Welcome to September and our month of Chick Neuro. As you know our oil is Rosemary, the oil of  Knowledge and Transitions so it will help us to look at things from a deeper space than we usually would. 

This month we will be looking at both the feminine and masculine brain. We will be looking at the science of our brains, and how we can use that info to better understand some of the reasons why we do what we do, and to use that to expand ourselves. We want to have some fun with this, perhaps to laugh at ourselves as we explore some stereotypes, but most of all, to make this useful. Behind the scenes Sam and Al will be having some robust conversations, and we hope you will too. 

Before we begin, some definitions (of course)

Masculine: Having qualities or an appearance traditionally associated with men.

Feminine: Having qualities or an appearance traditionally associated with women.

(Note that the dictionary says ‘traditionally’. This is getting interesting already…)

Man: An adult male human being.

Woman: An adult female human being.

Male: Of, or denoting the sex the produces gametes, especially spermatozoa, with which a female may be fertilised or inseminated to produce offspring. 

Female: Of, or denoting the sex that can bear offspring to produce eggs, distinguished biologically by the production of gametes (ova) which can be fertilised by male gametes. 

For our purposes this month we will call the distinctions we make between the brains of humans masculine and feminine. We don’t want to make this a ‘male versus female’ thing, and as you know from back when we had our theme of You Sexy Thing, we want to enhance our ability to communicate and work in synergy, not divide. We know you want that too. We believe this is less about sexuality and more about humanality (yes, I made up another word- Al).

So before we go anywhere with this, it’s time to lay it all bare (No, you don’t have to get nude, but we won’t judge you if that’s your thing) and declare what generalisations you have about our masculine and feminine whiles. Deep down, most of us will have some stereotypes around what is masculine and what is feminine. We will have both positive and negative associations of both, and unexamined, these can be detrimental to understanding and compassion. So let’s examine!

This week, we would like you to take moment to suspend judgement on yourself and free-write, jotting down whatever you see as traditionally masculine or feminine qualities. Perhaps you might include physical characteristics, character traits, values and behaviours.  Write down both the positive and negative things that show up for you. Allow yourself to say whatever you feel. This is the time for you to use the vibe of Rosemary to go deep, and reveal what you have inherited and accumulated so far, so we can shine a light on it all. 

Once you’ve done this, we would like you to do one more thing.

Next to each trait, we want you to write down the initials of one person who has seen you show that trait. Then, write the initial of one person who as seen you do the opposite of the trait. 

For example: if you say that masculine energy is aggressive, write down someone who has seen you be aggressive, then one persons who has seen you be peaceful or meek. 

That’s it.

Yes it’s a bit of work. And YES we think it’s worth it.

Have fun with this, and write down all of the things you see. You won’t be graded on this and you only have to share if you want to. Have a laugh at yourself when you notice some of the things you’ve been storing up in that brain of yours that might be a bit frivolous, and also get soulful when you notice some of the things that have been sneaking around behind the scenes, and making things a bit tricky. 

Vive compréhension.