Deepening Self Nurturing – Developing Connection with Me

~ womeninlivingness

by Emily Billsborough, Wollongbar, Australia

Over the past couple of months I have been developing my relationship with nurturing and what nurturing truly means to me in my life. Each moment is full of different interactions between people, environments and situations. We could put this all down to being part of daily life.

I began to ask myself what happens to me in these moments (daily life) when something that I don’t like occurs, or if I react to my partner, family member, friend, colleague, a stressful situation at work, home, at the shopping centre etc.?

  • Do I feel stressed, angry, sad, overwhelmed, frustrated? Or do I still feel like my amazing, lovely and beautiful self?
  • Do I ever stop throughout the day to feel what is happening and how I feel when experiencing all of these different feelings, activities, relationships and situations?

How do I cope with what has happened if I have had a ‘bad’ day? Continue reading “Deepening Self Nurturing – Developing Connection with Me” →

Dress Codes in the Workplace – Dressing How I Feel

~ womeninlivingness

I am a student studying at University. I wanted to work a couple of hours a week and since this week have been actually working within the University itself.

Before I started working, I noticed some interesting things about how I thought I should look and dress for that particular job and I wanted to share this.

The first thing that came to my thoughts when I heard I got the job was – well, what should I wear?, knowing that my job is to welcome people, making sure they sign in for the class and set out the sandwiches and drinks in the break and cleaning up afterwards.

I realised that I had a whole picture of what I should ‘look like’ when doing those things – an elegant woman with tidy clothes and shoes that shone, looking and being very feminine and definitely very chic! Continue reading “Dress Codes in the Workplace – Dressing How I Feel” →

Dentistry Part 1 – When a Woman chooses her Profession over and above Herself

~ womeninlivingness

by Rachel Mascord, Australia 

Twenty-two years ago I entered dental practice.

Dentistry proved to be a very challenging career for me for many years. My relationship with it degenerated to the point that for years I hated going to work. I woke every morning dreading the day ahead and longed to escape. In trying to deliver perfection constantly…I lost connection to an understanding that true care and tenderness were possible – and an essential part of this field of work. 

Moreover, I had no sense that there could be tremendous value in the quality I brought to my work by simply ‘being the real me’.

BEING A WOMAN IN DENTISTRY

I was a fairly bright young woman with a natural tendency to care for others. My self-confidence was very low, so I entered into my dental studies needing that qualification to bring me that confidence. I believed that in getting my degree I would have true value to bring to the world. I falsely thought dentistry would give me a sense of ‘worth’ and ‘importance’. Continue reading “Dentistry Part 1 – When a Woman chooses her Profession over and above Herself” →

Women Working Together in True Harmony

~ womeninlivingness

by Sharon Gavioli, Registered Nurse, Birth Educator, Counsellor, Brisbane, Queensland

I attended an event for the celebration of the International Women’s Day held by Real Media Real Change (RMRC) in Brisbane, “Nurturing the Woman Within: Reclaiming Your Natural Rhythm Within our Modern Times”. It was one of a series of events presented around exploring how expectations and pressures women face today can impact our general wellbeing and how we can reconnect to our natural rhythms and to reconsider self-nurturing.

I attended due to my involvement in the Brisbane Esoteric Developer’s Groups offered by Universal Medicine, that has been running a women’s group over the last 2 plus years.  During that time, I have consistently attended this group and have come to understand that the way we are currently living as women doesn’t truly support our natural way of being, and that nurturing ourselves is essential for us feel the loveliness of the women we are. Continue reading “Women Working Together in True Harmony” →

HOT HOT Flushes – Embracing Menopause

~ womeninlivingness

by Bina Pattel, Age 51, London UK

What are hot flushes, who gets them and why?

I was out there looking for something – anything to take away what I thought was the worst thing ever, and to top it all off, they just didn’t stop.

My hot flushes have been around for about 3 years now. At first, I was convinced they would be gone in a few months; I noticed how much I reacted to them and this made it worse. Well, they are still around and how I react to them has changed for sure.

Stripping off my clothes and creating a drama got a bit boring as they were happening a lot and my laundry room was full of washing! Now I have accepted them as a part of my life. Wearing layers and never covering my neck with a scarf helps, especially on public transport.

I went to the GP who told me that HRT (hormone replacement therapy) is given in the form of a pill to suppress the hot flushes.  However, once I stopped taking them, the hot flushes would come back. The GP thought there was no point as she felt I was “managing” them well. I could not understand why any woman would want to delay something like this for a later date – better out than in, I say! Continue reading “HOT HOT Flushes – Embracing Menopause” →

Relationships – Inspiring Love in Another

~ womeninlivingness ~ 3 Comments

I recently read a blog written by Raymond Karam about “The True Beauty of Women”.

This was a very inspiring blog in which I felt the depth of what this man was saying and what he was claiming for himself and also for all women. I felt how Raymond was very willing to deeply connect with, appreciate and celebrate the sacredness and power of a woman when she is really herself. Not only this, but he was sharing that every woman has this quality or way inside her equally, and that it is very natural.

