| This week I have been mostly in Manchester making a show (updates to be found over at my instagram!), and feeling full up with gratitude having returned from that wonderful job in the South of Portugal with one glorious painter, costume maker & artist (again lots of which can be seen over at my insta and facebook accounts… and more soon!) That week brought up a lot too… In a small town in South Portugal, two mixed heritage women made art (combining paint & movement). And in that week, we were also mansplained by the white men of Tavira (most of them were not Portuguese though!) on spirituality, on art, and on culture! And I got to thinking about voice… about herstory and when and where and how women’s voices and women of the global majority’s voices are heard (or not heard) I reflected on what ‘battles’ are the best ones to fight? About whether those ‘battles’ could be ‘won’ without raising a voice? Or spoken from heart and compassion? About whether they are ‘battles’ in the first place or if that too is a conditioning from a patriarchal system? I thought about how ‘battles’ could be opportunities for growth, catalysts for change (even in a small town like Tavira), and how they could also become distractions from the bigger picture and focus (like the why and the what we were there to create in the first place)… I also felt deeply how my values are embedded in my being now I have a daily choice about them, and I felt proud for that, and for finding my way, (still with anger bubbling up yes, but also with love) And naturally, this all ended up coming out in our conversations over freshly squeezed from the land lemonade (because I am a Goddxx at making lemonade did you know?), in our art, and later in conversations with my Wheel of Consent circle (that became a catalyst for a whole cycle of new realisations around showing up, the concept of taking (doing something ’for me’) and unlearning around why and how we use our voice. And most of all, it showed up in my writing for my new edition of Journal to Joy which I can’t wait to share with you very soon! That week inspired me to get Layla Saad’s workbook back out and remember her so powerful words around white supremacy that (probably as a result of my own beliefs and conditioning) weren’t available to me at the time. And it inspired me to put together a few resources on voice that I think are essential in times of mansplaining & for our own journey of unlearning and true expression! So here are this weeks offerings; 1.Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad 2.Waking the Tiger Healing Trauma by Pete 3.r LevineSay What You Mean, by Oren Jay Sofer & Joseph Goldstein 4.The awakened woman by Terarai Trent 5.An invite to our writing circle to come and write out what you need release 6.A Mooji invitation for contemplation 7.And an invite to sign up for my 7 values 7 layers task to honour and embed your values deeply within your being (sign up for the next session here) These are invitations: there is no ‘should’ or ‘shouldn’t’ or ‘way’ or ‘when’ to use them. If these invites spark joy/feel true/give you the creative tension (or if they make you sleepy because they are too close to the truth), then I invite you to dive in and check out at least one of those links and block off some time to take care of yourself this month, because the world needs your magic goddxx! What are your thoughts beautiful one? |