The Time of the Awakened Woman by Dr. Shefali:

"There comes a time in the life of a woman

When she discards her old ways like tossed shoes in the garbage

When she shreds her list of “shoulds” and obligations

And when impossible expectations are burned in an incinerator

There comes a time in the life of a woman

When the approval of others once jewels now turn to pennies in her sock

When the hunt for another is now replaced by a hunt for herself

And when paternal tentacles of tradition no longer define her truth

There comes a time in the life of a woman

When her desire to fit in with the crowd dissolves

When her maniac compulsion to be perfect vaporizes

And when her obsession to be voted popular eviscerates

There comes a time in the life of a woman

When she simply says “no more”

When facade, artifice, and guile leave her nauseaded

And when righteousness, dogma, and superiority repulse her

There comes a time in the life of a woman

When she no longer fears conflict but faces it boldly like a lioness

When she guards her authenticity as fearlessly  as she guards her babies

And when she drops the role of savior knowing she can only save herself

There comes a time in the life of a woman

When she no longer cowers in the shadows of her unworthiness

When she longer plays small so others can feel big

And when she swaps the role of victim for the role of co-creator

There comes a time in the life of woman

When she unabashedly and boldly occupies her ultimate sovereignty

When she finally feels ready to claim her space in the world

And when she redefines compassion as unequivocal self-love

There comes a time in the life of a woman

When she finally releases her childlike dependencies on others

When she dares to rewrite a new mandate of living for herself

One that says:       

I release unworthiness and fear       

I divorce servility and passivity       

I divest inauthenticity and enmeshment       

I end the pretense of being someone I am not       

And from now on I declare…       

I will ascend into my highest power       

I will embrace my greatest autonomy       

I will celebrate my deepest worth       

I will embody my fieriest courage       

and manifest the most authentic me       

The time is now        

I am ready       

To awaken into my renaissance.