The mission:
Empower Women 60+ to Improve their Mental Health, Boost Self-Confidence, Inspire Creativity, and Glide into the Next Phase of their lives with Journaling & Affirmations
You've LIVED. Through your childhood, into and through your teens, young adulthood, and now you're HERE.
Mature, experienced, confident - you're ready to explore who you TRULY are and what matters to you now.
Your life isn't over - far from it! There's a strength in you - you're ready to glide into the next phase of your life exploring, learning, loving, and LIVING - casting aside old rules and expectations.
Let the proven power of Journaling and Affirmations help you manifest your plans for the next phase of your life - and I'm here to help!
Dianne M. Daniels
CEO & Founder
Course Creator | Writer | Minister
So... Who are you, Dianne?
Multi-Passionate, Multi-Religious, Spiritual
Hi! Dianne here. I'm a wife, mother, grandmother, great-great-aunt, Course Creator, Writer, and Unitarian-Universalist Minister who's passionate about helping women 60+ to define and live their best lives - leveraging their knowledge and experience and discovering what works RIGHT NOW.
I pivoted from what I learned and was taught about what it meant to be a woman, how I could (and should) define myself at ANY age, and how I could express my fully authentic self - the person I became based on my experiences and my wisdom.
I discovered that I didn't have to accept or adopt anyone else's ideas of who I was or what I was capable of. I could boost and reinforce a positive image of myself as opposed to how "society" defined me.
I learned to celebrate the strengths I'd gained and learned ways to improve my weaknesses and conquer my challenges - all while learning to accept and embrace my authentic self.
Now I'm focused on empowering women 60+ who want to explore, celebrate, and understand the women they've become - including how they've developed strength and knowledge throughout their lives. I want to help you learn about your authentic self, and help you embrace who she is RIGHT NOW, instead of (or perhaps in spite of) the mixed messages we receive from popular media.
You can learn to see yourself CLEARLY - refusing to accept what others want for you (or will allow you to feel and be) during this phase of your life. Your life isn't over - a new phase is just beginning, and you deserve to know, understand, and celebrate her.
All of this happens with the proven self-development practices of Journaling combined with Affirmations - expressing your dreams, desires and emotions in a safe space while building on your strengths and your abilities to keep moving forward.
How I Grew Up...
I grew up with a message I'm sure many of you can relate to: Go to school, go to college, get a good education, get a good, respectable job, get married, create a family, and live happily ever after.
I received my first journal (aka diary) around the age of nine - I had just experienced the unexpected and traumatic loss of my father. He died from a stroke when I was just 9 years old. He was my hero - nothing could take my Daddy down...unfortunately, a stroke doesn't care about the hopes and wishes of a little girl from Detroit. My refuge was my diary - in it, I could write down what I was feeling when I couldn't seem to speak the words. It was mine - a secret - and even came with a little gold lock and key to keep it safe.
I poured out my heart in that diary - what I thought about, what made me laugh, what made me cry, and how much I missed my Daddy. I wrote about what I learned, people I met, and my school activities. As I grew older, I "graduated" from the small vinyl-bound diaries to blank lined notebooks (extras of the ones I used in school) and finally to cloth and leather-bound blank lined books better known as journals.
The more I wrote, the better I felt, a pattern that continues to this very day. Writing down the events of my life and my feelings about them gives me grace, a way to clarify my thoughts, deal with my emotions, ask questions, and receive inspiration. Even when I wasn't feeling my best, I could always go to my journal and let off steam or reconsider my actions and thoughts and change them for the better.
That's where the Affirmations came in. I, thanks to my mother, held a firm belief that thoughts are things and that words carry power. If you think and / or speak negatively about yourself, your life and what you're experiencing often enough, for long enough, you begin to act to make those statements true.
Finding My Path...
After combining Journaling and Affirmations and experiencing the benefits for myself, I realized I'd found a way to change circumstances and situations in my life according to what I wanted - not what "they" said.
"They" promoted prevailing wisdom from societal pundits and others who simply didn't know ME - I began my Journaling & Affirmation practice in earnest.
Affirmations have helped me to overcome unhealthy habits, heal old wounds, change my thinking from negative to positive, and celebrate my strengths as well as learning to deal with my challenges.
I KNOW that I can change anything in my life by combining Affirmations and Action, and by tracking my process in a Journal, I can repeat my successes and learn from my failures as I turn them around.
Now, I'm putting my time and effort into creating self-paced and audio materials to help empower other women who want to embrace their authentic selves and leverage the loving, learning, and living they've accomplished.
It's that mission that drives me forward, and I hope that you'll find value in it as well.
Who Inspires You?
I'm inspired by strong, beautiful, intelligent, and FABULOUS women who live unapologetic lives that are passionately authentic - like author, actress, comedienne, social media consultant / star, activist, television, and YouTube personality Franchesca (Chescaleigh / Chescalocs) Ramsey.
Franchesca is blazing her OWN trail - she first took the world by storm with her YouTube commentary on racial issues ("Sh*t White Girls Say...to Black Girls") that went seriously viral. She's also a writer, producer and performer who has appeared on MTV ("Decoded"), Comedy Central's "The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore," the television series "Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell," and MSNBC.
She's pursuing passion projects and work that celebrates ALL of who she is and who she's becoming. She is unafraid and unapologetic about just what she stands for, and I'm a definite fan of hers.
Who Inspires You? (Part 2)
I'm also inspired by legendary women of the stage and screen.
They had to fight (and continue to fight) through prejudice and bias, through an industry that does not always celebrate their beauty or reality.
The industry continues to perpetrate unrealistic portrayals of women as objects to be desired, acquired and owned, but not as brilliant, powerful individuals with important things to say and the knowledge and drive to make things happen.
Who Inspires You? (Part 3)
I'm inspired by many of my fellow UU ministers - men and women who lead with their hearts, use their brilliance to uplift and help others, and who represent the best of what our faith has to offer while keeping it REAL and helping work through the struggles and challenges of a heart-centered faith.
Who Inspires You? (Part 4)
One of my newer, yet most impactful and valuable resources is my BLUU Family. Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism (https://blacklivesuu.com) provides spiritually sound, culturally relevant content that is affirming, inclusive, action-oriented, and grounded in the lived experiences and diverse perspectives of Black Unitarian Universalists.
I am proud to count myself among the BLUU Beloveds - seeking to further connect, build community and develop leadership within the work of BLUU and their connection to broader liberation movements.