Releasing Ideals and Opening up to the Natural Beauty of the True Woman within Me

~ womeninlivingness

by Nicole Serafin, Tintenbar, Australia

Growing up in a house with my two male cousins – one a little older than me, and the other a little younger – created an interesting dynamic for me as a girl, let alone when I started going through my teenage years and into puberty…

My parents treated us all equally. We went to the same school, had the same friends, went on holidays together and were all very close, wanting to do things together all the time… which in most cases was fine, but in some I found it wasn’t. Not because we didn’t want to, but because we weren’t always allowed. I began to find that the boys were treated differently to myself, often being able to go places and do things that I also wanted to do, but because I was a girl I was told it was not safe or just not ‘the done thing’. It didn’t take me long to realise this notion was the case in most situations, and also held in the world.

I began to notice that the boys were always allowed to do more activities – such as play more sports and go out to places that I was not able to go – even when I had been the same age. Society ‘told me’ that I was a girl and “girls did not do those sorts of things”. However, when or if I ever got hurt, felt vulnerable or expressed any kind of fragility, I was expected to “get over it and toughen up” like the boys. There was never any room or time for tears or feelings. It seemed I was supposed to be able to ‘tough it out’ as they say, but also when it suited I was to be a girl. I remember feeling and finding this extremely confusing. Continue reading “Releasing Ideals and Opening up to the Natural Beauty of the True Woman within Me” →

From Rip Cord Effect to True Love

~ womeninlivingness

My friends and I would often joke about the ‘rip cord effect’; when a woman gets married and then pulls the cord, like on a life vest, and ‘poof!’ – instantly she puffs out, putting on weight. My partner has also joked to me about this, but I could feel that it was from a genuine concern or fear that this would happen to me. I pondered on this more deeply, seeing it in my mother, and I reflected on times when I had put on weight in relationships, or ‘let myself go’.

In my teenage years and as a young adult I grew up not living as the lovely girl or gorgeous woman that deep down I felt I was. Living in such a way felt empty or bottomless… not living in the stillness and preciousness that I could feel myself to truly be. Somewhere along the line I was taught, shown or told that I could be this lovely woman when I had a man, got married and / or had children. So in my head I thought that if I had a man beside me, or became a wife or mother, I would no longer feel the empty and desperate feeling within. I then spent a greater portion of my life driving or pushing very hard to get a man and kids; I lost myself completely because every choice was based on what would enable me to reach my goal. Continue reading “From Rip Cord Effect to True Love” →

Something Beautiful Part 2 – My Unfolding and Learning to Be All of Me in a Relationship with a Man

~ womeninlivingness

by Johanna Smith, Perth WA

It just so happens that since initially writing Blog Part 1… a man came into my life. We initially enjoyed a short but fairly committed and serious relationship.

We came from different backgrounds  so at times there was a language and cultural barrier. Also, how we had been raised since childhood, and all the ideals and beliefs we used to get us through life came between us at times. These would show themselves as ‘issues’ that we could both see as something to work through.

I found this man to be open to the way I treat myself and the way I have today chosen to live – with care, respect, tenderness and love for myself. I found him to be gentle with me, understanding, simple, caring, considerate and supportive – with the ability to sit and talk with me, and listen… but most of all I found him to have been willing. Willing to work on a relationship which was more honest and true (a true relationship) to that which he and I had experienced before in our independent pasts. And we both had to work out what that was along the way for us. For me, it had been (and still today is) ‘me being all of me in a relationship’ – (something which continues to unfold in discovering how that actually looks and feels on a practical level, with all the daily activities such as work, chores, kids etc.). Continue reading “Something Beautiful Part 2 – My Unfolding and Learning to Be All of Me in a Relationship with a Man” →

Something Beautiful Part 1 – My Unfolding and Being All of Me with a Man

~ womeninlivingness

Johanna Smith, Perth WA 

I am currently 34 years old, and from the ages of 15-28 have been in long-term relationships. Literally as 1, 2, 3 or 4 year length relationships ended, there was another one (the next day or two) knocking on my door ready to begin… and I always took it! I liked the exciting-ness of it all; the feeling that someone was interested in me and all that went with it… until the not so pretty themes would raise their head, and similar issues or patterns would come out in each relationship. Then, it wasn’t so much fun. However, I seemingly kept myself in the illusion that “I was doing OK”, as I told myself that this one (this relationship, man or ‘catch’) is better than the last. Continue reading “Something Beautiful Part 1 – My Unfolding and Being All of Me with a Man” →

From Russia, With Love

~ womeninlivingness

 by Elena Light, London, UK

I was contracted for so long… And I cannot be any more.

That’s what I felt for very long while reading sensible and beautiful posts of other women. I can relate to everything everyone wrote, some more than others, even though sometimes I need to keep my dictionary nearby.

I grow up in the Soviet Union with centuries old believes about women, men and relationships. In that society was absolutely normal to live with a drinking man if he doesn’t beat his wife. If he does drink and abuses but brings money and ‘loves’ her and children it still would be better than being alone. There was, and still is, saying “not the best but my own”. And being married is absolute MUST.

