Hello Beautiful Actionists!

When I think of summertime I think of slowing down…

Summer always feels slow to me (although I am sure those of you with kids might disagree). Perhaps it’s a leftover feeling from my childhood where the days seem to stretch on forever and my only job at the time was to play, play, play and enjoy the sunshine. Summer gives us a good respite from work (most of us) and allows us to plan trips to see our families and friends, and hopefully summer marks a time to look back at the beginning of the year and marvel in all you’ve accomplished and created.

Truthfully, I don’t do enough relaxing and slowing down. There is something quite necessary in re-charging our batteries – if you think about it, our cars can’t run forever on a tank of gas – we must re-fuel and so it is the same with our lives and our passions. We must take a moment to be still and cherish what is around us, before us, and inside of us. We must take a moment to play, goof off, and just let our minds wander and dream. We must give ourselves permission to just…be. So I hope wherever this note finds you – you give yourself the gift of slowness for a moment…and just enjoy.

Because summer is such a great time to read that beach book or lose yourself in a great read while laying at the pool – we are suggesting two books for you. My good friend and Actionist™, Claire Mysko, has just written a must-read for girls aptly titled “You’re Amazing!” A No Pressure Guide To Being Your Best Self!  Claire has been in the girl-world for many years and has created wonderful programs with Girls, Inc. as well as writing a killer blog with Magali Amadei at
5 Resolutions. Get her book, read her work, and be amazed at how AMAZING you are already!! 

And speaking of slowing down…chill out to Abby Seixas’s book “Finding the Deep River Within.”  It’s not about doing more, it’s about enjoying more and dare I say – escaping from those to-do lists! Abby’s spent many years helping women become more connected to the spiritual wisdom inside of them…check it out!!

And lastly, we have a wonderful organization to feature as our Actionist ™ this month:
The Bogart Pediatric Cancer Research Fund. Founded to celebrate the memory of Neil Bogart, this organization is providing important and cutting edge research to doctors who are working toward the diagnosis, treatment, care, and cure of Cancer, Leukemia, and AIDS. Please check them out and support them in helping families dealing with these diseases. This organization is truly a testament that one person can inspire a movement and make a difference.

So perhaps the best bit of action we can take this month is to take stock of what we have in our lives, be generous in the time we give ourselves, and celebrate the health we have while we have it. Count those blessings, and enjoy the sunshine.

Be well my friends and I look forward to hearing about your lazy, slowed down summer…

Love,

Jess

GIRLS INC. PRESENTS: YOU'RE AMAZING!
- CLAIRE MYSKO

In The Supergirl Dilemma, a recent report commissioned by Girls Incorporated, more than 1,000 girls grades 3-12 shared stories of feeling increasing pressure to be perfect all of the time. GIRLS INC. PRESENTS: YOU'RE AMAZING! is the first guide to help girls give up the quest to be "super" and start celebrating what makes them remarkable.  

A solution to gender stereotypes and mixed messages, GIRLS INC. PRESENTS: YOU'RE AMAZING! addresses issues challenging girls today—family, school, body image, crushes, and the future—and empowers girls to find the inner voice that makes them unique, special, and above all, amazing!  Packed with Girls Inc. activities, quizzes, insight from girls and older teens, and advice from women role models including a NASA engineer, female bloggers, MTV's SuChin Pak, Self-Esteem expert Jess Weiner, and Paralympic athlete Bonnie St. John, the book gives girls tools and tips to feel good about who they are. 


Claire Mysko is a writer, media consultant, and the co-founder of Inside Beauty, a body image outreach program she created with model Magali Amadei. She also blogs about healthy beauty at 5 Resolutions to Transform the Fashion and Beauty Industries. Claire has served as the Assistant Director of Communications at Girls Inc., the Executive Editor of SmartGirl, and the Director of the American Anorexia Bulimia Association.
Claire holds a master's degree in gender studies from The New School
for Social Research.

For more about the author, please visit www.clairemysko.com.
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FINDING THE DEEP RIVER WITHIN:
A WOMAN'S GUIDE TO RECOVERING BALANCE AND MEANING
IN EVERYDAY LIFE
- ABBY SEIXAS

“Today’s women don’t need more time management skills to help them pack even more into their already over-packed schedules. They need tools to help them put on the brakes, gather themselves, and remember what really matters."

--Abby Seixas

For more than two decades, Abby Seixas has been teaching women how to slow down and reclaim their lives from the tyranny of their to-do lists. Based on the experiences of women whose lives have been transformed by her workshops, Finding the Deep River Within: A Woman's Guide to Recovering Balance and Meaning in Everyday Life provides her comprehensive program to nurture contact with "the Deep River realm", the soul-nourishing dimension in each of us that flows beneath the busyness of daily life.  

