Posts on Women’s Voice & Power:
6 Words that Change Everything
You get to be 100% yourself, 100% of the time! It's true: this is 10 words (plus the two %-signs). I'm getting to the...
Everything You Need
In the midst of life's ups and down, I am grateful for that which is steady, familiar, and comfortable. I haven't...
It’s a relief to tell the truth.
"It’s a relief to speak the truth. I don’t have to pretend." ~ Karen Maezen Miller My thoughts about truth-telling are...
About Being Ordinary
The desire, temptation, and lure to live an extraordinary life is strong; to figure out our “one thing;” to do,...
About South Stars
I was talking with a client a few weeks back who can honestly and confidently state that she is strong and powerful...
Rebellion as a Spiritual Practice
Most if not all of us battle with the tension between our own desires, our deep sense of what’s most true, our certain...
About Being In Control
A few weeks back I was in a place I haven’t been for two-plus years: wearing a lavalier mic, standing in front of a...
I am NOT the Crazy One!
No big surprise: I love books! A ton of them are on my Kindle and most of the time I’m good with reading the “virtual”...
About My Book
It feels WAY too far away to actually talk about, let alone celebrate, but still, I’m naming it: On 10.3.23 my book...
Saying “no” (out loud) to shame
I’ve been thinking about shame a lot lately. I know it’s showing up because in the seemingly-endless writing/editing...
“I’m so proud of you!”
I have had conversations with clients in past weeks where a sense of self-pride showed up . . . and then was...
For Days of Self-Loathing
I came across a poem a few weeks back by Nikita Gill. The corner of the page was folded down — evidence that I’d read...
damned if you do and damned if you don’t
I have had numerous conversations with clients in past weeks about the "damned if you do and damned if you don’t"...
About “someday”
You know of Lizzo, yes? Her music, her recent show on Amazon — Watch Out For the Big Grrrls, her incredible voice as a...
Stepping Into Fear
Every so often, when you’ve come into fear, you’ve walked away. What if today you held that tremble, and stepped into...
About the quiet and silence.
So often, I talk about a woman’s voice and courage and sovereignty. Yours. Mine. Ours. It matters. It is what I’m...
About the Ocean and Anguish
I’ve spent a lot of time at the beach lately. As soon as we arrive, my 9-year-old niece Grace, runs to the water, her...
About Bridgerton & Romance Novels
A couple years back I devoured every novel in Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton series within a matter of weeks — far before I...
About Being an Outlaw
Yes, about being an outlaw...but also archetypes and exhaustion and self-care and then some. The dictionary defines an...
Not practicing what I preach
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about my desire. No. That’s not quite true. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about my...
All the wisdom you’ll ever need…
I recently (re)watched The Matrix. It’s one of my favorites, to be sure. Even so, I’d forgotten about the Oracle....
What Matters in a Broken World?
I’ve been sitting with a particular question lately that haunts me, in many ways: How are we to make sense of our...
About peanut butter, shame, and old stories
I was journaling the other morning and flashed on a memory from close to 50 years ago… I snuck into the kitchen when I...
1 quote and 3 (tiny) topics
The Quote: Re-vision–the act of looking back, of seeing with fresh eyes, of entering an old text from a new, critical...
About Ukraine (and a woman’s anger)
My predominant emotion related to the war on Ukraine is anger. Which then begs a few questions: What am I to do with...
About hearing voices…
Yes, let’s talk about hearing voices…And (just a bit) about RAISING our voices and being countercultural! Over the...
About NOT living a conventional life
“Most of us live conventional lives. We want to avoid the discomforts that arise from complications. But the full,...
Telling Your Truth (and being a volcano)
I find it fascinating (and frustrating) that as children we are taught lying is definitely not OK. Ironically, as...
About unexpected change and then some
I didn’t expect to move from Washington to North Carolina 2 months ago. The prospect didn’t even enter my conscious...
5 Ways to Have the Life you Desire
Here’s the quick version of this post: Hold fast to what you most desire. Name what you want. Acknowledge what’s bound...
