Category Archives: An Evolutionary Woman’s Journey Series

I Am What I Am…the Journey of Life

Posted on by Leave a comment
Day 88 of 100 days of bloggingI feel like I just got kicked in the stomach. My youngest daughter called and left a message on my phone. Her car was parked on the street in front of her apartment and was rear ended by a hit and run driver last night. She is in college in California and living on her own. Her car insurance has a $1,000 deductible. Hard to tell what the damage is and if it is worth fixing.This is a mess!

For the last week, I have been working on the East Coast. Developing leadership in Heal My Voice. Listening to the words of women. Editing stories. Attending a baby shower for my oldest daughter. Leaping to the next level…

At this moment:

*I feel discouraged. Defeated. One step forward and two steps back.
*I feel like I am a bad mother.
*I feel I should be in California living with my daughter instead of living on my own and traveling back and forth to the East Coast to work with women at the Chrysalis House.
*I feel like my priorities are messed up and I should be more available to my adult daughters.
*I feel that I should have…

Actually… this is bullshit.

The truth is:

*My daughter wasn’t in the car and she is safe.
*She has a bike to ride to school.
*She has the money to get the car fixed, if she chooses to do that.

*I believe in the power of my daughter to figure this out.
*I believe in the power and strength of my daughter to learn and grow from this experience.
*I believe that she will survive and thrive and bloom.
*I believe that I am exactly where I am supposed to be doing the work that I feel called to do.

*I do not want to live my daughter’s life for her.

There is always an old story I can tell myself about all of the choices I have made in my life and here is the truth:

*I have no regrets that I home schooled my children instead of building a career.
*I have no regrets that I started Heal My Voice and have devoted my life to a mission of empowering women to heal and lead.
*I have no regrets that I divorced my first husband and gave up the security of his income.
*I have no regrets about the choices…

I AM WHAT I AM…

Posted in An Evolutionary Woman's Journey Series, Conscious Choices: An Evolutionary Woman's Guide to Life

Interactive E-book Club…Series 1

Posted on by Leave a comment

Interactive E-book Club…Series 1
(Sept 2010-Sept 2011)

September 6, 2010

Here is a lasered blog with the membership details and two video links (at bottom of blog) describing the essence and purpose of the club.

Membership is $22 for the Series (For a short period of time the price is $17)

*You will receive 8-10 chapters per month, e-mailed in pdf form.

*At the end of Dec 2010, April 2011 and Sept 2011, you will receive a complete E-book in pdf document. (3 full length e-books)

Book 1- 24,000 mile journey Part 1 (Approx 40 chapters)
Book 2- 24,000 mile journey Part 2 (Approx 40 chapters)
Book 3- The journey of leaving Maryland to move to California  Part 1 (Approx 40 chapters)

* Reflective questions at the end of each chapter to help you activate your own dreams and explore your own inner journey.

*Monthly survey: Your ideas, your input, voting for the book cover and book title, and more…

*Monthly drawing with prizes like books, posters and goodies.

*Teleseminar type event on ustream, blog talk radio or telephone conference 3 times during the year. Scheduled after each completed book. Topics will emerge out of discussions and surveys. For example, “How to create and follow a dream”

*The Club is for all Ages. Wisdom from teens, adults and elders is ALL welcome! (posting a video with examples of wisdom from all ages on this journey. Coming soon!)

*Facebook Page: An Evolutionary Woman’s Journey Series.

Watch the videos to understand more about the IDEA! Thanks for watching… (See below)

Go to my formspring account, if you have more questions: http://www.formspring.me/andreahylen

Introduction to An Interactive E-Book Club: Click Here for Introduction

Membership details: Click Here for Membership Details

Longer blog with excerpts from the book: http://bit.ly/membdescription

Click here to sign up now! www.opentoinspiration.com

Posted in An Evolutionary Woman's Journey Series, Andrea Hylen, Interactive E-book club, Jonas Brothers, jonas watch, Open to Inspiration

Discover your own inner journey in an interactive e-book series

Posted on by Leave a comment

Discover your own inner journey in an interactive e-book series
September 3, 2010

I love the fall! New ideas! Bursts of energy! And a preview of the coming year. During Sept, the month before my birthday, this always happens. Ideas come to me and I work on them over the next year. Maybe it is the conditioning of the end of summer and the beginning of the school year. Maybe it is seasonal. Maybe it is related to my birthday and the promise of a new year!

