Today, Tuesday, April 12, 2011, is Equal Pay Day. This annual date symbolizes how far into 2011 women must work to earn what men earned in 2010. Women still make 77 cents for every dollar earned by their male counterparts. For more information, see www.thewageproject.org.

To see what MA is doing to close the wage gap, view 11-04-12equal

Make new friends, but keep the old. Those are silver, these are gold.  This adage came to mind recently when I attended the 15th Annual Women in Business Conference of the Greater Haverhill Chamber of Commerce. For it seems like just yesterday  that visionaries Sally Cerasuolo and Natalie Timmons created the Chamber’s Winning Opportunities for Women (WOW) Committee and  convened a diverse group of talented and dedicated women  to create this initiative. We huddled to brainstorm themes, colors, speakers, locations and every other minute detail needed to create a successful conference.  It was a serendipitious moment in time – women, primarily ranging in age from 30 – 40 – were committed to learning what they wanted to know as well as making a difference for their peers. Most of us had good jobs or a business of our own, but wanted to learn more about how to do it all successfully, make connections, get to the next level, grow our businesses.  We figured that the information and tools that we were looking for would resonate with other women….and we were right. Fifteen years later our baby has grown up and we have had a lasting impact. The founder’s efforts are serving a new generation of women just as they served us all those years ago.

Celebrating this special anniversary I was struck by the lasting effect of those years of working together on a common goal. As mentioned earlier, it truly was a serendipitous time. The work brought us together and forged friendships and relationships that last today….no matter if it has been a week or a year since we’ve seen each other. We were united at a common time and came away forever enriched by the experience. The mid career women are now at the pinnacles of their trajectories while some, anticipating retirement, are wondering how they will re-create themselves for their next chapter. We could easily convene again to build a similar resource for women at this stage of life and career. We now serve as mentors to the women who are where we were then.

Be mindful of the relationships you forge in life. You never know when the random meeting, act of volunteering or work mate will change your life forever. When you lock onto something good, seize it and don’t let it get away. For these are the times and relationships that will build the fabric and abundance of your life.

I’ve always considered the beginning of a new year to be a perfect time for reflection, contemplation and taking stock of one’s life. A new year is a new beginning and an excellent time to assess what is working well, what needs extra effort and what perhaps needs to be shelved altogether. A clean slate to create one’s hearts desire. Sounds good, although I admit I’m guilty of making many of the same New Year’s resolutions time and time again, most with little progress toward my desired goal. But yet I am not deterred when this time of year rolls around….for hope springs eternal. My not achieving exactly what I imagine doesn’t make me want it any less. And, there is always the possibility that if you dream it, you can do it. What I hope will make the difference this year is the knowledge that wishing, hoping and dreaming are for naught without an accompanying action plan that outlines the specific steps, commitment and determination that are needed to bring about success. What we truly want in life should be worth whatever it takes to achieve it. And we need to hold ourselves accountable for being the change we want to see in our lives and the world.

“Another fresh new year is here . . .Another year to live!
To banish worry, doubt, and fear…To love and laugh and give!”

What do you want to be true for you in 2011? What are you willing to commit to making it happen? Write and let me know. We can share our successes this time next year. Until then, I wish you a joyous, healthy and prosperous new year.

Can you imagine what kind of losers would hack into a site about positive perceptions and making lemonade out of the lemons that life deals you? Anyway….you can’t keep a good, positive woman down, so beginning tomorrow, the new year, I will back online and better than ever. Stay tuned!

Every year I go kicking and screaming into fall….not because I don’t love fall….I do. Fall in New England is a magnificent thing to behold. It’s just that I LOVE summer and all that it encompasses. There’s nothing better than the lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer…..warm sun on your skin, sitting on a beach letting the waves wash all your cares away, backyard barbecues, festivals, fireworks……I could go on and on. So each year as the dog days of August tick away, I throw myself into draining every last drop out of my favorite season before September comes. I know that soon our outdoor lifestyle will cease, we will lose the daylight earlier, need to turn the heat on and live many more grey days isolated indoors.

While I have often said that if New England had one more month of summer and one less of winter, it would truly be the perfect place to live, I know that unless I move I don’t have much hope of getting the endless summer I which I dream. There is no sense letting the inevitable depress and paralyze you. We each have responsibility for the way we choose to think, feel and react to the stimuli around us. So….here’s a mental game I play with myself that you too can use to turn those negatives in your life into positives. Using summer as an example, when I am bemoaning the cooler air and shorter days, I diligently remind myself of all the things I love about fall…..the scents of Macintosh apples and spiced pumpkin, warm comfort foods like savory pork roast, crisps and butternut squash soup, the rainbow of brilliant leaves, apple cider, craft fairs, fires, etc. By consciously remembering all the good things about what I am not necessarily looking forward to, I am able to turn my thinking to more pleasant expectations. I find this is a far better strategy than climbing under the covers and refusing to come out until the next summer.

 We are the masters of our mental thought processes. No one, including ourselves, can make us feel anything we refuse to accept. This is the power of positive perceptions. I hope you will give my exercise a try the next time you are dreading something…..and do let me know how it works!

 This year’s beautiful, warm fall was a gift that my summer soul is particularly thankful for. Now I just need to work on mentally embracing the fact that Christmas is only a month away…..whoa! Where does the time go?