The Voices in Your Head
As women, there are times in which we are nearly overwhelmed by the voices in our head, the subtle and less-so...
Wisdom from Dr. Sharon
I came across a Facebook post by Brene Brown a few weeks back. She was talking about her recent conversation with...
3 Ways to be Determined & Wise
There’s an ancient, sacred story told of a woman who had the capacity to influence a man of power, who was adamant...
Why I Left My Corporate Job
My thoughts on fear, courage, and being an entrepreneur. In January of 2018 I left my 10-year-old online business for...
3 ways to be fear-defying in writing and life
When I look back over 17 years of blogging, here’s what stands out to me: My voice has fluctuated, depending on the...
How Courage is like Ballroom Dancing
My favorite movie of all time is Strictly Ballroom. It’s an Australian film from 1992. Quirky. Hilarious. Endearing....
About Courage & American Ninja Warrior
I do not know how to explain why I love American Ninja Warrior. My youngest daughter and I started watching it a few...
Does it feel costly to be yourself?
Let's be honest: it does feel costly to be ourselves. Maybe not all of the time, but certainly in some relationships,...
Acknowledging the Choices that are Ours
I received a frantic call from one of my daughters a month or so ago. She was in a desperate state, I was scrambling...
See yourself as a miracle
When I was 8 or 9, my newborn sister went into the hospital. I don’t remember the details. I don’t remember ever...
How to Trust Your Inner Wisdom
I could offer you a whole bunch of reasons why you can and should trust your wisdom, why it’s reliable, why it’s...
4 Way to Hear Your Own Wisdom
It’s taken me years (and years and years) to acknowledge that I had wisdom that was uniquely, distinctly mine, let...
Remember Who You Are
I talk about sovereignty all the time. It’s a program I offer. But more than all else, it’s a reality, a truth, that I...
The Voices in Your Head
Maybe it's only me, but no matter how long it's been since some of my less-than-stellar stories took place, I still...
The Power of Childhood Stories
We rarely give a second thought to the stories of our childhood. Fairytales, religious myths, favorite books, legend,...
Your Wild Voice Within
...the shadow of Wild Woman still lurks behind us during our days and in our nights. No matter where we are, the...
No imagination required…
There’s a story I love to tell of a mostly unknown woman named Jael. She singlehandedly won a huge battle for a whole...
The struggle that IS worthwhile
I love Leo Tolstoy’s opening line in Anna Karenina: “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in...
Smart. Responsible. Steadfast. (Or not…)
Smart.Responsible.Steadfast. These three are jailer’s cell.A clanking of keys;lockstep required. They demand,silence,...
The Divide between Silence and Speaking
Jan Richardson, one of my all time favorite writers and poets, has a poem called Having Taken the Fruit. Here are the...
6 Ways to Access Your Inner Wisdom
It’s taken me a lifetime to learn that I can trust myself and my own knowing instead of needing to rely on external...
Choosing others’ comfort OR choosing self
I have a library of personal stories in which I let others' needs demands overrule my own. I'm not proud of them,...
Amelia Earhart. Agency. Taking action.
Amelia Mary Earhart was born July 24, 1897. In her short life, she was the first female aviator to fly solo across the...
Wisdom does as Wisdom says
Women hold all the wisdom they could ever need, that the planet could ever need, that the world so desperately needs....
Hearing Voices
I am neck-deep in manuscript-writing these days. This book, my book, this thing I've been nurturing and holding and...
A late-night text
I’ve been thinking about the wisdom that has shaped much of my life. I’m grateful for some of it, to be sure. There’s...
What’s left on the cutting room floor?
Each morning, lately, I have been reading from a book with 365 reflections. Some I resonate with; others, not so much....
Choose life – and life – and life
There is an ancient story told of a woman who did not waver when the situation demanded swift (and brilliant) action....
The how-to’s of being “big”
In my last post I named the ways in which we have transmuted being small into our very DNA. This is not the kind of...
