This week marks the one year anniversary of Extraordinary Women Radio! What a ride it has been!
In every interview this year, our conversations have been rich, the stories shared deep and wisdom filled. My guests have opened their hearts and shared their most vulnerable moments. They’ve shared heartbreak and they’ve shared success. All of them have been inspirational.
At the end of every episode, my 43 guests offered three pearls of wisdom. Their responses have been profound, thought provoking and foundational principles that can truly shape our journeys, if only we apply them.
This week, my team compiled these pearls of wisdom into a single document, and you can download it at https://www.kamiguildner.com/pearlsofwisdom. That is 129 pearls of wisdom gathered from some very extraordinary women. You will want to grab this one. It’s something that you’ll be able to turn to again and again. I’m going to keep a copy of this in my journal for reflection on a daily basis.
As I sat down to start to reflect on all the amazing gifts and great wisdom that flowed my way as a result of the 43 interviews I’ve done this year, I was filled with gratitude and appreciation that Extraordinary Women Radio has come to be a part of my own journey.
In my journaling this morning I wrote a list of 10 things that I’ve personally learned in this year in all of these amazing conversations. I’m going to share it with you today.
- Passion matters. Every single woman I had the opportunity to interview this year – had a huge passion for their work, for why they bravely put their voice out into the world. I’ve heard people poo-poo the concept of following your passion. I so don’t agree. We get up every day bringing our gifts into the world – we better love doing it – if we truly want to live our lives in an extraordinary way. It’s that fire in our belly that makes us unique and different… it’s the fire makes us memorable… it’s the fire that keeps us going, when the tough days come along. Yes, passion matters. Know yours. Nurture it. And make space for your passion.
- Expect the unexpected in our journeys. We can’t define how life is going to go. We don’t know who will be on our journey with us. We don’t know the circumstances that will unfold today, tomorrow or next week. We only know that we each have our own journey to be on… to live on. It’s up to us to follow the signposts that show up in our lives, to follow the clues. Our stories will unfold with all kinds of outside circumstances unfolding around us. Our stories will take shape around what we’re angry about, sad about, or excited about. We will lose loved ones on our journey, we’ll meet new people on our journey.
As Former First Lady of Colorado Dottie Lamm shared with us in her interview, “when one door closes – watch for another door to open.” I can’t express how much I believe this. We don’t know where life will guide us, but new pathways will definitely unfold.
Susan J. Helms, the woman who holds the record for the longest walk in space shared with us, “It’s not about the destination… it’s about the journey.” I would like you to stop for a moment to consider how profound this statement is – coming from someone who has walked in space. Someone who was on a space station for 5 months. Someone who launched on a rocket to be in space. It’s about the journey, my friend.
- Do your inner work. Every single woman I met with this year makes regular space for themselves. Makes space for self-care. Makes space to do their own inner work. The way they approached this in every case was different, but they all made the time for doing their own inner work. Two amazing CEOs: Claudia Cividino of Bally Americas and Katica Roy of Pipeline stated “the most important thing I can do as a CEO is do my inner work.”
All of the women I interviewed in this year had developed a soulful practice of some sorts. They have done the work to tap into their inner wisdom, to spirit wisdom and to trust their intuition. Face it – we’ve got some pretty cool chick wisdom floating around inside of us that we should nurture and love on. It is here that our most creative ideas drop in on us. It is here that the magic in our lives blossoms. Rita Devassy of Deva Seed encouraged us to “practice not filling in the silence with sound,” and Tami Simon of Sounds True went as far to challenge us to “spend 
24 hours in total silence with our SELF.” Now that is a profound thought we should all try!
- No idea is too big. Go for it. Western artist Carrie Fell said, “Follow the BIG dream and take action every day.” So many of the women spoke about how important it is to believe in your SELF. And none of them said it was easy. They told stories of stepping into their courage, when they doubted the possibilities. Of going forward despite the fear. They praised the support systems they found along the way, and the ones that told them to dream even bigger. And it also meant that they needed to keep at it – because again – the road to where they were going was never straight. It took persistency and adjusting in the journey every step of the way.
- Do the Ask. No matter if it’s asking for help or just reaching out and doing the ask – you never know what will unfold. I would have never guessed that I would have gotten to do so many incredible interviews in this first year. Some of the women I got to interview were really big names. And I simply asked – would you like to be on my podcast? When I got the YES – I was blown away. None of us gets to where we’re going alone, so never be afraid to ask for help.
