Insights from Amy

We've hit the big time!

2010-09-07T21:58:00.001-07:00

I love how people flock to positive messages! It is so cool! I have been invited to appear on Studio 5 this Thursday at 11:00 am to talk about our Celebration of Real Beauty! I am so excited. I can't wait for everyone to get to see and hear about the powerful event we created together. Please tune in and watch! You might even see yourself on TV!

http://studio5.ksl.com/

2010-08-17T21:44:00.000-07:00

Hi Friends! I have been hearing about GUILT from so many different places lately. It has come up with my mentoring clients, friends and even with strangers I meet! I want to share an excerpt from my new CD, "Motherhood: The Challenges and Choices." I would love to hear feedback! Do you struggle with guilt and does it help to change the way you think about guilt?

Guilt- If Motherhood is under attack and the enemies have an armory of weapons, I think Guilt would be their version of the atomic bomb! The effect is widespread. It takes over quickly, and it is devastating. I think most women would admit what that they struggle with feelings of guilt on a regular basis. But the part that concerns me the most is that most women accept this as a normal part of life. In the last few years, I really have met and talked with thousands of women. In listening to them I have heard some really interesting things. I would like to share a few with you and see if any of them sound familiar.

“Sometimes I feel guilty because I don’t have enough time with each of my kids.”

“I feel guilty because I am just at home with my kids and I’m not bringing in income to help my family.”

“I feel so guilty becaue I have to work to pay the bills and I am missing so much with my family.”

“I know I need more time for me, but I always feel guilty when I take it.”

“I feel guilty because I don’t feel bad about working. I like my job and I like having time away from my family to do my own thing.”

“I felt so guilty today because I had 20 things on my to do list and I only got done 15”

The list could go on forever. Guilt is a real emotion that God uses to help us. None of us are perfect and each of us makes mistakes. I have made many mistakes and will probably make tons more. When we take a wrong turn or make a wrong choice, our Higher Power uses guilt to let us know that we need to make a change. He loves us and doesn’t want us to continue in a direction that won’t bring us happiness. The guilt is a warning to stop, turn back and find the correct path. I use guilt with my children as well. When they are doing something wrong or dangerous, I let them know they have made a bad choice. I correct their behavior. That emotion of guilt helps them to remember not to make the same mistakes over and over again. But as a mother, would you want your children to feel guilty all of the time? Yesterday, my sons left on the hose and flooded the back yard. I talked to them about it. I didn’t yell, but I used my serious voice. They know they are not allowed to turn on the hose without permission. I reminded them of the rules they broke. I told them I was not happy about what they had done. They felt bad and apologized. Today, I did NOT wake them up by telling them they were bad kids because they left the hose on yesterday. I did NOT constantly remind them of their mistakes and misdeeds. God does NOT want us to live in a state of guilt. Opposition is so smart and the reason it uses guilt so effectively is that it has taken a universal teaching tool and twisted it. When we are working to care for and provide for our families, the Adversary sends us guilt and tells us we will never be able to do it well enough. When we are searching for closeness with our higher power, opposition makes us feel like because as humans we make frequent mistakes, we will never be able to achieve that closeness with God. When we are doing our absolute best and should be feeling peace and joy, Satan twists the emotion and sends us guilt. No one wants to feel guilty all the time, so we will start to shrink back. We even tell ourselves that we just can’t do that much and we pull in our sphere of influence and make it smaller.

I would like you to think for a moment about a time you caught one of your children doing something they weren’t supposed to do. Just the other day, I caught one of my sons eating spoonfuls of sugar strait out of the sugar bin in the pantry. The minute I said his name, and he knew he had been caught; his natural physical reaction was to shrink and hide. His shoulders slumped, he looked down, and he took a step back from me. Now translate that into your life. If you are living with frequent feelings of guilt, then The Adversary is succeeding in keeping you from reaching your true potential. If you are feeling frequent guilt, you cannot be as connected in your relationships as you want to be. There is always a part of you that is hiding. You will begin to hide and protect the best parts of yourself so that they won’t get hurt by the overwhelming guilt. Your gifts and talents cannot truly shine. You may even start to hear little voices telling you that your children blame you for their problems. You may start to hear little voice telling you that your family doesn’t love you. Your Father in Heaven loves you and would NEVER send you this type of guilt. Later in the CD, I will share some Tools that you can use to win the fight! But the most important thing is to recognize that frequent guilt is not a normal part of life. It is dangerous and detrimental to ourselves and our families and we MUST get rid of it!

Celebration Success

2010-08-09T20:10:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone! Thank yo SOOO much for participating in our Celebration of Real Beauty. I thought the night was a huge success! I loved a lot of things about that night, but I want to share with you a few of my favorites!

My favorite quote of the night was from Brandy Dial of Dollface Photography. I loved when she said, "I have never had a man ask me to photo shop a few pounds off!" Ha ha! How true is that!

My favorite group shots were from Sharli Bird's group. The group left as strangers and came back as friends! They had FUN! They all got soaked playing in the water fountains, but you can see in the pictures that they bonded and really came together as women. You can see their inner light in their pictures!