Unraveling “small” on behalf of “big”
We must learn to be big in a way we’ve never been big - we must claim our right to take up space, to say our words, to...
Go Deeper Still, Still…
(I first published this post on 12/31/14. It seems to me to be as relevant as ever.) Go deeper still... You already...
If we could have coffee together…
If you and I were sitting across from each other, sipping coffee, it would be inevitable that eventually I would tell...
Remember who you are
I was in a queer mood, thinking myself very old; but now I am a woman again – as I always am when I write. I love this...
She was a voice
I ordered and read The Book of Longings last week. Written by Sue Monk Kidd, author of The Secret Life of Bees and...
Militancy + Hope + Desire
(A Sunday Sermon, of sorts - even though it's not a Sunday...) To refuse to participate in the shaping of our future...
A crossroad, a cliff’s edge, & decisions
Over a lifetime, we find ourselves at crossroads: a relationship, a marriage, a divorce, a career decision, a location...
Retrieving the Fragments
Although women’s words have been censored or eliminated from much of [our] heritage, in the midst of the pain of...
The you you know best
Who would you be if you didn’t hold back? If all your power, compassion, love, and strength roared into any room, any...
Believing the Voice Within You
A voice dwells within you that can be trusted, that longs to be listened to, that consistently speaks truth. I...
Stories that Still Speak
I’ve been awake for hours. Christmas tree lights on. Coffee made. Fire lit. Snuggled up on the couch. Laptop on. I’ve...
You’re Allowed to Run
It is excruciating to be the victim of someone’s scorn, passive-aggressive behavior, or blatant harm. All of us have...
3 Verses and a Refrain
Verse #1: There is good news. Nothing about you is broken. Nothing about you is wrong. Nothing about you needs fixing...
4 Takeaways that Matter
I spend countless hours in the midst of the ancient, sacred stories of women - wanting and wondering how to tell them,...
I’m right about this…
Chances are pretty high that if your desire is strong enough, acute enough, and impossible to dissuade, others will...
When Things Don’t Go as Planned
I’ve been thinking a lot, even more than I normally do, about my daughters. About the trials and tribulations that, by...
As 2018 begins…
Rebecca Solnit has written a book called, The Mother of All Questions: Further Reports from the Feminist Revolutions –...
These Stories Still Speak
I’ve been awake since 4:30 this morning. Uncharacteristically, instead of lying in bed and trying to tame my...
12 Years of Blogging
I find it almost impossible to believe that 12 years have passed since I meekly created a WordPress site and began...
The deep and ever-present wisdom…
HEARING VOICES We all have at least one – often a legion of them. They speak when we least want them to. They show up...
Women Joining & Healing
I feel like I am drowning in a sea of opinions, disasters, tragedies, trauma, harm, violence, and misunderstanding –...
My Inner Critic = The Patriarchy
I was recently organizing files on my computer (something I do when I intend to write, but instead find busy work…)...
Charlottesville
I feel a heavy, collective shame. I feel stuck, trapped even, between not knowing what to say or what to do and...
Why do you write?
"Why do you write?" was a question recently asked of me. Here’s my answer: I write because it is the space in which I...
Sacred Conversation with Your Heart – #6
Today concludes this 6-part series on (Sacred) Conversation with your Heart. I am hopeful, though, that it is just the...
Sacred Conversation with Your Heart – #5
We’re moving toward the end of this 6-part series. I am hopeful it has done your heart good – especially given that...
My Left-Hand Side
I did a quick mapping of my body the other day. Here’s what I discovered – from top tobottom: Many mornings, I wake up...
Somewhere between Kali and Jesus
I am Kali Ma.I stick my tongue out of my once silent lips.These eyes, no longer mild,Are furious daggers of fire.~ a...
Nevertheless, we persist!
On Tuesday, February 7, 2017, Senator Elizabeth Warren began to read a letter Coretta Scott King wrote in 1986 that...
For now. Not forever.
I have felt more like a passive observer, than riled-up revolutionary since Donald Trump became president. Yes, I...