Whatever it is, 2 project ideas have arrived! I am going to tell you about one of them today.

Many of you know I traveled to 45 Jonas Brothers concerts during the summer of 2009. Hannah, my youngest daughter and I drove 24,000 miles in 11 weeks.

A few days ago, I surrendered to the impulse to share this book. The book involves 45 Jonas Brothers concerts, but there is a deeper story underneath. I felt called to do something that summer that made no logical sense and I lived on the edge financially to do it for three months.  Every time I was ready to give up, be responsible, come back to Baltimore, there was a paradigm shift.

*An invitation to dinner in Portland from a mother who was following the journey
*A 3-minute conversation with a woman in Minneapolis telling me the blogs were a lifeline to her 13 year old daughter
*A job to film Jonas fans playing Bop-it
*A mother who became a lifeline to my daughter in Los Angeles
*Tickets and hotel rooms that appeared from musicians and a bus driver who was driving the back up band.

It became a quest. With limited money,  I had to think differently to make it to the end.

Isn’t that what we are all being called to do right now? Think in a different way about all of the details in our lives. Everything in the world is changing. Jobs, housing, banking, education, government and healthcare.  This is not the time to give up. This is the time to dig deeper, get a new perspective, awaken our creativity, and collaborate with one another.

Here is the beginning of my vision. It will continue to evolve this year:

I am creating a membership called An Evolutionary Woman’s Journey series (this came to me as I drove through the mountains in 2008. Another story!)

The membership time period is Oct 1, 2010-Sept 30, 2011. The cost is $22. (If you sign up now, the cost is $17 and you will receive the first excerpt of the book on Sept 22, 2010)

Three e-books will be released this year:

Book 1-45 concerts Part 1
Book 2-45 concerts Part 2
Book 3-Living on the Road: A One-year journey

Here is what you do:

1. Go to this link to sign up: http://bit.ly/ewjourney

2. Every month 8-10 chapters of the current book will be e-mailed to you on the 22nd. I will mail the first chapters on Sept 22. It will be a pdf file. You can read it on your computer or print it out.

3. A survey will arrive 2 weeks later asking you for your opinion about things in the book.

4. Every month there will be something for you to vote on- Title of the book, Cover design, Book structure. I will supply the content of the book, but you will be building it with me. There is a book series called, “Choose Your Own Adventure.” There may be elements of that added to the book. Sections about making choices in our lives.

5. There is a Facebook page to join called An Evolutionary Woman’s Journey Series. There will be discussions. Anyone can join the FB page, but the books will only be shared with people who have a membership.

6. More ideas will emerge! And many of them will come from you.

7. If anyone has a business or a website, there will be space in the back of the book to advertise. E-mail me at opentoinspiration@gmail.com for advertising info.

8. If you have more questions about the program before signing up, write in the comments section of this blog or go to my formspring account. http://www.formspring.me/andreahylen

9. A monthly drawing with prizes like posters, books and goodies. More ideas will emerge…

                            ******************

Here are some of the lines from the book- Part 1:

*Concert 5-:  I started thinking about the impact we can each have on the people and the world around us. I talked with many fans who felt that the Jonas Brothers music had healed their hearts. They felt sad or unloved in their lives. This sadness could be from the loss of a loved one or an illness or a disappointment in life.

As I sang the songs in the concert tonight, I began to imagine that I was a light beam in the world. I was feeling the love and the music and then I was imagining that I could spread that love to the section I was in and then to the rest of the arena and out into the world.

What if that is true? What if whenever we felt love we began to radiate love to the world? Try this. Think of a situation where you have felt love. Feel the love and imagine that it can flow out of you, like breathing in and out. Breathe in the love. Breathe out the love. As you feel the healing of you own heart, breathe that out into the world and then breathe it in again. Maybe that is the greatest gift of following the Jonas Brothers. The love we feel radiated to ourselves and each other.

*I ask myself, “Why can’t I trust life to support me? Why must I worry and fear that things will not work out? Why am I holding onto the details of life so tightly when I have so much proof that I am supported?

*Am I here to watch the movie of my life or am I here for the ride? I choose the ride.

