Women...Wolves

From Clarissa Pinkola Estés’ “Women who Run with the Wolves”:

This is not a book just for women.  In fact, it contains many relevant points for men too.  “Women who Run with the Wolves” is not necessarily an easy book to read…Dr. Estés is a Jungian psychologist who isn’t scared to discuss difficult subjects.  The book is a series of stories, fables and fairy tales, many of which are familiar to us, with an explanation following the story describing the psychological aspects of the story.  Some of the most notable things I learned while reading this uplifting, confidence-building book include:

• We all have a “wild woman” or a natural instinctive nature that is screaming to be let out…we need to listen to this part of ourselves, for she (or he) is the one guiding us through life;
• The story of “La Loba” reminds us that we are indestructible…we can be injured but it is very difficult to destroy us; we need to be confident in our ability to survive;
• In “Vasalisa”, we are reminded that our intuition can guide us, but we need to feed it…by listening to it; we re-awaken our intuition by
  • listening to what our dreams are telling us
  • being alone, on our own, having to rely on ourselves exclusively
  • exploring our “wild woman”, letting her tell us who we are
  • recognizing the darker aspects of our psyche and understanding how to use them to become what we must be;
• “Manawee” teaches us that we have a natural duality, we need to develop both sides of our nature and ensure balance and communication between the two; both sides are good and necessary for us to become who we must be, and neither should be restrained or shut down;
• We also learn in “Manawee” about how distractions can cause us to lose our direction: it is important to keep our mind on our goals and not let ourselves get distracted by “nice” things along the way; taking a break is ok, but remember always to keep yourself on the path you’ve chosen.

There are so many more lessons to be learned, but I leave it to you to read the book…Dr. Estés says it so much better than I can!