Goodbye, Twitter
I cancelled and closed my Twitter account last week. I’m almost hesitant to mention it; it was so undramatic But...
Yes, yesterday. Now what?
Yesterday, November 9, 2016, I did all the things I always do: I made coffee. I journaled. I gave my daughter a hug...
About Fall, Writing, and Letting Go
Never say there is nothing beautiful in the world anymore. There is always something to make you wonder in the shape...
In line at Starbucks…
Although women’s words have been censored or eliminated from much of our heritage, in the midst of the pain of...
So, I’ve written a book…
The subtitle is “A Braided Essay on Women and Silence and Shame.” And it’s published, printed, physical, able to be...
My Three-Graces Season
I went in search of Renaissance art today, remembering that there was a particular period in which women’s bodies were...
Bloodline
What if you claimed your legacy, your inheritance, your very bloodline? As a daughter of Eve – the best Eve, the...
Handless Maidens and then some…
Two weeks ago I spent 6 days in the coveted presence of Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes. There were probably about 100 of...
Where the Women Gather (and why)
How might your life have been different if there had been a place for you? A place for you to go ... a place of women,...
Not seeing the forest for the trees (yet)
I don’t know about you, but when I read or hear the stories of amazing women (which is ALL the time), I have the...
It’s all going to end badly
A few weeks ago, while talking to my therapist, I mentioned my ongoing and haunting hunch that the archetype of the...
The New Colossus
By Tanya Geisler For the last two years, I’ve been writing with a group of amazing women writers. Each week we...
Orlando: 2 words that matter
Yesterday morning my daughter told me about the mass-shooting in Orlando. I had no words other than “I’m so sorry” and...
A Woman’s Story
There is an ancient, sacred story told of a woman who was prophetess and judge. No other story like hers exists in all...
Why didn’t you just say so?
I’ve been binge-watching The Newsroom for the past week. This morning I woke up far too early for a weekend-day....
Desire for Desire’s Sake
Desire is a tricky thing. To desire feels dangerous because we might not get what we want (and disappointment seems...
The Scent of a Woman
I’m not sure how he knew to gift me with perfume, this particular perfume – this man I’d been dating only 6 months. I...
What if you didn’t hold back?
Who would you be if you didn’t hold back? If all your power, compassion, love, and strength roared into any room, any...
Boom-Boom, Boom-Boom
I often listen to podcasts in the morning. Out of the shower, getting ready for my day. Today’s didn’t really offer...
Tidings of Great Joy
It’s an early evening in December, 1966. I am six years old, standing on a stage, proudly fulfilling the prestigious...
A woman’s heart = experiencing God
From the beginning of time we have been asking questions about the Divine. The form, complexity, and context of the...
A Woman’s Fight
There’s an old, old story told of the patriarch, Jacob, who wrestled through the night with an angel-man, the Divine,...
What a Healed Woman Sounds Like
Once upon a time there was a woman who had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding. She had been treated by...
Using a Pseudonym
I’ve been wondering lately what I would write if I had a pseudonym, if I wrote with some super-secret name. Countless...
Make your mark!
Stop listening to the insipid internal and external voices that tell you you’re inconsequential, that you don’t really...
Sometimes the best choice is to RUN!
It is excruciating to be the victim of someone’s scorn, passive-aggressive behavior, or blatant harm. I’ve heard so...
Letting Go is NOT Falling Apart
A wise woman tells me she gets this strong sense that I am unable to really let go; like I’m afraid of letting my hair...
The Wild Voice Within
There is a voice within that says more and edits less. It digs deep and dives down. It is impossible to embarrass and...
Channeling Etta James
It’s just before 7:00 on Friday night. I sit in the high school auditorium, about the fifth row from the front, and...
Telling Myself (no more) Lies
I have recently uncovered an interesting belief I hold within. It’s not pleasant. And frankly, I’m not all that crazy...
The Day I Spoke Up in Class
For most of my life I’ve been a rule-follower. I am really good at figuring out what’s expected and then never...
