Joan Esposito is a remarkable woman–both for whom she is and what she had done with the Women’s Four Miler Training Program. If you have had the pleasure of meeting her or listening to her this is a self-evident truth.

After this interview, however, what kept resonating in my mind was her nickname – Big Pink. Sure it’s a great nickname (capturing a huge heart and dedication to women’s breast cancer) particularly in that Joan is of diminutive stature.

But what I thought about was the act of naming itself. Each of comes into this world with a name given to us by others, sometimes well meaning, sometimes misguided, but always of someone else’s choosing – a name given to connect us to relatives or to someone else’s dream for our future (or their unrealized past) or their idea of beauty or greatness.

So, I wondered, if on our journey of self-discovery and self-definition, each of us might not benefit from a new name? One we give to ourselves or we ask others to give us. One that defines not just who we were, or even who we are, but who we, or what, we aspire to be. 

If so, what name would you choose for yourself?

TIP OF THE WEEK: Take your first step with a partner, a friend, a coach.

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST: http://www.wina.com/play_window.php?audioType=Episode&audioId=3839421

After my interview with Beth, I was reminded again of how people in the public eye have a need to maintain boundaries between their private and public lives. My significant other was, earlier in his life, a very high profile rock and roller and has told me stories of how complete strangers, and even more challenging, people he knew slightly, could be incredibly intrusive. But upon reflection, I began to realize that almost everyone I know, regardless of their status or occupation, has “public” and “private” lives; the “person” they will readily share with others and the “person” they keep to themselves. I know that, for our well being and our safety we need to identify and maintain boundaries, AND I wonder, what is behind what we share and what we don’t.

In the early days of my spiritual training, my teacher gave me an assignment–every day I had to tell a secret about myself. It was frightening. But little by little I came to understand that much of what I had been keeping “private”–those things that I didn’t like about myself, or my fears, or the remnants of negative messaging that I’d taken on as truth–once shared, stopped having the power over me they once had. I came to understand that the boundaries I had set that were founded in negative energy could be removed and I could still maintain my safety while engaging so much more fully with the world around me. 

I asked myself, “Who can you think of whose private and public lives seem to be the most integrated?” and I thought of Ghandi; a man who, without position or wealth or authority literally changed the world for hundreds of millions of people. I wonder if those two things are somehow connected…

TIP OF THE WEEK: After you identify what your vision or passion is, GO FOR IT!

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST: http://www.wina.com/play_window.php?audioType=Episode&audioId=3799650