The goddess, the Woman, the healer
by Diane McCann

As I look at blogs and Facebook I am in awe of the number of groups that are popping up about… and for… women; incredibly powerful writings of women and TED talks by women all saying the same thing. That this is our time! A time to stand up, stand strong, stand together and change the world!

Can we do it? Absolutely. From a National research paper I gleaned the following: Women are the source for growth that power our economy as well as the biggest consumers in the world. They make around 85% of consumers decisions and inject more than $20 trillion dollars annually into the global economy. Also Australian women are starting small businesses at twice the rate of men.

Lots of things are changing out there in the world… Women are getting stronger and more willing to speak up for themselves and each other; we are also aware of the need to help those less fortunate than ourselves and thus groups are popping up like daffodils in spring where women are reaching out to help others. Wonderful news! However while it’s changing slowly in our favour, I look at what’s happening with women themselves and their self image.

A huge department store put two signs on two entrances, one that said ‘Beautiful’ and one that said ‘Average’… we don’t have to be geniuses to figure out which door most women walked through!!!! Yep, Average..

Dove did a campaign and got women to describe themselves to an artist who was hidden behind a screen, he drew them according to their description. Then the artist drew a second picture according to the description of the person’s best friend. Guess which picture depicted the women more accurately. Yep, right again, the friend’s picture!

If we don’t love ourselves and shine that light out into the world for others to light their candle from when the wick burns down, then how can we expect our daughters and nieces and friends to allow their light to shine. When we have such dramatic increases in youth suicide (young men included) and in self harming – 6-7% of Australian youth aged 15-24 years engage in self harm in any 12-month period. It is estimated that the number of young people who have engaged in self-harm is 40-100 times greater than those who have actually ended their lives. It is a sad state of our time and WE have to be better role models. When we grow up with our parents complaining about their bodies or their looks or whatever, it rubs off…

What is it about us that does not allow us to see our beauty?

What is it about us that makes us feel less than worthy?

Why do we not honour our own thoughts and feelings, perhaps staying in relationships that don’t serve us, or in jobs that don’t fulfil us; thinking we need to be perfect and driving ourselves crazy because we’re not; becoming addicts of the glass of wine with dinner to numb us out, the cigarettes even though we know they are bad for us, the drugs to dull the pain, the sex, the shopping, the other addictions that stop us from feeling our true nature?

Loving others is easy, loving children, loving pets but self love… that is something that requires a lifetime of work and each decade gets easier. That is why personal development is the most powerful thing you can do for yourself. It changes how we see ourselves and when we see the truth gazing back in the mirror even if we are not Elle McPherson etc, we need to start loving that beautiful face looking back at us. The one whose heart has probably been broken, shattered, fractured or closed down by someone or some thing; the one who had words spoken to her that cut deeper than a knife could, perhaps unintentionally, perhaps in spite but always coming from another damaged human who didn’t understand the fragility of the person they were speaking to… We’ve all been battered emotionally or physically, or mentally or sexually, some only for a moment in time, some for years… but that is NOT who we are…We are strong amazing magnificent women who are turning the world around slowly. Let us make a commitment to each other to reach out, to ask for assistance when we are not coping, to speak the truth about and to ourselves and to love more, every day. Then and only then, can we co-create wonderful relationships with our beautiful men (often equally damaged) and then bring into this world children who know absolutely that they are beautiful and loved and deserving of everything wonderful. Then we shall move toward peace.

Diane McCann facilitates The Goddess Within seminar for women and together with her husband Robert, facilitates Man’s Inner Journey for men and Tantra for couples. For more information www.beyondtheordinary.net.au She can be reached at beyondtheordinary@internode.on.net or by phone on 08 8248 1281