Open your Eyes

My first leap out of the corporate world was into massage therapy. Massage worked miracles on me after a car accident, and I have an intense passion and deep appreciation for the work. In fact, massage was not only the beginning of a career change but a life change as well. I hold it in the highest esteem.
The hardest thing about going into the massage field was not the physical toll on the body, not the work it takes to start a business, but the association of massage with prostitution. In fact, any reference of one with the other sent me directly to righteous indignation and a trip onto my soap box.
However, a couple of weeks ago I watched a special report on MSNBC on human trafficking. It highlighted the very sad and horrific stories of women who were tricked and then forced into sex slavery, under threat of their own lives and the lives of their families. Many of these women were forced to work 18 hour days in “massage parlors”, not just abroad, but here in the U.S. as well.
It was heartbreaking and unimaginable that this is so prevalent. It made me feel grateful for having the opportunities afforded to me, but pessimistic overall. In the face of such cruelty and oppression, where is the goddess?
Then I realized what I felt: compassion, empathy, sadness. No longer did I feel such intense anger toward the women who erroneously held themselves out as masseuses or even worse – massage therapists. My view had changed, and another aspect of the Goddess became awakened in my heart.
I then contemplated, how many other times have I assumed without knowing the whole story? How many opportunities to open my heart had passed me by because I knew I was “right”?
By looking through the eyes of the Goddess we can be open to see the entire situation, not just our own narrow view. The Goddess asks you to look behind the book cover and actually read the story. Who knows, you may just find a map to the hidden treasure in you!

Are you “just” a stay at home Mom?

When I have the opportunity to meet new women eventually I ask the obligatory “What do you do?” question. Often I will hear in reply “I am just a stay a home Mom” or “I was working, but I am just staying home for now”. What a sad state of affairs that such incredible women feel that raising children is a job that requires a “just” qualifier.
These comments illustrate how desperately we need to honor and respect the divine feminine. I am not talking about gender, after all think about how society looks at the stay at home Dad. True freedom is being able to follow your heart and spirit, and live the life that is best for you.
Being a stay at home Mom requires so much. It takes a special person to give this gift to a young child. Parents are a child’s first view of the world, and yet as a society we don’t give this job anywhere near the prestige it deserves. WHY???
Is it because we live in the “masculine” of the world, where value is placed on employment and undertakings that result in money, money, money? What would a balanced society look like? What would it feel like?
Believe me, I am a big fan of money!! But, as part of the prosperity equation – not as a standalone ideal. What good is money, if you are not prosperous? What good is money if you are not living the life of your dreams? True prosperity is having a wealth of relationships, health, finances, and a purpose that feeds your soul.
To live a life of prosperity we need to embrace and celebrate both the masculine and feminine sides of our composition. It is only through this route we can truly listen to our hearts. What is your heart telling you?

Equal Rights for the feminine

If I asked my 15 year old niece about her opportunities in life, she would give me an unlimited list of her goals and dreams.    Here in the U.S.  we (women) have taken the world by storm and there is no bar to high for us to reach.  It is an exciting time.   Gender lines begin to evaporate in the younger generations, and my niece is growing up with the confidence that she can achieve whatever she desires. 

Yet with all the opportunity afforded to women, why are so many of us feeling more stressed, tired, frustrated, and overwhelmed?   Is it that we now have too much to do?  Too many choices?  

Or is the answer a little simpler?

In the book “Woman, Earth and Spirit” author Helen M. Luke writes the following “….real liberation from the weight of the inferior status imposed on women lies not in the reiterated assertion the women must now strive to live like men, but in the affirmation of the equal value of the specifically feminine”

As women as a gender moved toward equality, the qualities of the divine feminine were still regarded as inferior.   We rejected our own femininity in an attempt to grasp the power and independence once allowed to only men.     Our great success came at a great price.   We are a world out of balance that only respects the masculine side of our nature.  

To create our own personal peace and prosperity, we must first make peace with ourselves.  Rather than acting out a part we have learned well,  we must now learn to love ourselves as unique, inspired, creative, and incredible feminine beings.   

We must find the courage to embrace who we truly are, follow our intuition, and then bravely and compassionately show that face to the world.   The only person we need to be is our truest self.