Grown Up and Proud
Goddess worship comes to The Beach FM.
by Brett Wilbur
September 22, 2005

Karen Hudson and Lily Hills seemed destined for friendship. Hudson says it was Hills who first approached her and broke the ice on their first day at St. Francis High School in Mountain View.

“She was doing a Cheri Oteri-type cheerleader routine,” Hudson says. “She made me laugh until I cried.”

The two have maintained their friendship into their adult lives, although they have mostly lived in different cities, and have pursued different careers and different life paths.

Hudson is married with two young children and Hills is single. “She’s hasn’t met her soul mate yet,” Hudson says. “And she’s the happiest single person I know.”

The friendship has recently come full-circle. Hudson now lives in Pacific Grove and Hills in Carmel. And the two old friends launched their own Sunday morning radio show this past May.

The idea for the show, which is called “The Goddess to Goddess Empower Hour” and is broadcast on KDCU 101.7FM, “The Beach,” came out of a vision the two shared of women coming together and helping each other.

“We both turned 40 recently, and we’ve been asking ourselves, ‘Why are our lives so joyous?’” Hills says. “As women, we spend so much time being hard on ourselves. The world needs more women coming together.”

The two are also working on a book, called Goddess to Goddess Guidebook: The Instruction Manual for a Juicy and Joyous Life. “We’re having a ball and we’re trying to bring a lot more women into the party,” Hudson says.

Their work includes advising women to stop the cycle of beating up on themselves.

“We really enjoy our [lives] because we lightened up on ourselves,” Hudson says.

“It’s so easy to get bogged down and forget pleasure. We’ve got a society that is so fast-paced. I wasn’t aware how hard on myself I was.

“I’d tell Lily, ‘I haven’t accomplished anything today.’ And she’d say, ‘You’ve already made three lunches and gotten kids to school and done laundry and dishes. It’s time to honor yourself.’ Yet unless we’re making money and wearing a size four we feel grumpy, and then we’re angry to our husbands and our kids.”

Hudson says that Hills reminds her of simple techniques to use when she feels like she’s losing it, like stopping to take three breaths before reacting to what’s bothering her. And she emphasizes the importance of women having female friends they can call for a quick self-esteem boost.

“We need to recognize how great we are and be nurturing to ourselves,” Hudson continues. “We’re coaching ourselves that way and doing that for each other. Women are starving for it.”

On the radio show, Hills and Hudson bring in guests to discuss particular topics—from getting out of debt to simplifying busy lives to body image. Hills says she is familiar with the last topic, having struggled with an eating disorder in her younger years.

“I used to have a really compulsive relationship with food,” she says. “I didn’t know how unhappy I was. It was my crucible to start connecting with my emotions.

“Every year gets better and better. I might not have the nubile body I had at 20, but I have a sense of peace and a sense of self that is entirely new.”

The sense of contentment comes through as Hudson and Hills speak. Both women have radio-smooth voices and bounce off each other’s words without pause. They also both laugh a lot.

“We’re fun junkies,” Hudson says.

Women seem to like it: Hudson and Hills say that they are deluged with e-mails from grateful women, and also their male partners, who are appreciating their girlfriends’ and wives’ happiness.

The two hope to eventually make the radio show a five-day-a-week “mental tune-up” so women can keep hearing consistent uplifting messages.

“It’s literally about creating a new [positive] talk in our heads,” Hudson says.

This weekend, Hills and Hudson lead a workshop, “Connecting with the Goddess Within,” that aims to teach a daily practice to nurture women and simplify stressful lives.

“We need more loving, powerful, intelligent feminine energy in the world,” Hills says. “It’s critical that we make an investment in ourselves. The payoff is huge.

Articles reprinted courtesy of Monterey County Weekly
© 2005 Milestone Communications Inc. All rights reserved.