Dear powerful female changemakers & sustainability leaders,
Today I want to share with you my own manifesto – a manifesto to all women who care about a better future for our planet, our society and our human consciousness.
So many times, when I see another woman entangled in the everyday drama or demands of our society, I just want to shake her and almost scream: Wake up, darling! Wake up!
But let me back up this story a little bit, going back to 2019, when I was still where many are, in the dormant stage. If we had met, I would probably introduce myself by throwing professional and academic titles at you and providing you with my latest diplomas and achievements. But today, I can answer you from my heart space: I am an awakened woman on my destiny path to self-actualize. I am on an exciting journey to transform and fulfil the wholeness of life that I was made for. This is a unique journey, and I have a big surprise for you: Your own path awaits you too!
How do I know that? Because a blissful and fulfilled life is a choice. A choice that we have to meet every single day as we go through our existence. Before I began truly living my life, I was measuring my worth and hence existence as a woman by academic titles, professional achievements, by being a good wife and perfect daughter. But it never felt right, there was something fake and, at the same time, so tiring about this way of living. It was like living in a cage. A cage that I created for myself. I know it now.
Like almost every woman, I fell for the patterns that our culture, upbringing and now also social media impose on us. I was looking for answers about who I am outside: climbing the career ladder, trying to save my family, the world (!!!), and completely forgetting about myself. Do you feel it in your gut? Do you feel it in your own heart?
Yes. I know you can feel what I’m talking about. In addition to trying to answer who I am outside of myself, I was giving my self-esteem completely to “something” outside of me. And this is the story of each of us. From a very young age, we ask ourselves: Did I do the job well, did I cook a delicious meal, did I please my partner, did I act as I should? Have I passed the exams? etc. If the answer was yes, I felt wonderful, if “that something” was dissatisfied, my world was falling to pieces.
It was bothering me. It started to itch under my skin. For as long as I can remember, I have loved reading self-help books, going to various religious institutions, going to development workshops, and still banging my head against the wall. Until the life herself brought me to my knees.
It was then that I got to know the real significance of presence. If you think that it is an easy way, I will tell you that it is not necessarily.
This path of awakening to oneself is a bit different for each of us, but at the bottom, it reveals the same: a deep call to return to Yourself. To your body. To your female intuition. To your truth.
For me, it was always about migraines. Powerful migraines, which I called a curse back then, haunted me regularly. There were also painful menstruations and a complete disconnection from my sexuality. And most recently, the biggest call came in a form of panic attacks and anxiety. Now I know that it was all the loud cry of my female body: Stop, Beloved! Please, please STOP!
This was my final call. I finally dared to stop and listen, listen to what is under the surface that I had tried to escape for so long.
The body knows best, I know it now. Ever since I gave myself permission to stop and be, I also opened up to a deeper place within myself. And with this awareness, inner voices began to speak quietly about the need for self-care, rest, for life in the rhythm of the female body and the rhythm of nature. A truly sustainable path.
Since cultivating this deeper relationship with myself and taking full responsibility for my life: magic has started to happen. From this deep inquiry in my heart and desire to live a sustainable lifestyle, support our environment and make the planet a better place – a true pathway opened up for me.
On this pathway, I began to meet incredible, passion-driven, authentic and most of all embodied women that led me to the place I am speaking from today to you. Looking back in only the last 2,5 years, I was blessed to have the most empowering female mentors and teachers – who not only provided me with deep knowledge and understanding, but they touched my heart – they transformed me. And now, I invite you to think about all the women in your own life who have shaped your personality, your persona. Going back to our roots, remembering our female lineage, remembering those who came before us.
And looking around myself, seeing all the amazing women who supported me in becoming who I am today. Look around and absorb the view of a powerful generation of women who are now called to step up and lead the way to a sustainable world.
What I realised, and this is huge. I realised that to live sustainably, we must first elevate, and rise to this level! I would never want my daughters to go through the migraines and painful periods I had to experience, so how can I make sure that this is the future I am creating? First, by elevating to this level. By starting within myself.
Secondly, we must sustain the change. We must stay strong and fully embody the change we want to see in the world. I know it is now easy, but that is when my second revelation came in: we are trying to “solve” the world, our current situation with an old mindset, with science that is 200 years old. Isn’t there something wrong with it? What about systems and frameworks that provide a more solid structure? That is how I had my big Aha-moment. When I stepped into the path of yogic science and began to discover Ayurvedic medicine, I quickly realised. Those guys knew for thousands of years what sustainability truly means. And hence, the sustaining of our elevated state should be based on the wisdom that not only comes from western science but also includes sources from ancient systems of wisdom and knowledge that served humanity for much longer. It’s the coming together of those two worlds that can bring us closer to a sustainable state.
But my dear woman, now I want to speak to you directly. Why dream about change and transformation if it is not also for us to prosper in this life?
It is time for us to thrive, it is time for us to take a solid stand and show the direction we should move forward. As we are the most essential element for the sustainable transformation to happen. I truly believe that if each of us prospers on an individual level, we prosper at the collective level too. But again, it all starts within each of us.
How long have you played small? How long have you been hiding? How long have you been quiet?
Don’t you see that you are called to something much bigger, much greater than you can imagine?
There is something unique about you that nobody else can bring forward. It is your own potential. It’s this quiet voice you hear in the clearest moments. It is this uncomfortable feeling that you should reach higher, speak up more and show up more for yourself. And then, we will contribute to our Collective Sustainable Future.
As my mentor and teacher, Claire Zammit, shows in her research, the deepest change has to happen at the identity level. We have been for too long focusing on how we act, how we operate, and how we behave, but there is something deeper below the surface that makes us decide on our micro choices every day. For the change to be sustainable, we need to address the identity level.
And for all of us women who aspire to self-actualize in this life, to show up fully, there are eight vital life areas. And as I speak, feel for yourself, which area calls do you to know most: maybe your calling/life purpose? Your confidence? Love partnership & intimacy? Prosperity? Creativity? Spirituality/connection to something bigger than yourself? Your health & well-being? Influence/the impact you want to make in the world?
It is so important for us to finally stop and look inside. The change starts within you.
You are welcome to listen to the manifesto here in the podcast format.