Today is the first day of the Hindu lunar calendar, an excuse for a fresh start, something I've needed for a long time. Fresh starts are not solely born from the calendar though, we need to cultivate them ourselves. My physical health has been awful during the past three weeks, keeping me in bed and in pain.
Those who know me personally will know that I've had a really stressful couple of months, stressful but necessary. What have I done for the past three weeks? I've slept, complained about my physical pain, cried in pain, wrote about the past, cried about the past, thought about the pain of the past and tried to understand it all.
Shakti means power in Sanskrit, interestingly, Shakti also means divine feminine energy. Growing in a society where God is generally thought of as a masculine energy, the divinity of feminine energy is a liberating concept. I'm now living in a society where the divine feminine is recognised and worshiped in temples but sometimes ignored and oppressed in homes and on the street. I ignored and oppressed it within myself for many years, believing I was "worthless", because a man told me I was.
No one is worthless.I've realised the importance of my strength and personal power and how in the past I had the devastating ability to give my power away to abusive people so easily. Allowing people to stamp on my self-esteem and self-respect. My body has been so weak during the past three weeks, but it's given me time to reflect, gain strength mentally and think about who I want to be. When I see images of the warrior and mother Goddess, Durga, I can feel her power and strength and want to embody it! I don't want to feel like a victim of my past anymore, I want to learn from it and feel victorious.
I am extremely lucky to have a husband who loves me and nurtures me, but there is only so much other people can do to heal you. I have learnt that we have to recognize the strength, love and compassion for ourselves, within ourselves. I wish I could articulate this better (working on it), but it seems to me that I have searched for the Goddess within for many years.