my big self portrait
As women there are unsaid rules about how we should be.
These are rules like;
We are asked to look a certain way, say certain things, make certain things, be a certain size, be a certain shape.
There are many certain ways we are expected be.
Being anything out of these 'certainties' is an act that threatens the sureties that make others feel safe.
What is a woman who steps beyond these bounds?
What is a woman who dares to threaten the bounds of expected behaviour?
What is a woman who makes others, by her unruly presence feel uneasy, unsafe and uncertain?
Who is she, this woman? Who is the one who dares to break the bounds of decency?
Who is she who dares to be bigger than, louder than, quieter than, less pretty and more beautiful than she should be?
Who is she who is unfettered and unpredictable? Who is she who dares to resist the pressures and certainties?
She is a woman who is free.
She is free to be true to herself. Free to follow the urgings of her heart, to respond to possibilities and desires and hopes.
This woman is capable and alive and through this action she is worthy of this gift of life.
I hope this woman is you.
Because life is worth so much more than being acceptable and tidy and smaller than you need to be?
May it be the you are the woman who is able to be all that she wishes to be and all she is capable of.
And if you are anything like me when you read those brave and fearless words, all that chest beating and drum banging can be intimidating and make being free seem even further away.
Finding our way to a freedom that feels further than you can see, can be very hard.
One way that I have envisaged and discovered a new form of myself is by Painting Myself BIG.
I was lucky enough, at a time in my life when i felt small, so small that the box i was in felt closed on my windpipe, that i found Connie Hozvicka and her painting course BIG.
Painting a BIG portrait of myself allowed me to imagine myself out of the box. And with that image of myself as BIG I could use that like a magnet to draw myself towards that freedom, that future, that Truth.
Painting myself BIG allowed me to see myself differently. I would like to be in a world with women who can imagine and then draw themselves out of the box.
I want to live in a world where our lives as women are ours to decide about, mete out, measure and enjoy. I believe it is our birthright to be outside this box. That truth is something which we are required to remember and with that memory, turn up any way we wish to.
When you paint yourself big you create a new vision for yourself, you can create a new space for yourself to inhabit.
Painting yourself big means you get to experience BIG for yourself. Taking up space. Like an arrow out into the future, painting yourself BIG means you are drawing yourself towards who you want to be.
And creating yourself free means you are able to be whatever it is that calls to you from outside the box. You no longer feel limited to the box. You experience taking up space in however you are drawn to do so.
If you would like to join the gathering of women who are Painting Themselves Big in Whangarei on 30th April and 1st of May please contact me here for details.
These are rules like;
- being sweet
- being pleasant
- being palatable
- being predictable
We are asked to look a certain way, say certain things, make certain things, be a certain size, be a certain shape.
There are many certain ways we are expected be.
Being anything out of these 'certainties' is an act that threatens the sureties that make others feel safe.
What is a woman who steps beyond these bounds?
What is a woman who dares to threaten the bounds of expected behaviour?
What is a woman who makes others, by her unruly presence feel uneasy, unsafe and uncertain?
Who is she, this woman? Who is the one who dares to break the bounds of decency?
Who is she who dares to be bigger than, louder than, quieter than, less pretty and more beautiful than she should be?
Who is she who is unfettered and unpredictable? Who is she who dares to resist the pressures and certainties?
She is a woman who is free.
She is free to be true to herself. Free to follow the urgings of her heart, to respond to possibilities and desires and hopes.
This woman is capable and alive and through this action she is worthy of this gift of life.
I hope this woman is you.
Because life is worth so much more than being acceptable and tidy and smaller than you need to be?
May it be the you are the woman who is able to be all that she wishes to be and all she is capable of.
And if you are anything like me when you read those brave and fearless words, all that chest beating and drum banging can be intimidating and make being free seem even further away.
Finding our way to a freedom that feels further than you can see, can be very hard.
One way that I have envisaged and discovered a new form of myself is by Painting Myself BIG.
I was lucky enough, at a time in my life when i felt small, so small that the box i was in felt closed on my windpipe, that i found Connie Hozvicka and her painting course BIG.
Painting a BIG portrait of myself allowed me to imagine myself out of the box. And with that image of myself as BIG I could use that like a magnet to draw myself towards that freedom, that future, that Truth.
Painting myself BIG allowed me to see myself differently. I would like to be in a world with women who can imagine and then draw themselves out of the box.
I want to live in a world where our lives as women are ours to decide about, mete out, measure and enjoy. I believe it is our birthright to be outside this box. That truth is something which we are required to remember and with that memory, turn up any way we wish to.
When you paint yourself big you create a new vision for yourself, you can create a new space for yourself to inhabit.
Painting yourself big means you get to experience BIG for yourself. Taking up space. Like an arrow out into the future, painting yourself BIG means you are drawing yourself towards who you want to be.
And creating yourself free means you are able to be whatever it is that calls to you from outside the box. You no longer feel limited to the box. You experience taking up space in however you are drawn to do so.
If you would like to join the gathering of women who are Painting Themselves Big in Whangarei on 30th April and 1st of May please contact me here for details.
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