From my early years I saw my grandmother being very patient with her husband drinking; my mother had two husbands, both alcoholics and violent. So from this age my idea of love was patience and sacrifice. Continue reading “From Russia, With Love” →

My Hot Date

~ womeninlivingness

About a year ago it became very clear that I needed to upgrade my bed mattress and my couch. There wasn’t anything structurally or practically wrong with them, but over the last few years I had let go of a lot of hardness in my body, so both my mattress and couch now felt too hard and it was clear that it was time to step up to the next level of love that my body was calling out for.

Now, I was raised in a family that didn’t have much money and so we had very little to spend on ourselves. Watching my father was how I learnt to unashamedly bargain, so in later years when I wanted to be frugal with my money, that was easy for me. So growing up and spending money on things for me was quite new.

In my 20’s I was mad on game shows and did quite well, winning lots of great prizes. The $5,000 worth of Stanley Rogers cutlery sets was one of them that sat in my cupboard for over 10 years, because in my eyes they were just too good and expensive for my house rental. But then one day I began to question… was I not equally as precious? And finally about 2 years ago, out they came to grace my cutlery draw. Continue reading “My Hot Date” →

My Period, Pain, Depression & Endometriosis: Supported by Esoteric Breast Massage

~ womeninlivingness

by Rowena Stewart, Somerset, UK

The initial elation at beginning my menstruation at 13 soon evaporated as month after month brought increasing pain. To begin with I could just about tolerate it. As I grew older I started to take paracetamol to control the pain, but as this was only a management strategy things got steadily worse. Eventually I would prepare for each period with paranoid dread, always making sure I had a huge stock of painkillers to see me through, often taking time off school and in later years, days off work, in order to cope with the pain. Looking back on it now, it seems odd that no-one in my family considered this to be abnormal or sought any professional advice. It was just considered to be bad luck and to me, an unavoidable curse that was destined to continue month in, month out, year after year for the rest of my fertile life. Continue reading “My Period, Pain, Depression & Endometriosis: Supported by Esoteric Breast Massage” →

Lessons on Healing and Truth from Pinocchio

~ womeninlivingness

by Deborah Savran, United States

When I was a very young child my father owned a bookstore. Being in a literature-focussed family I was used to having and reading many picture books on my shelves. Of all the stories, none compared to that of Pinocchio. I wanted to read this book every day and night, and over years I drew and painted a plethora of Pinocchio-themed art, and even named my two favorite dolls Pinocchio and Jiminy Cricket! I never lost my connection to this story. One of the lessons in it – that our body’s messages are never in truth ‘curse’, but instead can be blessings that help us return to truth – is something that I have finally come to understand.

Earlier this year I heard Serge Benhayon, founder of Universal Medicine, mention the story of Pinocchio and I started to feel that for me it was a story full of whole truths, and this brought me to tears. Of course! How much sense it made that as a young child I had so strongly aligned to this story – a story that talked about returning and choosing to be who we truly are; a story about taking responsibility and about how our choices transform our lives and those around us; about a person whose body would give him a big message via his nose growing when he was not being honest…   Continue reading “Lessons on Healing and Truth from Pinocchio” →

Our Cycles – Period and Full Moon Diary

~ womeninlivingness

by Sara Harris BHSc, Cert. NFE, Melbourne, Australia

To meet with women is a very beautiful thing – there is something very ancient about gathering and being together to support one another.

Recently, this February, we had a gathering such as this in Melbourne. It was a presentation for women titled: “Nurturing the Woman Within: Reclaiming Your Natural Rhythm within our Modern Times” presented to us by Natalie Benhayon.

This presentation was also the launch of a new ‘tool’ that is now available as an App from iTunes called ‘Our Cycles – Period and Full Moon Diary’. The creation of this app and what we can use it for is nothing less than revolutionary. We now have the opportunity to record our period, menopause and full moon cycles in great depth, all at the convenience of our finger-tips! Continue reading “Our Cycles – Period and Full Moon Diary” →

Becoming a Mother – Feeling your Way and not Losing the Woman

~ womeninlivingness ~ 1 Comment

by Kylie Kennedy, BA Psyc Sci and Dip Counselling, Australia

Feeling your way

Becoming a mother was something I chose two years ago when I became pregnant. But what does it mean to become a mum?

During my pregnancy I was confronted with so much literature, opinions, beliefs, morals and judgements about parenthood from books, professionals, friends, family: basically, everyone and everything had an opinion on what being a mum is all about. The amount of information that came my way was overwhelming. What I found was that there was such a force bombarding me with the ‘should’ and the ‘how to’ be a mum, at times it felt like I was drowning and gasping for air. I had to keep reminding myself to feel into what being a mum is all about. The truth is, we can give our power away to the information and the opinions of others. Continue reading “Becoming a Mother – Feeling your Way and not Losing the Woman” →