s iBooks and it’s been called, “the how-to manual we have been waiting for.”  I feel very lucky to have an autographed copy, and I can’t wait to dig in to it!
  4. For that someone who has everything: you can donate to Charity:Water www.charitywater.org/  I just watched Marie Forleo interview Scott Harrison, the founder of Charity Water. I sat and cried when he said, “Water can give a woman dignity, at the most human level.”  I donated, and promised to do a fundraiser on my birthday next year.
  5. And saving the gift closest to my heart for last…You can make a donation to The American Cancer Society at- www.cancer.org/donate or to St. Judes www.tg.stjude.org . Give, to help more kids live.

Wishing you all Happy Holidays,

XO Donna

 

TerrytooIn Loving Memory of my sister

 Reverend Theresa Kathleen O’Klock-Glick

September 3, 1953 – November 12, 2014

You gotta have heart

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It seems as if I were much more courageous when I was younger (or maybe that’s the invincibility that comes with youth) and now that I really don’t have anything to lose and nothing to prove, here comes fear.  How odd. It has probably been there all along, buried beneath the hustle and bustle of living my life, raising a child, working full-time. I always wanted to write, and always stopped myself, until now.  What have you always wanted to do, and still haven’t yet?  beachsand

This morning I gave some advice to an artist who is struggling with feeling “like an impostor/fraud.”  (Women tend to do this to themselves, I’ve often wondered if men do, too?)  She has a good career, but wants to begin a new one, and is just paralyzed with fear over going from a “job” to an artistic career. She thinks all of the respect she’s received from her peers is because they don’t “really know her,” and she feels like she’s bottoming out.

I told her what I try to remember when I have ‘scared the snot out of myself” –

  • There is nowhere to go but up.
  • It’s fear…not reality.
  • Breathe out and keep moving forward, one step at a time.
  • This too shall pass

Like the Cowardly Lion, we just need courage to overcome our fear.  And just like him, it’s in all of us all along!

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”   Marianne Williamson

“There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love. When we are afraid, we pull back from life. When we are in love, we open to all that life has to offer with passion, excitement, and acceptance. We need to learn to love ourselves first, in all our glory and our imperfections. If we cannot love ourselves, we cannot fully open to our ability to love others or our potential to create. Evolution and all hopes for a better world rest in the fearlessness and open-hearted vision of people who embrace life.”   John Lennon

Go be fearless…it’s sexy!

XODonna

Eight things I love about Yoko

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  1. Yoko Ono turned 80 on Monday, February 18th! She was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1933. Yoko80birthday
  2. I love that her name, Yoko, means “Ocean Child.”
  3. She came from a wealthy, artistic, aristocratic family, her father (an accomplished pianist) was the descendant of a 9th century Emperor, her mother (a talented painter) was the daughter of a banking dynasty. She had the courage to break with her family’s goals for her and to follow her own dreams.  
  4. I love her penchant for hats, and sexy, fitted clothes!
  5. She has worked as an avant-garde artist, filmmaker, writer, and musician.  She is a feminist, an activist, a philanthropist and and works to support AIDS outreach programs, and to encourage us all to give peace a chance. She’s been doing this for more than 40 years.  Yes, 40 years!
  6. Her third husband was John Lennon. She was his love, his muse, his artistic partner, and his teacher. He called her, “the most famous unknown artist in the world.”
  7. She’s a survivor!  She lived through having her 7 year old daughter kidnapped by her ex-husband, and hidden from her for over 20 years. She and Kyoko, her daughter, are now reunited.  And she lived through her husband’s murder. He was shot and killed December 1980, when they returned to their home one evening after working in the studio together on the Double Fantasy album.
  8. She is still sexy, still relevant, still onstage!  She opened a show in Berlin on her birthday.  She runs Lenono with her son Sean. Her album, The Plastic Ono Band, originally released in 1970 and deemed a critical failure then, has been credited with “launching a hundred or more female rockers,” and was re-release in 1997. DoubleFantasy

  plasticonoband  XODonna