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stories

You’re not the only one

Have you ever met someone and known instantly that they’re “your people”?

My friend and renowned friendship expert, Shasta Nelson would tell you that friendship is not born that way.  It’s planted, nurtured, and practiced.  And she’s absolutely right!

AND with this work I do, I’ve found that I can learn pretty quickly who my people are.

We don’t always become BFF’s, because we don’t always get a chance to “workout” in the gym of everyday life that brings us the opportunity for what Shasta explains as Frientimacy, in her Ted Talk: “Frientimacy: The 3 requirements of healthy friendships”. But through planning the HeartStories Girls Night Outs, I get the incredible privilege of experiencing that kind of “born” connection every month. As I plan the content and search out the women who will share their stories for the night, I’m looking for people who purposefully exhibit the characteristics of Shasta’s three requirements:

Positivity, Consistency, …

by Crystal Gornto Community Girl's Night Out Inspirational Women Love In Action Love in Friendship Our Story The Journey Through Life Leave a comment chat
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How will you decide?

One quick glance at this image instantly spreads a smile across my face.  It’s from our “fireside chat” time at last month’s girls night out.  Brooklyn was clearly telling one of her hilarious “Brooklyn” stories, the way only she can.  Meanwhile, Sally and I are smiling those “Oh my gosh, is she really about to say this right now?” smiles.  I love it because I couldn’t possibly tell you which story she was telling.  Brooklyn tells wild, colorful stories.  She pulls you in with details, suspense, and surprises at every turn.

What I love most is her determination to keep moving forward, despite the fear.  

The stories Sally and Brooklyn shared that night were full of moments when they could have allowed fear to hold them back.  They could have listened to their fears.  They could have allowed the fears of others to be the guardrails that “kept them safe”.  But instead, …

by Crystal Gornto Female Social Entrepreneurs Girl's Night Out Inspirational Women Love In Action Priorities The Journey Through Life Leave a comment chat
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The right place

On Thursday night, we threw a “Sponsor Love” party with the Evelyn Kershaw Salon to show our appreciation to all of our incredible HeartStories GNO Sponsors.  It was a delightful evening to mix and mingle, while getting a fabulous conditioning treatment and blow out.  (I promise to share all the pics soon!) But these two somehow made it off to the side.  They were out of the main room with all the hubbub, in a completely separate, quiet area.

For a party person like me, I kept wanting to fix it.

I wanted to drag that chair into the middle of all the others so Alison could feel all the “sponsor love”.  But, of course, things were working out for the best, way beyond my party planning understanding.  It turns out that these two needed that quiet room.  They were both at the right place, at exactly the right time.  They were exactly …

by Crystal Gornto Inspirational Women Loving Others Loving Yourself The Journey Through Life Leave a comment chat
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A lifetime of little choices

I grew up on a set of books called “ValueTales”.  They’re a collection of stories published in the 70’s retelling the stories of famous people from the perspective of a little voice inside their heads, or “invisible friend”.   Their little friends are of course, a bit corny, but the stories themselves are solid portrayals of the values built into their character by struggling through the moment by moment decisions of real life.  They break down the larger accomplishments of these iconic people, who changed the world, into themes of consistent choices that shaped the people they became and ultimately, the way they impacted the world.

Over the years, those stories randomly pop in my mind as I encounter difficult circumstances.

They filled my little girl head with hope and curiosity and perspective.  In the middle of struggles I never knew I’d face, or could even really comprehend, some of these characters and …

by Crystal Gornto Female Social Entrepreneurs Inspirational Leaders Inspirational Women Love In Action Loving Others Loving Yourself The Journey Through Life Leave a comment chat
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I am strong because

I spent a few hours with the gals at Swish Salon last night getting back to my “natural” hair color.  While Lindsey was getting me all foiled up, we were chatting with Kerry (pictured above creating a messy bun during a recent GNO) about the history of HeartStories.  Kerry owns Swish and has been a fabulous Girls Night Out sponsor for almost a year now.  But we came to realize last night, that she’s never heard the story of how it all got started.  She certainly hadn’t heard the history of all the struggles and different directions that led to creating the monthly GNO.

As I started to tell her, I felt an old familiar feeling creeping in. 

I know its name.  It’s shame.  I could feel myself recoiling inside as we talked about the first big event in 2014, all the foolish choices I made, and all the reasons it took …

by Crystal Gornto Girl's Night Out Inspirational Women Love In Action Loving Others Loving Yourself Our Story Roadblocks in Life The Journey Through Life Leave a comment chat
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Life’s too short to follow all the rules

When was the last time you held the mic for someone while they stabbed you with a Play-Doh dagger?

Been a while?

It’s incredible to me how even sitting alone in a room, a picture can take you back to a moment in time and rouse hilarious laughter.  This image does that for me.  If you weren’t with us that night, this picture makes no sense. But if you were there, it’s pretty hilarious.  We’d split up in groups and each group had to work together to tell a made up ending to a story – using only clay.

Clearly Barbara’s group went with Play-Doh violence for the win.

The bigger picture here, is that it has been a wholelotta years since most of the ladies in that room have touched clay.   For most of us, entire decades have passed since we’ve sat down at a table with friends to create a …

by Crystal Gornto Girl's Night Out Inspiration Inspirational Women Love In Action Love in Friendship Loving Others Priorities The Journey Through Life Leave a comment chat
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