Thursday, November 24, 2011

I Can Do It! Tampa 2011 - Part One: Marianne Williamson

As promised, I Can Do It! Tampa energized my mind, body and spirit. I attended the 3-day conference with my friends, Joanie and Elaine. We stayed at the Marriott, across the street from the Tampa Convention Center where we enjoyed a 12th floor view from our balcony and comfy beds. Happy for our girlfriend time together and anticipating enlightenment, we attended keynote speakers, various conference workshops, and breakout sessions, and rejoiced in the inspiration available to us. After each event, we shared our insights and breakthroughs over salad, oatmeal, or rice curry and vegetables.

My three-day journey began on 11-11-11 with an all-day workshop with Marianne Williamson. Her newest book, A Course in Weight Loss, offered sound advice, practical exercises and plenty of revelations to me personally. I immediately saw the wisdom of embracing healthier eating, and intend to work through the book’s 21 chapters on my own, or with a small group of women in Venice starting in January 2012.

Marianne taught us that “every moment gives us an opportunity to rise to the occasion of our higher selves” and challenged us to consider “any thought that is not love is fear” and “any thought that does not support my perfection is an attack.” Throughout the three days of the conference this theme in different words was interwoven from various speakers as a deeper understanding of the importance of self love.

That first morning in Tampa, as I listened and participated in the Course in Weight Loss exercises, I felt a shift within me. My journey of self-love and conscious healing of my inner child began forty years ago in the seventies when I found a path to spiritual awakening. Yet, here in this workshop with Marianne Williamson, another layer of onion was being peeled; another petal of the perpetually opening lotus blossom opened, and I glimpsed further within.

Already the price of the conference admission was worth it, and I had just begun.
-Raphaella Vaisseau
P.S. Click here for slide show of my 3-day experience at I Can Do It! Tampa, November  11-13, 2011

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