Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Introduction I don''t want to get to the end of my life and find that I lived just the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well. --Diane Ackerman You are whole. You are powerful. You are divine.
When you read these words do you feel the truth of them ringing in your bones? Or do you instead feel the muffling weight of self-judgment and self-doubt? Perhaps you have a deep-seated belief that you are not good enough, and as a result you have tried the exhausting process of seeking value outside of yourself throughout your life. If you don''t love and honor yourself with every fiber of your being, if you struggle with owning your power and passion, if you could use more joyful play and simple presence in your life, then it is time for an inner revolution. It is time to claim your Warrior Goddess energy. As women, we are trained to seek our wholeness and value and to find love through others. Fifty years ago, we were told a husband and children would complete us--that was about our only option. Today, what makes us worthy might be a beloved, our career, or even following a chosen spiritual path. We rarely see ourselves as perfect just the way we are. We often base our worth on who loves or doesn''t love us, if we need to lose that extra five or fifty pounds, and if we can juggle three tasks simultaneously while keeping a smile on our face.
The new women''s revolution is an evolution from being other-focused to inner-focused. When our attention is trapped by fearful shoulds, what ifs, and don''ts, we scatter our energy and struggle with knowing what is authentic for us. When we bring our attention back to discovering who we are on the inside--not who we wish we were or who we think we should be--we begin a sacred path of transformation toward our innate, authentic, embodied power. This is the path of the Warrior Goddess. Warrior energy is a combination of focus, dedication, purpose, and determination. Consciously bringing these things together gives us our power. When we harness our warrior energy we are confident, clear, and bring 100 percent of ourselves to each action. Goddess energy is our creative flow: unconditional love, pleasure, passion, and wisdom.
When we claim our goddess energy we live in joyful self-acceptance and self-respect, and we listen to our sacred inner voice. So let''s start at the beginning. The irony is that the first step on this path is not about gaining some insight or attaining a new state of being. Rather, it requires you to relinquish some things that you have been holding on to for a long, long time. On a path of transformation, you must be willing to give up your false beliefs and self- limiting stories. A story is something we tell ourselves and others to explain why we are the way we are. Our stories may be of inspiration, or woe and blame. Our stories might fill us with energy and enthusiasm, or make us feel helpless and victimized or angry and defensive.
The stories we tell that limit our expression and joy are filled with false beliefs and attachments that really do not serve us. The question to ask is this: Is my story causing internal and external drama, or is it bringing me peace and fulfillment? Those inner voices that say "I am not smart enough," "I am not pretty enough," or "I am not outgoing enough" are the false ideas that are the bedrock for the limiting belief structure we hold. Many of us have been telling ourselves these stories for so long we no longer recognize them as stories; we accept them as facts. But nothing could be further from the truth! If you are ready to stop clinging to your limitations, the first step is to let go of the belief that you are a victim or a martyr. If you view yourself as powerless and helpless, or believe you need to be something you are not to be accepted, these stories will rule your life and define your reality. It is time to remove any mask or protective shell you are hiding behind to fully experience the world. You must be willing to openhandedly release the past and surrender up the future. Most importantly, you must be willing to give up who you think you should be in favor of who you are.
Let''s get you ready to be your beautiful, powerful self. In the mythic story of the hero, a single man ventures out to find his fortune, combat evil, save a woman or two, and demonstrate his strength against all obstacles. In the modern story of the heroine Warrior Goddess, a single woman ventures out to find herself, combat fear and doubt, reclaim her power and vibrancy, and demonstrate her strength of compassion and fierce love. As twenty-first-century heroines, we have a cornucopia of obstacles to overcome and lots of demons to slay on our journey to release our true self. We live in a time when stress, self-loathing, self-abuse, and addiction are normal, and where sexual, emotional, and physical abuse are all too prevalent. And while we are blessed that our grandmothers and mothers laid a pathway for women''s liberation and personal freedom in the outside world by fighting for things like the right to vote, equal treatment at the workplace, and so on, many of us are still chained by trying to live up to standards, beliefs, and ideals that are not our own. Warrior Goddess Training is about finding out who you really are and what you really want, and, armed with that knowledge, creating an external reality that authentically matches who you are on the inside. As authors Carrie McCarthy and Danielle LaPorte write in their book, Style Statements , life starts to get problematically dull when we fail to look within, when we lose touch with our own sense of what feels right or wrong.
When we feed our- selves a diet of ideas about success and happiness that other people have cooked up, then our genuine character begins to starve and we make weak choices about what we bring into our lives and put out into the world. The shift from being other-focused to being inner-focused takes courage. It is easier to follow what we know, to stay safe in the familiar. But on the path of the Warrior Goddess, there is no one-size-fits-all template, no mold to follow, no get-out-of-jail-free card, no white knight to save you, and no realized master or loving guru or powerful shaman who will instantly awaken you to who you really are. This is one journey you will make alone, but, surrounded by supportive sisters and brothers, you will turn to face inward, clearing out any debris, noise, stagnation, or dullness to reveal the radiant jewel of you. The good news is that it''s never too late to become the real you. That''s what the planet needs at this moment: you, 100 percent. All around the world, women are stepping forward to invite back their authentic, creative, wonderfully unique selves.
We are shedding the old, faded clothes of war, domination, com- petition, jealousy, and repression. We are rising like the sun, shining big and bright as the full moon. We are saying yes to the power of fierce love, compassion, constant authenticity, and vulnerability. These are the attributes of our warrior focus and our goddess joy. Reclaiming this feminine authenticity doesn''t make us more evolved than men, or better than our sisters who are living from their domestication rather than their essence. As humans we are all equal, all precious. We are all whole. Sometimes we just get so lost in the fog of our own self-limiting beliefs that we need a guide to lead us back to the light of unconditional self-love and self-acceptance.
This book is just such a guide. Returning to the Circle For thousands of years, in tribes and villages around the world women have come together in circles to share, to teach, to listen, to learn. The pulse of these women still beats within us. Their wisdom flows through time, whispering to us the song of female connection and beauty. We only need to stop long enough and put our ear to our heart to hear the call. One beautiful example of women coming together for healing and learning was the moon lodge. As Native American clan mother Spider writes in her book, Songs of Bleeding : When women started to bleed, they left their homes and families to go to the sacred introspective space of the Bleeding Lodge. The Lodge was honored and respected by the entire community, for the dreams and visions of the bleeding women brought vital survival information such as planting and healing knowledge and guidance on community relations.
When there were questions that needed to be answered, the women would go to the Lodge and ask the Ancestors. It was here, in retreat from daily life, that the wisdom of women was passed down and new insights and visions were shared for the benefit of the entire community. While many of these ancient ancestral teachings have been lost, they live within us still. I see the wisdom of our grandmothers as a seed we each inherit at birth, patiently waiting to be unearthed and opened. This is our heritage, a coming home to ourselves and our circle. <.