There are so many areas in our life that challenge, push forth, nudge, ask, and demand us to let go. We can hear the call to ‘let go’ within many different thresholds and experiences in life. If we are paying attention and hear this call, our path of letting go has begun.
I would say I spent my 20’s resisting to hear the call to let go in life. I was mostly committed to holding on, staying on the path I was told was the ‘right’ one and would set me up for ‘safety’ as I got older. In my 30’s I started to actually hear the call louder and started to gently release my grip on life and trust the visions I had for myself could and would be true. Now having entered into my 40’s, I would say I have done the most amount of releasing and letting go I have ever done in my life. Most of this releasing could not have been done without recognizing the lessons in the shadows. Of course, the path will always be one which asks for more letting go, but I now find my grip to be a less clenching and more releasing.
Fortunately , as women, we receive this call to let go every month and throughout our journey as women. It is the journey of the heroine , which is an ebb and flow out of comfortable and easy times in our life into more challenging and darker moments and once again arriving back out towards our true , authentic , wise selves. Our cycle mimics this journey each month and is a strong and beautiful reflection of this life journey.
Our menstrual cycle is an opportunity to gain skillful ways of being and becoming a woman and if we are paying attention and willing to do the work, the gifts are rich when we decide to shed what is unserving.
The most common challenging time for us during our cycle is PMS, or our Waning Moon time. During this time, our hormones are beginning to fall, our emotional body is heavy with unpredictable emotions, our physical body feels uncomfortable and our spirit is in the realm of the Underworld of Shadows. We often find this time to be dark , painful , and isolating. Our ease and grace that allowed us to move through the day just a week ago, has now left us to the face our sensitivities and vulnerabilities.
We often wonder - why is PMS so challenging and WHY is it here in the first place.?
The answer , my heroine’s , is the medicine we seek to feel whole, authentic and powerful, is found in the jewels of this shadowy, PMS time.
If we are willing to listen to the messages of our deeper emotions and thoughts of this time, we can come out with a better understanding of what needs to be changed, what is unserving , and what needs to be let go in order to continue on our present path with clarity.
All of the ‘stuff’ we experience during PMS is actually making the fabric of what being a strong woman is all about. The “stuff” is usually is a call to pay attention to our needs that are in order to be met and let go of the rest. That call, or ‘something’ , that can be changed or let go, is preparing us to continue on to our next cycle, as we start again, and setting us up for our path ahead in life.
If we are physically feeling challenged, such as poor sleep , anxiety , or low energy , look at what habits that could be shifted around unhealthy food choice, too much caffeine intake, or too much screen time before bed.
If it is emotionally heavy, which it always is, what are those deeper emotional messages telling you? Are your tears about an issue in your relationship you need to address? Is there an old wound , such as an old love or unmet need , which keeps emerging from the past, that needs to be looked at?
If there is anger, is there a conversation needed to be had with someone, or a clearing that needs to be done?
If we start to track our cycle and note what is coming up for us in our physical, emotional and heart (spiritual body) during this time, we often see this ‘stuff’ to be similar and patterned month after month. If we recognize the recurring ‘symptoms’ as patterns, we can see that these are not symptoms of something wrong, but actually patterns guiding us towards what is truly calling us to feel complete, whole, and in our power.
No, our menstrual cycle and the journey of being a woman, is not easy. However, we are definitely handed down the opportunity to learn from the our harder moments in order to fully stand strong when life gets chaotic or unpredictable.
What if we embraced all of our darker moments throughout our cycle with the mindset that we are given the opportunity to aquire tools and the opportunity to practice our walk towards fear in our life?
I stand for and support women to have the tools to stand toe to toe with fear in life , in order to create culture that has the capacity to walk straight towards this fear, cultivating stronger communities and a connected planet.
I hope the next time you are feeling challenged during your PMS, you will stop and listen to what you should keep to continue on your present path and what you should let go.
With Love,
Erin