Hot Pink YOUniversity

The wrapping paper lays crumpled and strewn around the living room...you look at the tree in the corner and make plans to take it down before all of the needles become scattered throughout the house...you relish in the new memories created this past holiday season as you look towards the coming of 2013.   A new year, the symbol of do-overs and fresh starts in life. I love watching the faces of my kids, friends and loved ones as they open the "perfect" gift I chose for that person.   Whether it is the camping equipment for my step-son or the perfect socks for my daughter or the hammock for my son this past Christmas, it fills me with such great joy as I got it right !   How often do we get it "right" for us?   How often do we do for ourselves?   Women, the great caretakers of the world.   Naturally wired in our brains and chemistry...we nurture...others.   When it comes time to be the receiver of caretaking...we resist, we detour to the next available p

By:  Ann Soe      Pleasure…I have been thinking about it, talking about it, reading about it and embracing it a lot lately.   It is a powerful word.   It evokes different things at different times to different people. One thing that seems consistent though is that women want it deep down but also struggle with it.   I find myself drawn more each day to developing and sharing what I call the Pleasure Principle.   It is a fundamental part of our message at Hot Pink YOUniversity.      So often we seem to have an underlying sense of discomfort, even guilt over the desire for pleasure.   We somehow think it is an occasional luxury to seek pleasure.   I now truly believe that it is essential for our health and that of our loved ones to expect and create pleasure in all areas of our lives. We wish to create joy, happiness and pleasure for others but feel guilty to seek it ourselves or even to accept it from others. Pleasure and joy allow us to be balanced and put our best selves out the

Why I Love Travel There are always three phases of travel that give rise to each trip I take.   There is the planning, the actual trip itself and the memories created as the aftermath of my travels.   The planning is the anticipation, the building adrenaline as the day comes closer, the pouring over the travel books and imagining the sights to be seen, the food to eat, the experiences.   This planning phase used to be my favorite part of the trip.   I just got a rush as I dreamed of what I may experience.   The faces of those whom I told, "yeah, I'm going to Costa Rica, next week...", and the look of envy as I prepared for my departure.   I also really loved the aftermath, the memories, the photos, the look of envy on people's faces when I said, "yeah, I just got back from London....".   But, this past trip I took elevated my spirit to just be in the moment.   To experience the what is, not the what was or what will be.   I think I just entered the ph

It was 2010, several months after my father died, a few months before my 40 th birthday that I chose “YES” in my life.   I had been wanting to travel with Jana Stanfield for several years.   I met her at an event for the National Wellness Conference, but before that had been familiar with her inspiring songs and messages of positivity.   Her life sounded so exotic, compelling, intoxicating…traveling the world, going to Bali, helping orphanages.   So, after my father died I had a gift of some financial freedom which allowed me to look into traveling with Jana and volunteering.   I looked so forward to Bali as Jana had spoken about many years prior at this conference and googled Jana’s website to see the when and the where of her next trip….what I was met with was disappointment as her next voluntour adventure was to Vietnam.   VIETNAM??? I couldn’t possible go there !   In my mind I had the black and white images of newscasts of the war as a kid growing up, images of bodies, death, wa

Have you ever participated in something that was so fun, that when you came away from it you felt on top of the world, elated, excited to be alive!!!?   Well, as I write this I am still picking the mud out of my ears and rubbing my sore but happy muscles from the Dirty Girl Wisconsin Run in Waukesha, Wisconsin, August 19, 2012.   What a fun, fabulous way to spend a weekend with your gal pals…while honoring a good cause like the American Breast Cancer Foundation.   This non-competitive, dirty 5k was incredible in the energy and positivity of the women who came to “run”…and the women from Hot Pink YOUniversity went from marvelous to muddy in about 10 minutes into the run, it was unavoidable fun! I have only had this grand elated feeling a few times in my life and I don’t know about you, but I want MORE of it!   In this ultra-serious, fast-paced, westernized culture we live in, we are busier with home- improvements than with self-improvements.   We get caught up in the have more