When did we give up trying to save the world?

I remember when I did. It was in college and my latest wild-ass brainstorm at work (a creative solution to some paperwork stupidity) got me fired from my admin job. My old-guy boss had just had enough of me and my “let’s do everything in a new way” approach to – well, everything. After that, I was in stealth change-the-world mode… for the next 20 years of my executive career.

I’m over that now. I’m taking back my power to change the world, not just because the Dalai Lama says I will, but because I realized even before I read his quote above that he’s absolutely right. We Western Women have some unique abilities that this world is in desperate need of right now. Here are four reasons I side with His Holiness:

• Talent: we’re wired the right way
• Optimism: we’ve had nowhere to go but up
• Self-Mastery: we appreciate inner power
• Being: we’re already doing it

I blogged about these four reasons extensively on my blog, but as I sit with them here they continue to assure me that we women are up to something big.

What Are We Waiting For?

Women have always been up to something big, and yet I continue to read headlines about pay inequality and lack of female leadership at the top. What gives?

I’m not a sociologist, but I do know one thing: waiting around for the world to give us our due is waiting around for something that is never going to happen. It’s just not. And I’m not talking about conspiracy-theory here. Sure, it’s true that a lot of guys don’t want to give up their power, but I also think a lot of “the system” doesn’t know how to share its power with us – our power is different and very much needed.

In short, it’s not up to them; it’s up to us.

I’m Not Waiting Anymore

Here’s the deal. I have power. So do you. We don’t need anyone to give us anything, we just need to claim what is ours and already living right inside us. That’s right, we need to own our power. It’s harder than it looks because the world doesn’t particularly want us to change and we have to release a lot of old ideas about what success looks like – but we can do it. Here’s what it looks like for men and women to be standing InPower.

• We know reality but do not let fear inform our actions when living in it.
• We are driven by a sense of trust and purpose, pursuing a higher goal through the specific objectives of our day-to-day efforts.
• We work with what shows up and don’t waste energy in judgment and attachment.
• We are masters at achieving and managing group agreement and shared intent.
• We create form and culture in the world, which allows amazing things to become possible.
• Our standard of success is our own, persisting in bringing the gifts of failure and success forward into each successive effort.

And for women, there are extra dimensions of power available to us – articulated in the Feminista Manifesta – offering a new definition of feminine wisdom and power.

• We do not have to deny the feminine to reclaim our power.
• We own who we are without blaming others. We are not man-haters, and we accept responsibility for our happiness without giving up our power to those who have hurt us, the patriarchal society, the haters, and those who wish to deny our rights.
• We speak our truth. Feministas talk openly about what we love and what matters to us, even those things others might prefer we remain silent about, including our girl parts, our desires, and our shadows.
• We believe that there is more power in collaboration than in competition, and that, if we put ego aside, we better serve the mission. We love and trust the spirit of the sisterhood and do not base our actions in fear.
• We can have tears and anger, but we can also have fun and humor. We celebrate it all.

Power to Save the World Doesn’t Look Like A Cowboy Movie

Real power to change the real world doesn’t look like the hero who rides in on a white horse to shoot the bad guy. Much as I love a good cowboys movie, it’s not the model that works out here in the real world today. There are lots of people in the world still trying to be that hero – I bet we each know plenty of them - but the moment we give up that vision of success is the moment we step into something more profound. And in doing so we offer the hero-seekers an alternative vision for themselves as well.

I like to think of the Dalai Lama himself as a modern hero – a man who has lived compassion, knowledge and openness – refusing to succumb to the violence and isolation of his plight and choosing to emote his true power through every pore of his body and soul – simply in the way he chooses to BE. In doing so diligently over a lifetime he is lifting up a multi-cultural, multi-generational cadre of people drawn to his message and his purpose across the globe - drawing them into their own power.

It’s our responsibility

No one is going to give us permission to step into our power. We just have to do it. As Western Women and Feministas, we have particular abilities to do this. It doesn’t make us the chosen ones, but it does give us a choice.

I’m doing it. Who’s going to join me?

Are you a Feminista? Where do you notice yourself in and out of power in your own life? Have you given up trying to change the world? Where have you given away your power? Where can you take it back today?