Dress Me Now - For Our Daughters

Just recently I listened to a friend give the eulogy at his mother's funeral. He told the story of her life that made me proud to be female.

At the age of thirty-seven, she was widowed and left with six children. Her relatives pleaded with her to put her children in foster homes. But she refused and remained steadfast in her efforts to support and raise all six until each found their way into adulthood.

As my friend so eloquently put it, every dirty sock, missing uniform, birthday party, runny nose, skinned knee, cough, cold and teacher's meeting was multiplied six times. And she handled it all with courage and a smile.

The amazing thing about her story was that it wasn't unusual. Most women, before the advent of the birth control pill, quite commonly had large families to cook, clean and care for. And they did it without microwaves and drive-thrus.

Buying a thigh-master was never tops on a woman's list in those days. Or wrangling an invitation to the nearest Botox party. Why? They had better things to do -- like being there for their family and their community. The worth of a woman wasn't based on her bust size but the size of her heart and her ability to make a life for those she loved.

I personally believe that this ability to TCB (Take Care of Business) is in our genes. We are genetically wired to do phenomenal things like build nests out of nothing and fight off predators to protect our young. And obviously we have the bottomless strength and fortitude to give birth. (Have you seen the size of a baby elephant when it comes out?)

We, as the female of the Homo Sapien, were born with the ability to do all the above and more. But now we don't have to. Pre-schools, home security systems and Home Depot have pretty much rendered our natural basic instincts extinct.

So, it's no wonder that women today feel powerless and have to look to others to be told how to think and what to feel.

How do we de-fuse the religions, corporations and organizations that tell us we are not worthy? How do we turn off the biggest offender -- the media -- and it's sadistic, silicone infested ideas?

Just as nature wired us to build nests, we can use those talents to build the lives and the world we want. There are lots of ways to plug into that wiring. Here are just a few.

You can reclaim your power to create, for instance, by taking pride in whatever you do. Do you have a green thumb? Are you a great mother? Phenomenal singer? Elvis impersonator? Whatever it is, celebrate it and claim it.

You can reclaim your power to nurture by being a positive force wherever you go. Give someone a compliment or a seat on the bus. Hold a door for a stranger or give a co-worker a smile and a "hello". I guarantee you'll feel ten feet tall.

And since females were created to be powerful creatures, what better way to show that power than by being the best you can be. That means you face the world chin up, shoulders back and dressed with pride. (That's where we come in.) If you don't feel powerful, fake it until you make it. It's building self-esteem from the outside in and it works every time.

We are lionesses in our own right and are key to the survival of our twenty-first century pride. Now more than ever we need everyone alive, alert and functional. How functional can you be if you are full of self-pity? Or spending more time worrying about your "abs" than about making a contribution to the world?

We have the "guts" to create life. Let's use it to give birth to the magnificent women we know we can be. When we can do this without hesitation, we are reclaiming our power. It's so easy. All we have to do is just look within.

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