*There is an inner child in each of us that wants to be seen, heard, acknowledged, and encouraged.
*Who are you? ….Who are you really?… when you pull back the layers and facades
*The world says we are 1)what we have 2)what we do 3)what people think of us…..those things are ever changing
*Many times when you ask a woman “WHO ARE YOU?” and they can’t include what they have, what they do, or what other people think of them….they have no idea who they are…
(Elizabeth asked this question to a group of women in their 60’s and most of them had no idea…they have lived 60 years of live and don’t know who they are)
*In “The Greatest Showman” when the bearded lady is singing “This is Me” she starts out hiding behind the sheets…but as the song goes on she starts to believe in herself…the comes out from behind the sheets and belts out…”I am brave, I am bruised…I am who I’m meant to be, this is me”
*We are all longing to be seen, heard, acknowledged, and encouraged.
*Vikki Fraker joined Elizabeth on the stage….She started by telling a bit of her story…She was born in the country in South Georgia…was raised by a single mother…had a dad that came and went.  She started getting attention, encouragement, and validation through sports (that attention became her drug)….She came to the Art Institute of Atlanta….got into Weight Lifting and Bodybuilding (they became her identity)…She did very well with weightlifting…externally she looked strong…she was teaching and doing talks about health…but internally dealing with bulimia, addiction to steroids, and addiction to alcohol .  She could talk the talk but not walk the walk.  She was in and out of rehab…it was a long dark struggle.  In a mental institution she met a mentor “Pat” who first asked her “Who are you?”….she started to remove all the layers and realize who she really was.  This process took several years….
*THE PAIN OF STAYING WHERE I WAS WAS TOO GREAT….IT OUTWEIGHED THE FEAR OF WHERE I NEEDED TO GO
*To the degree you have suffered (if you do the healing work) is the degree you can have compassion
*She gave the example of AA coins….Her husband has 1….She has 200+….who do you think has more compassion for people that come to the farm and are struggling?
*”What is necessary to change a person is to change his awareness of himself” -Abraham Maslow
*You tend to keep repeating patterns
*How you view yourself is how you view the world and your relationships
*We don’t see things as they are….we see things as we are (it’s not that what you see is wrong…you just need to be aware of your perspective)
*We focus on what we want to see
*WHATEVER IS GOING ON INTERNALLY IS GOING TO SHOW UP EXTERNALLY
*When there is discord internally….guess what…you end up having issues with relationships
*Wayne Dyer says our relationships are like links in a chain…we are connected….it is not if we are connected…we are connected…it is how corroded are our links
*”IF NOTHING CHANGES, NOTHING CHANGES” -AA
*Your best thinking got you here…..the mind that got you here can’t be the same one that gets you out
*When we feel discord/ disharmony within ourselves we stay in the same place because we are comfortable (even when we know we were created for more)….yet as we stay we feel
restless and year for more.
*We do the same behavior over and over…it keeps showing up in relationships…we are the common denominator
*Who are you? ….does your mind go to the labels?   If “who you are” is what you have, what you do, or what others think of you….those can be taken away in an instant…then what?
*She was  addicted to suffering…
*Until you can find compassion for yourself you are just going to keep suffering.  (she didn’t feel like she could access compassion….this is when they started talking about the little girl within)
*Pat asked her to put a picture of herself as a little girl by her bed….when she started to judge or criticize herself that little image of that little girl would pop into her heart and mind
*The little girl was the bridge to compassion.
*How we treat ourselves is how we treat other people
*Like Brene Brown says…You can’t give what you don’t have….(love, compassion, etc…)
*When you are ready the picture will surface.
*How can we be so critical of ourselves as adults but offer compassion to the little girl?
*We have 60,000 thoughts a day..the problem is tomorrow we will have the same 60,000 thoughts the next day if there is no pattern change.
*I am continually becoming who I was created to be
*There was an article written by Mary Ann Williamson…(graphic)…about a little 2 year old girl that had been abused…the abuser was her mother..when the policemen came to get her she
was crying and clinging to her mother….the author is showing how we cling to what we know even when it is detrimental to our soul
*Our addictions (shopping, alcohol, our kids, our excuses, etc….) are symptoms….we haven’t gotten to the real issue….our addictions numb out….we’re checking out not checking in…
we miss moments…miss days…miss relationships
*We think we are going to live forever….This is it! This is our life!
*We have a choice to experience wonder, curiosity, joy, and awe…or we have a choice to just do the same thing we have always done
*We get momentum…either with “I have to do this” or “I get to do this”…..”I have to feed all the animals” or ” I GET to feed all the animals”
*We don’t have the promise of tomorrow but we live like we do……WAKE UP!…if you decide to stay asleep you will trade in the moments of your life for it.
*What do you love? God put them in you to love.  Are you allowing yourself to love what God created you to love?
*Find a picture of yourself as a little girl….Who am I?  Is she still in there?  What was I uniquely created to be?

*Ended with a song… “Girl” by SYML SYML