How to fight back and reclaim your life

 I'm too small to make a difference. This is a belief people use not to get involved and make a difference. It is only a perspective. People are as great or small as they believe they are. It sounds simply yet it is the difference between successful people and those who fail to try to achieve.

This self-defeating belief is frequently reinforced by others. They use it to control individuals and groups into supporting their agenda. Usually the pattern begins in childhood with parents using manipulation and in some cases physical force to impose their will. Whether consciously or sub-consciously, they teach the message that it is permissible for others to control you if they are bigger and stronger. They effectively steal you power and ability to fight for your self esteem. This message continues into adulthood with the friends and partners we choose. How we feel about ourselves is reflected back to us with the people we invite into our lives, because they reinforce both our positive and negative self speak.

Media campaigns have been designed to make people insecure in order to create a demand for a product. Shaming and blaming creates the insecurity they need to influence the consumers' spending habits. The weight loss industry is a prime example. Those companies promote the message that over weight people are lesser than thin people. They can't be loved, happy, or successful. But if you buy their product you will loose weight and suddenly you will have and be all those wonderful things. This is the common marketing theme. Want to be cool?--Buy our car. Wear our clothes. Eat at our restaurant. Use the latest tech toy. Yet no matter how much you buy, it will never be enough, because they are always upgrading and creating new products, which makes what you own obsolete and no longer cool. Only by buying the latest product will you be able to reclaim your cool you. It is a vicious, never ending cycle for as long as you believe their messages and buy into their agendas.

Power seeking people achieve their goals by creating an us verses them mentality. It gives one group permission to blame another person or group for their lot in life, which helps them avoid taking responsibility for their words and deeds. But it is a double edge sword. Pointing fingers at others deflects responsibility, but it also gives away personal power. If the other person or group is accountable for what you say and do that means they have more control over your life than you do. This blame game also effectively isolate individuals and groups Those, who feel alone and powerless, can be easily manipulate and controlled through their need to sit at the cool kids table. When that status is threatened, they will do or say whatever is necessary to protect that bond.

You are too small to make a difference if you allow yourself to believe it. If you think size really matters you've never been alone in a closed room with a fly or a mosquito. Everyone has the power to change their destiny if they choose to believe in themselves. Whether it be directly or indirectly, an individual, standing in her or his own power, also uplifts and empowers all the lives she or he touches. We are the difference. We have the power to create change or stagnation. We only have to believe that we can in order to do.

Horses and Heroes is a Reality TV series, which combines the highly effective Peer Support Therapy with Equine Therapy. Unlike most in the genre, it will focus on healing and positive growth rather than endorsing bad behavior. Each season will bring together the veterans from WWII to the current conflicts. They will be sharing their challenges and supporting each other as they find new solutions. They know the talk, because they have walked the walk. They see the dodges and will be able to call each other on them. Sparks may fly. Tempers may flare, especially when they force each other to face the ghosts. But will also be laughter and fun as they rebuild the comradery. The snarkiness and practical jokes between the branches don't simply end. There is always room for just one more. When it airs, it will reach into the homes of the veterans, who need to hear that they are not alone and give them the information as well as the permission to also heal. They will help each other find their way back to the world. Veterans can’t go back and make a brand new start; but they can start from now and make a brand new end.

Horses and Heroes: Changing Reality TV from Theresa Chaze on Vimeo.

You don't have to be wealthy or powerful to make a difference for Horses and Heroes. You just have to want to help veterans heal and reclaim their lives. There are many very important ways you can make a difference.

Endorsing Horses and Heroes and sharing our message with your friends, family, and on your social networking sites will carry our message to those who do have the financial means to invest as well as corporations that would benefit from cross-branding with the series. . We are offering a cost effective and socially relevant venue though which they will be able to reach the 18-49 year old demographic.

Give a gift equivalent to that of the price of a cup of coffee or a drink on the website and challenge your friends to do the same.

The proceeds from the ebook, God saw a Butterfly will be used to produce the series. It is available as an Amazon Kindle as well as on the website. Buying the PDF from the website is more beneficial to Horses and Heroes since all of the funds, less the Paypal fees. will be available be used to finance the series.

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You have the power to make a difference for veterans. Will you choose to be their hero?

