Honest Yoga
“She needed
a superhero so she became one”.
How do we, as women, in this society become our
own superhero? How do we break free from the imagined idea that we need someone,
typically a man, to save us? From what or from whom do we need saving?
Becoming a superhero
to save others sounds very altruistic but I couldn’t begin to think of how to
save others because I needed to be saved. I had already tried getting my mom,
my husband, my friends, my job to save me and that really wasn’t working out
the way I had expected. When all those options failed I realized I needed to become
my own superhero! AWESOME!!! What now?
The first
step in change is becoming aware. Awareness is a gift and when you are able to
step back, look at the cycle of choice/consequence and measure that against
what your ‘ideal’ life looks like, you will notice some disparities.
I can’t
identify my turning point because I believe it is now irrelevant. I do know I
was miserable. I felt empty and deprived. I felt a deep yearning in my Spirit
for something, anything bigger and better than the small cramped life I was
living.
I realized I
needed to be saved from myself, from my anger and my overwhelming fear of
everything. I was a sad, sorry young woman. I acted out in self-destructive
ways. My actions were impacting my family, my friends, and my marriage.
I knew I was
a good person but my actions weren’t always good. How could I begin to bring
those two concepts into harmony, into alignment? I initially changed my
behavior in order to change my consequences. I soon realized that I found peace
in my new actions and thought less and less of the outcome.
The
interesting thing about awareness is that it spirals up and out, perhaps in all
directions. Once I realized I wanted change I began to change then I realized I
enjoyed the feeling of change and I changed even more.
The Buddha
talks about liberation and transformation like the opening of a lotus, Shrek
talks about the self as an onion. The truth is found in each petal as the lotus
opens and between each layer of the onion skin as it is peeled away. Transformation
is a powerful process and we can experience growth in so many ways.
I believe a
hero is someone who overcomes seemingly insurmountable odds and perseveres,
succeeds even when they seem to fail. A superhero remains true to the
betterment of Self before they can be anyone else’s superhero. “She needed a
superhero so she became one”. I believe she was already a superhero and didn’t
recognize the costume.
Namaste
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