*Concert 6- Tacoma, Washington. I needed silence. My mind was racing with questions and I wanted to find a stillness to hear the answers. For me the silence is best in nature. I take a quiet walk or sit and watch the birds, the flowers, the trees, the wind, the clouds and the sky. As I sit in that still connection between myself and something greater than myself, the questions begin to appear.

*(talking about the impact of songs from the bands traveling with the Jonas Brothers) From the Honor Society is the song, “See U in the Dark.” This is stirring something in me that is ready for the next chapter in my life. I am closing the chapter of homeschooling Mom. Widow of Hurley. Baltimore resident. I am excited to move into the next chapter and it is scary at the same time. The words from the song, “I’ll never see you the same, The veil has been lifted, now I see you’re gifted, My whole perspective has changed.” This summer I want to explore the questions, “What are my gifts? What is the next step for me? How do I support Hannah in the last two years of school and begin to explore my own new life?” What’s next?

*Concert 9: Provo, Utah. My victory is your victory. My YES! to the Universe, is your YES! to the Universe. My adventure leads you to your adventure.

It takes courage to step out of your comfort zone and risk everything. I am learning to relax more on this evolutionary edge and follow the ideas and the guidance. Every step leads me to the next step.

*This is funny. As I write this blog, the ad on my Facebook page in this moment reads, “Be more than a Leader. Be an influential leader. Learn how to create solutions that make a difference!”

                                                                     ********

 I hope you will join me on the journey this year, as we create something together. Here is the link to sign up: http://bit.ly/ewjourney

Posted in An Evolutionary Woman's Journey Series, Andrea Hylen, Honor Society, Jonas Brothers, jonas watch, Leadership

Hurley Cox

Posted on by 2 comments


Hurley Cox. 4 years ago today. Died peacefully in Baltimore in Hospice. For hours, people came to express their love and share their stories. The garden was alive with hummingbirds that day. All singing the joy of Hurley’s arrival back home. Live a Life Worth Celebrating. My husband certainly did! (Bottom left hand corner of picture)
*****************************

This is what I wrote on my Facebook status today and on the Jonas Watch Facebook status. I can’t really write about anything else today. It is here. The remembrance of the day, the man, the years I was married to him, the year he was sick with cancer, the day he died, the four years since his death.

During our 15 year marriage, we packed more life and death into 15 years, than many people experience in a lifetime. Here is a list of a few of our experiences together

1. We had a son who lived with a congenital heart defect through two open heart surgeries and died of cancer at the age of 19 months.

2. We gave life to a beautiful daughter, Hannah who, at the age of 5, nicknamed herself, “running princess who finds diamonds.”

3. We had joint custody of my amazing daughters, Mary and Liz and raised them to adulthood.

4. We moved into a house with three falling down ceilings and 27 boarded up windows and did most of the renovating ourselves.

5. We home schooled our daughters.

6. We installed an in ground pool together (amazing we stayed married during that adventure!)

7. We celebrated life with go karts in the front yard and kite flying on the beach.

8. We had a house full of animals with 2 golden retrievers and three cats and canaries hanging from the ceiling, and aquariums of exotic and every day fish and 2 leopard geckos.

9. We planted a huge garden with a 4-H club, provided space and guidance to many children through Destination Imagination and Girl Scouts and home schooling classes.

10. I recovered from a life threatening, autoimmune condition and Hurley did not recover from multiple myeloma cancer.

Today I AM:

Sad: I miss our pillow talk, late at night, early in the morning. Our best time of the day.

Happy: Thinking about his booming laughter. You could hear him wherever he was with his out-loud, booming, body shaking, head thrown back laughter.

Grateful: For all I learned about myself because we were in a relationship together.

Determined: To live a life worth celebrating with joy during ALL of the ups and downs

Awake: To everything I can see, hear, feel, taste and touch and to live in the now of life.

I AM Living a Life Worth Celebrating.

Posted in An Evolutionary Woman's Journey Series

Concert 22-Pittsburgh, PA. An Epiphany

Posted on by 2 comments

Thanks to Christine Hammond for sponsoring the blog today. (Love ya!)

For more information on sponsoring a blog, go to www.livealifeworthcelebrating.com

****************************

July 25, 2009

Concert 22-Pittsburgh, PA. An Epiphany

Hannah slept for the first two hours of the car ride. She spent the night at the DaGrava’s, our family friends. It was good for her to have time with Katie and with Karen, my friend and Katie’s Mom. But, she was tired.

