Friday reflection
We light each other's fire
Most women find it inspiring to hear about other women’s successes and accomplishments, according to research I conducted with other women business owners a few years back. And yet, most women would rather downplay their own accomplishments than share them.
In other words, we would rather seem like less than we are.
But when we read other women’s stories, it’s like restarting a pilot light inside of us — resurrecting the spark that was there when we were little girls, before the world taught us to be small. Before we were conditioned to follow an external light, instead of the one inside of us.
This morning, experiencing this beautiful multimedia story about author Octavia Butler made the flame inside of me grow. I highly recommend it. (Kudos to storytellers Lynell George and Ainslee Alem Robson.)
And here, from the Mighty Forces Express archives, are some women’s stories I’ve shared over the past year. Maybe they will be just the energetic injection you need:
Cindy Gallop: ““When you think you're bullshitting, all you're doing is you are finally talking about your achievements and your skills and your talents in the way that does yourself justice.”
Pat Mitchell: “You don't need to have platforms and power, or privilege. All you need to do is to have the courage to speak up, speak out, and just keep doing it until someone listens.”
Neda Frayha: “I first became aware of my Iranian heritage, and of the strength and power of Iranian women, through my grandmothers.”
Jamia Wilson: “"It's my birth right to be who I am and tell my story, full stop."
Christine Taylor: “I was born in California to a Taiwanese mom who married an Air Force guy from Chicago.”
Cynthia Pong: “It is actually my BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) to become The AOC of Work.”
Alisha Gaddis: “Honestly, I am not great at super-chill. It always makes me feel tired.”
Lisa Gates: “In the nonfiction documentary, Pray the Devil Back to Hell, we see how Christian and Muslim women banded together to block entry/exit during peace talks, with no food or water. They also threatened to strip naked if the men did not come to a peaceful resolution. Mission accomplished. We could take a page from that story and apply it in the good old USofA right now…”
Maggie Lemere: “Storytelling is a process that can help build us as we move into the future.”
Katie Jett Walls: "Sometimes the Heroine needs rest and reflection, and there is no shame in ending a chapter."
It gives ME a boost to remember all of these conversations, all of these stories channeled into the world. If you would like to be featured in this newsletter, and/or to nominate someone whose voice ignites your own inner pilot light, please let me know.
You are a mighty force.
Amanda
P.S. Do you know someone who might benefit from reading stories like the ones listed above, but who can’t afford to become a paid subscriber?