Are you honoring yourself as a woman?
by Erika Gombosova

This week I would like to write about honoring. Because some recent events in my life have brought me a great lesson around this subject and I see it way too often as one of the great challenges of my clients, I decided to dedicate this week’s issue to honoring. So let’s look at the word honoring a little closer. What does it really mean and what does it looks like in our day-to-day life? If you ask me, I would dare to say most of us don’t have a clue. The truth of the matter is why would we? Where would we get the concept of honoring from? Parents? School? Society? I think not. If you live in the society I do, then you know the concept of honoring yourself and the practical application of it in one’s life is not a part of our general makeup. Sure, honoring “the special people” like soldiers from the war or people who in your eyes have done something heroic, yes, but not us the “small people.”

Then do you think that it’s really possible for us to truly honor someone else without doing it for ourselves first? I don’t.

I was looking in the dictionary for the word honoring because I wanted to find a catchy description that was resonating for me. So I Googled it. What I saw was that almost every single title that came up was about honoring the soldiers, honoring the elders, honoring the survivors, basically about somebody else. It made me think. How interesting that even a search engine reflects back to us where we are when it comes to our awareness as a society—most of the time we are looking at somebody else.

We are so busy trying to figure out how to appeal to our outside environment that often we don’t even see ourselves. If we don’t see ourselves, could we really honor ourselves? Highly unlikely.

I honestly think that honoring oneself comes from knowing who you are (the real authentic you) and staying true to whatever that is. Not compromising yourself because the outside doesn’t understand or isn’t going to like you. Honoring then becomes standing up, protecting, cultivating, and nurturing the essence of you. The more you do that, the more you grow and shine. In turn your life becomes better.

Let me share a quote with you that fits here and I really like:

“The words ‘genius’ and ‘genuine’ are almost identical, and they proceed from the same Latin root word. The key to genius is genuineness. The more you are who you are, the more your genius comes forth. On the other hand, the more you sell out and try to be what you think you should be or live up to others' expectations, the more you stifle your brilliance. Most great scientists, inventors, musicians, and artists, are somewhat eccentric. They have the guts to be all of what they are, even if the package doesn't fit the social mold. They just let all of their talents rip, and in so doing they change the world for the better.” ~Alan Cohen~

Now let’s move to the practical application of what I’m talking about. Let me give you some guidelines you can work with when it comes to honoring:

1. Speak your truth: We are so conditioned by our environment that many times we don’t say what we want to say or what we really mean. Let people know your truth, whatever the situation.

2. Speak up for yourself in situations that don’t feel right: When something isn’t up to par and you don’t like it, or it just doesn’t feel right, learn to verbalize it.

3. Keep your word to yourself and others: Know that your words have great power, so be mindful how you use them. Don’t say things to yourself you know you can’t keep. It doesn’t do you or anybody any good.

4. Be honest with yourself: Honesty with yourself creates a greater connection with who you are, and then it’s easier to know how to honor yourself and what to do.

5. Learn to say NO: A lot of people end up saying YES to things not because they want to, but either because they feel obligated or feel guilty. That kind of action dishonors not only them, but also the other party involved.

6. Take care of yourself: Physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. Get to know your needs not only when you don’t feel well but also every day. It helps to strengthen your foundation.

7. Walk your talk: Work on having your words and your actions become as one. Like they say, “talk is cheap” and if words and actions don’t match, a great dishonoring is taking place. You are basically working against yourself.

8. Listen to your emotions: Your emotions are a guiding system that will tell you when something isn’t right or something feels dishonoring. For me, it is a knotting, constricted, sensation in my stomach. Get clear what it feels like for you. Then you will quickly recognize situations and/or people that don’t serve you and you save yourself a lot of trouble.

9. Learn to receive: This one is challenging for a lot of folks. When you are open to receive and comfortable receiving, you are saying you are worthy and you have value. That in itself is a way to honor you.

10. Have fun: To me, having fun is the best way to connect to our true self and also to the child within, and that plays a big part in honoring.

11. Stand up for yourself: If you don’t do it, nobody else will.

12. Keep getting to know yourself: The more you invest into getting to know fully who you are, the easier it will be to honor yourself and live an authentic life.

In my book, honoring yourself and being all that you are is a big deal. Sometimes not the easiest thing to do; however, believe me when I say this, it is totally worth it. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Enjoy and don’t forget to have fun. :)

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Not a problem; however, you MUST include the following for the attribution block: Erika Gombosova is the founder of the Confidence To Success System™—a program that shows women entrepreneurs how to reconnect with their innate wisdom, power, intuition, confidence and how to turn who they are into profit and success. Join Erika’s growing community of Unstoppable Entrepreneurs and receive the five part E-Course, “How to Create Unstoppable Confidence as a Woman Entrepreneur” by visiting:www.unstoppableconfidencecoach.com