I was all revved up with ideas of how to generate money to continue the journey. As Hannah slept, my mind was thinking and dreaming. I kept reminding myself that I had enough money for the next five days and to focus on that for now. Who to call, what action to take and when…lots and lots of ideas.

When Hannah woke up, I asked if she wanted to hear some of my ideas. First, I talked with her about vlogging, a video blog. When we were in Tulsa, we talked with a videographer for 90 minutes or so and it had been really fun to share some of the stories with him. We had laughed and reminisced and he had stayed with us for a lot longer than he originally thought he would.

As I discussed this with Hannah, she had a different opinion and we ended up arguing. I was so mad, I was ready to turn around and go back to Baltimore. When I look back at it with fresh eyes this morning, I feel the tension that was in the car with us yesterday. Both of us wanted to continue the journey, but we didn’t have the crystal ball that would give us the answers! Sometimes our fears are mirrors for each other.

We worked through it over the next hour and for now, we are going to move forward and each do our own vlog. Stay tuned. I have a funny store about the Honor Society, an Oprah campaign and my passionate conversation with them about this. I will record and post it in the next few days.

We arrived in Pittsburgh with no tickets and no hope of tickets initially. Concert was sold out. We hung out and waited to see if tickets would be released. I watched the BK Apple Fries employees. There is a managing staff that travels with the tour and then they have different people who work for them at each location. The guy who was working the megaphone, at this site, had no enthusiasm, no creativity. I went up to him and demonstrated. “Get your free, ice cold, apple fries. They are delicious and healthy and the Jonas Brothers Love them!” I was demonstrating and practically jumping up and down. He told me that he doesn’t like it when the girls scream and went back to talking into the megaphone like a sleep walker. Hopeless. I walked away shaking my head.

After several hours of checking for tickets at the box office, two tickets were released. We wanted to buy the cheapest seats to stretch our money, but these two seats were the most expensive. I hesitated for about an hour. Nothing else was released. Decided to go for it.

I walked over to the Marriott to use the bathroom. (Why don’t the venues have porta-potty’s outside?!? I think that East Rutherford, NJ was the only venue so far that had toilets outside for the people who were hanging out for hours! Okay, back to the story…)

I looked at the churches surrounding the Mellon Arena. You can’t miss them. They are huge and beautiful with angels and other huge statues on top of them. I saw that one of the churches was called Epiphany Catholic Church. With all of the internal thoughts all stirred up within me, I decided to walk into the church and see if I could have an epiphany myself! Epiphany=A Divine Manifestation.

There was a church service beginning. I sat down in the pew and listened to the sermon, sang Amazing Grace with the congregation, shook a few hands to “Peace be with you,” and then left feeling warm and connected. I felt the surrender in my heart. Whatever was to happen would happen. The priest even mentioned the Jonas Brothers and how they are using their gifts to create joy.

It was time to enter the venue. Hannah was already in the seat location and I thought, “well, this is pretty good. I like these seats.”

She was in a grumpy mood and I was thinking about how spoiled we have become with some of our seats and seeing so many concerts and on and on. I was judging her reaction and wondering what “wisdom” I should share with her to learn from this situation. I decided to dance and sing and talk with her later.

During the Honor Society opening performance, I kept moving to different seats to take pictures. The usher was bringing people down and I had to keep moving back to my seat. Even though we were very close to one of the stages, the camera location was blocking ¾ of the stage. Hannah and I talked during the break and she wanted to go talk to the box office and complain.

It was in this moment that I had an epiphany. I had been settling for the seats we were given and I was telling myself to be grateful for what I had. Hannah was saying, we paid top dollar for these seats and the cameraman is blocking our view! We went to the box office, explained that we had paid for the most expensive seats and that there was nothing that said that there was an obstruction. Within minutes, we were assigned new seats (even though this was a sold out arena) and the usher led us to our seats. Oh, my word! We were in the third row facing the middle of the stage and were so close that I was looking into the eyes of each of the Jonas Brothers.

Hannah and I danced and danced and sang and sang. We had one of the best nights of the whole tour. I changed my perspective about my daughter this evening. Asking for what you want is not being selfish or ungrateful. She was right. If the tickets had been discounted because of the obstruction, we would have had a great time there. But, to pay as much as a front row seat and not be able to see the stage was wrong!

