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Jen A. Miller Consulting

Category: Lessons Learned

  • How Do You Define Your Identity?

    How Do You Define Your Identity?

    GirlTalkHQ Founder Asha Dahya opens up about the journey to find her identity

    identity

    “Don’t apologize for who you are… true happiness comes from knowing your individual worth and identity”

    I have been in a relationship for 31 years, which, coincidentally, is also my age. That life-long relationship has been with no one other than my identity. Sounds weird, but hear me out!

    For most of my life, I’ve struggled to uncover who I am and how I want to be perceived.  Though you’d image this struggle would get easier with time, my experience has been quite the opposite. As I’ve grown older, extraneous circumstances – peer pressure, family pressure, the media, relationships with boys, my career- have threatened to break up my longest relationship and have even managed to hijack my identity at times.

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  • 12 Months a Single Girl | Our Manifesto Revealed

    12 Months a Single Girl | Our Manifesto Revealed

    Happy 1st Anniversary to The Single Diaries!

    TSD Manifesto copy
    A year ago, Jen and I launched The Single Diaries. We first tested the idea on our closest circle of friends several months before that. When we saw that our message resonated with them we knew we had the support to keep reaching.

    As we commit to year 2, we unveil our manifesto… the words we live by, the summary of our work, the mission we strive to carry out post by post. Twelve months flew by, so we simply want to say Thank You. Thank you for reading, for supporting our stories, and for inspiring us to leap. Every. Single. Day.

    We have big plans for our second year and can’t wait to share them with you as they unfold. Until then, read on for a look back at our favorite moments from the first year of living our mission, and share your favorites with us too.

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  • Single Girl Reads | The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything

    9 reasons you need to read James Martin, S.J.’s Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Anything

    jesuit_guide
    When Jen and I were developing the idea for The Single Diaries, we agreed that our main focus would be on relationships: romantic, platonic, familial, but most importantly the one with self. One major life influence for each of us is spirituality, and it may be for many of you as well. Regardless of your self-described religion or spirituality, I highly recommend The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything as a way to incorporate that part of your identity into real life. This book is applicable to anyone looking to deepen their spirituality, regardless of their main belief system. As Martin S.J. states, “Just as there are insights from Zen Buddhism that are useful to me as a Christian, so there are practices and techniques from Ignatian spirituality that can help the Zen Buddhist. And the person who is Jewish or Muslim, too. Anyone can use these practices to better his or her life” (393). 

    In Twenty-Seven | What I’ve Learned This Far, I cited this particular book as a wonderful starting point for anyone looking to reflect and deepen their knowledge of themselves on this level. I tend to read books with a pencil in hand, but this one is impossible to get through without one. It took me a really long time to get through it, not because it was uninteresting… on the contrary, while the material James Martin S.J. covers is dense and requires a lot of reflection and processing, he writes in true Jesuit fashion making the teachings of St. Ignatius accessible for all with more than a few moments of real laugh-out-loud humor. Whether your goal is to get to deepen your sense of self, learn more about St. Ignatius and his friends, or get a better understanding of Jesuit teachings, here are 9 points that Martin, S.J. makes… and my arguments for why you should pick up a copy and start the trek through this book today, if not sooner.

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  • How to Say “Hello”

    How to Say “Hello”

    Best practices for meeting Mr. Right Now  

    PHOTO: Celebration of Women.
    PHOTO: Celebration of Women.

    There I was just a-walkin’ down the street singin’ do-wah diddy… I locked eyes with a cute stranger for a full 45 seconds then continued on my merry way without looking back. A simple “hello” in that situation would’ve sufficed to save myself 24 hours of shoulda coulda woulda. I’m a firm believer in things working out as they should, so there is no real loss here… only a lesson in taking a chance when the opportunity presents itself.

    It’s tough enough to put yourself out there in a social situation. What more when you’re in a public place that isn’t natural for opening up to conversation? As with most things, practice makes perfect. Especially if you aren’t one to strike up a conversation with just anyone, start small.
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  • Career Lessons From On-Screen Leading Ladies

    Career Lessons From On-Screen Leading Ladies

    7 lessons in building a career from favorite on-screen characters

    career lessons

    We are encouraged at an early age to declare what we want to be when we grow up. Some of us followed that path through college: we picked a corresponding major and a post-graduate career goal. If you were a liberal arts major, chances are you ended up doing something you had no idea you could or wanted to do. I am a big supporter of self-discovery as long as you are progressing with direction. In an era when young people average 2 years at a company, many are unsure of what’s next. Whether or not you’re at that crossroads, these 7 on-screen characters inspire career lessons that may push you to take your next step.

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