Patricia Lynn Reilly: Imagine a Woman

Just imagine...

   

Imagine a Woman

Imagine a woman who believes it is right and good 

that she is a woman

A woman who honors her experience and tells her stories,

Who refuses to carry the sins of others within her body and life.

Imagine a woman who believes that she is good,

A woman who trusts and respects herself,

Who listens to her own needs and desires, and then 

meets them with tenderness and grace.

Imagine a woman who believes that she 

belongs in the world,

A woman who celebrates her own life,

and who is glad to be alive.

Imagine a woman who has acknowledged the 

past’s influence on the present,

A woman who has walked through her past,

and who has healed into the present.

Imagine a woman in love with her own body,

A woman who believes that her body is enough, just as it is,

Who celebrates her body as a trustworthy companion,

and views its rhythms and cycles as an exquisite resource.

Imagine a woman who embraces her sexuality as her own,

A woman who delights in pleasuring herself, who experiences 

all of her erotic feelings and sensations without shame or guilt.

Imagine a woman who honors the face of the 

Goddess in her own changing face,

A woman who celebrates the accumulation

of her years and her wisdom

Who refuses to use her precious life energy to 

disguise the changes in her body and life.

Imagine a woman who authors her own life,

A woman who exerts, initiates, and moves on her own behalf,

Who refuses to surrender except to her truest self 

and her wisest voice.

Imagine a woman who names her own gods,

A woman who imagines the divine in her own image and likeness,

Who designs her own spirituality and allows it to inform her daily life.

Imagine a woman who values the women in her life,

A woman who sits in circles of women

Who is reminded of the truth about herself when she forgets.

Imagine a shameless woman who is full of herself,

A powerful woman who has awakened to the truth about herself

A courageous woman who has assumed her rightful place beside men

A wise woman whose beliefs about herself are reflected 

in all of her relationships.

Imagine yourself as this woman.

— Patricia Lynn Reilly

From A God Who Looks Like Me