When we arrived at the hotel tonight, which was free because of points I have accumulated, I checked my e-mail. I am receiving an advance in salary from a consulting job I do on the side. There is enough money to keep going for another few weeks and that gives us time to act on some other things that will take a few weeks to complete. Thanks for the prayers and support.

An Epiphany tonight indeed!

Posted in An Evolutionary Woman's Journey Series, Pittsburgh, teenagers

Jump!

Posted on by 2 comments

Thanks to Christine Hammond for sponsoring the blog today. (Love ya!)

For more information on sponsoring a blog, go to www.livealifeworthcelebrating.com

********************************************

I went to bed last night feeling defeated. We are home in Baltimore for 24 hours. We are staying in the house that I thought would have been sold in June until the contract fell apart when the woman lost her job of 21 years.

My friend has a few nights to go home while we figure this out.

I have needed to pay the mortgage for three months longer than I had anticipated. We are living on the edge, not knowing moment to moment if we can go on financially. Several people have paid for sponsoring the blog and being a part of the adventure. I received a loan. I have sold some copies of a book I co-authored.

I have been unable to attract corporate sponsors. I know that this is a great advertising opportunity for the right company. An ad on the blog. A logo on our business cards. A logo on the car.I know there is a creative way to do this. But, last night I was discouraged and couldn’t see any open doors.

Two days ago, I connected with my sister and her family in NYC. She lives in Florida. We live in Maryland. Our summer plans created a moment for our paths to cross and have lunch at my favorite NYC restaurant-Picante’s on Broadway between W. 139th and W. 140th Street in Hamilton Heights, Manhattan. Delicious Mexican food.

As my brother-in-law, Pat and my sister, Joanne asked me questions about where and when and how, I had a flashback to several other moments in my life. They were all moments when I felt I needed to move forward with something even when I didn’t have the answers, even when I didn’t know the when and how and what. We are a family of planners and I am living in the now. I only know a day or two in advance. I know where the Jonas Brothers are going for their concerts, but I do not know how I will get there.

During the conversation, I had a flashback to when I decided to home school my children in 1996, I had been seriously ill for two years. At the moment of this epiphany, I was laying in isolation in a hospital room, unable to walk. The doctors were not sure if I had a bacterial infection. I knew it was the new medication. I hadn’t felt well since I started taking it three weeks earlier. I had arrived at the hospital by ambulance due to the fact that I could not walk.

I vowed in that moment that I would get well. Every fiber of my being knew that I would love myself to wellness. I would take charge of this and I would surrender to the journey and find the answers. And then, as if a light bulb went off in my head. I decided to home school my kids.
I announced this to the nurse who was caring for me on that day. I announced it to my husband. They nodded approval and feigned interest, but their eyes said it all. They all thought I was dying and this was one last crazy idea.

I DID get well. I DID surrender and take charge and listened for the answers. And 14 years later, I am still home schooling my youngest daughter. It has been an amazing journey. My life has been full of a richness I would not have had if I had not followed my heart.

As I sat in the restaurant, two days ago, I reminded myself of this epiphany and we talked about the journey from uncertainty that led to the journey.

Last night, I read the comments on Hannah’s blog and my blog. I thought of the amazing connections we have made and I knew that we must go on! But, how…

I awoke this morning with words from one of Jordin Sparks songs when everyone says, Jump, jump, jump, jump, jump, jump… Over and over, I heard the words playing in my head all morning.

If these were just concerts, just a frivolous summer trip, I would never have begun this. But, something is calling us to keep moving forward. You, the reader, are calling us to this journey. Hannah and I are on this journey for all of us. It is about following a dream, living in infinite possibilities, opening to inspiration and creativity. It is about meeting you and sharing the journey and finding new ways to sustain ourselves as we travel from one end of the country to the other.

With the uncertainty of where the money is going to come from, I am pushed and stretched to try new things, to ask for help, to surrender to the journey, to take action, to listen.

Hannah and I leave for Pittsburgh in the morning. We have enough money to get to Kansas City. And in the next five days we will submit a book proposal, contact the Maryland Film Institute to see if anyone wants to use our house for a film. We will talk with the realtor, consider renting rooms, call companies to find the sponsorship. We will surrender and open to the gifts of the Universe along the way.

And we will meet you along the way.

Posted in An Evolutionary Woman's Journey Series
Recent Entries »