It took me quite a long time to develop a voice,
and now that I have it,
I am not going to be silent.
~ Madeleine K. Albright
Former United States Secretary of State
Do you want to really be heard?
As you discover your voice, people will listen to your message when they hear your heart.
Madeleine Albright found her voice. “Though she was often one of the few women in the room (and many times, the only one), she did not sit silently; she realized that if she only observed and listened, she wouldn’t get a chance to speak, which meant the voice of the United States wouldn’t be heard.”
One of her key messages she voiced while in office was raising up women into governmental positions around the world. She believed the problems were better understood and the solutions had a fuller perspective, when men and women worked through them together.
How do you find your voice and let your message be released?
Recently, I was co-hosting a Writer’s Workshop. Dr. Kynan Bridges was teaching on “What is Burning in Your Heart?” One of the things you need to be able to do once you discover what is burning in your heart is to share it, and for that you need to discover your voice.
He gave us a two-part assignment:
1) List 5 of the strongest areas you are passionate about.
2) List 5 of the strongest areas you wish you could change.
When I made my list, I was actually surprised that most of my passionate and change items were in the inverse of the other. One of my passionate subjects is Wholeness in Marriage and Relationships. On my list of things I wish I could change is divorce and brokenness.
Wholeness in marriage, family and relationships is very important to me. My parents were divorced after 23 years of marriage, which wasn’t a complete shock, but I did question whether being married forever was really possible. Over the years I have developed a passion to help others work through their challenges in marriages, family situations and relationships.
My husband and I have been married for 38 years. We have had different situations that have challenged our relationship. The one thing that keeps us bonded together is the power of choice. We choose each other, which creates only one option for us – work it out.
It doesn’t mean every thing is perfect. We moved 14 times — yes, 14 times within the 20 years of our marriage. And one of those times the moving truck sat fully packed in a parking lot, waiting for the final credit approval to move into our rental house. My husband, our kids, and my mother were with the moving truck and I was at work. For two hours he kept calling as he worked through the hold up with our credit, which made my boss angry. But we chose each other and stood together. No matter what the issues were in our 38 years, kids, jobs, moving, money – at the end of every situation and every day — we chose each other.
Set aside some time today and go through these two steps.
List 5 of the strongest areas you are passionate about
List 5 of the strongest areas you wish could change
As we close, I want to share one additional perspective on releasing your message. Madeleine Albright had a “silent voice’ which was part of her apparel. It began when she went to the UN after the Gulf War and Saddam Hussein compared her in the papers to an “unparalleled serpent”. She happened to have a snake pin and wore it the next day as they discussed Iraq.
Madeleine’s pins became part of her signature in voicing her position loud and clear. In fact, when I saw her interviewed she was wearing a pin she deemed, “breaking the glass ceiling”.
My favorite story of her pins was when Russia had planted a bug in the conference room near her office. The next time she met with Russia, she wore a giant bug pin. Madeleine Albright became famous for selecting a pin each day to reflect what was going to happened for that given day.
I would love to hear your results in this two- step assignment.
Leave your comment on my Facebook page by clicking here: CindyStewart or send me an email at cindy@Cindy-Stewart.com
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Remember, you are the best investment you can make.