In The Footsteps of Fearlessness

Imagine we are linked not ranked.

This is a letter to my daughter and to all of our daughters. xoxo, WRW

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My Dear Daughter,

You are oh so young. Just eight. And oh so brilliant. Ahead of your time in wit, clarity and astuteness.

You are so beautiful and I am not referring to your looks, which are in fact stunning. Rather, I am talking about who you are. Your nature being pure light, alive, full of joy, profound presence and possibility, craving life and all it has to offer, the world in your hands and owning it already.

You are also a girl. Part of a long lineage of maidens, mothers, queens and crones before you. Malala Yousafzai, Amanda Gorman, Shirin Ebadi, Maya Angelou, Gloria Steinem, Audre Lorde, Rosa Parks, Mary Oliver, Clarissa Pinkola Estés, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg to name a few awe inspiring women who have charted untrodden paths, broke ceilings and stood up and fought for what was rightly theirs and ours — a seat at the table. Lighthouses of truth and wisdom. Stewards of insight and knowing. Seekers upon the heroes journey.

It is no small fete to be a girl, dear one, divinely powerful in a world that often doesn’t yet want us to fully realise, nor embody, our innate power.

Despite these headwinds, don’t let anyone knock you off your path. No woman nor man, no friend nor foe. For if, or when, someone tries, it is a projection of their fear and insecurity. Their internal state of not enough-ness. It has nothing to do with you.

Entrepreneur and author, Darrin Donnelly, teaches us in Victory Favors The Fearless,

“Critics will never stop criticizing you because they can’t stand the idea of someone they know chasing their dream and succeeding. It makes them question themselves. It makes them wonder what they could have been if they’d taken the risk and tried something different. And they hate to think about that.”

Steven Pressfield in The War Of Art puts it this way,

“The critic hates most that which he would have done himself if he had the guts.”

So when we experience envy-driven criticism, let’s have compassion and then get back to our own business, because their criticism, which is another word for their opinion of us, is none of our business.

Don Miquel Ruiz shares in his brilliant book, The Four Agreements, which I personally consider required reading,

“Don’t take anything personally. Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own realty, their own dream…Even when a situation seems so personal, even if others insult you directly, it has nothing to do with you. What they say, what they do, and the opinions they give are according to the agreements they have in their own minds.”

Ultimately, tearing someone down for the sake of it, comes down to fear. Their fear. Our faith and courage to keep going is the antidote. Faith that we are more than worthy and enough to be in the arena, and courage to not give up if, or when, someone tries to convince us otherwise by their words or their deeds.

You are a star, Miss B, and your nature is to rise and shine bright. This is all of our nature. Our potential is limitless. While this scares some people, that is their story to work through. Do not accept their projections.

And never give away your power. But that, my dear, is a story for another Sunday.

Lovingly your biggest fan, always and forever,

Maman

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