How to hold space for a women’s greatness

“Be not ashamed, women—your privilege encloses the rest, and is the exit of the rest;  You are the gates of the body, and you are the gates of the soul.” Walt Whitman

The world has not always been so kind to women; especially strong women. Not so long ago, strong women who were connected to themselves, earth, and ritual were labeled as evil witches and sent to burn.  This “burn the witch”seems archaic, but the mentality remains today.

Criticism of women in the media or everyday life rarely has to do with an intellectual observation of her character, or accomplishments, but rather criticisms of the physical aspects of women.

A woman could literally just have won a gold medal in the Olympics or saved a million kids and the response is, “look at what she is wearing,” “she needs to do her hair color,” “she looks old and tired,” and finally, “look at those boobs!”  The list goes on.

This isn’t just the way that men speak, women we contribute to this dialogue as well. For example, if a women is dating your ex-boyfriend, got the job you wanted, or looking very beautiful a lot of the time we might talk shit and judge her.  We might call her a slut, ugly or a bad dresser. We say these things to women because we feel threatened and fearful that we aren’t enough without some sort of validation.

Instead of recognizing, “I feel triggered by this situation so there is something for me to learn,” we go Real Housewives and aim for the low blows. As women participating in this attitude we perpetuate the standard that a woman’s greatness is dependent on her outer beauty and if she can keep her make-up done perfectly and keep her mouth shut.

Sexuality is another area where we get judged by women and men.  If we hold back our sexuality we are prude, if we exude it, we are a slut.  If you are doing pretty much anything with confidence in your sexuality, it gets judge and whatever it is you are doing diminished.

But honestly, why do people care so much about not caring about women? How do we move forward to a different consciousness?  We hold space for strong women by stopping our participation in these dialogues that only acknowledge us for our sexuality and the way we look.

Despite what the media wants to brainwash you to believe, our worth isn't determined by the bags we
carry, how few wrinkles we have, who we partner with, or how much money we have in the bank.
Our worth is determined by the love we have for ourselves, the love we have for others, and the love we have for the world at large.  The longer we continue to silently hate ourselves the more we allow our deranged and false perceptions to rule over our minds and actions and the strength of women.

So, how do we hold space for a woman’s greatness?  We start to allow ourselves and others to experience joy for our accomplishments and not just the way we look or what we are wearing.  

We celebrate not only our success, but those of other women.  We need to stop hating a women for being strong, successful, and joyful  Instead we say, yes Goddess Queen, yes sister, create your kingdom. I support you.  I stand with you.  The universe knows no lack.  It is an illusion we are all participating in when we think “she has that, now I can’t have that.”  Let’s stop objectifying, demeaning, shaming, guilting, and blaming women.

A strong and powerful woman can make the earth shake.  She is nurturing, kind, loving, accepting, forgiving, fun, playful, and grounded. She does not need to manipulate, use, play coy, or play dumb to get what she wants.  She goes and creates it herself in the same way we can create life inside of us.

The power that she exudes is not determined by anything from the outside, this power starts from within.  The goddess has a love for herself and knows her value.  It is simple. I exist, therefore, I am special. I am worthy.  

Let’s start acknowledging that when we feel jealous, it is because we feel less than, and when we feel less then, come back to love for yourself.  Coming back to love for yourself takes awareness, practice, and commitment.  

We have been brainwashed as a culture to believe that when a woman is great it takes away from our own chance of greatness.  It does not.  When a woman is in her greatness it can and will change the world and when we starting working together anything is possible.  

I don’t need anyone’s validation to speak my truth and neither do you.  Truth comes from a place of love and not from bullying someone into thinking the way you think.  That is manipulation.  Start by loving who you are and allow that love to radiate out into the world.
 
List 5 things that are fantastic about you or a woman that is in your life.  

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