Living in the in-between
Once upon a time, long before women had volition or will as to who they married, a search commenced for the perfect...
I am not shocked by you.
There’s a story I love to tell of a mostly unknown woman who singlehandedly won a huge battle for a whole tribe of...
The Stunning Story that is Yours
I see the tears behind your eyes. I know about the lump in your throat. I hear the thoughts that swirl in your mind....
Chances are…
Chances are pretty high that if your desire is strong enough, acute enough, and impossible to dissuade, others will...
A poem. Some story. Lots of truth.
“Please understand me!”she cried.An impossible premisean impossible promiseimpossible, period. She cried“Please...
Get Out of that Kitchen!
There is an ancient sacred story told of two sisters – Mary and Martha. It goes as follows: As Jesus and the disciples...
This is why these stories matter!
My on-again-off-again spiritual practice is to read one of the ancient, sacred stories I sometimes so love and then...
How to usher in the gods.
While at the movie theater last night, I sat enthralled through the trailer for Exodus: Gods and Kings. Out this...
The perfect way to stop a woman.
"I’ve seen women insist on cleaning everything in the house before they could sit down to write.... and you know it’s...
Open the door. No matter what.
Same thoughts. Same frustrations. Same choices. Different day. To open the door, or not... Your hand trembles on the...
3 Verses on Truth and a Refrain
Verse #1: There is good news. Nothing about you is broken. Nothing about you is wrong. Nothing about you needs foxing...
Maybe it’s (not) only me
Maybe this sounds familiar: You are in conversation with someone. As they are talking you hear another entire...
Speak your mind. Tell your truth.
She felt as though her life was some kind of hellish test; as though the universe was conspiring against her; like the...
The other woman
Every once in a while, out of the corner of my eye, I glimpse the other woman. She looks so much like me, but wilder...
Holding my Breath.
I’ve been holding my breath lately. It’s a trying season as a mom. I feel heartache over a relationship’s end. And,...
I Am A Medial Woman
The Medial Woman...is a representation of the strong-sighted and deep-hearted self who lives simultaneously in the...
Go Into the Darkness.
Gazing into the mirror, I saw myself as I was – a black silhouette in the room, a woman whose darkness had completely...
Who would you be if you didn’t hold back?
Who would you be if you didn’t hold back? If all your power, compassion, love, and strength roared into any room, any...
A letter to myself
Dear Me: Exhaustion. I see it. It’s down deep, far beneath the surface. A weariness that comes from holding on to your...
Letting Silence Speak
I can feel the silence within me. It is deep, strong, dark, passionate, swirling, boiling, pulsing. A witch’s caldron....
For such a time as this.
Sometimes if not oftentimes, the circumstances in which you find yourself are the last ones you want. You look around...
The 3 Secrets of the Gifted Soul
“Since you were born gifted, you will never lead an ordinary life.” “Eccentricity is the first sign of giftedness. You...
Standing Ground & Donning Crown
Yes, standing your ground and donning your crown. Or...maybe choosing to remove it altogether! Once upon a time – or...
Transforming Your Story (Part 3)
Transforming Your Story – The “How” Part 3 of a series. 12 posts scattered throughout 2014 on Transforming Your Story....
The only piece of wisdom you will ever need
I (re)watched The Matrix a few nights back. I hadn’t seen it for years and it was even better than I remembered....
What I know for sure (about women)
What I know for sure about women; about us: When I read the ancient, sacred stories of women I am ever-finding...
Expressing profound grief & fierce loss
There is an ancient story told of a widow whose only son died. With him went her last semblance of family, belonging,...
Speak the language women speak.
“We must learn to speak the language women speak when there is no one there to correct us.” ~ Helene Cixous You know...
Because I Am Older
I could talk about what I have learned these past 53 years, about how my body doesn’t move or respond quite the way it...
Transforming Your Story (Part 2)
Did you miss Part 1? Click here. Today, Part 2: Why would you want to Transform Your Story? When I say “Transform Your...