The idea for The Risen Woman has been in the making for many years, because I've always wanted to show other women in abusive situations how to change their lives for the better. Circumstance sometimes finds us in dark places, in places where the light of hope does not shine very often, or very brightly. Sometimes when a woman or girl is suffocating under the domination of an abuser, it's difficult to find her own strength.
We all crave inspiration to grow and learn. Wise words from a teacher, the security of guidance from one who has tread a path or knows the way when we are uncertain. We share quotes from revered thinkers and doers; the Dalai Lama, Oprah, Socrates and Plato, Winston Churchill, Martin Luther King Jr., Maya Angelou. We even share quotes from movies and books; works that make us think, give us a new perspective, a new way to think about things, to learn how to handle the tough spots, and to grow. These ideas change us, encourage us, and because of them, we oftentimes change our lives because we want to live better.
It's just this same way with The Risen Woman. Who better to help women and girls out of dangerous and difficult places than women who've been in those same places, gotten out and changed their lives to a point that it has become successful? Who better, indeed.
People live at every level of life; we live with what we will accept. There are some who flat our refuse to live in abusive situations, and there are some to whom that is an acceptable way of life, because it is all they've known and all they've been taught. Some even, who hate that life and do not want it, but do not have the strength or the courage to try to change it.
Abuse happens when one person is dominant over another person. The abused, in this case, is in a hole; a deficit, and has the daunting task of not only climbing up out of that chasm, to get onto an equal ground with the abuser, but then must overcome the abuser to rise above that situation and get away from it. That kind of fortitude is not easily kept when one is being beaten down. It is at those low points when one finds it most difficult to believe that change could ever happen; that brighter days will come and life could be more than a hated misery.
I've not only lived in those dark places, I've worked and volunteered at women's shelters and I've seen so many women and children who are trying to change their lives and extract themselves from the cycles of abuse. It is not an easy thing to overcome, and having something or someone to believe in or emulate can make a tremendous difference. For the women and girls in abusive environments, sometimes the strongest inspiration can come from seeing other women who have extricated themselves from the same and succeeded. Something very much like, 'If she can do it, maybe I can too...'.
Women, whether they know it or not, are inherently strong and are absolutely capable of rising, like a phoenix from the ashes of despair, into a new life of health, happiness and vitality. This is what The Risen Woman is doing. It is a compilation of stories of women who have been abused, who overcame it and have changed their lives into positive success.
If this work touches your heart and you'd like to help bring this project to life, please contribute by donating to The Risen Woman at the Gofundme link on the top right side of this page. Together, we can change lives.
If you have a true story of abuse turned to success that you'd like to have considered for publication in the book, please email it to me at therisenwoman@gmail.com.
Showing posts with label opportunity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label opportunity. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Saturday, December 21, 2013
What Does Equality Have To Do With Abuse?
So if The Risen Woman is a book by abused women, for abused women, what's with all the feminist equality articles floating around here? What does equality have to do with abuse?
The immediate answer to that is quite simple. People who are abusive behave that way to others that they think of as inferior, whether they realize it or not. When we consider someone an equal, we are not in a position to dominate, and abuse isn't a factor. It is when we feel an entitled superiority over another person that abuse happens. It is a control method, and it is absolutely unjust.
Abuse comes in many variations; from a rude attitude and comments to a restaurant server all the way to severe mental, physical and emotional abuse. It happens so often and at so many levels that we oftentimes may not even realize we're doing it. This calls for us to be truly mindful of our actions every day; they do have an effect on people we come into contact with.
It's a simple psychology, when two or more people are in company together, the first equation is, 'Who is in charge? What is my place and position?' and unless there is true and utter equality, there is always an elevated echelon of hierarchy. This gives a perceived power to anyone who isn't at the bottom of the totem pole, and it opens the door to abuse.
Inequality and abuse know no defining parameters; male or female, race, religion, et al. It has to do with the lowest common denominator; the minority of the situation. If you are one of a few, or the only person of your kind in any environment, you are at a higher risk for abuse. That's a natural law. There's safety in numbers.
The work of The Risen Woman centers around girls and women who've been abused or are in abusive situations, because being dominated will oftentimes convince the abused that they do not deserve better or that they cannot overcome their situation. By and large, their self-worth, self-esteem and self-confidence are in short supply. The recurring themes in those are Self and Value. How believable is it that if we are consistently treated poorly, then we must have a lesser value, and when that ideology is mandated by one in a higher position, whether actual or perceived, it's often taken at face value. Everyone says so, so it must be true.
