Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | RSS
Could you survive the sudden death of your spouse and allow the fire of that traumatic event to transform you into more wholeness through the brokenness? Would you be able to draw on strengths that you never knew existed and empower yourself? Could you open vulnerably to a network of friends, family, and colleagues to encourage and comfort you?
“Money-Wise Women” guest Suzanne Anderson speaks about how she did just that and how her own experience of traumatic loss actually opened her to another level of her own wisdom, love, and power—an innate potentiality she calls “mysterial.” Suzanne has worked with thousands of women over the past decades through her live events, online courses, and co-authored book, “The Way of the Mysterial Woman: Upgrading How You Live, Love and Lead.”
What is a “mysterial” woman? This is a way of being and acting with what Suzanne calls “a new operating system.” The term is a synthesis of two capacities that are dominant among women who do the work of opening to the next level of their evolutionary potential, “mystery” and “medial.” She is able to be with uncertainty and partner with the mystery. She is able to hold a middle line in chaos, being able to bridge conscious and unconscious, bridge self and other. These capacities are a match for the complexities of our time, as people evolve in response to the changing conditions.
Most women we encounter are purpose-driven and long to make a meaningful contribution. Yet it is challenging for even accomplished women to stay connected to their self-worth and self-love in the presence of other powers.
Through developing these capacities of the “mysterial” woman, one becomes resilient. Suzanne shares how she was able to emerge more confident in her skills and practices after experiencing the sudden death of her husband. The insights she gained during her recovery from and then triumph over tragedy have been incredibly valuable for others who are experiencing any type of transformation. We explore the significance of the “we” space and how to invite growth through engagement with others.
Two of the most common self-limiting beliefs that Suzanne sees in women are:
1. I am not enough.
2. I have to do to be of value.
These are formed by your upbringing through the culture, era, and country of your birth. In this hyper-masculine society, there is pressure to perform more. When value is hardwired into a sense of doing and reinforced by a mainstream glorification of status and financial success, people are chronically disappointed in themselves. Women feel that they are what they do and constantly feel undervalued. This leads to striving and overachieving while ignoring the deep feminine practices of being-ness. Or it leads to a kind of capitulation, as though you can never be enough anyway, so why try?
It is an honor and sacred responsibility to be alive at this time in human evolution. Suzanne says, “These are days that we are made for. These times are the fire we need to transform and emerge as leaders of the future.” These leaders use empathy, intuition, and emotional intelligence to create meaningful connections. There are physiological and neurological studies that demonstrate the benefits of self-compassion for our body and nervous system.
As Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh says, “Go back and take are of yourself. Your body needs you. Your feelings need you. Your perceptions need you. Your suffering needs you to acknowledge it. Go home and be there for all of these things.”
Are you willing to do the development work to provide leadership for this particular time? Suzanne suggests, “Make your own unique contribution. Come back to the ground of your own being, and find what is yours to do. What brings you alive?”
Suzanne Anderson is a psychologist, author, executive coach, speaker, and transformational facilitator who has dedicated the past fifteen years of her career in leadership development to decoding an embodied, integral, and accelerated pathway to unlock women’s innate potential through her leadership programs. Combining her graduate studies in women’s developmental psychology with her fifteen years as a leadership consultant, Suzanne wisely guides women to make changes in themselves to help shape their world. She is the pioneer of Deep Feminine Wisdom in the Rising Women Rising World project—a global initiative dedicated to supporting women to be pioneers who shape a positive future for all beings. She is the co-author of an award-winning book, The Way of the Mysterial Woman: Upgrading How you Live, Love and Lead. Originally from Canada, Suzanne now lives in Seattle, WA. http://mysterialwoman.com/
Disclosure: This is an affiliate link I receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post, but these are all products I highly recommend.