See passionate pay equity advocate Linda Brantley’s comments at MA SJC Awards $2 million in Pay Equity Case

We have lost so many this summer…..cultural icons who have been an integral part of the fabric of our lives. The losses seem endless: Edward M. Kennedy, Walter Cronkite, Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, Patrick Swayze. All people who blazed on the world’s stage yet left a tangible imprint on our everyday lives. Perhaps this is a natural phenomenon of aging….watching people we connected with in one way or another leave this world. But this summer has included too many funerals, memorial services, tributes, etc.

Yet while passings can be sad, shocking or debilitating, they can also provide a life affirming opportunity to reflect on what footprint we wish to leave in the world. Listening to the many accomplishments and contributions achieved can serve as a source of inspiration and motivation, as well as a powerful impetus for change. Along with the mistakes made, the opportunities lost, the roads not taken.

What do you want to be true of your life when all is said and done? What more do you seek or burn to do? Time is not ours to know…..all we have is today. Carpe Diem!

There is one true constant in life, and that is change. Change comes whether we want it to or not. It can be our friend, or our foe. How we handle it makes all the difference.

Take New England Patriots star linebacker Tedy Bruschi for example. Every Pats fan has a special place in their heart for this scrappy, dedicated, loyal team leader. Many cannot imagine the Patriots without him. But without him we will be this 2009 season as Bruschi gracefully bowed out of the sport last week after 13 seasons in the same uniform.

Bruschi came from humble beginnings and the road to sports superstardom was not always smooth. Yet he dedicated himself to the game, gave 110 percent, overcame his shortcomings and grew into a revered team captain. When it seemed unlikely that he would return to the field after a post Pro Bowl stroke, his love of the sport could not keep him away and he enjoyed a triumphant return. Through it all, he never lost sight of what was truly important or his principles, remaining true to himself, his family and his team.

When the business that is professional football indicated that it might be time for a change for Bruschi, he embraced it on his own terms. He exercised insight and wisdom, choosing to retire from his beloved Patriots near the top of his game, rather than lose his starting status or worse, be traded. At the hastily called press conference where he announced his decision, shocking teammates and fans alike, he held his head high, was completely positive and complimentary of the franchise and its leadership, and again provided an example of grace and class too rarely seen today in professional sports. He recognized when it was time to move on, and did so with a dignity that will undoubtedly open many doors for him in the future.

Whatever Bruschi’s next endeavor, his love affair with Patriot and football fans across the nation will continue. And one doesn’t need to be a football fan to learn from his fine example on how to recognize and deal with change. Change can conquer or control us, or, it can transform us and position us for bigger and better things. It all depends on how we play the game.

The silence is deafening. Just as it was that morning just a week ago. The day dawned perfectly, the light licking to life the soft swells of Nantucket Sound. It would be the first morning that Senator Edward M. Kennedy would not open his eyes to gaze fondly upon the waters he so dearly loved. Had things been different, he undoubtedly would have rousted a crew and spent a perfect day sailing aboard the Mya, with his beloved dogs Sunny and Splash at his side. Instead, the Kennedy Compound, and in fact all of Massachusetts, was eerily quiet and subdued.

Now, a week later, the silence prevails. A week of watching a splendid last goodbye to the Massachusetts senior senator, followed by political posturing over what happens next, has only served to starkly illuminate the great void that has been created by his passing. The quiet is deepened through all the people he personally touched and the myriad lives he changed. His booming voice – in passionate debate or hearty laughter – no longer echoes the halls of the Capitol or the Cape. The phone calls and kind remembrances no longer come.

Ted Kennedy, in his own words, was not a perfect man. But than none of us are. Yet his public service and many gifts to others lend us all lessons to live by. Here are a few offered during the many remembrances held:

• Always be prepared to compromise, but never compromise on your principles.
• Even our profound losses are survivable. It is what you do with them, and how they can be transformed into something positive, that is important.

• Treat everyone you meet, no matter their station in life, with dignity and respect.

May we continue to be inspired and motivated by his example to continue the work that meant so much to him. The work goes on. The cause endures. The hope still lives. And the dream will never die.

Rest in Peace Senator Kennedy.

Leaving the thoroughly delightful new movie Julie & Julia I was torn between what I wanted to do most – purchase some Brie, a French baguette and bottle of red wine, or adjourn to my kitchen to create a culinary masterpiece. Meryl Streep is outstanding in capturing the master chef, while Amy Adams plays a young writer and cook who emulates her, only to find herself in the process.

The story is full of laughter, love and delights for food enthusiasts, yet offers several key messages as well. Julia Child stumbled on the hobby that would forever change America’s culinary landscape when she moved to Paris with her husband Paul, a foreign diplomat. Always an active woman, she soon felt the need to find something to fill her days. She insightfully knew to follow her passion – FOOD – and discovered a niche that only she could fill – making French cooking accessible to American cooks. After an unsuccessful search for an English language cookbook on French cooking, Julia enrolled in The Cordon Bleu cooking school, an act that set in motion a sea change in food preparation for cooks the world over. She met two French gourmands and joined them in their quest to publish a French cookbook in America. She persevered when many others would have long given up. From start to final publication her masterpiece, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, took nearly 10 years. This first cookbook led to many, many others, a television series and propelled her into a class of her own in professional cooking.

What is your passion in life? Are you following it? What niche can you fill with your unique gifts and perspectives? Do you have the stamina to stay with your dream until you succeed, pushing aside disbelief, rejection, and lack of support? Julia Child, even today after her passing, so eloquently demonstrates what a wonderful, life changing world awaits if we only follow our dreams, fill the niche that only we can, and never give up until we succeed.

Bon Appetit!