The Woman Hood

This year has been another whirlwind of a year, taking us into another year of unknown outcomes.

It seems to me that with each year, my end of year reflections are darker or sadder than the year before or maybe I am just getting older.

Either way, no matter what the world outside me shows, I choose to remain an idealist optimist. I believe that there is good in everything and everyone. If only we allow ourselves to overcome the fear that keeps us from accepting this.

Much of our world is at war right now – two ‘famous’ wars regularly covered by the media and countless wars that the western media does not care to talk about but that have been raging for years.

I do not care what the media shows or what the politicians give as reasons for the necessity of war. All I see is people killed or injured, families torn apart, homes and landscapes destroyed, precious artifacts of history lost forever.

I try to remind myself that going through wars may just be a necessary part of human evolution, and that at the end of it all, there will be eternal peace and enlightenment.

But it is painful to watch.

War is only possible when we no longer see each other as part of a whole, but as “Other” and “Wrong”. We forget that we ARE each other. One woman crying for her child is the same as every woman anywhere else doing the same.

So as we move into 2024, I leave you with this very relevant song by Jason Mraz.

I wish you Health, Joy, Peace and Blessings and that you always look for the good in everything!

Happy New Year!

Or where have I been???

Under a rock, clearly, because Jason has been making music for about 24 years and has two grammys under his belt. 

I have heard some of his songs play on the radio and I even have one of his songs on my motivational playlist, but in reality, I only just discovered Jason Mraz!!!

And my brain is blown!!! 

This guy is insanely awesome!!! 

He is incredibly versatile. He plays every kind of music and has a smooth, gentle, easy voice. But it’s the lyrics that go straight to the soul. He is a true vessel of God Energy…Just Love! 

I must have listened to every one of his songs in one afternoon.

And then I stumbled upon this interview he did with Jon Kelley some months ago to promote his latest album, “Mystical Magical Rhythmical Radical Ride” (which I am loving, by the way)

This interview is the perfect Christmas gift to share with you 🙂

The most pertinent thing concerning us that stands out from this interview is the bunch of amazing women behind the man! Well, ain’t that just that truth! 

As the saying goes… “Behind every great man….”

His humble gratitude to these women is most heart-warming indeed. 

Another important thought I would like us to take to heart is his love for youthfulness and play. He says he is “…still a kid going on this ride of life”. 

What a perfect attitude! 

We, especially women, get caught up in all our responsibilities and lose our ability to, and forget our love of, play. 

Just as he said, we need to give ourselves permission to free ourselves, move our bodies and get out of our heads and back into our hearts. Permission to go back into our youth.

In this way, we also are able to keep ourselves grounded and present. 

And from this nourished grounded spirit, body and soul we can come to the world and give of ourselves. 

Or as Jason put it, “…Channel something beautiful and profound, giving a transformational experience in the process.”

He says he always starts with the blank page. 

We don’t have to be artists or musicians to create transformational experiences. 

Our blank page is our life! 

Each new day is a new blank page that we get to fill with our beauty. 

And there really is no better time to meditate on this than at Christmas time. 

It is the time when we easily give ourselves permission to be childlike and being at the end of the year, we can prepare ourselves for the new year…a new blank page. 

This season, as I wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, I entreat you to become a child again, ENJOY the time! And afterwards prepare for the new year with a cheery youthful disposition. It’s going to be FUN! 

As for me, discovering Jason Mraz was my Christmas gift from the Universe and I am happily jumping on the Mystical Magical Rhythmical Radical Ride! 

Thank you, Universe!

Never has this saying been more apropos than now.

Queen Elizabeth II passed away peacefully on Thursday September 8, 2022 at the age of 96 after a 70 year reign.

The only other monarch to make it that long was King Louis XIV who managed to reign 2 years longer Darn it! Did it have to be a man?! But then, he was 20 years younger when he died. So to all intents and purposes, she still wins. HAHA!

The Queen’s passing has reignited a lot of anger and outrage among people from former colonies and other areas where the British Empire made its presence felt in most unwelcome and unpleasant ways.

There is no denying that the British Empire instituted numerous atrocities during a time in history when European entities felt it was their right to “conquer” and “own” lands and peoples miles and miles away from their home. As that time drew to an end, some colonies were graciously “given” independence and the colonial leaders left. “The right thing to do for the people!” Ah, but the masters’ hands were forever in the pot stirring up whatever would be most beneficial to them, whether through means of religion, education, weapons or war. They never truly left. And the brunt of their influence was felt, not by the common man in their home countries, but by the native colonized population who had been stripped of power and identity and whose path through history had been deliberately rerouted.

