Reawakening Your Feminine Powers: Part 1 {SLOWING DOWN}
/As we move farther into the dark half of the year (Autumn and Winter), this is the perfect time to contemplate the balance between your own inner "dark" (Divine Feminine) energies and inner "light" (Divine Masculine) energies.
The Divine Feminine (aka. yin) and Divine Masculine (aka. yang) are the two most elemental powers that course through our bodies and move us through our lives each and every day.
And in my years of studying Chinese Medicine, I learned that flow & health can only exist when the two energies of yin and yang are in a state of RELATIVE BALANCE.
And when they drift too far out of balance, stagnation and dis-ease ALWAYS result.
**here’s 👆a chart I created to help you better understand what Yang vs Yin energies feel and look like in your life (this is by no means an exhaustive list).
Because we live in a excessively yang (and patriarchal) culture, we’ve been taught that it’s better to rely solely on our masculine powers to move through life each day (and neglect our feminine powers). This creates massive disharmony, with very real and often debilitating consequences for us (mentally, spiritually, and physically)… as well as causing harm to the collective and planet.
And so my intention over the next few weeks, with this “REAWAKENING YOUR FEMININE POWERS” blog series, is to help you:
see how your over-reliance on your masculine powers is actually causing harm.
and, reconnect with your feminine powers so you can create a healthier yin-yang balance, to experience greater peace, flow, and soul-aligned success in your life (without overwhelm, burn-out, or sacrificing happiness)!
Today, we’ll begin by talking about your feminine power of SLOWNESS….
PART 1: Reawakening your Feminine Power of SLOWNESS
One of the most important feminine powers that we neglect is our power of SLOWNESS. Society doesn’t value “slowness”, and has convinced us that the opposing masculine power of SPEED (or “fastness”) is better.
“Faster is always better”, right?!
WRONG. The yang power of “fastness” definitely has its place. In fact it works really well for emergency situations where your physical safety may be in danger. Take too long to make a decision or take action, and you could be harmed! And so in this case, the power of speed is very important in potential survival situations.
The problem is, because we place so much value on doing things quickly, we never stop to ask ourselves if sometimes slower might be better.
Here are some signs that you may be placing too much value on the masculine (yang) power of “fastness”:
a constant sense of URGENCY (ie. feeling guilt if you don’t respond to non-emergency texts/emails immediately, or expecting others to respond to you right away; placing unrealistic deadlines on projects or decisions, and then feeling stressed/rushed; having a never ending to-do list, because everything feels like an urgent priority; etc.)
a constant sense of SCARCITY (ie. never feeling like you have enough time; always feeling behind or ashamed that you’re not farther along in life; feeling bad that you don’t have enough of something in your life, even when you do; etc.)
constantly SACRIFICING PLEASURE for speed (ie. feeling like you have too much to do to slow down and enjoy life; or, when you do make time for fun/pleasure you’re too tired or distracted to enjoy it; etc.)
If you resonate with any of the yang-excess symptoms above👆, then one powerful antidote is to ☯REAWAKEN YOUR FEMININE POWER OF “SLOWNESS”¹.☯
This reawakening starts first by you entertaining the possibility that since, on some level, we are all culturally brainwashed to think “faster is better”, then there’s a good chance that you’ve greatly neglected your own sacred power of “slowness” over the years. Right??
And, if you resonate with any of those signs of imbalance above, doesn’t it also stand to reason that starting to experiment with using your “slow power” could be one simple way to create more balance and greater peace, flow, and healing in your life?
Do not underestimate the simple power of “slowness”!
Here are 3 tangible and life-changing ways you benefit from tapping into your feminine power of slowness!
#1 YOU FEEL MORE JOY, PLEASURE, & CONNECTION to loved ones
So many people I speak to feel like they are constantly rushing and striving, and not slowing down enough to actually s a v o r their “fun” time, or truly c-o-n-n-e-c-t with their loved ones when they’re with them.
In other words, you’re running through life, trying to get to some imaginary finish line before giving yourself permission to s l o w d o w n and experience the pleasure and joy along the way! One major lesson that came from the last year is that life is unpredictable and fragile. And so if you’re not actually making a point to truly enjoy moments in life, then what’s the point of all the hustle anyway?
