This poem invites you to look upon yourself with loving
kindness…
Gazing at your own true reflection,
you will discover that everything you have longed for “out there” is already
within you!
I invite you to love your creativity
fiercely. Faithfully plant seeds, allowing under-the-ground dormant seasons,
nurturing your creative garden with love and gratitude. In the fullness of
time, the green growing things thrust forth from the ground. It's a faithful,
trustworthy process. AND it takes time and patience.
Blessed is the fruit of
your creative womb!
I invite you to trust your vision of the
world and express it. With wonder and delight, paint a picture, create a dance,
write a book, and make up a song. To give expression to your creative impulses
is as natural as your breathing. Create in your own language, imagery, and
movement. Follow no script. Do not be limited by the customary way things have
been expressed. Your creative intuition is original.
Gather all of life into your inner
crucible, mix it with your unique vision and experience, and produce an
original creation. Refuse to color inside someone else's lines. The originality
of the universe pulsates through you!
It is my prayer that you will
accept the poem’s invitation to descend into the richness of who you are,
re-claim your inner resources, and grow in knowledge and love of yourself.
Imagine a Woman I & II
by Patricia Lynn Reilly
by Patricia Lynn Reilly
Imagine a
woman who believes it is right and good she is a woman.
A woman who
honors her experience and tells her stories.
Who refuses
to carry the sins of others within her body and life.
Imagine a
woman who trusts and respects herself.
A woman
who listens to her needs and desires.
Who meets
them with tenderness and grace.
Imagine a
woman who acknowledges the past’s influence on the present.
A woman who
has walked through her past.
Who has
healed into the present.
Imagine a
woman who authors her own life.
A woman
who exerts, initiates, and moves on her own behalf.
Who refuses
to surrender except to her truest self and wisest voice.
Imagine a
woman who names her own gods.
A woman
who imagines the divine in her image and likeness.
Who designs
a personal spirituality to inform her daily life.
Imagine a
woman in love with her own body.
A woman who
believes her body is enough, just as it is.
Who
celebrates its rhythms and cycles as an exquisite resource.
Imagine a
woman who honors the body of the Goddess in her changing body.
A woman
who celebrates the accumulation of her years and her wisdom.
Who refuses
to use her life-energy disguising the changes in her body and life.
Imagine a
woman who values the women in her life.
A woman who
sits in circles of women.
Who is
reminded of the truth about herself when she forgets.
Imagine yourself as this woman.
II
Imagine a woman who is interested in her own life.
A woman who embraces her life as teacher, healer, and
challenge.
Who is grateful for the ordinary moments of beauty and
grace.
Imagine a woman who participates in her own life.
A woman who meets each challenge with creativity.
Who takes action on her own behalf with clarity and
strength.
Imagine a woman who has crafted a fully-formed solitude.
A woman who is available to herself.
Who chooses friends and lovers with the capacity to respect her
solitude.
Imagine a woman who acknowledges the full range of human
emotion.
A woman who expresses her feelings clearly and directly.
Who allows them to pass through her as naturally as the
breath.
Imagine a woman who tells the truth.
A woman who trusts her experience of the world and expresses
it.
Who refuses to defer to the perceptions, thoughts, and responses
of others.
Imagine a woman who follows her creative impulses.
A woman who produces original creations.
Who refuses to color inside someone else's lines.
Imagine a woman who has relinquished the desire for
intellectual approval.
A woman who makes a powerful statement with every action she
takes.
Who asserts to herself the right to reorder the world.
Imagine a woman who has grown in knowledge and love of
herself.
A woman who has vowed faithfulness to her own life.
Who remains loyal to herself. Regardless.
Imagine yourself as this
woman.
~
(In
1995 the “Imagine a Woman I” poem was first published in Patricia Lynn Reilly’s
book
‘A God Who Looks Like Me:
Discovering a Woman-Affirming Spirituality’.)
~If you are interested in seeing your poetry appear in this blog, or submitting a poem by a woman that has inspired you, please click here for submission guidelines. I greatly look forward to hearing from you!~
I have loved this since the first time I read it and it has stuck with me.
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