We are who we believe we are.
The Risen Woman is a work of experiences by women who were in a wide array of abusive situations, but who, because they disavowed the status quo, fought back against the abuse, broke free of it, and through strength grew to become successful. It is the purpose of these women to help others understand and discover their true worth and value, to inspire them to embrace confidence and change their lives for the better. It's as simple as setting an example and lending a supportive hand. It's teaching people who are abused that they do indeed matter, that they have potential and that they can absolutely rise above their environment or situation and change it.
Something else truly wonderful happens when those changes take place. The abused can become active healthy contributors to society, and in time can help others heal and grow. It's a benefit that, as the seed of potential rests within each of us, begins to grow in a healthy environment and branches out to benefit others. Each has the ability to become an oak, when nurtured and healed.
This endeavor is imperative, for it has the potential to reach much further than anyone could ever comprehend. Every life that it touches in a positive way is well worth every effort of TRW to get to that life, but like everything else, this is subject to fundamental rules... an object at rest stays at rest (without funding, this goes nowhere) and an object in motion stays in motion (TRW is funded, TRW changes lives, which becomes a continuum for immeasurable change).
Please be an active contributor to the growth of this endeavor, and donate to the fund that will bring it to fruition. Broaden the circle of possibility and share this with others, so they may have an opportunity to help as well.
www.gofundme.com/The-Risen-Woman
The immediate answer to that is quite simple. People who are abusive behave that way to others that they think of as inferior, whether they realize it or not. When we consider someone an equal, we are not in a position to dominate, and abuse isn't a factor. It is when we feel an entitled superiority over another person that abuse happens. It is a control method, and it is absolutely unjust.
Abuse comes in many variations; from a rude attitude and comments to a restaurant server all the way to severe mental, physical and emotional abuse. It happens so often and at so many levels that we oftentimes may not even realize we're doing it. This calls for us to be truly mindful of our actions every day; they do have an effect on people we come into contact with.
It's a simple psychology, when two or more people are in company together, the first equation is, 'Who is in charge? What is my place and position?' and unless there is true and utter equality, there is always an elevated echelon of hierarchy. This gives a perceived power to anyone who isn't at the bottom of the totem pole, and it opens the door to abuse.
Inequality and abuse know no defining parameters; male or female, race, religion, et al. It has to do with the lowest common denominator; the minority of the situation. If you are one of a few, or the only person of your kind in any environment, you are at a higher risk for abuse. That's a natural law. There's safety in numbers.
The work of The Risen Woman centers around girls and women who've been abused or are in abusive situations, because being dominated will oftentimes convince the abused that they do not deserve better or that they cannot overcome their situation. By and large, their self-worth, self-esteem and self-confidence are in short supply. The recurring themes in those are Self and Value. How believable is it that if we are consistently treated poorly, then we must have a lesser value, and when that ideology is mandated by one in a higher position, whether actual or perceived, it's often taken at face value. Everyone says so, so it must be true.
We are who we believe we are.
The Risen Woman is a work of experiences by women who were in a wide array of abusive situations, but who, because they disavowed the status quo, fought back against the abuse, broke free of it, and through strength grew to become successful. It is the purpose of these women to help others understand and discover their true worth and value, to inspire them to embrace confidence and change their lives for the better. It's as simple as setting an example and lending a supportive hand. It's teaching people who are abused that they do indeed matter, that they have potential and that they can absolutely rise above their environment or situation and change it.
Something else truly wonderful happens when those changes take place. The abused can become active healthy contributors to society, and in time can help others heal and grow. It's a benefit that, as the seed of potential rests within each of us, begins to grow in a healthy environment and branches out to benefit others. Each has the ability to become an oak, when nurtured and healed.
This endeavor is imperative, for it has the potential to reach much further than anyone could ever comprehend. Every life that it touches in a positive way is well worth every effort of TRW to get to that life, but like everything else, this is subject to fundamental rules... an object at rest stays at rest (without funding, this goes nowhere) and an object in motion stays in motion (TRW is funded, TRW changes lives, which becomes a continuum for immeasurable change).
Please be an active contributor to the growth of this endeavor, and donate to the fund that will bring it to fruition. Broaden the circle of possibility and share this with others, so they may have an opportunity to help as well.
www.gofundme.com/The-Risen-Woman
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