Also, when your yin power of “slowness” is activated (and the hustle and busyness is turned off), you enhance your creativity, passion, inspiration, and intuition… all qualities that directly impact your ability to create more soul-aligned success, faster!.
#2 YOU CREATE LASTING & SUSTAINABLE SUCCESS
When you’re addicted to “fastness”, you’re attracted to quick fixes and promises of overnight success. And while these “fast solutions” may get you results, the results are superficial and short-lived.
This can look like the “yo-yo success” where you seem to create success, it feels incredibly hard and exhausting to maintain, and so you don’t sustain the results (over and over again). Or, it can look like success that is wrapped in massive unworthiness and shame, also making it unsustainable and short-lived.
When you instead give yourself permission to embrace the feminine power of slowness, you stop looking for the “too good to be true” snake-oil, quick-fixes, and you stop idolizing people who tout overnight success.
And, you start seeking more sustainable, long term healing paths (and the experts who are honest about how long it actually took to create their big changes/ successes).
Plus, you work to build a healthy ecosystem (by addressing your beliefs, mindsets, emotions, behavioral habits, and support community) that can sustain, lasting and joyful success!
#3 YOU MAKE MORE CONFIDENT & ALIGNED DECISIONS
When we’re stuck in that “faster is better” mindset (or worse, when we allow someone else to rush us), we don’t honor the time and space we need to make an aligned choice.
Rushed decisions so very often lead to regret. Regret that could have been avoided had you just slowed down and taken the time you you needed to analyze your options and connect to your intuition, until you felt confident about your decision.
The truth is, we each have our own process for making decisions, and the amount of time we need for an empowered decision varies. As an HSP (highly sensitive person), I’ve found that I often need more time than others to make a confident decision (and so I’ve found my own “confident decision-making process” and have learned to advocate for the time and space I need).
Taking a little longer to make an empowered decision, will almost always save you time, energy, money, and stress in the long run!
And now, I’ll leave you with a quote from my favorite wisdom book, “The I Ching”, which beautifully summarizes this feminine power of “slowness”.
“Work that has taken place gradually is not easily undone. Whenever we find ourselves impatient that advancement seems slow, we should take comfort in this fact. We must persevere and build our momentum slowly. Then when we are ready, we can show ourselves in our fullness. Others will be awed because we have built ourselves carefully. Anyone can begin the work, but few can last to someday rise up grand and unopposed.”²
✍️If you’ve read this far (and crave any of the above benefits), take a moment to integrate the information you just consumed by reflecting on where you can bring more of this feminine power of “slowness” into your own life right now.
✨Here are a few ideas for inspiration:
let yourself spend time indulging in something you love, even if it doesn’t relate to your goals (hobbies are so underrated!).
drink your morning cup of tea or coffee s l o w l y, savoring the taste, smell, and warmth as is flows from your mouth to your stomach.
recognize when you feel rushed or pressured to make a decision, and ask for the time and space you need (or if you’re not sure what you need, start to discover your own empowered decision-making process!).
think of one area in your life where you’re rushing growth and success, and beating yourself up for not being farther along (or somewhere you get “yo-yo success”). **Remember, anyone who created “too good to be true” success is likely either bending the truth, or didn’t do it sustainably. ❓Ask yourself, “how would things look or feel differently if I took the timeline for success away, and allowed myself to fall into a slow, and steady growth process? ❓What would I be doing differently now?”
✨Stay tuned for PART 2 of the “REAWAKENING YOUR FEMININE POWERS” series, coming soon!✨
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footnotes:
¹It’s important to acknowledge that the systems built out of an excessively yang (patriarchal) culture, make it challenging for many people to truly embrace the level of “slowing down” that your body, mind, and soul need. And, your level of privilege will impact how much you can “slow down” without it negatively impacted your livelihood. So while it is super important to reawaken our inner feminine power of “slowness”, the ultimate goal must be to work to dismantle these systems of oppression, until we can all embrace a healthy balance of “slowing down” without sacrificing our livelihoods.
