Why is it that sometimes the words don’t come?
I can’t tell if they really aren’t there, or if I am straining too much to find them, causing me to miss them entirely.
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Sometimes, when I sit to write, my fingers can’t wait to share what they know is coming.
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Sometimes, when I sit to write, fingers on the keyboard, poised to go, I feel into what’s here. I sit with the silence that hovers between the key and my finger ready to strike. I wait. I notice the emptiness, the stillness from which all comes. Then a smile seems to form on this face, and something moves within me. The keys begin to tap and words are formed. I don’t know why, or what or even how. I just know it’s time to write, because I am writing. I am writing from my body, from that which knows.
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I do know there is much that wants to be said in words, by way of these hands and this blog. There is much to be discovered and shared about being female; what it’s like to consciously live in a female body within a culture that doesn’t really celebrate, respect or honor female bodies or the feminine, even though it likes to think it does.
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I do know the power of living a question, especially the one I offer up here, “What is it to be Female?” With so many images bombarding us, notions filling our brains, judgments piercing our hearts, how do we discover our own experience of being a woman in this culture at this time?
We live the question, as Rilke suggested.
We become aware of the unfolding of our own lived wisdom.
We ask our bodies to share what they experience as robes of feminine flesh, which provide the spirit a home in this world.
We offer our ears and hearts to other women when they yearn to speak of their experiences and can no longer hold them within.
We open to holding each woman as sacred, even when we see eye-to-eye on absolutely nothing, knowing that the sacred feminine within her is the same within me.
We learn to honor what longs to be known through this body, this spirit, this expression of the sacred feminine in female form.
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Many ask me why I focus on being female, since the feminine is within men, too, and within all of life.
Firstly, it’s what I am compelled to do. Somewhere there is no reason for it, other than the question compels me.
Secondly, I know, absolutely know, from lived experience, that there is something divinely important about women coming to know the sacred creativity they are imbued with.
Thirdly, while I believe we are still a long way from equality for both genders, equality doesn’t mean sameness. There is richness in discovering the diverse natures that women and men have – discovery that leads to embodiment and expression rather than that which becomes rigid roles to act out of.
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How might what we discover, as women, in our own unfolding be brought to a world that is yearning for truth, for love, and for balance of the feminine and masculine within and without?
What do women have to offer that is uniquely female? I will be exploring more of this in the days to come. As the Dalai Lama recently said,
“The world will be saved by the western woman.”
If we are to bring our gifts to this world that is crying out for balance, we must know in our hearts what this gift is.
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And, you?
I’d love to know what you’ve discovered about being female. Yes, you were taught what it is supposed to mean, but if you toss that out, what is your direct lived experience of being a woman?
Please share what you come to see here. I am listening with both ears and an open heart.
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This post is part of Bindu Wiles 2.15.800 Blog Challenge.
What a question!! An openness, a resting (place), a warmth — if I say: like a fireplace in a home – does that make sense to you? Those are the words/image that bubble up for me.
First, I know Rilke would love to be included in writing such as this, beloved Julie.
Today I was an example of being female in staying calm amidst flurries of panic, that island of calm, that breathing female-goddess form, gently asking, “What other help do you need?” rather than rushing in to take over or yell at the situation or fuss or fret and rather just provide a safe and nurturing yet moving forward place.
As a woman, I nurture and grow what is – what calls – what invites. I directed a play recently called “First Kisses” and one of my friends said, “People are walking away from the theater, people whose usual choice is not a play like this, and they are admitting they really like the play, even though they can’t put into words why….”
I believe it is the love we all put into it and the love we have for each other and the quiet rituals we performed before each show, the respect we had for one another, and the fact that we followed some distinctly female sacred principals and stood for equality between genders each step of the way – in a circle, not a hierarchy.
There wasn’t judgment or posturing or anyone “bossing” anyone else. There was and is only love.
Not exactly sure how any of that answers your question, but it is what came up.
SOOOO glad to be in another blog challenge with you!
That quote from the Dalai Lama really shouts loud and touches deeply.
I recently perused a book on the definition of photography, which is at once my trade, craft and art. Out of 50 voices only 2 were women and I wondered how this could be representative or relate to me. Now until I saw this I was not grappling with the question of what it is to be a female photograher, just what it is to be a photographer. Whenever I contemplate this or anything it has to come from a feminine place simply because I am, buy when I see the mis/under representation, then I know I have to dig for this specific female voice to be heard.
Gxx
A nurturer. Healer. Mother to the world, whether she has actual children or not. Sounding board. Multi-tasker. A safe haven or time out for the over masculated male.
You’ve certainly got me thinking. Great post! I hadn’t heard that comment from the Dalai Lama before. Thanks for sharing it. Further motivation and perhaps inspiration for future 800 words.
Today being female meant nurturing child, loving and celebrating husband, feeling my body grow into a new life-giving form, being kind and gentle with myself, connecting with others on a sun-drenched beach, feeling into my softness, my roundness, my wholeness without judgment and with great compassion. I wonder what tomorrow will bring.
As always, I’m stunned by your eloquence and the complexity of your questions. And I lose my words, unable to formulate a response but hearing its echo resounding deeply within me. For now, I’m just grateful for having been asked the questions.
Julie: So much beauty. So much you.
Ah, female. Past answers would be so different from today’s. And, undoubtedly, there will continue to be change, growth, movement in days, months, and years ahead.
But in this moment? Strength. Wisdom. Some ungraspable, but oh-so-real sense of the divine within. A power that feels as strong as the pulse in my neck. Heat. Passion. And always, always birth. Birthing life. Birthing hope. Birthing creativity. Birthing self. Birthing others. Which includes labor and blood and pain. Which includes celebration and rest and deep, infinite love.
Female has this mountain-like sense to it. “You cannot stop me. Do you not recognize who I am? What I can do? What I bring forth? What I invite? What I protect? What I shelter? What I nourish? What I love?”
Stand back – in awe. Come close – in tender embrace.
Thanks for asking. My breath caught in my throat a couple of times while I wrote even these quick words. There’s so much in me, in you, in us as women. Female.
Julie,
I am so glad I discovered you through 21*5*800… I, too, have been feeling called to help women discover and thrive in their creativity. Recently, it’s pushed me to start developing retreats. This was not in “my plan” but now I know the “plan” isn’t “mine”. 😉
I have been reading your posts all day today and you are such a gift. Thank you.