The Women's Empowerment Group

 Pauline Respress, BAS, M.Ed., As I walk closer to my destiny, I realize that in this life we must align our words with action. If we can speak it-- we must be able to see it and do it. When our words don't align with our action, then they are like beautiful blooms of a flower that blow gently in the wind--they have no direction, they roam aimlessly to a destination unknown.  And for those that hear your words that are not connected to action, they hear your words, but see someone that is just wasting beautiful words. Our words must match our actions to become fluid, to be realized...Even if we   don 't have the means to match our words, we must try our very best to move in the direction of our words. Our words will carry us-- if we can align them with action. Our tongue has power, it is the collection of all of our thoughts. It flows out of us like a river;  but even a river has boundaries and a direction that it will end up at, it's flow is intricatel...

This journey has taught me many lessons, but the one that stands out the most to me. Is that in order to get to more of ourselves we must allow ourselves to be shaped by our experiences. We must understand that life is a series of occurences that poke and prod us into the fullness of ourselves. But we must allow ourselves to remain open to the experience, because being open is the only way we can get to growth. Once we close ourselves off to experiences then we stifle our ability to grow. Krishnamurti a philosopher, says it most eloquently, " that all things are in continual change, a constant becoming.." We are constantly becoming more of ourselves through our experiences. But the moment we attempt to thwart an inevitable experience we become closed and can potentially miss out on an opportunity to grow.  Sometimes out of fear of the unknown or simply unfounded fears. When we are able to feel the fear and the emotional or sometimes physical pain that a...

Paschal's Wager is a suggestion posed by French philosopher writer and mathematician, Blaise Paschal, that clearly rationalizes (for me) our belief in Christ.  Paschal believed that in deciding on accepting religion we must first view it as a wager, betting on the fact that God exist and if he doesn't we lose nothing. If he doesn't we have lived a life that is guided by the teachings of Jesus Christ and we have lived as though we have faith, we have also lived an enriched life that is based primarily on love. Some may argue that this rationalization is far-fetched and that they cannot place all of their belief in something or someone that they can not see and that the teachings are merely dogma that people use to hide behind. But for me --I'd rather hide behind love than not--I'd rather be guided by principles that enrich my life than not. What is the alternative? living a empty shell of a life that anything goes and that is guided by our own insatia...

Pauline Respress, BAS, M.Ed., I have come to know that when life does not reach up to meet us, we must reach down to meet it. Then take all that we know to-- create a synergy, that forges a bond between what is and what we would like to see for our lives. It is a balancing act that requires staying in the present while still dreaming. Life is hard and at times requires that we grab hold to the hustler that lies in all of us. That is the part of us that fights against all odds, that takes a bleak situation and turns it into an opportunity. I was born and raised in the heart of North Philly, the ghetto--and one thing that I learned from the hood --was no matter what the situation looked like, the goal was always to survive--to move from nothing to something. If you are cold and hungry then you find heat--you find food. This upbringing taught me to always find a solution, no matter the situation--to always survive against any odds. I can remember in the early years standing in ...

Pauline Respress, BAS, M.ED., The more I love the more I realize that when I remove caring what happens to you from the equation of LOVING, I am able to love you even more deeper, even more unconditionally. When we care too much about what happens to the people that we love-- we stifle the natural flow of experiences and turn our love into conditional love. We all are destined to have experiences that lead us to a deeper place in ourselves. And when we care too much we can turn innocent love into conditional love-- ie., If______ would only_______ I could feel ______. Love should be unconditional and no matter what a person experiences, it should not affect how much we still love them. We all have experiences that we must go through and when we love, our job is to love you no matter what our mate experiences. We must separate our feelings or needs from the equation of loving someone. We are responsible for taking care of our own needs, when we combine our ne...

 Pauline Respress, BAS,M.Ed., I often find myself in a state of confusion when I place my trust in man. The more I grow the more I realize that I must never place my trust fully in man.  Man will at times shake us to our core if we place our trust in them.  Trust is a very funny animal at times--one action or inaction can in fact shoot a spear through those that we trust. We begin to question whether or not the person is trustworthy and the cycle of doubt begins to seep in and taint our ability to trust. This is when we must place our trust in GOD and ask him to protect us and even us.   Even us-- so that we can first trust him and then allow us to walk with him as we encounter untrustworthy people. Trust at times can be fleeting, even elusive.  Because at times it is hard to decipher who comes to help or hurt. Sometimes the devil comes to us disguised as a lamb ; and when our instincts kick in and sends up a red flag--we must ask God to streng...

When I think of God's infinite wisdom, my mere finite wisdom is at awe.  As I grow more and more into my woman-ness, I find that true wisdom is received through simply living. Simply taking one day at a time and aspiring for God to give just us a portion of his wisdom when we need it. Wisdom is rooted in action though--we must live and live fully in order to achieve it. We must allow life to punch us and stab at us, until the lessons become apparent and then wisdom shows up. Wisdom is a state that we achieve after the storms and winds of life. It is the gold star that we achieve as a result of living through and surviving life's many winding roads. The roads of life are much like God's infinite wisdom, there are too many for the human eye to see--to wrap our heads around.  But the more we live --the more chances we have to encounter --another chance to be infused with a tad bit more wisdom. When I think of the bible and the many stories that are enclosed within it--...