The Power To Change from the Inside, Out
Nina Simons is an author and co-founder of Bioneers.
By Nina Simons. When I first realized how my own internalized gender biases and beliefs were limiting my choices, behavior and leadership, I was shocked, then enlivened. Excited to embark on altering them.
I began exploring inwardly, excavating how unconscious cultural conditioning had contributed to the story about what I was capable of envisioning or achieving in my life.
I found lots of inner voices, self-limiting insidious ones. After working with hundreds of women leaders, I’ve discovered how many of us – of all ages and backgrounds – have some version of those same voices.
They arose inwardly in response to my desires, ideas or visions as they arose. They always said something like “you can’t do that, you’re not educated / experienced or (fill in the blank) enough.”
As I unearthed them, I created rituals to diminish their influence, to turn down their volume, to be able to shed them.
For example, when I noticed how my daily habit of scornfully judging my body each morning as I stepped out of the shower was doing me harm, I vowed to change it. The ritual I designed instead involved anointing my body with scented oil, while expressing my love and gratitude to it, inwardly. Then, I held myself accountable to doing it every day. Over time, I changed. As I changed, others began relating to me differently, too.
This led me to continue to explore the nexus of gender and racial biases as deeply embedded in many of our human psyches that ask us to change ourselves from the inside, out. Now, I’m experiencing a level of freedom of expression and congruence that I wish for every woman and girl alive on Earth today. Gaia knows, all of our voices, stands and visions are needed now.
““I’m experiencing a level of freedom of expression and congruence that I wish for every woman and girl alive on Earth today. Gaia knows, all of our voices, stands and visions are needed now. —@ninabioneers Nina Simons, author and co-founder, Bioneers #PowerToChangeStories”
Nina Simons is co-founder of Bioneers and the author of Nature, Culture & the Sacred: A Woman Listens for Leadership and co-editor, Moonrise: The Power of Women Leading from the Heart. She is a nonprofit executive and teacher based in Santa Fe. @ninabioneers; https://www.ninasimons.com ; https://bioneers.org/