April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and as sad as it is that we as a society need to designate a month to get 'aware' of such crimes, it is so. Many organizations around the country are stages events to make us more aware, so we can be better prepared. One such organization, Peace Over Violence, which runs the oldest rape crisis hotline in Los Angeles, is holding its 10th Annual Wear Denim Day. Why Denim? This is significant -- this commemorative event was inspired by a rape conviction that was overturned by the Italian Supreme Court, because in their opinion, the victim was wearing jeans and therefore had "invited" the rapist to rape her. Astonishingly, this court decided that the rape was consensual. Clearly we need to raise our awareness about sexual assault, and sexual abuse. These are crimes of violence, rage and power. Such crimes are perpetrated against people of both sexes, all ages, and wearing all different types of clothing. Show solidarity with victims of sexual abuse and assault. Wear Denim.

Women tend to experience more stress in their lives than men. Heart disease is one of the leading health problems women face, and unfortunately, stress exacerbates this condition. What can you do to moderate your stress? Studies show that meditation can help. You can actually meditate away your heart disease, and lower your blood pressure. Transcendental meditation, a technique founded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1957, has been a proven antidote for many conditions that are associated with the development of cardiovascular disease. So women would be wise to take a meditation break. If you practice TM a couple times a day for 15 or 20 minutes, you will greatly improve your overall health.

As a mom, I often find it tricky to disconnect from the complications and life struggles of my children, my aging parents, and other relatives. I feel their pain. I relate to their problems, I understand their dilemmas and I sense their distress. It's exhausting. I commiserate so much in fact, that I sometimes project and even inject myself into their movie. Not good.

Among the lessons parents need to learn, is that kids are individuals, and therefore, they need to individuate. Duh. Even though our kids will always be our kids, when they are married with kids of their own, our interventions into their lives should be minimal - more as honored guests, and adoring admirers, than the fixers and doers of our earlier parenting years. Why? Because we can't fix and do everything for them anymore. And if we try, we are actually robbing them of their own personal power - of their own ability to "win" at life, which we should be loathe to do.

We parents may not always agree with our children's ways, and we may have all kinds of reasons why we think our methods are better. But different perspectives and alternate ways of doing things make the world go round. Though we may be similar because we're related, we all absorb different tricks and tools for navigating life.

Being able to accept sometimes, adapt most of the time, and let go at the right time are valuable behaviors for parents and our kids to learn.

Do you think of yourself as a feminist?  Is something stopping you from embracing your feminine side?  Can you support the cause of women without feeling like a pariah?  We are all being judged.  Obviously our worth exists outside of any political or sociological framework, but it's important to notice how these perspectives affect us, because it can trip us up.  The Feminist Movement, which found its first significant expression in Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, produced many stand-out ladies whom we can thank posthumously for opening the doors and windows to our empowerment and ultimately, to our freedom.  These powerful women definately had their work cut out for them.  Elizabeth Cady Standton spent a lifetime fighting for equal rights in America -- not only for women, but for all humanity.  She and her friend Lucretia Mott organized the first American women's rights meeting in 1848, since dubbed the Seneca Falls Convention.  What can we learn from them?  That it takes a strong sense of personal worth and determination to speak truth to power.  These gutsy women laid the groundwork for the phrase, "you go girl."   "The glory of human nature lies in our seeming capacity to exercise conscious control of our destiny."  -- Winston Churchill (British Prime Minister, 1874-1965)

Taking my youngest daughter to visit the colleges she was accepted to so she could make her final choice has been a bitter-sweet journey. I am enjoying seeing the world through her excited, energetic eyes, but I am also aware that her childhood has come to an end. I can't help but reminisce about my own transition to young adulthood, but I try not to impose too many of my memories or my expectations on my daughter, as this is her time to shine. This is the beginning of another chapter in my life, just as it is for my daughter. To see the joy and possibility that exists through every door, is to be forever young.

I recently read Three Cups of Tea.  I didn't really know what to expect - but I couldn't put the book down.  I love the mountains - something about the air, the beauty, the majesty, it grabs me in a way nothing else can.  This story, while set at altitudes few people can handle, is not just about a climb on Pakistan's magnificent K2.  It is about a man who single-handedly took it upon himself to make the dream of schools for girls in these remote villages that surround the highest peaks on earth a reality.  It's a fact that if women are educated, they will make drastic changes in the world around them.  Just ask Dr. Yunus of the Grameen bank in Bangladesh.  Greg Mortenson -- a gentle giant, deserves the Nobel Peace Prize as well.   His monumental efforts to bring schools to the villages of Pakistan - those remote villages at the top of the world that lie in the shadow of the Karakoram Range, are awe-inspiring.  Greg Mortenson co-founded the non-profit organization The Central Asia Institute to fund the building of schools, bridges, water projects and women's centers in these remote areas.  He also founded Pennies for Peace;  an organization that educates American children about the world beyond their experience.  Read the book.  You will be amazed.  Then donate to his cause.  You won't regret it.

