Inspirations and Reflections: Learning From Each Other

I recently went to visit my hairdresser. No big deal I hear you say and normally I would agree. I have quite short hair and was just going for a regular haircut – or so I thought!

My hairdresser took a lot of time checking out how the last cut had turned out; what had worked and what hadn’t. She made the comment that it was very important to her that she understood the hair that she was cutting. She said that she had to take her time to learn to ‘speak’ to my hair so that she understood the best way to cut it so as to create the style we had agreed upon.

I suggested that there was another way to look at it; that if she was prepared to let my hair guide her hands so that she knew what, where and how much to cut, she would have all the support she needed and the end result would be amazing.

Expression: The Choice to be My Natural Self

‘How are you?’…

It’s a question we ask each other every day… and a question that was posed by Sara Williams during one of the recent Esoteric Women’s Groups in London.

We were invited to ponder on how we usually answer that question, what we choose to say and how much of ourselves we choose to share. Working in pairs with people we didn’t know, we were given three opportunities to answer the same question…

Comparison between Mothers and Daughters

As the story below shows, when comparison plays out between mothers and daughters, it creates a legacy that keeps women small, stunted and locked in worthlessness for generations.

Recently, a friend shared how her daughter-in-law to be was a beautiful young woman inside and out, but her mother was a little wacky. The three women went together to the bridal dress fitting and when the young bride-to-be drew the curtain back, it was breathtaking to behold her beauty – the glow and delicateness of her; she was gorgeous. My friend noticed how the young woman’s eyes went straight to her mother. When her mother remained silent, the young woman asked “Well, what do you think?” and the mother answered, “If you like it then that’s all that matters”. Born of comparison and jealousy, this comment was designed to crush.

Have we not all done some version of this to another woman, and been on the receiving end of it ourselves?

Communicating with Men in my Amazingness

I have observed myself and my amazingness for a while now and have discovered that I have a tendency to relate to men and women in a different way. I did not feel safe opening up and communicating with men in relationships in the same way I did with women, because there was always a lurking fear that I would be misread. When I wanted to open myself up, I have been scared that men would want more than simply platonic relations. So I never really opened myself fully in my communication with men, and as a result, men could never be fully open to me.

In the past, when I have been relating to men, because of my non-acceptance of myself as I am, I have attached a lot of need towards words given as compliments, such as “you are beautiful”.

Learning to Express: Letting the Truth Out

by Bryony, London, UK

At first I felt reckless; had I really just outed myself as a former tenderness denier?

I felt nervous about telling someone close to me about writing on this blog because I was afraid of how they’d react, and of being criticised.

But – what if I chose to stay with me while telling them about something close to my heart, focussed on my reaction and how I am, instead of getting caught up in the tangled mess of their and then our emotional reactions? I decided to test it out.

How To Communicate? Bringing Me Fully Into My Expression

by JK, UK

I recently had an amazing opportunity to ask myself “Who am I?”

I realised that the Me that I share with others is often far from the me I have come to know myself to be.

Let me explain.

Not Speaking Up – Silence: Is That a Form of Self-Abuse?

by Anonymous

Sometimes we speak but we are not heard.

Sometimes we are made to feel like what we are expressing is not of importance.

When this occurs it leaves us feeling like we should have not said anything at all and should have remained in silence.  I feel that as women we have all done this to some level and it is the silence of not speaking our truth that really hurts us deep inside.

This silencing of ourselves is a form of abuse.  It hurts us and it also hurts those around us.

Rising out of my Refuge in Writing – Reclaiming my Expression

by Fumiyo Egashira, Japan

Everyday, I spend a fair amount of time on the Internet. I read various blogs and check out Facebook posts, but I hardly ever contribute my own input except for liking/sharing some posts every now and then. I remain pretty much invisible.

I have been OK with this position of mine… until I saw a post about a month ago which challenged me to feel into myself when I click on those ‘Like’ or ‘Share’ buttons: what is it about these particular posts/articles that I feel inclined to share with other people? What am I communicating? What am I actually feeling about them?

Women Working Together in True Harmony

by Sharon Gavioli, Registered Nurse, Birth Educator, Counsellor, Brisbane, Queensland

I attended an event for the celebration of the International Women’s Day held by Real Media Real Change (RMRC) in Brisbane, “Nurturing the Woman Within: Reclaiming Your Natural Rhythm Within our Modern Times”. It was one of a series of events presented around exploring how expectations and pressures women face today can impact our general wellbeing and how we can reconnect to our natural rhythms and to reconsider self-nurturing.

I attended due to my involvement in the Brisbane Esoteric Developer’s Groups offered by Universal Medicine, that has been running a women’s group over the last 2 plus years.  During that time, I have consistently attended this group and have come to understand that the way we are currently living as women doesn’t truly support our natural way of being, and that nurturing ourselves is essential for us feel the loveliness of the women we are.

Relationships – Inspiring Love in Another

by Danielle Pirera, Australia

I recently read a blog written by Raymond Karam about “The True Beauty of Women”.

This was a very inspiring blog in which I felt the depth of what this man was saying and what he was claiming for himself and also for all women. I felt how Raymond was very willing to deeply connect with, appreciate and celebrate the sacredness and power of a woman when she is really herself. Not only this, but he was sharing that every woman has this quality or way inside her equally, and that it is very natural.

I began to consider the possibility that maybe many men around me (such as Raymond) are starting to accept and reflect the truly lovely, tender and powerful men that they are, which is inviting women to feel that they are this same powerful person naturally on the inside, ready to be it at any time.

Pondering on this further, I recognised that when in a relationship, people will often ask their partner to be more loving. For example, a wife may want her husband to be more caring, loving and considerate, or the husband may ask his wife to be more understanding and less demanding or needy. I am now seeing that there are two ways to ask such things:-