Tak~ing action
IF YOU GO
What: Gabrielle Bernstein
When: Today, 7 p.m.
Where: Goldstein Alumni & Faculty Center
How much: Free
Billed as a role model in the same league as ‘Sex in the City’s’ Carrie Bradshaw, Gabrielle Bernstein, a Syracuse University alumna from the Class of 2001, author, life coach and motivational speaker, will be speaking not on cosmopolitans, but the pursuit of happiness and self-satisfaction.
Bernstein has been featured in The New York Times’ Sunday Styles section, Marie Claire, The Wall Street Journal and Sirius Satellite Radio. She will be lecturing on inner guidance, letting go of stress when finding a soul mate and finding a job in a bad economy, Bernstein said. Her presentation will take place at 7 p.m. today in the Goldstein Alumni & Faculty Center.
She is speaking to promote her new book, ‘Add More ~ing to Your Life: A Hip Guide to Happiness,’ a self-help book in the same vein as ‘The Secret’ and ‘Eat, Pray, Love.’ The book’s premise is that true happiness does not come from looking outward. Instead, Bernstein’s book is about building up the happiness of what’s on the inside of a person.
‘~Ing stands for inner guidance, and the book is all about bulldozing negative thought patterns and creating positive changes in your life — and that can be in any area of your life,’ Bernstein said, echoing words directly from her book.
Bernstein used to work in public relations but realized her lifestyle of slurping mixed drinks and buying high-heeled shoes as an adult in New York City was not going to work out.
‘When I was 25, I was really hitting a bottom from looking for my happiness on the outside, and I was looking for it in the next club, in the next boyfriend, or the next shoes or whatever it was, and I learned that that wasn’t going to work for me,’ she said.
Bernstein has abstained from alcohol ever since that time, she said. She began meditation, took yoga more seriously and made the decision to give up red meat. Credit goes toward the core beliefs instilled in her by her parents, she said. Bernstein also said it was this experience that caused her to decide to become a motivational speaker and to write her book.
‘I spent all of last summer writing the book, and it just flooded out of me because there was so much content that needed to be shared,’ she said.
Bernstein will be returning to her alma mater, as a graduate from Syracuse University with a degree in drama. ‘One of my best experiences was acting in the play ‘Fool for Love,” she said. ‘That’s a real easy transition from having been a theater major to being a motivational speaker.’
After graduation, Bernstein went back to New York City and started to work in the public relations industry. A year after college, she co-founded a nonprofit organization connecting female business professionals, called Women’s Entrepreneurial Network, and started SparkPlug Communications, a public relations company.
‘She has been successful since she’s left here, (and) that’s what we want to show students,’ said Michael Cahill, the director of the Center for Career Services. ‘The basic message of sort of taking control is what we’d like to tell students to do.’
‘Some of my friends who are PR majors have talked about going,’ said Emily Hicks, a senior advertising major. Hicks heard about Bernstein’s visit because the author will also be doing a lecture at Delta Delta Delta sorority, she said.
Kate Brunkhorst, a junior public relations major, said she was interested in going to the lecture after she heard about the event. ‘Her concept of this ~ing reminds me of the law of attraction,’ she said. ‘I want to hear what she has to say in regard to women and forward thinking.’
Bernstein said most people come to her speeches because she seems genuine. She also said that with the ~ing, it’s fun to see that successes happen on the inside.
‘It’s less about outward success than inward,’ she said. ‘When your ~ing is on, you are leading your life from a very positive perspective.’
Published on April 6, 2010 at 12:00 pm
