Laura B. Young

WOMEN: VALUE YOURSELF AND BECOME A POWERFUL FORCE TO US ALL

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These are some of my favorite passages in “Remove Obstacles to Experience Unstoppable Feminine Power: How to Stop Betraying Yourself and Live a Life of Grace and Passion.” by Laura B. Young

— Stop trying so hard.  

It is a given that in today’s world, women have more freedom to experience success. Women, however, are more likely to expect success while using the template suitable for men’s strengths while ignoring their own strengths or minimizing them.

The template for success that has been used for eons addresses traditional male strengths. Their strengths of focus and linear thinking brings about an outcome that is predictable and controllable. This works well if you want to build a structure. You can estimate the cost, number of workers, how long it will take, and it is all based on a predictable formula. Not to take away from the masculine approach, because it has brought us leap years forward combining the miracles of science and the industry firsts and greats. It is however a limited view of success and insufficient for women’s needs.

Men need our strengths to help them out of this limited view of success. We must stand strong together for a world shift to occur.

Is it any wonder that this male-oriented approach discourages women? Women are left frustrated, thinking there is something wrong with them when they struggle to be successful. It is not that women do not have some of the masculine strengths - that is only part of the story. This masculine template does not include our gifts, strengths, intuition or creativity, to name a few of our gifts. So, to be fair, this method to gain success is inadequate because it leaves out 50% of the world’s available power to create.

— Your Power

The male version of power, although touted for centuries as superior, is insufficient and an incomplete model. If you doubt this statement, just stop a moment and ponder the state of the world, our country, our community. Take a good look. Do you think that if male power were able to solve these problems, we’d be in such turmoil?

Whether you feel a little power or a lot of power, the world needs you.

Women of the World Unite: The World is Crying Outside Your Window!

Our culture and conditioning values a very narrow version of success. Women are not encouraged to examine and value what they have to offer. Women are successful when they risk creating their own template, one that is authentic for them. I say create because the Feminine Power template is emerging. We are having to create it as we go.

Because there has never been a guide as to what feminine success looks like, we are still in uncharted territory; we are, however, moving towards completeness.

Feminine strengths that lead to success cannot be readily measured or controlled. Mostly when a woman becomes successful, she includes others in that success. She collaborates as she relates and creates a sense of community around her. Her intuitive, creative and spiritual gifts make a difference in the lives of others.

She does not do this in the male style of fixing problems or rescuing people but from a place of recognizing and encouraging other women to come and take their rightful place. No need for the Marlboro man to show up here - you know the drill… you don’t have to do it alone.

That said, we are creating a template that works for women as we go through trial and error in creating success in a new way using the feminine paradigm. The good news is that it is happening now! There are no clear goals for us as are inherent in the masculine template. We must hold space for the unknown vs. something that is fixed and tied into a definite ending.

We must cherish our intuition, our curiosity, flexibility and willingness, to name a few of our powerful inclusive traits. Women know deep within there is much more we can do and are acting accordingly. Knowing as we do intuitively, there is strength and power in numbers. As you reclaim your Feminine Power, including for success, our movement grows. 

“Travelers, there is no path - paths are made by walking”. ~ Antonio Machada

Feminine Power is a force to reckoned with when it comes to things that cannot be controlled. There are many qualities innate to women that make them powerful if they want success. Some, but not all, include the power of their willingness to be a beginner, to be curious, to set ego aside when beneficial. Women have the power of their feelings, their wisdom and intuition, and emotional intelligence to name a some of the dynamic ways women create success. They are effective in negotiating because their strengths are in uniting people and not being divisive or exclusive to others.  

I encourage you to claim the powerful strengths that are essentially yours in preparation for success. Once a woman values herself and feels worthy of success, she is a force, a power, to be reckoned with in any life arena.

Although you want this power, you may not know what to do first or next. That’s why I wrote this book – to help you know how to reclaim your Feminine Power. I say reclaim because we are born with it except in the case of severe illness.

Sometimes women are willing to be successful to a certain degree but are afraid to go after the big dreams. They have faulty beliefs that hold them back from a true level of success. These beliefs are in the unconscious and hidden from surface awareness. Much of our conditioning prevents us from being present and accounted for on the big stage of life.

We are conditioned to be nice… don’t make waves, fit in, don’t make others uncomfortable. All these sanctions make us tentative or hesitant to step up to be visible, to risk not being liked, in going towards what we desire.

More often than not, we acquiesce and find our power in the shadow of a man, a father, spouse or boss – I call that “Shadow Power”.

—What is your definition of success? 

— What does your success look like? 

— Do you feel worthy of success?

— Do you value women’s strengths as you approach success? 

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure It is our light, not our darkness that frightens us. We ask ourselves, “Who am I to be so beautiful, talented, gorgeous, and fabulous?” Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking, so other people will not feel insecure around you. This is not just in some of us - it is in everyone. And as we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people the permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our fears, our presence automatically liberates others. “ ~ Nelson Mandela, 1997