Last week’s Part I interview with Jennifer Abbott was a hoot - it elicited tremendous amount of response from the Adversity University community!   It generated a record amount of interest in finding out more who she is.

So it is with absolute delight that we welcome her back for Part II of the Stephen Hopson Interviews.

JENNIFER, come out from the back and join us in the studios!

11.  What would you say was the defining moment (personal “tipping point” per sey) that forever changed the course of your life?  For example, was it someone who made an impact on you or was it a spiritual revelation?

College was a very defining moment for me.  I grew SOOO much there.

But probably even greater was learning from my friend, Ron Wilkins, who died earlier this year.  Ron started SFT Awareness back in 1995.  Once I first heard about the program last year I knew it was something I wanted to be involved in.  And sure enough, when I started going through SFT it changed my life so much and I saw the huge potential in it.  It was solidified in my mind that it was what I wanted to dedicate my life to.  Ron taught me how to process and remove emotional pain and how to change my thinking.  He was one amazing man!  I recently wrote a post about him as part of a group writing project if anyone wants to learn more.

Stephen’s Response:  I’ve heard of SFT Awareness and other programs that are designed to remove emotional pain.  I’ve learned that our emotional pain is largely a result of tape recorders playing deep within the recesses of our minds.  Some of them are so deeply buried that we are sometimes not aware of them or if we are, we have a hard time removing those recordings.  So we end up asking God to help us remove those damaging tapes.

12.  At Adversity University, I often talk about the value of changing our perceptions in order to deal with adversity.  How have you dealt with adversity in your life?  Give us specific examples of adversity and what you did to overcome them.

That’s exactly what SFT Awareness does - teaches a person exactly how to change their perception of something using the right attitudes and skills.

Here are some things I have discovered for myself that help me to have the right attitudes and skills:

One of the best ways I deal with adversity is by using the advice that one of my best friends in the world gave me (from question # 7) - “Life is not about you.  It’s about God.”  She told me that at a time when I was REALLY down on myself.  Honestly, I didn’t really get it at the time.  I thought, “Why did she just say that.  It doesn’t apply here.”  I think I was just too low at the time.  Well, guess what?  It did apply and it always does apply.  I use it all the time now.  When faced with something, I always try to ask myself, “How can I use this to glorify God?”  It gets the focus off of me and my self pity and changes everything.  I can always find some good from any situation with that question.

I also use one of my favorite verses in the Bible when dealing with adversity.  It is Romans 8:28 which says that “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”    With this I am reminded that good WILL come from whatever I am experiencing.  Sometimes I am unable to see the good at the moment, but it reminds me that God will cause the good to come, so I remain open to the blessings and what God will show me.  It automatically humbles me and helps me to have a positive attitude as I surrender everything to God.

I also use this quote by W.Clement Stone Sr.:”For every adversity there is a seed of equal or greater benefit”   There is always good that can come from anything, but the great part about it is even more good than bad can come from anything if we are open, allow it and look for it.

Also, focusing on my blessings instead of my lack is HUGE!  In fact it prevents many adversities from even being adversities.  I know you know all about that Stephen. J

Most recently, I have dealt with some loneliness in my life since we moved to the area where we now live.  Before moving here we were surrounded by a large group of friends.  Since we moved here I have been surrounded by people, but have had difficulty making any real connections with most of them (except for one great friend I don’t get to see that much).  It has been hard to be in a crowd and be lonely.  I finally told myself, that God has put me in this situation for a reason - for me to learn and grow.  I decided to take the focus off of my lack of and to become best friends with myself - to grow in self love as well as my love for God.  I decided to really grow to love and nurture myself so that when I do come across people that I can connect with that I will be even more beautiful and can offer them even more.  It’s just an opportunity to become better for myself. - and a great opportunity it is!

Life is ALL about perception.  That was a very hard lesson for me to learn in life.