Beyond Cindy Sheehan's decision to resume her private life, there are lessons to be learned about the nature of women in public service. Many women have challenged the system at great personal sacrifice. Just ponder these past couple of years for Ms. Sheehan -- whether you agree with her or not, it's not difficult to imagine the hell she's been through in her efforts to get our country to alter its obviously ineffective course. She has been vilified for her beliefs, verbally attacked, physically threatened, and in many ways, discounted. Women bring more than our stated opinions and pure activism to the so-called party, and we need to be aware of this. There are plenty of social mores, cultural dictates and gender-specific expectations that color our perceptions and inform our opinions. In some ways, women are held hostage to these persistent schema conflicts and stereotypes. Before we open our mouths, whatever message we wish to deliver will be distilled though some preconceived filters. As we follow the political debate in the US, witnessing history as it is written, stereotypical descriptions of our female candidate, Hillary Rodham Clinton, continue to find their way into the dialog. As Anna Quindlen aptly noted in her May 28^th piece in Newsweek, "Even when we said it was unfair to hold women to a higher standard than their male counterparts, in our hearts we did." For example, we still expect women who make it to the top in major corporations to run companies in a family-friendly way, with humane workplace conditions, and feel-good policies. We want their journalism to lean toward human-interest and the emotional angle, and we expect a woman's viewpoint on healthcare to include more patient contact, and a holistic, mind-body, and family-centric perspective. Women are always more than meets the eye. Senator Hillary Clinton has to do much more than be knowledgeable and astute about politics; she must also be prepared to be questioned about her husband's fidelity, her hairstyle, her choice of clothing, and the way she communicates. She will be grilled about everything from her choice to be a working mother, to her right to change her mind about the war in Iraq. The fact that Mrs. Clinton is a strong woman should be playing to her benefit, but this valuable characteristic has more often been used against her. Strong woman? For many people, this description is a contradiction in terms - a dichotomy, an oxymoron. We're lucky to have a pantheon of female "greats" to look up to -- from Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a leader in the U.S. Woman's Right's Movement, to Golda Meir, the original "Iron Lady" of Israeli politics - but the conflicts and complications that are part of women's lives have followed us all the way. Women seem always to be juggling between two worlds; home and children, and career and ambition. Marie Curie, a pioneer in the research of radioactivity once said, "I have frequently been questioned, especially by women, of how I could reconcile family life with a scientific career. "Well, it has not been easy." This sentiment endures. Despite the fact that it's not easy, women are steadily making advances. All over the world, women have been elected to top political positions. It's rather humbling to yours truly, a woman raised with the mantra that the US is the leader of the pack, that other nations have trumped the United States in placing women in the highest office of the land; Golda Meir, (in office from 1969 to 1974), Margaret Thatcher, (in office from 1979 to 1990), and Mary Robinson, (in office from 1990 to 1997) are a few examples. Currently, Angela Merkel is the Chancellor of Germany, (elected in 2005), Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is the President of Liberia, (elected in 2005), Michelle Bachelet is the President of Chili, (elected in 2006), Micheline Calmy-Rey is the President of Switzerland, (elected in 2006), and Dalia Itzik is the Acting President of Israel, (2007) just to name a few. Though behind in this domain, women in the United States are finally jockeying up to position. In January 2007, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi became the 60^th Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States; the first female ever to hold the office. And there may be more changes on the horizon too, as we ramp up for a presidential election with Senator Hillary Clinton as a frontrunner candidate for the Democratic nominee.

Whatever the outcome, we need to remember that women are taking enormous risks when they make a stand and try to change the status quo. Courageous women who expose themselves to multidimensional scrutiny are pushing against strong prevailing cultural biases, and a social context that until very recently, didn't bestow much credibility to a woman in the leadership role. A woman's worth - in our own minds, as well as in the group think of society - may well depend upon our coming to terms with an equality of spirit between the genders, even if the other things in life do not seem quite equitable. We should learn to benefit from our differences, not use them for ammunition.

I'm pretty sure that writing morning pages makes me a better person. Why is that, I wonder? How can something so simple--so mundane-sounding, so personal, and so basic, make me better? Actually, writing in the morning pages is part of my artistic process, for at the end of a few scribbled pages, I generally arrive at a state of creative bliss. I am energized, ready to get on with it, and I feel like I've shed a few pounds--the kind of mental pounds that weigh and slow you down. It's a generally accepted fact that journaling is a great way to reveal your own inner thoughts--the ones you may not like to admit--even to yourself. Somehow, when you put pen to paper and allow your hand to crawl across the page, your mind just can't resist laying out some of the things it's been pondering, no matter how trivial, petty and nasty they may be. And as you begin to write and read along, you discover things about yourself, and about others that you perhaps knew in theory, but hadn't verbalized, because there wasn't an appropriate time or method to do so without serious reprisals. Indeed, you realize that you may have needed to regurgitate some of those pent up feelings to someone--but there wasn't a religious confessor available--and oh well, I guess pouring them out onto a blank page to nobody at all but yourself was the next best method, and at any rate, it seems to be good enough. May I simply state that it is better than good enough. I have found that I can spill out all my aggravations, my dreams, my angst, my petty feelings of jealousy, self pity, and anger without pissing someone else off. I can strut out all my whining, and complain about all the social injustices perpetrated against me, against the world, until I eventually come to a place where I actually write something interesting. That's not to say the first few pages are not interesting... they are immensely so. But they may not be of the caliber I'd like to traipse out for public viewing.