In this highly-acclaimed book, Abby describes the formidable cultural pressures on women and then, with gentle encouragement, practical guidance and compelling stories of struggle and success, she details the three preliminary doorways and six core practices for inviting the rich resources of our deeper nature into everyday life.  Skillfully weaving together time-honored spiritual wisdom and contemporary psychological principles, 
Finding the Deep River Within gives readers a highly accessible program for balanced
living in a hurried world.


Abby Seixas is a psychotherapist, author and speaker specializing in issues of life balance. She offers workshops, retreats and individualized coaching as well as her popular “Touching the Deep River”™ groups.  Her television appearances include NBC’s
The Today Show and the Hallmark Channel and her work has been featured in O. The Oprah Magazine, Self, Woman’s Day, Body + Soul, The Boston Globe, Palm Beach Post and Contra Costa Times. Abby has been in the mental health field for more than twenty-five years and has been a clinical psychotherapy trainer and supervisor at training centers in the United States and abroad, including England, the Netherlands and Russia.  She is the mother of two grown children and
lives with her husband outside
Boston, Massachusetts.

For more information please visit
Deep River Within.

The test we must set for ourselves is not to march alone, but to march in such a way that others will wish to join us.

- Hubert Humphrey

Connecting with Jess!

In case you missed it, watch Jess in an all new Dove commercial promoting the Dove Self-Esteem fund!

Find all the great advice you're looking for, and submit your own questions to
Jess's blog at Seventeen.com!

And Check out her monthly columns for Seventeen Magazine, now available on the media page of Jessweiner.com!

Surf the Dove Channel on MSN! Click the image below to read Jess's column, search video workshops, ask questions,
and get involved!

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What's on Jess's mind...

Are you curious about what's on Jess's
mind lately? Be sure to read Jess's
Blog to find out!

If you or someone you know would like to be a guest blogger on Jess's blog, please send your blog entry along with a two sentence bio about the writer to info@jessweiner.com.

The topics are open - just keep in mind the goal of the site and Jess's work is to promote conversation and action!

Jess is so 21st Century...
Check out Jess's My Space page to read her blog, send her a comment, and connect with other amazing people making a difference in the world!

Book Jess in 2008!

Book Jess for your upcoming events in 2008 now and receive $500.00 off the total cost of program fees. Send your email to Elaine@Jessweiner.com to find out what dates are still available.

The Bogart Pediatric
Cancer Research Program

To honor his love of children and his resolve that one person could make a difference, The Bogart Pediatric Cancer Research Program was founded in 1984 in memory of record and film executive Neil Bogart, who died of lymphoma at the age of 39.

Looking to celebrate his life, friends, family and colleagues linked efforts with the pediatric program at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles to work together toward the diagnosis, treatment, care, and cure of leukemia, cancer and AIDS. 

An idea begins in the mind of a medical researcher and is funded by seed grants from Bogart. As the research shows promise, more traditional funding sources become available to expand the research.

The primary focus of The Bogart Program is the financial support of research Labs at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, which allows researchers there to explore innovative methods of diagnosis and treatment of diseases.  

Because of the close relationship between the Labs and Hospital made possible by Bogart, advancements in research can jump at the earliest stage from the laboratory bench to the bedside of a child, where they are needed most. Medical professionals at 120 member facilities around the world have access to this research and are able to cross reference their patients and treatments with the latest protocols.

For more information about the Program
or to make donations, please visit
The Bogart Foundation.

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Everyone can be an Actionist™!
Below are some definitions of the word:

1. Someone who motivates and inspires people to take action in their everyday lives.

2. Someone of any age, race, class, and gender who wants to walk their talk out in the world and lead by example.

3. Someone willing to do what it takes to make a difference in their lives and in the world at large.

Want to be empowered with great ways to take action in your everyday life?

Ways to Take Action:

1. If you’re at a loss for new words that make you feel positive, try writing down a wish list of traits you admire in others. 

2. This one’s simple but true:  Remember that everyday actions and relationships cause a ripple effect out in the world, so practice being kind, and ask someone else to pass it on.

3. Assess your own belief system.  Discover if you’re taking on others’ viewpoints or giving yourself an opportunity to craft your own.  Try writing down an opinion inventory, which can be broad and basic, silly or deep:  what are your thoughts on friendship, political issues, or even doing the laundry?  You may be amazed to discover that you have different opinions than your parents or friends do.

Small steps of Action
can make a great change!

Also, be sure to check out the Take Action section of Jessweiner.com!