Stephen’s Response:  I need not say anything more to this because you’ve described EXACTLY what I have always believed in and that is, “life is a matter of perception.”  I truly believe that how you live your life is largely colored by how you perceive what’s going on around you.  What’s more, the more you believe in something, the more you will experience it.  For instance, if you think people are generally evil and the kind who will take advantage of you, well, then you will experience that!  If you believe the world is mostly made up of good, honorable people, then that’s what you’ll have in your life.  It’s an energy thing - like attracts like.

13.  What is your favorite word?  Least favorite?

Favourite:  Plethora (I have always loved the way it sounds.  It doesn’t really have much to do with its meaning, although I do get excited when I get to use that word.)  Peace would be my favorite word in regards to meaning.

Least favorite:  Hate

Stephen’s Response:  I also love that word too!  Haha, in fact, I’ve been experimenting with the use of that word more and more lately.  It sounds so…..sophisticated.  LOL.

Amen to the word “hate.”  It’s the most vile word in the English language and is the cause of much grief to the world today.  Unfortunately that word has been inspired by those who belong to different religious factions and believe that their way is the only way and everyone else is wrong.  This breeds hatred.  Thank God you are on a mission to bring peace, love and acceptance.  We must have this!

14.  What was the most embarrassing moment of your life that you now look back at and laugh, cry or smile?  What was the lesson(s) you learned?

The one that comes to mind was when I was probably about 10-12 years old and I was playing softball.  I had on white shorts and was warming up before the game and went to get a ball that a little kid had thrown.  I fell in a big mud puddle with black mud.  It was all over me and my white shorts.  I was really self conscious at that stage in my life, so I was pretty embarrassed.  It’s definitely worth a laugh now.  The lesson I learned was that embarrassing things happen to everyone and if that’s the most embarrassing thing that happened to me then I am pretty fortunate.  In perspective, it’s not even important and I don’t even care now if any of those people laughed.

Stephen’s Response:  Oh, how I love that story!  I felt as if I were watching that short clip of your life’s movie!  How cute.  Funny how we change our perception about things that happened to us in retrospect, hmmmm?

15.  What 3 books, blogs and/or mentors have influenced you and why?  (ONLY THREE IN TOTAL)

Now Stephen, you can’t do this to me.   There’s way more than three.  I could write all day just about this question.

Since I have already talked about my friend and teacher Ron Wilkins, I’ll cheat and do 3 more.

The Bible - It has all the wisdom that was, is and ever will be needed.  Jesus is the answer to all of life’s problems.  The more I learn about life the more this becomes alive and so evident to me.  Sometimes it just takes other books for me to see that hey Jesus said that originally.  He knew exactly what he was talking about.

Evidence Not Seen by Darlene Deibler Rose - It tells about the faith of a missionary woman in a prison camp in WWII.  Her faith in God was so astounding and so inspirational that I can’t describe it.   I read it probably 10-12 years ago.  It was so influential to me that I have pulled it off the shelf and am reading it again.  Amazing, horrific and wonderful!

The Fifth Discipline by Peter Senge -  I’ll be honest, I still haven’t read it, but my husband talked to me about it so much as he was reading it that I feel confident that I know the material.  It teaches you how to get to the root of all problems and not to just treat the symptoms.  We use its teaching all the time for just about everything.

Those last two I just had to pick.  There’s so many that have influenced me!!!

Stephen’s Response: Congratulations, you passed the test of discipline!  That’s why I ask people to pick the top 3 and not 20 because then people would take up too much space and ramble on and on and on.  Thanks for sharing your books and now we look at your favorite articles…….

16.  Name the top 5 articles from ”Principles for Peace” that you believe readers at Adversity University would benefit from.

Now wasn’t this hard to narrow it down to five!  There came the point where I just had to pick some. J

• Change Your Life One Thought at a Time - Part II
• How to Stop Negative Thinking in its Tracks
• 4 Invaluable Aspects of Positive Thinking (This is a guest post I wrote for the Positive Thinking Day site, but I really wanted to include it here.)
• How to Turn a Deaf Ear - I thought you would appreciate this one Stephen.
• Do You Want More out of Life?

