I see the world as I am.

I learned of World Pulse in 2010 when I was participating in The Inspiring Women’s Summit online. Jensine Larsen, the founder of World Pulse, was a speaker for The Summit and shared her story of beginning World Pulse. I was deeply moved by her story and felt overwhelmed with gratitude imagining the possibilities for local, national, and global transformation offered through World Pulse.

As excited as I was imagining the transformation that World Pulse offered our broader communities, I was not prepared for the journey of internal healing and transformation World Pulse offered me.

There is such wisdom in the quote, "We see the world, not as it is, but as we are─or, as we are conditioned to see it.” by Stephen R. Covey. I have not always seen the truth that women were ‘the answer.’ As a matter a fact, I’m certain I believed the exact opposite. I was not drawn to World Pulse out of an unshakable longing to connect to my sisters, but an unshakable fear. Yes, a fear of connecting with women or more accurately breaking the silence and connecting with my feminine self.

Those who have known me my whole life would never accuse me of even being quiet, much less silent. I have always known my voice and used it fiercely. It served me well to fit into the ‘good old boys club.’ I served in the United States Marine Corps for ten years and excelled at leadership.

During my life I internalized a masculine way of power and leadership. I believed I could be powerful despite being a woman! What I was not aware of and did not acknowledge is that I was powerful BECAUSE I was a woman! I was conditioned to deny my worth AS a woman. My conditioning started way before I joined he Marine Corps. I saw the world as I was conditioned to see it. It took conditioning to see it differently. I am grateful to World Pulse for being a part of my awakening.

We, as women, need World Pulse to unlearn our conditioning. We cannot teach what we do not know ourselves. We cannot be taught our feminine power and worth by men. Our work is not to convince men we are the answer, but knowing it ourselves, supporting each other in standing in our power and breaking our silence.

Tomorrow I will get on a plane to Washington, DC and join my fellow sisters, veterans of the United States Armed Forces, at Truth and Justice: The 2013 Summit on Military Sexual Violence. It’s estimated that a third of female veterans report having been sexually assaulted or raped while in the military, while 70 percent to 90 percent report having been sexually harassed. I am one of them.

If it wasn’t for World Pulse I wouldn’t be getting on that plane. Thank you, Sisters!