The Power and Responsibility of Personal Well-being: what do the turtles in Finding Nemo have to do with International Women’s Day?

I have had and have the pleasure and privilege in life of working and walking with some amazing women.  Each with a unique mix of qualities making them who they are.  Each along the path of discovering and unleashing the extent of their awesome. 

 

I have a deep appreciation for these women, and the men and children in my life too, and the sisterhood we tap into. 

 

When I consider how we can best support each other, how we build greater balance in society, how we can realise our potential, it brings me to something brilliantly basic: personal well-being.     

 

My daily experience is that the greater my own well-being, the stronger my steps are in life and the greater the capacity to support others and to speak truth. The reverse is also true. 

 

It is easier and more enduring to look out if we have first looked in.

 

There is such an onslaught that comes at us each day.  Thoughts and pictures and expectations and issues.  All these lies we are supposed to do or be or fix. 

 

The noise covers up our truth, making it harder to listen inside; harder to evolve.  So we busy along in our own worlds and not much changes.

 

But the prize for listening inside is huge – listening to how we feel and to what the body is communicating.  For me that brings a sense of flow, of being settled, and knowing what is needed.  With this comes a greater capacity – for more and deeper relationships, to be productive and support others, to be bold and say what needs to be said.   

 

I often joke about making like the turtles in Finding Nemo, riding the East Australian Current.  If you’ve seen that scene, they get inside this incredible flow that carries them effortlessly, powerfully, on their way.  

 

We generally know our recipe to personal well-being and greater flow.  The exercise, rest, food, activity and people choices to take and not take.  How we prepare for our day and our sleep.  How present we are with what we are doing.  Honouring how we feel, despite the myriad demands of life.

 

So this International Women’s Day, we can certainly fight or forge in resolved activity, but we can also make it very personal and simple day to day, by following and enriching our own well-being recipe. 

 

If we - of any gender - take deep care of ourselves and tune in louder to our own needs and inner value, the readiness and imperative to respect and support others and say no to abuse arrives in full sight, along with the strength to withstand the forces that might come our way as a result.