Who's Your Monkey?

Last fall I attended a Women of Faith Conference with 24 other women.  We had a blast!  The music was fantastic, the company was superb and the speakers incredible!  What more could you ask for than a weekend with great friends and 8,000 other women all in love with Christ.  :)

One of the speakers was Dr. Henry Cloud---the only male speaker.  I have heard Dr. Cloud speak before and was really looking forward to it.  This year, I have to say, was his best yet.  Dr. Cloud loves to use analogies and this was a great one.

The talk was on how we are not meant to be alone and that God meant for us to be there for each other.  Dr. Cloud talked about a stress hormone test that was conducted on monkeys.  One monkey was placed alone in a cage and subjected to all sorts of loud noises, flashing lights and pretty much terrorized.  The monkey's stress hormone levels went off the charts.  Then the scientists brought in another monkey that the first one was familiar with, lights and sounds still blasting.  They put it in another cage right next to his so they could touch each other.  Immediately, the stress hormone level of the first monkey decreased by 50%!  Wow!

So true with we humans too.  How many "monkeys" do you have in your life?  I'm so blessed to have many in mine.  Women I see every day, some once in a while, some I've never met, like the friends I've made through Etsy.com.

Shortly after the conference, I was in my favorite craft store and saw these adorable buttons of---MONKEYS!  I just had to have them.  Soon I found myself at my work table with these adorable little monkey faces in one hand and my copper wire in the other.  About a half hour later, I had my first prototytpe "monkey" pin in my hand.

I immediately made some for my close friends from the conference for Christmas.

These are the "friends" that followed.  They have been so much fun to make, and now they are available for sale in my shop.  Check them out for yourselves at www.etsy.com/shop/awiredwoman

Do you have a "monkey" in your life?  Show her how much she means to you with one of these little pins and share Dr. Cloud's story with her.