A Message to Military and Veterans Organizations

A Message to Veterans Organizations


Over the past few months, I have contacted many veterans organization to gain their support for my new military series, Operation Home Base. Although they liked the premise and the entertainment value of OHB, most felt that the conspiracy would reflect badly on their organization and the military in general. I am writing this open letter to them clarify my intentions and goals.

Operation Home Base is not a documentary or a reality show. A documentary couldn’t possibly tell the heart stories of those who serve. They are great at giving facts and information, but it takes time for the viewer to see beyond the surface and to care about the characters. When Henry Blake died on MASH, everyone mourned his loss much more than the soldiers that came through the 4077 as patients. It was not that the viewers didn’t care about the soldiers, they just got to know and love Henry. The members of Operation Home Base--Deek, Martin, Walter, Randi, Elaine and the rest will be the continuity that the audience will be able to relate to as family members, friends or the person they see in the mirror; because of that simple fact, they will care about what happens to them just a little more. And like with Henry, when one of them is injured, it will affect them on a deeper level. Although OHB will be dealing with real issues and situations, it is not a Reality Show. Reality shows have very little to do with reality; I see them as exploitive of people and situations. OHB is a scripted show that is first and foremost about people and the human condition. I know where the show is going and how I’m going to get it there.

Although the conspiracy and the characters of OHB organization are fictional, the stories they will be dealing with are based on real life situations. Unless a vet or active duty military personnel does something really naughty, their stories don’t make the front page. Although I will also be using some of those, most vets and military stories don’t make the news at all and if they do, it’s somewhere on the back pages. In real life, a Marine’s therapy dog was killed, family members did get their letters back marked “Returned to sender. Deceased, family homes are being illegally foreclosed; it has all happened and so much more. OHB will call attention to these kinds of stories.

I will also be using history. WWII, Korea, and Vietnam--they all have stories that need to be told. Some of them won’t be so nice to hear. But the healing has to start somewhere. So many vets came back and just buried what happened. But no matter how deeply they dug or how much denial they dumped on top of it, those experiences don’t just disappear or heal themselves. I would like to help the healing process by lancing those boils. In order for there to be healing, there has to be forgiveness not only of others, but the vets need to forgive themselves. War brings out the ugliness in life and in people. When you live on the edge, sometimes pieces of the soul get cut off. It is time for those pieces to come back so that they can become whole again.

The conspiracy is the hook to get people to come back week to week. I’m very old school. Not only will the characters have personalities, but the actors who portray them will have the maturity to understand the times, the people and why the healing process sometimes takes time. Until you have lived a little life, there is no way you can bring that kind of wisdom to the table. But OHB is swimming in the deep end of the pool. The characters have issues. They are damaged on many levels, but in spite of all their pain, they still are willing to help others heal even if they can’t help themselves. No matter how talented the actor, a twenty-something doesn’t have the chops or experience to be credible. So many of the new shows are what I call chip beef--chippies in bikinis and beef cake; they look good but the characters aren’t written with depth and the stories are only excuses to show off bare skin.

I’m also a big fan of cliffhangers. Every episode and each season will end with one. The end of the first season will make who shot JR seem tame with more than one question left hanging. It is combination of caring about the characters and this tension that will not only keep the viewers coming back, but it will make it a must see hit.

Several of the representatives that I talked to were afraid that the show would spill over on to their organization. I hope it will. The more people understand the need, the more likely they are to help the organizations who step up to the plate. The episode about the therapy dog’s death will lead to a fundraiser on the show that could be carried over into real life. It will also raise awareness of how therapy dogs help those with PTSD, which in turn will help those who need dogs get them and homeless dogs find homes. It is a win-win situation. Another storyline will talk about how military families can’t make financial ends meet; it is a situation that civilian families are also unfortunately challenged with. OHB will inspire both to think outside the box to find solutions. But more importantly, OHB shows the brother and sisterhood of the those who serve. When push come to shove, all branches of service and their family members circle the wagons to protect their own during times of hardship and loss. I want to show that.

Operation Home Base will not only be great entertainment, but it will also share the stories and challenges of what it means to live and love military.

The proposal and the demographics can be read on my site at www.theresachaze.com. However to read the pilot and the first season Bible, you will need to email me from my site.