My favorite guest was each of you, but I wanted to publicly thank Chandelle for coming to help me get set up and organized! I promise we would have been in complete chaos without her! It is so cool how people just show up in your life when you need help!

I LOVED that Julie Harman went out to ice cream with her group afterwards! She had the teens and their pictures turned out AMAZING! They were seriously so pretty!

My favorite moment was when I went back to the park and saw 2 people that I had been praying to get to our photo shoot! I really wanted someone with special needs and someone expecting a baby! When I left, they were not there. When I came back, the

y were both there! How awesome is that!

Priscilla Briggs wins the award for best use of props! I went to her photo shoot and they had lassos, guitars, chairs, signs, and I think a gun? It was awesome! And her pictures turned out so cool!

And Megan Barlocker gets my vote for my favorite hazardous place to take pictures! Okay it wasn't really hazardous, but I was really impressed with the location she found. It was so cool!

I would LOVE to have some feedback to help teach other women and teens about positive self image. Did you have a cool experience at the photo shoot or as a result of the photo shoot? If so, PLEASE share! I would LOVE to hear from you!

Just a reminder, I will be showing the Celebrating Real Beauty video at my class! It is Aug. 27th and 28th. It is normally $250 to register, but I am doing a special for anyone that attended the Celebration. You can go for just $65! The first day will focus on your relationship with yourself. We will talk about real beauty, about getting rid of guilt in your life,

about how to get rid of the negative thinking and how to increase your self esteem and feel great about it! The second day we will focus on increasing your influence! Would you love to make a difference in the world? I want the world to be full of strong women actively building a better future for society. I hope you will join me! This 2 days will be power packed with information to help you to cre

ate more INCREASE in your life. The Celebration special will end on Monday Aug. 9th! So if you want to come, email me at awalkeroffice@gmail.com. I really hope to see you there!

I wish I could put all of the pictures on, but it

would take the rest of my life! Enjoy!

2010-07-23T08:25:00.001-07:00

I believe that Heavenly Father created us all differently for a reason! The world is full of beautiful women of all shapes, colors and sizes. Over the past 7 years I have worked with hundreds of women. I love our strength, our kindness, our compassion, and our ability to juggle anything! But I am always sad by how few women truly feel beautiful. I believe that we can start a movement of change! I am hosting a Celebration of Real Beauty Photo Shoot, and I would love for you to join us!

Poor self image is not a new problem. We have been hearing about it for years. We talk about the effects of the media on young girls. We talk about the weight of the models in the fashion industry. We talk about the responsibility schools and parents have to teach our children. We do a lot of talking! And yet I still see so many women, both adults and teens that do not feel good in their own skin. And I see an increasing trend toward extreme measures to achieve a certain look.

Dove soap did an awesome marketing campaign trying to promote real beauty. Several department stores and clothing lines started using “plus sized” models to show their lines. But when they followed up their campaigns with market research, they did not find positive results. They found that women prefer looking at skinny, beautiful, perfect models. Even though the models made women feel worse about themselves, they felt better about the products.

To me this is just evidence for what we all know. A healthy self image must come from within! We cannot wait for the media to give us permission to be happy as we are. They tried and we didn’t listen! We must stop telling ourselves that it is normal not to love our bodies. As women, we must feel, act and be beautiful if we are going to pass on a healthier view to our children. I recently heard a woman tell a group of teenagers who were complaining about their bodies that they would always hate their bodies. That it wouldn’t change when they got older and they just needed to get used to it. I almost choked! It is not normal to hate your body! It is not healthy to think you have beautiful eyes, but a big nose and terrible smile! I am 5 foot 3 and curvy. I have a big nose and I am beautiful. I will never look like a super model, and no super model will ever look like me! We are each unique.

I wanted to teach this message in one of my upcoming trainings and had the idea to make a video of women of all different ages, colors, and sizes celebrating their natural beauty. The project took off! Women are dying for permission to be beautiful just the way they are!

The video will be available to download for free. It will also be available to purchase along with a teaching and discussion guide. Please use it! Please join me in helping to start a change.

If you would like to join us in spreading this message, I would LOVE to have you! This will be an experience to remember. Come share your natural beauty with us! All ages of women are welcome.

Thursday, July 29^th

7-9:00 pm

Herriman, Ut

To join the cause, or for any questions please email me at celebratingrealbeauty@gmail.com.

I will then email you directions to the shoot and instructions for hair, clothing and makeup. (There will be VERY LITTLE makeup!)

Amy Walker

Amy Walker is a trainer and mentor. She has over 7 years of experience as a business coach and has coached over 100 women. She is currently teaching the following classes; Women of Faith and Strength, Introduction to Body Language, and Celebrating Real Beauty. She is available for private speaking engagements and trainings. Amy has been married to her husband, Stephen Walker for almost 10 years. She has three wonderful, handsome boys. Amy’s personal mission is to help people strengthen their relationship with themselves, their Higher Power, and the people around them in order to create success and happiness.