Some say that after the colonial masters left, African nations made a mess of themselves without the guidance of said masters. This shows the utmost lack of respect for the leadership structures that were already in place long before the Europeans arrived on Africa’s shores. There were empires and kingdoms, religions and education, industry and agriculture in Africa long before the colonial masters took every thing for themselves. Africa was like a ripe fruit ready for plucking and that is what the European powers did. (and still do.)

All this is true!

And the anger, outrage and pain are sincere and not to be denied.

No one should be told not to feel what they feel.

Aha!….that brings us to a very British thing, doesn’t it? Stiff upper lip and carry on as usual.

Emotions and opinions are just that and they do not supersede duty!

Enter: Queen Elizabeth II, age 25, a queen quite by accident, but properly indoctrinated to perform her duty to the royal empire and the church of England first and foremost. Her father had died but her mother, a remnant from that generation, was on hand for many more years to guide and advice and help keep her true to her duty. This inheritance was a giant load to be laid upon her young shoulders and I imagine that she thought, if she would just dedicate herself to her duty and do everything by the book, she would be a successful queen, securing the support of her people, and have nothing to worry about.

She had a great deal of help since she did not really need to run the government. Many decisions and actions would be made and taken without her input or even knowledge. All she needed to do, was dedicate her life, her body, her mind, in essence her all, to the duty of keeping the Empire alive. Everything and anything else, would have to be secondary.

That is the life of a royal! Born into extreme privilege but bound and shackled by duty and tradition.

And to that end, she was a true and faithful servant.

Queen Elizabeth was not a radical who would decide to go against everything she had been taught. She followed diligently on the path that had been laid out for her and did all that was required of her for the survival of the empire.

Sadly, to the detriment of many innocent people.

The fact is, there cannot be a leader without blood on their hand! In the game of power and politics, there will always be a winner and a loser. Unfortunately, this game is not one played on a board, it is played at the expense of real people, real lives and real nations.

And so it is to be expected that there will be those who mourn and those who rejoice at the end of the era.

Alas, that is the story of history.

Now she has gone on to meet her maker who alone can say if she fulfilled her mission here on earth.  

As we look upon the crown bearing the South African Cullinan Diamond seated upon her coffin we wonder if she can indeed now lie easy or if she even ever did.

In conclusion, I would like to say a few words of my own as a woman since that is the purpose of this blog. As a woman, I ask myself, in that situation, could/would I have done anything different?

We don’t know this woman personally or really know what she thought or how she felt. These things were kept hidden from us. It is difficult to make a pure judgement based only on our side of the story.

What she did represent to me:

• A woman at the top. A Queen!

A woman whom men bowed to. Her husband walking behind her.

Most of us in our daily lives must fight to be heard. We go to the spa to “feel like a Queen.”

We look for men who care for us and call us their Queen.

She had all that! Yes, she was just lucky that she was born into it, but still, she lived what we dream.

And the truth is, we are all Queens! We just don’t live it. She lived it because she knew it and therein lies the key. We need to KNOW that we are Queens. Then we will live the reality of it.

• She carried all the weight that a woman does – daughter, wife, mother, grandmother

And it was not always easy. Any woman who is the primary breadwinner knows that it is not always easy balancing the “power” battles in the family. It is hard but necessary to be able to talk with your partner about such matters so that we are not carrying the weight of feeling guilty for doing what is necessary.

Children go off and do their own thing. Sometimes, they disappoint us. Hurt us. That is just that nature of things. She might have thought that all her offspring would act and dutifully and righteously as she had done, but she must have been sorely disappointed many times. Being a mother is no small feat, no matter your position in society.

• She was human!

Like you and I.

She was not better than anyone, she was the same as everyone. She just happened to be born into the family she was born into. We all have the capacity for good and bad within us. And we all have the power of choice. And we all live life daily, doing the best we know how with the information and background we have been given.

• Objectively speaking, she was an ever-present part of the last 70 years of human history.

A kind of sameness in a world where change is constant and getting faster and more drastic.

So, woman to woman, I say…

R.I.P. Queen Elizabeth II