“You are braver than you think, more talented than you realize.”
R. Bennett
I watched a documentary on the pyramids recently and learned something that made me hopeful while confirming what I have already felt intuitively. Despite appearances, we are moving out of a dark age, a 2600-year cycle that can be found multiple times in the etchings and ruins of past civilizations. A dark age is characterized by strife, plunder, disease and war; it is one in which male domination rules while women are feared, subjugated and degraded. The good news is that this era is passing away at this time and we are entering another golden age; one in which women rise and a state of equality between men and women occurs. In fact, in the etchings and statues of these periods, women are depicted to be of slightly greater value than men, standing just a little taller in all representations found. Peace and prosperity abided during the golden ages.
We have been experiencing the effects of a dark age for centuries and a shift is not only occurring but gaining momentum. We are waking up to a period of enlightenment in which the importance of our value and leadership as women is most evident. And we must rouse ourselves to see our worth quickly in order to draw upon our strength and courage to usher in all new possibilities, not only for ourselves but for the restoration of men. And these ARE only possibilities right now; potentialities that require our consent, intention and determination. We are called to be courageous, decisive, discerning and compassionate in use of our power and gifts, including our intuition, rising in leadership on every front, in every way, to bring about a much-needed balance in our world at this time. We must first see our role in this shift.
For example, one of my daughters was working for a national company hiring a position in many of their locations. She called to tell me that all the male applicants were seeking a much higher salary than the women. She searched for any woman applicant who valued herself as much as the men and thought she found one such woman, only to find it was a man named Kim! What I see in this story is that as women, we must realize how we habitually and often unconsciously, play a diminished role in the perpetuation of this imbalance in the world when conditions no longer support this. It’s understandable that we have been doing this and what matters is our need to wake up from what is simply an outdated habit. To rise takes awareness coupled with determination, intention, purpose, and care. I use this example so that you come to realize you have personal power, and must determine to shift how you have been participating in your life, so you bring about equality without blame or reproaches towards yourself or men in this process.
Even though I can feel this shift, I am still amazed to see how the cards are currently stacked and all the work yet to be done. This work I refer to is not necessarily the activist role many have taken on in the traditional sense in the past, even though that has and continues to serve an important role. I mean the most powerful work of all; determining how your everyday decisions and experiences reflect your vast worth. I mean to shift any resistance to receive what you most desire and deserve; the life in which you are most fully called. You ARE being called and you will be heartily supported to rise, if you listen to your profound inner wisdom, and respond to your knowing, realizing you are desperately needed now to be your best self. You are called to first be happy, loved, cherished, valued and validated so that your gifts explode forth from you with much support, laughter and magic. In order to do this, roll up your sleeves and be willing to rise and gather what you need. So how do you do this? Here are just a few thing that have helped me.
Seek Support
Do not do life alone. Seek support on every front, whether it be financially, socially, mentally, emotionally, in your work, your relationships, your health, and your family and community until you find approaches and people that cause you to be inspired and to grow. Then share what you learn and experience with others who are seeking to grow too.
Love Feels Good
Remember this simple truth: LOVE FEELS GOOD. Move towards love freely and walk away from that which is not. You deserve so much support that you can’t ask for too much of it. Intend to be supported. Pray to be supported. Seek support and don’t settle for anything less than what feeds your mind, body and soul fully. You are supposed to take up space; it’s vital that you do so and thrive.
Live into your passions and dreams
Do this no matter how small or insignificant you fear them to be, nor alternately how lofty and impractical you worry on them. Allow yourself to be convicted to know that you have a purpose and gifts needed to support the love and healing of the planet at this time. Let this give you the courage to follow urges within you that may not always be understood or supported by others. Do them anyway. Fulfilling your dreams is in itself a validation of the life you live and the divinity and worthiness within you. It inspires others to know and do the same. I have done this in my work which is exhilarating and life-giving to me and others, healing whole communities, and for which I have had to defy many conventions to live into. I would wish upon every person the joy I have experienced for saying yes to myself and to making the contributions I provide as a powerful change agent leader.
Go out of your way to embrace change and question everything
Do not suffer from change blindness; the false idea that discomfort of changing should be avoided. You do not feel fear and shame about upgrading your phone or computer despite minor inconvenience. You likely get excited about what’s next, realizing change in these areas is just a sign of the speed of advancements now possible. Do this same with long-standing traditional thinking and behaving as a society about our community living practices, so that you can see options for equity, empowerment and connection that you never dreamed were possible nor could have imagined on your own without opening to embrace what’s here to learn with hope and courage.
Divine third options are waiting for you to discover and enjoy. I remember I was demonstrating an exercise I’d done over seventy times to show how often we go on auto-pilot missing options right in front of us, and this particular time the main volunteer did something so different that it surprised me, when I’d believed I’d seen it all. Because I’m committed to being curious and compassionate with myself, I was delighted to learn that there are always more opportunities than I ever dreamed possible and they want me to find them.
Live determined to make a positive difference in the world
This, is where your greatest happiness lies. I believe women are most qualified to recognize and encourage this in the entire population. You, like anyone, can get derailed into short-term gratuitousness of personal pleasure at the cost of greater and lasting fulfillment that comes when everyone wins, but in your heart-of-heart, you know that relationships are paramount. You believe in and represent win/win, inclusion, and peace. You bring the gifts of nurturing collaboration and community (over self-interest but not self-care) and when you do, everyone is helped to build what makes the world work wonderfully!
This article is published nationally in the column Emotional Intelligence in the Women’s Journal, March/April 2019
