My workshop, Calling in the One Unapologetically, officially started last week on September 18th 2014. The experience was wonderful to see women who describe themselves as shy show up powerfully in their lives. They now realize how their self-declaration of “shy” had disempowered and impacted their lives. They can now see how they were not able to express themselves fully when it came to their personal lives.
In one exercise the women were invited to write about their quest for love in the form of a fairytale. Who doesn’t love a fairytale?
Once upon a time there was a maiden who was fair of face and full of joy. Her parents loved her and named her Noreen. When Noreen was born, she was sickly, weak and suffered many bronchial illnesses. However, as she grew up she survived the childhood illnesses and grew into a beautiful woman filled with happiness. Her joy would be experienced all over many lands. Her laughter was contagious, and she loved to dance. She was creative and lived her life out loud.
As she grew and developed into a fine young woman all the men in her court wanted to bask in her sunshine. She learned that some were not so honorable. Due to certain circumstances, many of which were not of her own making, some of her beliefs were inherited from the other women in her court and their stories made her afraid.
Noreen became afraid of some of the men and soon the fear cut her off from much of humanity. She became tough and she learned to defend and protect her heart in the worst way. She began to carry a heavy mallet within the folds of her gown. The mallet gave her a sense of security where she could strike anyone with it in an instant. Noreen became known for using her mallet without discretion and the men at court became more afraid of her than the dragons they slayed.
By now, Noreen’s heart was shut down, lonely and remained ever lonely until one day, while sitting in the garden wondering if she was doomed to spend her life lonely and sad, without the love and protection of a man, she wondered, was she to experience a life without passion, romance and affection and always be at the ready to use her mallet? There must be more to this meager, painful existence, she thought. Then, it was almost as if the gods had heard her plea when Veroesjka, one of the princesses who was known for her beauty and kindness came by and asked “why so glum dear Noreen?” Noreen shared her fears and concerns around her lack of love and then Veroesjka gave her a book called “Calling in the One,” the work of Katherine Woodward Thomas. Though resigned and shut down not believing, Noreen read the book and almost like magic a feeling of possibility and wonder exploded from her heart and surrounded her in 100 diamond pieces around her heart and head. Noreen instantly fell in love with her life. The book transformed her life and her relationship to herself so much so that she decided to put down her mallet and turned it into a beautiful wand and it is now a mystical tool.
With wand in hand, Noreen set about experiencing herself as love which was her new power. She discovered that her wand is a mystical power tool. Her heart was glowing, growing and expanding every day. Noreen set out on a journey and shared love with women of the court. She saw that a happy woman makes a happy world and that it was a gift that was given to her to share with all the woman of the lands. And her sense of love grew with strength and softness and she continued to share her message of Happy Woman Happy World with other women who too had been afraid and closed down around love; women who had forgotten their passion, dreams and desires. They had lost their trust in love and romance.
Noreen, together with these women banded and branded themselves as Doulas, women who served other women to rebirth themselves, their passion, dreams and desires and be there for others. Upon coming together, each doula was bestowed a wand and they went out into the world with reopened hearts.
During this time Noreen began to be courted by the men of Court OkCupid and sometimes the men of Court Tinder. With the men of Court OkCupid and Tinder Noreen would go for long walks in the Forest of Fort Greene. Her walks became known as the Walk of Knowledge. During the walks she found that if she shared openly her desires, the men would do the same and share their secret wants, needs and desires of their heart. Noreen soon discovered that some men’s hearts were a deep and lonely place. They wanted nothing in the world than to serve women and to be useful, to love and be loved in return. They wanted to give their attention to a woman. During,these walks, she saw the hearts of men were just as tender as that of the women. It was a wonderful experience and during the walks men returned healed, heard and complete.
The moral of the story is that we are men and women. We are similar yet obviously different. Love is just as universal as pain. We are all seeking to express the love we have within. We all have a choice to love and be loved by whomever we choose and our power is rooted inside of our love. Noreen continues to work in the Forest of Fort Greene with the men of Court OkCupid and Tinder. She has found her eternal love and knows it exists within her and she is sure that she will find the man of her dreams.
Noreen Sumpter is a Personal Life Coach. Her workshop for women in NYC is called Calling in the One Unapologetically. In this workshop women expand their capacity to give and receive love and reclaim parts of themselves that they have long disowned. www.NoreenSumpterCoach.com
