GETTING THE POSITIVE IN A WOMAN

By Makiniah Sylviah

It’s often said that behind every great man stands a great woman. In light of the profound influence that women can have on men’s generosity, it might be more accurate to say that in front of every great man walks a great woman. If we’re wise, we’ll follow her lead.

From the beginning of time, a woman’s role has been defined for her, such as wife, mother, caregiver, and nurturer. Prior to the twentieth century, women were primarily absent from the workplace. As the years sped by, women have earned their right to vote, to own property and to pursue their personal and professional goals in almost any area they desire.

However, what has worsened over the past several years is the yard stick society uses to continue to define a women’s external beauty, specifically, her size, hair, and skin to name a few and for African women this includes their skin color.

Having to traverse through and attempt to meet the unrealistic expectations set for women has historically caused many women to develop negative images of themselves. Such negative images include, but are not limited to low self-esteem, incompetence, self-doubt, powerlessness, defenselessness and fear of not meeting societal and family expectations of them.

These negative images, if left unaddressed could impact a woman’s ability to ultimately achieve their personal and professional goals; therefore, it is imperative that women begin to take steps to shatter these negative images and begin to think and act positively.

If you want to experience positive changes to your life, you must first conquer any negative thoughts, and self-sabotaging behaviors. By accessing your internal personal power, you will begin to reprogram your subconscious to propel you toward achieving success, both personally and professionally.

The first step in developing and shaping your subconscious is being aware of its power. You can control your subconscious mind by consistently sending positive messages to it. If you send negativity and doubt, you will fail; however, if you believe that you can succeed, you will. Therefore, it is imperative that you begin to send your subconscious positive information about your belief in your ability to accomplish the goal(s) you have set for yourself.

It is important to note that positive thinking by itself will not make you an overnight success. You must make changes to how you are living, by getting your mind to work for you, not against you. As women, we are experts at one thing that permeates every aspect of our lives and that is giving our power away.

Inner power is what guides us, as women, to live and breathe the life we want with the family ties; relationships; career, mental, emotional and physical health and a purpose. We seek it our entire lives and rarely locate it until we’re in our late 40′s or 50′s. Learning how we give it away daily is the first step to keeping it, building it and using it as intended.

When women feel fears, they lose their self-esteem, not their integrity. As a result, they berate themselves and work harder to succeed within the system.

Being valued for achievement, success and ‘heroism’ produces arrogance and grandiosity: “I can do no wrong; I am entitled; I can do whatever I want and get away with it.” Preoccupation with their own gratification in combination with lack of regard for how others feel propels this behavior.