Yep, that’s right. We are overfed, yet terribly undernourished.
Overfed on the bull s!&t that we are supposed to be something we are not. Told we are less than, not good enough, inadequate, or even worse…wrong because we are women. Gasp! I am cringing just writing this.
We are run down. Depleted. Lights diminished. Exhausted. Withering away.
We are ravenous, famished and hungry for:
- Deep connection with our soul
- To be seen and heard without judgement
- Encouraged to be who we truly are and never, ever told who we should be
- Communion with our bodies, our sacred temples
We need to nourish ourselves with –
- Pleasure aka Turn On (I am not talking about sex, although it can be)
- Creativity and Expression
- Community of sisterhood
- Love and appreciation of our bodies (so we can trust our bodies inner knowing)
- Completeness and Fulfullment
In other words, we need to turn on and tune into our Feminine Genius (*see resource below).
In a recent blog post, Regena Thomashauer, aka “Mama Gena” and the founder of The School of Womanly Arts answered the following questions –
“Most women don’t get that completeness is waaaaay different for the feminine than it is for the masculine.
So, it begs the question.
What does a woman need?
What does she want?
What feeds her exuberance?
Freedom. Creativity. Heart.
A sense of aliveness. Connection. Community.
She needs to be able to pour her life-giving essence into whatever she is doing.
She needs to feel seen, valued, witnessed.
Her life force, her erotic power, her inner fire – must be expressed, or she will ever-so-slowly wither and die.”
Our simple, yet most profound basic need is love and belonging. Most of us are taught to look for validation of our worthiness from the outside world, a result of the toxic conditioning of a patriarchal culture. We need to remember that it all starts within us. We need to shift our focus from chasing impossible standards to rediscovering how to give ourselves the love and acceptance that we crave. When we do this, our whole world will open up and our radiance will shine.
Contrary to everything we may have been taught, self-love and self-acceptance is not self-indulgent, it is simply self-preservation. It’s our birthright and the birthright of every human being on the planet. Think about it, if I never learn how to truly love myself, how could I ever deeply love those around me. Take a step back and listen to the negative self-chatter going on in your head. Right now?! You would never, ever talk to a child that way. Yet we berate ourselves with a steady stream of criticism and judgement. And we convince ourselves we are unworthy of fulfilling our deep desires and passions. When you consciously shower yourself with self-love, your life forces begins to overflow with joy, strength, and brilliance. You can now give from a place of fullness, rather than from a place of depletion, lifelessness, or obligation.
Another reason why self-love is so important (yes, there are many) is because when we love ourselves and allow our true authentic selves to emerge, we can express our unique talents and share our gifts with the world.
So I ask you:
What is your soul calling you to do?
What would make you feel alive?
How can you express yourself?
What will nourish you?
What would your life look like if you stepped into your brightest, truest, most powerful self?
What is something you can do right now –big or small- that will put you on that path?
*Want to learn more about your Feminine Genius? Check out Liyana Silver’s new book, Feminine Genius – The Provocative Path to Waking Up and Turning On the Wisdom of Being a Woman. You will not want to put it down.