Stephen’s Response:  How interesting “How to Turn a Deaf Ear” - I most certainly appreciated THAT!  LOL.

17.  What do you hope God will have to say to you when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?

“Well done, good and faithful servant.  Enter into the joy of your Master.”  (this comes from Matthew chapter 5 in the Bible)

Stephen’s Response:  There you go - I’d say the same too if I were at the Pearly Gates myself!

18.  Being deaf, I am always curious to know which sounds other people love and hate to hear.  Tell us a sound you absolutely adore and a sound you detest.

• Adore - nature - the birds singing, the crickets chirping, the creek flowing
• Detest - undisciplined children - or the parents who have no control yelling at them.

Stephen’s Response:  This is one of my favorites - I get to see what turns on/off people with respect to sound.  The variety of answers I’ve gotten have been rather varied and quite interesting.    I’ve never heard anyone say they didn’t like the sound of “undisciplined children or parents.”  Very unique.  I’d say the same for myself - I do not care for parents who are out of control in disciplining their kids.  Or those who don’t discipline them at all!

19.  We all have our likes and dislikes.  What would you say turns you on and what turns you off?  Give the first answer that comes to your mind without censoring or editing it.

• On - seeing other people’s immense faith in God.
• Off - People, who are presented with the answers, but prefer to hold onto the things that make them miserable.  (I’ve been guilty of it too.  And a lot of it I realize has to do with timing.  I’m learning to be more patient.)

Stephen’s Response:  I love seeing other people’s immense faith in God too.  Most definitely!  In fact, it is always awe inspiring to hear their stories, especially if it involves God in some way, form or shape.  It makes my heart sing.  What’s interesting about the things that turn us off are the very character traits we need to look in ourselves, as you admit.  If someone is bothering us because of their behavior(s), it’s a signal to look within ourselves and ask if we are exhibiting those very same traits!

20.  What’s the biggest, boldest dream you have for yourself Jennifer?   In other words, using inspiration from the movie “The Bucket List” (Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freedman, 2007), what’s on your bucket list?

I guess I’m supposed to have seen that movie.   It’s on the top of my list.

My biggest boldest dream is to see SFT Awareness set up in all 50 states and in at least 7 different countries in my life time and for me to be a part of it.  It’s already in the process of happening!  My plan is to live off of my husband’s income (I’ll share some with him too and use all my income to support SFT Awareness and other causes that I’m passionate about - to give like crazy for the greater good!

I also want to publish a book.  And  I kind of have this crazy dream to do some public speaking, despite my huge fear of the very thing.  That’s something I have to figure out if I really WANT to do or if I’m better off spending my time and talents doing something else.

Stephen’s Response:  Well, you’ll definitely enjoy that movie.  It’s quite inspirational and the actors are fabulous.  A great movie reminding all of us to write up our own version of the “Bucket List.”

Raising awareness of SFT is a wonderful endeavor - may I wish you the very best in spreading it far and wide! Giving like crazy for the greater good will have huge ramifications for those of us who genuinely put it to action.  The universe recognizes such actions and rewards the giver in incredible ways.  You wait and see!

Good for you that you want to do some public speaking.  You can ask me questions or get some advice from me anytime.  Don’t worry - most people are afraid of public speaking - it ranks ahead of death, would you believe it?  I’d be happy to help guide you - just ask.

21.  And finally but not least, where can we find out more about you?

Principles for Peace is the best place to learn more about me.

(Turning to the audience): Well, did you enjoy this one too?  Let’s give her a hand here - she’s one extraordinary person with a God-given mission to make a difference.  Don’t forget to check out her blog, Principles for Peace and the coffee shop where she sells wonderful coffee!

(Turning to Jennifer):  THANK YOU for coming to the university and sharing a piece of yourself with us.  We so very much appreciate it.

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