A Few Words on Safety, Sadness and Sanity
With this week’s news on Sarah Everard, a few days after International Women’s Day no less, I was reminded once again how important feminism and sisterhood are. Not just that, even Meghan Markle’s interview got me thinking about how women are objectified, shamed and silenced in our society (of course, taking into consideration race, class and other intersections as well).
I cried for most of the week whenever I put on the news. Even now, waking up to news stories about women being arrested for laying down flowers and showcasing their strength by coming together, I can feel something stirring in my blood.
We can only truly empower ourselves from within when we don’t have to constantly work on our sense of safety with-out.
Safety in the body is a big practice in the spiritual community – if you’ve ever felt a release after a yoga class, a block coming up during a meditation or have had a physical ailment which connected to an emotional issue – you know what it’s like to work on your inner sense of safety.
Sadly, this is not present in our bodies by default.
Our sense of safety in society, and specifically the safety of our bodies, has been consciously removed for centuries. The witch burnings, the shaming in the media and even at home, and all the religious and constitutional objectifications in between. It’s all there, often implied, sometimes explicit.
This is exactly why we need days such as Women’s Day.
Not just to celebrate our strengths, but to lay bare the deep work that STILL needs to be done because of the deep trauma that STILL riddles us all.
I am angry, I am sad, and I’m more motivated than ever to fully stand for my feminist beliefs alongside my spiritual ones. Because I can only truly shed limiting beliefs and empower myself when I’m not constantly distracted by the acute need to stand up and fight for the innate right of safety and peace of mind whilst walking the streets, quite simply EXISTING as a woman.
I can only find deep spiritual experiences in my body when I’m not constantly reminded that I also need to stay vigilant.
It’s tiring, and I can only speak for myself as a white, cis, straight, able-bodied woman. I can only wonder how tired my black and/or queer sisters are feeling (and any sisters who find themselves at another intersection of minority or ability).
So, this Sunday it’s perhaps not the upbeat, spiritually inspiring message you usually receive from me, but sometimes, unfortunately, it’s necessary to get these deeper things off my chest and into the open. This new moon, I am not so much reflection on my personal inner work, but the larger work before us. As the Netherlands have their elections this upcoming week, I’m making sure my vote counts for all sisters – my Dutch, immigrant, refugee and other sisters alike who have the right to feel safe within and across the border.
The trauma that these situations lays bare within all of us is deep and painful. Please know that, if you’ve been struggling and/or triggered this past week, you’re not alone. I stand with you sister, as we all do together.
We will not be silenced. We will not be objectified. We will not back down until all of us and our daughters can walk the streets of our world safely. We’re in this together.