Inspiration on International Women’s Day

INTERNATIONAL WOMENS DAY

What does it mean to be a woman in 2019? So many changes have occurred for and to women throughout the ages. There are activists who are catalysts for all types of gender equality. The Women’s Suffrage Movement, which began in 1848, had in mind women’s right to vote as an essential piece of gender equality. The Women’s Rights Movement continued with other important issues including right to own property, job and pay equality and abortion rights. That there is an International Women’s Day is evidence of the consciousness surrounding women’s issues. I applaud women (and men) who pound the pavement, marching for the legality of women’s rights. I am indebted to many, who are willing to base their life work on equality for women.

This years International Women’s Day theme is Better the Balance, Better the World, Balance for Better. Inherently, balance implies equality. In order for two things to balance on a scale; they must be equal in weight. However, we know that physical weight is one attribute for equality but not necessarily for BALANCE. Balance requires a much more delicate combination of factors.

Women are a unique life force. Our actual weight does not indicate the value of our contributions. So let’s look at Balance beyond Equality. How do we as women balance our internal and our external worlds? Where do we find the integrity for living our lives ‘within’ and ‘without’ simultaneously? You may not choose to champion women’s rights in the social political realm but nonetheless you can be an expression of equality and balance in your own life.

First you must own your own balance; affirming your commitment to showing up as the complete woman you are. Expressing the fullness of yourself, not the the shadow of yourself. Remembering the exquisite nature of the feminine. The ability to create anew; in life force, in artistry, in intellectual property.

Expose the truth of who you are to yourself, your family and the world. What do you have to lose except your shadow? Fear masks the fullness of your nature. It is a journey, owning your power and potential. It starts in small ways. Often, it begins in finding your voice. Speaking up for that which you know to be true, to those around you. Try it out. Make a vow to yourself to only speak words that convey your truth. Silence is a powerful void. Saying nothing trumps saying something that diminishes the truth.

Words beget actions. Harness your words and transform the truth of your words into actions. Make changes in your life that convey who you are in the essence of your being. Change is never without disruption. The chaos created out of disruption gives rise to new order. Challenge yourself to sit in the awareness of creation raising out of chaos. Allow yourself to express to the world who you are in the interiority of your soul. Live in the balance of your inner and outer worlds.

Happy International Women’s Day!
Nirmala (Friend of Atma Adventures)