Can a fragile, vulnerable and tender woman still hold and exercise power and authority without falling into a behavior of sexism or victimhood?
Many are those who believe and has seen feminists as foreceful and aggressive in advocating their stance and right to equal treatment. This is also the common response when trying to deal with forging our competence in the workplace and in society in general. The roles our genders play have long standing traditions with characterizations we take for granted, much alike the "white collar man's point of view" as the common ground for value based decisions. Much of it can be seen in our organizational cultures where women tend to cut their hair short, wear suits or play the vamp; assuming roles of being one of the boys, compete in the same arena with similar attributes, use our sexuality or ask others to feel sorry for us. I'd like to assert a different approach to use.
Power isn't easy to handle and can be a bit frightening to realize. I can recall that I had a discussion about it in Honolulu with one of my neighbors at Cleghorn street, a guy called Richard who had broken his neck in an accident and was studying a little Huna too. I shared that I was scared to exercise my power and it got me thinking of striking a balance with men first. At the time in 2011 I felt like I attracted both many men and opportunities into my life with accelerating speed but at the same time not always applicable to follow through with, because of rules, assets and regulations. I believe we can work with the law of attraction but most also be careful to include the will of others and balance our ambitions and goals with those who have other demands on us. It is also a matter of humility and submission to God without falling into the trap of only creating self-gain.This growing sense of power will also show up in others who tend to react with resistance or simply questioning our stance that might be informal to their hierarchical position of power and leadership. The best solution is of course to cooperate and collaborate together making the best out of situations and problems providing results that can benefit both. This however requires an awareness and willingness to conduct a sincere dialogue with respect.
Learning how to harness and exercise our power is a journey in itself, much alike learning to drop down into our hearts and lead with compassion.
Dancing Hula is enabling me to feel these feminine tender qualities and allow them to expand in my desired way of interacting when I feel safe to express my beauty.
Dancing African has been a grounding experience back to the raw roots of humanity in alignment with our call to work and relate to Mother Earth with fierce presence.
And dancing Duncan is encouraging me to prone into healing my solar plexus where the seat of power is found, which has been abused and held back for many years, to align it into renewing my natural extroverted expression of my personality and protection with a sense of worth and deserving what is best, without lessening it for others.
It all comes together in our relation and continuous movement in harmony with Mother Earth ~ dancing the mother.
Photo of me from 2019.