Category: BODY IMAGE

What does your Cervix Say?

~ womeninlivingness

Have you ever wanted your best friend on tap 24/7? What if you had a direct open phone line with truth, with yourself, on tap? An innate wisdom and sacredness that knows which choices to make, how to move, how to eat, how to sleep, how to breathe, how to walk, how to dress. A wisdom that knows how to respond all of the time, in any given situation, even in new situations that spring up unexpectedly – and, it was absolutely free of charge? Wouldn’t that be remarkable?

Well ladies, you do, we all do!

Continue reading “What does your Cervix Say?” →

The Power of a Smile: In Celebration of the Woman I am

~ womeninlivingness

It was a Friday evening. My children and I were walking down a busy city street to get something for dinner. I’d just come straight from work, so wasn’t especially ‘made up’ to go out; just relaxed and feeling a little tired from a busy week.

As I walked along I noticed a lady pushing a pram coming towards me.

Her head was hung low and she looked very despondent. I kept my gaze on her and began to smile; very soon she raised her head and we locked eyes. I broadened my smile and felt I was beaming from every pore in me. I did not do what I sometimes can do and make it a fleeting smile – I continued to hold the lady in my gaze and felt I was almost having a conversation with her – it felt amazing. Her face responded immediately and lit up in a glorious smile too – her whole face and body seemed to transform.

This moment seemed to last an eternity as we continued to walk towards each other, locked in each other’s gaze.

Continue reading “The Power of a Smile: In Celebration of the Woman I am” →

A Woman’s True Beauty: The Strength in Fragility

~ womeninlivingness

Women – Are we living in a man’s world? We all know about boys having to be tough – “Boys don’t cry”, boys get given toys to confirm their future roles – trucks, footballs, fiction-hero’s, games of war….

We women may feel that we have to compete in this competitive male world, and many of us have tried to create an even playing field in our pursuit of equality for women – with the fight for the right to work, equal pay in the workforce, day-care for young children, female cricket and footy teams, promotions, baby bonuses and more. At the same time we have found ourselves often comparing with each other with regard to academic achievement, ideals of beauty, having more money or a successful career, being in relationships versus being single, and having kids.

Have we lost the precious qualities of true beauty and fragility in this battle for equality and respect?

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Accepting and Expressing Greatness — A Story About Shoes

~ womeninlivingness

Since childhood I have had an issue with my feet.

They always looked too big to me and my toes seemed too long, out of proportion as to how I judged beauty to be. As an Asian woman, I grew up holding onto the image that beauty is being soft spoken, never drawing attention to oneself and about having tiny and delicate feet, as most of the women that I grew up with had small feet, and I would compare myself with them. I would deliberately buy shoes that were a little bit too small, convinced that my feet should and could fit into them. In consequence, my feet would suffer but there were always justifications for doing this, such as in time the shoes would either ‘magically’ stretch, or that my feet were actually as I believed them to be, smaller and more delicate than they are.

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My Lips, Red Lipstick and Me

~ womeninlivingness

I suppose that almost every woman has to criticize something about herself: her legs, her bum, her breasts, her hair, her nose – sad but true.

For a long time for me it was my lips.

I really did not like my lips. They were small and slim, had no true colour and they felt hard. I felt there was no point in giving them any attention, other than some light, almost colourless lip-gloss sometimes.

One day a friend of mine, while we were sharing with other friends what kind and colours of lipsticks we use, said to me: “I think that a warm deep red would suit you very well!”

“Whaat?“ I said. There’s no way I would wear a darker colour and especially not red! My lips are small and in no way beautiful enough for the colour red!

Over the next two days she ‘haunted’ me with the red lipstick. Every time I saw her she said smilingly, ‘red lipstick!’ and I’d start to run….

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Bringing my “Be Sexy” back with Sacred Women’s Movement

~ womeninlivingness

In the past I have accepted that how I behave is who I am, deeming myself to be a good person or bad person dependent on how society views this behavior. I felt I was extremely bad and gross if I in any way found myself, or anyone else for that matter, to be ‘sexy’. I related being sexy to being sexual and if I were to feel and act sexy then I was trying to impose it onto someone.

All of this changed for me after attending Natalie Benhayon’s Sacred Women’s Movement classes. This led me to explore and find other false beliefs I wasn’t aware I had around what it meant to be sexy. Some of these beliefs I came to shine some truth on were:

  • Being sexy is a form of leading men on and giving them the wrong idea
  • Being sexy is a sexual act
  • Being sexy is related to sex
  • Being sexy is shameful and cheap
  • Being sexy is attention seeking, neediness, trying to suck people into my web
  • To be sexy and playful meant I was trying to be sexually attractive or sexual towards someone
  • And what loaded this belief was the additional belief I had that sex is bad.

Continue reading “Bringing my “Be Sexy” back with Sacred Women’s Movement” →

Walking with my Awesomeness: Connecting to myself and the World as a Woman

~ womeninlivingness

I was on my walk this morning, and as I walked steadily, a deep warmth circulated up my spine. I checked in with myself, feeling into it more, while continuing to walk in presence. What came was a feeling of true power in my steps, a new level of intimacy I have with my body. With walking as part of my consistent daily routine, the level of connection felt with my body has deepened. The power that I am feeling is one, which I have chosen now to live, devotedly connected to this body. The connection with my body is something I have ignored for a long time, until recently.

So this morning as I was feeling in Love and in Joy with myself and in my every step, I felt the whole world walking with me. At that moment I was aware that someone was looking at me — a man, standing at a nearby bus stop.

Continue reading “Walking with my Awesomeness: Connecting to myself and the World as a Woman” →

Accepting Ourselves and our Bodies: an Expression of True Beauty

~ womeninlivingness

A while ago I saw a cute cropped top in a clothing store that I wanted to get. It wasn’t something I would usually feel drawn to, but I felt differently this time. This top is very simple, cut in from the shoulders and sitting slightly above my belly button. Usually I would think these tops looked too cute, too young, and I would just walk away. But to be more honest, I would not wear these tops because I felt they exposed too much of what I judged to be my weakness – my boniness.

I decided to get the top.

The first time I wore it, I was self-conscious. The top was loose on my body, and it was an extra small size! So I wore a cardigan on top of it. I went through in my head everything I could think of to fix the top so I could better accept myself. It was crazy.

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Let’s Face it: Accepting and Embracing our own True Beauty

~ womeninlivingness

For many years, practising as a Professional Make-up Artist and more recently advising and offering Inner Image Consultations, I’ve noticed that as women we’re still apologising for the way we look. Why do we resist accepting and embracing our own true beauty?

The most beautiful make-up of a woman is the love that she is.

Until we truly claim the woman within, we will continue to mask and hide our Divine Beauty underneath layers of protection that no amount of make-up can penetrate.

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Discovering the Joy of Wearing a Bra and Uncovering More of the Woman I Am

~ womeninlivingness

I am aged 33 and for most of my adult life I have not worn a bra. I didn’t really see the point as my breasts are quite small and bras were just something else I had to worry about in the morning, something else that cost money and were not as comfortable as not wearing a bra. I also liked the picture I had painted of being a braless woman – I was a bit of a hippy and a bit of a feminist. It was a label I liked the sound of.

The first bra I remember buying was during pregnancy. I was given a voucher for a maternity bra and thought why not? But the one I bought was pretty hideous and I never wore it. I then needed some bras once I was breast-feeding which were for no other reason than to hold in some pads as I leaked so much milk, it was a necessity.

There was very little care in this, and although I did try to buy nice ones, it was mostly about function. Continue reading “Discovering the Joy of Wearing a Bra and Uncovering More of the Woman I Am” →