10 Ways to Become a Stronger Woman

Maria's Tips 6-10

6. Serve your community at least once a year. Build a playground, tutor a child, or deliver food to a home-bound senior citizen. I know that helping others makes me feel better about myself and my purpose in life. Not sure where to begin? Check out volunteermatch.org. (If you're in California, visit CaliforniaVolunteers.org.)

7. Read The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment, by Eckhart Tolle. It's a beautiful book that encourages us all to live in the present as a way to be happy.

8. Keep a record of tips and inspirational quotations that you can refer to each day. One of my favorite quotes, which I have on a T-shirt: "Well-behaved women rarely make history." For advice from remarkable women, visit californiawomen.org.

9. Stay curious. Be open-minded. Ask a lot of questions and get a lot of answers. That's information -- and wisdom.

10. Pledge to "show up" in your life as yourself, not as an imitation of anyone else.

Originally published in FITNESS magazine, November 2007.