Why I work with women - A 3 part series, Part 3
Reason #3 - My Global Reason, the big picture - Why women are our best chance at changing the world.
Highlight - We are all in this together, but I feel that supporting, creating space for, and championing the feminine energy of the planet is where my personal focus should be.
First, a story …
I was walking on a mountain trail in India. I was with my wife and our new friend Baylie from Australia.
This was 8 years ago and my wife and I met her when we were staying in a Yoga Ashram in Rishikesh. (Akhanda Yoga with Yogi Vishvektu if you’d like to look him up. He is so full of light and joy and peace, he changed my whole perspective of Yoga. You can read about that in a different post “How I went from HATING yoga to a loving daily morning practice.”)
Baylie was so amazing that we ended up traveling together for almost 2 months of our 5-month adventure. She was that fantastic.
She was the kind of person you just wanted to be around. All the time. She was bright, she was intelligent, she was best friend material in a box!
She was also, in my mind, a perfect example of the embodied feminine. She was bright and bubbly but at the same time, so clear about herself and her boundaries that I feared for anyone who might dare cross her!
She was traveling India alone. She was aware enough to know when to find a good buddy when traveling certain areas. She was adventurous, brave, outgoing, and open to all of life’s experiences.
As we walked along that mountain trail in Northern India we got into some deep topics.
One of our big topics of conversation was about the lack of balance of the Masculine and the Feminine energies in the world today. We talked about our favourite books, teachers, and concepts on this theme.
One of the darker ideas discussed was about what we perceived as the systematic destruction of our first nations people across the globe. It seemed that this destruction was not random or by chance or the by-product of capitalist expansion. No, it seemed that this destruction was the willful and systematic destruction of a way of life, a philosophy. (purely our opinion of course)
We identified this way of life as a uniquely feminine one.
All of the tribes that seemed to be the most decimated by the expansion of England, France and other western countries, were the tribes and nations that advocated a more balanced, feminine approach to living with the earth as a partner, not as a resource.
We wondered; did the destruction of our first nations peoples have just as much to do with the eradication of a feminine approach to life and society, as it did against aboriginal peoples?
We compared notes between her home country of Australia and their treatment of their indigenous peoples. She felt she was winning for “Worst country”. That was when I shared with her some of Canada’s past and current history. We realized that unfortunately both our countries were “Winning” in many categories.
(One example of this is that residential schools were still in operation in Canada until 1996 when the final school closed. 1996!)
Ever since that day on the mountain I’ve had this question in my head; What if restoring the balance of feminine and masculine energy in our society, could also rebalance our planet?
What if we had simply lost our balance, like a teeter-totter with a big grown man on one side, and a little 5-year-old girl on the other side?
That day, and many other days since have planted seeds in my mind and heart about the kind of work I wanted to do for the world. It also inspired me about the kinds of human beings I wanted to work alongside.
The difference I want to see in the world is that we shift towards a more connected, relational, holistic world that works for everyone.
I believe women (or more accurately, people with a feminine disposition/energy) are the key to this evolution.
I have observed over my lifetime that this kind of world filled with love, peace, equality and balance is created more often by women than men.
While I acknowledge that there are certainly a few “enlightened” men who are making waves in that direction, over and above I see women being more aware of their neighbour than men. I see women looking out for the whole community, more than men.
We are all in this together, but I feel that supporting, creating space for, and championing the feminine energy of the planet is where my personal focus should be.
One particular Woman of note
One woman who has deeply inspired me in this way is Lynne Twist. She has fundraised millions of dollars personally for incredible causes around the world. And she now trains fundraisers to do the same.
In her fantastic book “The Soul Of Money” she shares about a project in Senegal where she met with a group of women to decide what their community needed to move forward. She first listened to these women, to see what ideas they had, what they needed, and how she could support them.
She didn’t do the … *ahem*, “guy thing”.
She didn’t come in with machines, dig a well, say “You’re welcome!” and then go home with some pictures of the great work she did.
No, instead - she listened.
These women were so resourceful, so capable, all they needed were a few key tools and support, and they could take care of the rest. They didn’t need to be saved.
I have learned, painfully at times, that we are not here to save anyone.
And I believe that when a Feminine being is in their power, connected to source, they do this brilliantly.
My part in this
If I can help clear the path for more women to be fully seen, to shine their brilliance more fully into the world and make a difference, it will have been a good life.
Do these women NEED me to clear the path? You know my thoughts on that word NEED. The energy of need destroys worlds! So no, they don’t need me.
However,
- Is it fun for me to do this work? - YES
- Am I damn good at it? - YES
- Do women appreciate and respond positively to my offer of support? - YES
This is why I choose not to let the little fact that I am a man hold me back from doing the work I love, with the kinds of people I love.
This is why I choose to work with women.
I hope this 3 part series has shone some light on why I as a man have chosen to focus on supporting women entrepreneurs.
If you have any questions about this, I would love to hear them. I can be reached at wil@myspiritualclarity.com
Wil