I began to consider the possibility that maybe many men around me (such as Raymond) are starting to accept and reflect the truly lovely, tender and powerful men that they are, which is inviting women to feel that they are this same powerful person naturally on the inside, ready to be it at any time.

Pondering on this further, I recognised that when in a relationship, people will often ask their partner to be more loving. For example, a wife may want her husband to be more caring, loving and considerate, or the husband may ask his wife to be more understanding and less demanding or needy. I am now seeing that there are two ways to ask such things:- Continue reading “Relationships – Inspiring Love in Another” →

Celebration of the Cycle of Menopause

~ womeninlivingness

 

by Bernadette, Self-employed in Community Services, Australia

Last month I attended ‘the first gathering’ in Melbourne for a group of women in the cycle of menopause. If I’m honest, I attended because I have loved being with the women who attend the women’s meetings, the sharing that occurs and the unifying experiences that remind us of our true power as women – the power of learning to truly be ourselves, connecting to our ability to be still, to really feel our bodies and to appreciate and celebrate the well of wisdom they contain.

This specific Menopausal Women’s Group I attended because it was another opportunity to have this wonderful experience again… AND I was eligible because I biologically fitted the criteria (not that that was necessary)!

What occurred was profound for me.

During the evening I was moved by all the different ways in which women experience the cycle of menopause.

There were women who were parents of very young children sitting beside a grandmother who was just learning to say no to the demands of her adult daughter. One woman told of her 70-year-old pattern of rescuing her sister that she had recently broken, whilst another woman was facing risky surgery for cancer the following week. Continue reading “Celebration of the Cycle of Menopause” →

Menopause – Not The End Of Life As I Know It

~ womeninlivingness

by Adrienne Ryan, BEd, Brisbane, Australia

At a recent presentation by Serge Benhayon of Universal Medicine, I came to a deeper understanding of the beauty and power of menopause.

This is the stage I am coming to next in my life cycle, where my body will say: the time of bearing and raising children, of ‘bringing life into the world’, has completed and now it is time to nurture and care for others in a different way to:

Support them to take responsibility for the quality of life they are building, knowing that this quality is what they will take with them into their next life.

It is very beautiful to be reminded that women bring life into the world and later support life to leave the world too. I don’t have children but nonetheless children have always been and still are around me in my day-to-day life. Mothering is a quality I have expressed with children and others – it is a part of how my body impulses me to relate to the world as a woman.

EVERYTHING HAS ITS STAGE IN LIFE’S CYCLES Continue reading “Menopause – Not The End Of Life As I Know It” →

New Mother: To Breastfeed or Not to Breastfeed?

~ womeninlivingness ~ 2 Comments

by Nicole Serafin, Tintenbar, Australia

I recently gave birth to my second child. I also have a 5 year old daughter whom I breastfed and then progressed onto solids when she was ready. Our son is also breastfed but has a much bigger appetite than our daughter and I decided to include some formula feeds. Formula never entered into the equation with our daughter, but with our son it has been a completely different experience. Of course, breastfeeding is pushed by many midwives and a lot of mothers, but some women are not as lucky and for one reason or another are unable to, or choose not to, breastfeed.

I have felt the inadequacy that some women face from this – it is huge, and so wrong and unnecessary.

I did not think that I had an issue with formula or not breastfeeding. I had been lucky with both of our children and was able to breastfeed them both without any problems, so I never had to consider any other options. When it came time to give our son formula in place of one of his feeds, I could feel myself begin to question if what I was doing was the right thing, if I should really do it, or should I just keep feeding every 2 hours and wait until he began to wean himself? Continue reading “New Mother: To Breastfeed or Not to Breastfeed?” →

True Nurturing – The Way I Return to Me

~ womeninlivingness

by Adrienne Ryan, Brisbane, Australia

I went to a presentation for women today hosted by Jenny Ellis and Mary Louise Myers from Universal Medicine. What was shared there about ‘True Nurturing’ inspired me deeply…

Nurturing is something I had begun to invest in by taking time to be attentive to what was needed to support me throughout my day. Before this, I can see how my way of life was designed to waste no time: a 2 minute shower, 5 minute dressed and ready to go, multi-task my way through many things at once, not wasting time painting my nails or spending too much time on my hair or paying too much attention to what to wear on an ‘ordinary’ day, and so on. In all this speedy efficiency there was no quality time, no space for just enjoying being with me – it was all about ‘moving on’, ‘getting things done’, ‘not holding other people up’, or ‘not taking up too much of their time or space’ and certainly not indulging in any perceived self-absorbed frivolous-ness or girlie-ness – these were just big unnecessary, indulgent, time wasters.

But today things are different. I have come to love making time to take my time getting ready for the day, tenderly and lovingly looking after myself, enjoying putting on makeup and clothes that highlight (not hide) my beauty and womanliness. I make time to take my time now, and because I do I get to enjoy the feeling of me – the loveliness that is within me – and I notice that I don’t want to brush this off, dismiss, diminish, play it down, reject or deny my innate preciousness anymore. Instead I want to honour it, embrace it and confirm the truth of it: I am worth TIME.

Today at the Brisbane Women’s Presentation I discovered Continue reading “True Nurturing – The Way I Return to Me” →