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Issue 5 > The starting point to being bodacious.

The starting point to being bodacious.

Mary Foley explores 'garner your self-esteem and protect it like a jewel'.

Recently, after speaking to a group of 300 women I was asked a very honest question: 'How can we learn to be bodacious without having to go through big life trauma such as a divorce or the glass ceiling, like you experienced?'

I heard the pain in the woman's voice who asked the question. She didn't want to go through more 'stuff'; she just wanted to feel free.

'The fastest way to become a bodacious woman' I responded, 'is to look within and trust your inner voice.'

To help women wrap their head around what it looks like to live bodaciously, I created the easy to remember 'bodacious woman mantra'—four phrases that can change your life. They are:

• Look within.
• Think strategically.
• Act bodaciously.
• Love every minute of it.

In my book, 'Bodacious! Woman: Outrageously in Charge of Your Life and Lovin' It!' I playfully describe my bodacious woman mantra, but here's a quickie on the first part: 'Look within.'

When you live your life bodaciously, you get more of what you want; loving and respectful relationships, exciting work, and recognition for your contributions. But these are only the external manifestations of the 'bodacious way'.

Bodacious women know these rewards come easily when you are bodacious within first. All the skills, techniques, and savvy in the world won't stick until you improve the quality of your inner messages. What you say to yourself is a major tool in building a fabulous life.

Looking within means doing two key things: Trusting your inner voice and protecting your self-esteem.

Trusting your inner voice means you first have to listen to what's going on inside you. If you listen carefully, your inner voice will help you determine how you feel about yourself and what you want. The bodacious woman trusts her inner voice and moves in that direction.

The second key aspect of looking within is to protect yourself from self-esteem busters. Unfortunately, our culture tends to confuse self-esteem with self-absorption, self-centeredness or just plain old selfishness, and this confusion leads women to be discouraged about taking care of themselves.

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