One man's message to women

Something the Dalai Lama said at a conference some time ago, and which has done the rounds several times on Twitter since, were the words, 'The world will be saved by the Western woman'.There's been a degree of controversy on exactly what he meant by this but, whatever he intended, it struck a chord for me - and many other people, men and women, it would seem.I see and feel women growing in confidence and clarity all around me (including myself, might I add). Somehow we're beginning to see that the way we innately deal with situations, issues, conflicts... has something to offer the world at this time. And many of us - again, whether male or female - are beginning to question the 'archetypically male' way of doing things: whether this is managing a team or leading a nation.And I am sensing an energy in the women around me that is beginning to recognise its worth - and that will not be held down any longer; more than that, actually - that cannot be held down any longer.And somehow this video, sent in by a dear friend of mine, both touched me profoundly (thanks, Wendy) and helped emphasise this theme. If you can put aside its overtly Christian tone, this man's message comes straight from the heart - and has the power to heal.Watching it, I felt myself loving him for seeing and wanting to support the beauty and strength in his 'sisters' (the women of this world). He is asking us to raise the bar on what we think is possible - and to recognise our worth: 'You are strong!' 'You are worth everything'.And he's asking us to support the men in our lives in being the best they can be: 'We pray that you never stop calling us to be greater men.' 'Help us to be the release'.And rightly so. Because we can only find our way through the challenging times that many of us feel are ahead if we learn to respect and support ourselves and each other as we are, as men and as women - for our respective power and our vulnerability alike - and find a way forward together.Because as I see it, and as the Dalai Lama is somehow saying above, we, as women, have an innate way of doing things that can be effective in helping resolve some of the world's problems at this time. It is in the way we manage conflict and the peaceful solutions we often find. Think of Aung San Suu Kyi, for example - a long-term heroine of mine, and I'm sure many other people - and the way she has handled both herself and the situation in Burma in the past few long years.I'd love to hear what, if anything, you gain from this discussion. And I'm going to throw in here a song that rather synchronistically began playing a few moments before I started to run a workshop last weekend. It's called Shiv Shakti (Shiva being the 'divine masculine' creative power of Sikh tradition and Shakti the 'divine feminine'). It fired me up in a powerful and positive way. I felt it was relevant here, somehow! Our society has, perhaps, explored the Shiva energy enough, for now - let's see what Shakti can do for us... let's redress the balance! 07 Shiv Shakti