- We’re all the same. Several of the women – like Alyse Nelson and Barbara Bauer – were working with women from 3rd world countries. In their work helping women in these remote places, both Alyse and Barbara shared that while the women in these 3rd world countries had very different life circumstances, these women were very much like all of us. They both said – “we’re all the same.” The women in these 3rd world countries have dreams, they love their family, they work hard to make a difference in their lives and in their community. They love, they care, they work hard. Yes we’re all the same.
The reciprocal of this is that all of the women I interviewed are just like us. One of my favorite quotes from all year came from Tamara McCleary who said, “Our messy imperfect lives are just like everyone else’s messy imperfect lives – the perfection is in the midst of that imperfection. That is what makes us human.” I think that’s what is so amazing here – of all the 43 extraordinary women that I got to interview this year, I realized in the sharing of their own stories – their dreams, their fears, their self-doubts, their journeys – that yes, we ARE all the same. And while we are all the same, this leads us to the flip side and #7.
- We are all unique. We are all born with our own unique set of gifts of who we are. In every interview, I was in awe, how each of the women had found and owned their secret super powers and stepped into them. All of them were tuned into how they could make a difference with their gifts. All of the fabulous women worked in collaboration with other extraordinary women – lifting up others, helping others with their gifts. They worked from a place of abundance – not scarcity – knowing that they uniquely could bring their gifts into the world to matter. Fay Matsukage, a Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame Inductee shared with us, “Don’t compare yourself to anyone else out there.” Just go be you.
- May we always be learning. I think this is one of the most incredible gifts of this podcast for me personally. Every week I learned something new from these extraordinary women on their extraordinary journeys. These women were sharing their voices to create change in our world. How blessed was I to learn from their stories of resiliency, amidst the challenges they had faced at some point in their journey – to hear their stories of inspiration through their successes, their struggles, their ability to keep at it. But more importantly, I was fascinated how these women dedicated substantial time in their lives for learning – even with those who were long past retirement. The lesson here is, may we always be learning. May we surround ourselves with inspirational stories and connections that bring new ideas to mind and help us stretch our own goals and ambitions.
- Take time to get to know people. Really know them. Everyone has a story. And in their stories we can see the light of their inner soul. In shared story, we find connections that we wouldn’t have known were there – and we build real relationships. Reach out to a single person.. acknowledge their gifts, and what makes them special. High School teacher Brittni Darras hand-wrote 130 personalized cards to her students following a student’s suicide attempt. Her story inspired me. Roni Wing-Lambrecht encouraged us to write our children letters – and to encourage them to write back to us. Who do you want to know more in your life?
- Make a difference. As Ariana Huffington’s sister, author and speaker Agapi Stassinopoulus shared with us this year, “The greatest gift you can give to your life, is to be of service.” Yes – when the tough things happen in our life, know that there are others who are going through more difficult things. And let’s be real. We all want to make a difference. This is what makes my business go round. I get to help people find a pathway to making a difference – and go do it. And as you decide to make a difference with the gifts of who you are, find ways to direct your gifts
to matter. Lauren Casteel the CEO of the Women’s Foundation wisely told me this year, “create substance, not symbols.” Don’t just post memes to Facebook. Go out and engage in the communities you want to make an impact in. Have the crucial anc courageous conversations. Take action that is meaningful at a systematic level.
The final quote I’d like to share with you today is from Gerie Grimes interview: “Never think your voice should not be heard. Speak Up.”
Yes – I have this passion women sharing their voice. Your voice matters and you need to step up and do the work you are meant to do on this earth. Make a commitment to yourself that there will be no playing small in the work you do – that you’ll find the clarity in what you stand for and the courage to really matter.
And then let’s all join arm-and-arm and step up together, because together we are stronger. Okay – one more quote – and this came from Leslie Foster, another Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame inductee, “As women, our strength multiplies exponentially – one women is strong… two women is like three … three women are like nine. Yes, we are strong and so much better when we work together.”
So you see why I’m so passionate about this podcast – what a gift! Thanks for celebrating with me today. I’d love to hear your episode or lesson you’ve learned this year from Extraordinary Women Radio.
Be sure you download your Pearls of Wisdom inspiration!
I’ll also be sharing a series of posts on Twitter @KamiGuildner and Facebook @KamiGuildnerCoaching using the hashtag #pearlsofwisdom. If anyone of these posts inspire you – please share it with your own tribe. Thank you all for a fabulous first year and I look forward to another amazing year of stories to begin in year two! Much love to you all!