{"id":2857,"date":"2015-01-06T09:51:07","date_gmt":"2015-01-06T17:51:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/?p=2857"},"modified":"2016-02-16T14:06:01","modified_gmt":"2016-02-16T22:06:01","slug":"january-6-2015-feminine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/january-6-2015-feminine\/","title":{"rendered":"January 6, 2015 &#8211; Living &#8220;pink&#8221; &#8211; as I see it"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fcbkbttn_buttons_block\" id=\"fcbkbttn_left\"><div class=\"fcbkbttn_button\">\n                            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">\n                                <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/wp-content\/plugins\/facebook-button-plugin\/images\/standard-facebook-ico.png\" alt=\"Fb-Button\" \/>\n                            <\/a>\n                        <\/div><div class=\"fcbkbttn_like \"><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/january-6-2015-feminine\/\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\" layout=\"standard\"  width=\"225px\" size=\"small\"><\/fb:like><\/div><\/div><p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/moon-at-dawn.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-2856 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/moon-at-dawn-e1455660342953.jpg\" alt=\"moon at dawn\" width=\"600\" height=\"365\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/moon-at-dawn-e1455660342953.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/moon-at-dawn-e1455660342953-300x183.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a>Listen to this post:<\/p>\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-2857-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/20150106-Post.m4a?_=1\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/20150106-Post.m4a\">http:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/20150106-Post.m4a<\/a><\/audio>\n<p>When I first started to write these posts three months ago, fearing I\u2019d need ideas to write each week, I hunted around in my computer for things I\u2019d already written and I ran across this in an email I\u2019d sent to my friend Vicki about a year ago:<\/p>\n<p><em>My success and happiness and capacity for creativity and inventiveness and all that I want, including health and fitness and a fulfilling and fulfilled life are linked to my being a girl,\u00a0allowing myself to be supported and provided for &#8211; and to take sweet, loving care of my body, to make it a priority and feel precious and beautiful and lovely and grace-filled.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>There is a sensory field that this statement creates that I\u2019m yearning to live in &#8211; that of trusting and allowing and a quiet celebration of my femininity. <\/em><\/p>\n<p>For the past several new years, I\u2019ve come back to this as my intention \u2013 to re-orient myself at the start of the year.\u00a0 In my upbringing climbing trees with lots of boys, there wasn\u2019t much example of what it meant to be feminine.\u00a0 I would not change my early life in any way.\u00a0 It\u2019s served me to know how to really work and get stuff done.\u00a0 But, it has seemed to initiate this quest for living in another way \u2013 even when I didn\u2019t know what that way was, or at first, even that there was one.<\/p>\n<p>I see the sign posts along my way:\u00a0 I\u2019m drawn to movies like <a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0058385\/\">\u201cMy Fair Lady\u201d<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0118892\/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2\">\u201cDangerous Beauty\u201d<\/a> where the masculine\/feminine dynamic is the central theme, when life set it up so that I\u2019d have a \u201croom of my own\u201d I made it pink and soft and flowery (but not too), I was <em>immediately<\/em> drawn to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.understandmen.com\/\">Alison Armstrong<\/a> and her work when I heard her talk about what it meant to run a business and still be feminine. She has become a treasured teacher and has contributed to this evolution in me more than anyone or anything else.<\/p>\n<p>There has been a lot of talk about \u201cfeminine\u201d or \u201cfeminine power\u201d in the personal growth world in recent years.\u00a0 And, as much as there is a part of me that celebrates this, much of it has missed the mark for me \u2013 it\u2019s female-oriented, but it\u2019s still largely masculine! This has led me to define for myself what \u201cfeminine\u201d means.\u00a0 It\u2019s so much more than girly-ness, frilliness, and pink.\u00a0 It\u2019s a powerful way to be alive.\u00a0 The image that comes to me &#8211; and it\u2019s a felt image, rather than a visual image \u2013 is one of resting in a hammock.\u00a0 I\u2019m supported by the earth and gravity, at rest and at peace, trusting that all is well.\u00a0 It\u2019s a receptive space.\u00a0 I feel myself looking out from behind my own eyes without any need to change what I see, I just take it in. It\u2019s appreciative, warm and gracious.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s also responding to what comes my way, and allowing what is being created to come to life, like a pregnant woman does with her baby.\u00a0 I first started showing my art because I was invited by my friend <a href=\"http:\/\/eleanorharveyart.com\/\">Eleanor Harvey<\/a> to do Open Studios together at our church.\u00a0 And I discovered I was a teacher because of the painters who kept asking, finally dragging me out from under my fears, to share what I know about painting watercolor. What was born of this is now my life and livelihood, without my intending to.<\/p>\n<p>Through Alison\u2019s work I identified my \u201cnoble qualities:\u201d Freedom, Connection, Illumination, Trust and Loveliness. This is who I can be when I care for myself. \u00a0I felt I needed some kind of &#8220;permission&#8221; to become feminine &#8211; I had no connection between<em>\u00a0feminine<\/em> and<em> important<\/em>. \u00a0\u00a0I first needed to know that what I bring to the world from here does not just matter, but is actually what the world thirsts for.\u00a0 Because the feminine is motivated externally, I keep reminding myself that self-care is not selfishly done just for me, but for who I can be for Joe, my family and friends, the painters in my groups &#8211; for my paintings, for you.<\/p>\n<p>And it\u2019s really hard to stay here \u2013 the feminine is overshadowed in our world by the masculine \u2013 taking action, being productive, accountable \u2013 making stuff happen. I often find myself charging into my day, my life, to-do list in hand, forgetting it entirely. And now that I know of what it feels like to <em>be feminine<\/em> in this way, it\u2019s increasingly painful to do this. The sensitivity I shared last week is being revealed to me.<\/p>\n<p>Here we are at the start of a shiny, new year and I sit again with this intention. I feel tender in my desire to live feminine; I am humbled by the strength of my deep-rooted habits that keep me running right over taking care of my body and need for rest and quiet time. \u00a0I look at my year-after-year desire to live more this way and say to myself, I\u2019m <em>still<\/em> \u201chere.\u201d If I look back just a little, it\u2019s hard to see progress. But if I head back 10 or even 20 years in my life, it\u2019s clear I\u2019ve come incredibly far.<\/p>\n<p>This brings me back to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/life-stories\/october-1-2014-the-old-oak-tree\/\">my post about our old oak tree<\/a>\u00a0and its example of the long, season-after-season maturation needed to bear fruit.\u00a0 What has <em>just<\/em> been revealed to me in this <em>very<\/em> moment, is that the <em>feminine<\/em> way of becoming feminine is to just allow it, in its own time.\u00a0 It\u2019s the ingrained \u201cmake it happen\u201d in me that is having a problem with how long it\u2019s taking!\u00a0 That urgency \u2013 kept in balance &#8211; is good too, it keeps life moving along. \u00a0We need both parts.<\/p>\n<p>While writing this post, I happened to glance out the window of my studio and saw the full moon just before going out of view for the day, in the pink sky of dawn. Lovely.<\/p>\n<p>Wishing <em>you<\/em> a lovely day,<\/p>\n<p>Cara<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Listen to this post: When I first started to write these posts three months ago, fearing I\u2019d need ideas to write each week, I hunted around in my computer for things I\u2019d already written and I ran across this in an email I\u2019d sent to my friend Vicki about a year ago: My success and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life-stories"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>January 6, 2015 - Living &quot;pink&quot; 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