Your Story Is Your Power: Free Your Feminine Voice

by Elle Luna, Susie Herrick

HOW DO YOU DEFINE YOURSELF? IN A VERY REAL SENSE, we define ourselves through our stories. If we can truly understand the stories that made us the women we are, including the motivations behind our actions and thoughts, we can take charge of how our future unfolds. WHAT IS AT THE HEART OF YOUR STORY? Follow the prompts, tools, questions, and advice through a labyrinth of self-discovery to reach the center of your voice, your power, your truth. And then learn how to share that story—and all of your Feminine Power—with a world that needs to hear it.

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, Feminism, Psychology, Writing, Art, Health

219 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 6, 2018

Reviews

[Cindy Pham · Rating 2 out of 5]

A beautiful book that has a few good messages about being more emotionally intuitive with yourself, but the majority of it turned out too hippie for my tastes by describing feminine power as a mystical force and attributing the authors' vague dreams to foreign religions - all with very flowery prose, and not much substance.

[Yevheniia Samyshkina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Книжка вiд авторки бестселера "Мiж треба i хочу" Ель Луни i досвiдченої психотерапевтки Сьюзi Геррiк - це справжнiй манiфест жiночiй силi.

В нiй пiде мова про те, як звiльнити своє внутрiшнє "я" та заявити про себе свiтовi.
Авторки радять кожнiй жiнцi написати свою власну iсторiю, яка мiститиме три складовi: культурну, iсторичну та особисту. Кожна з них суттєво впливає на життя кожної з нас. Тому варто дослiдити їх, щоб мати змогу зрозумiти - звiдки беруться пiдсвiдомi страхи, внутрiшнi шаблони та комплекси, як на нас впливають культурнi та соцiальнi норми, а також усталенi стереотипи.

Одразу попереджу - це фемiнiстична книга. Авторки активно виступають за права жiнок та проти патрiархату, а також закликають викорiнювати мiзогiнiю.

Ця книга покликана змiнити самовiдчуття кожної читачки, спонукаючи нарештi полюбити себе. Тож читайте, пишiть власну iсторiю та будьте у злагодi з самою собою! ❤

[Jasmine · Rating 1 out of 5]

I learned nothing from this book. the watercolor typography was beautifully eyestraining.

this book reiterates basic tenants of feminism and defines patriarchy. the exercises were trite and it felt so superficial. it made me feel swaddled in a pink pussy hat of white feminism.

do not recommend. if you want a primer on patriarchy or feminism, there are much better resources a Google search away.

[Anastasiia Mozghova · Rating 3 out of 5]

сложно выразить свои впечатления. часть книги понравилась, успокоила, воодушевила, а часть показалась совершенно бестолковой.

и её нужно читать в печати из-за иллюстраций с цитатами и их верстки.

[Crystal Fiset · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book because it reminded me of a self check in on how I am doing. It isn't like a regular book that has a story line, but instead its a book with insights from 2 girls and how to continue to build yourself up. Throughout this book, it made statements that really made you think deeply about certain topics in your life that you wouldn't deeply think about just because. It asked questions that also made you continue to think and answer those questions for yourself even if you were unsure how to. This book constantly reminds you of your worth and that your story is who you are, what you have gone through, and who you have become. All through different parts of your life, or example, your family.

[Antoinette Perez]

This book is (1) not what I thought it would be, and (2) for a woman in a different stage of exploration of her identity than I am. It's less about the power of every woman telling her story, and more about you. Just you. And your story.

I'm not well versed on the enneagram, which substantial parts of this book rely on, and I'm not a fan of reducing personality and behavioral profiles to their simplest forms anyway.

That said, it's a pretty good and deep look at various ways to get to the heart of your story. I think, for someone just feeling curious about what power lies within, this is a really great tool to dig deep.

[Linh · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5 stars. This focused heavily on misogyny and feminism, which is nice, but I was hoping for something a little more about personal development and not about how the world treats women.

[Anastasiia Zarechenskova · Rating 3 out of 5]

Посібник з фемінізму для чайників

Отримала книгу через букшеринг

Багато з озвученого в книзі мені вже було знайоме, але цікаво було побачити власний шлях і усвідомити, скільки етапів я вже пройшла як феміністка.

Особливо відгукнулася тема внутрішнього мізогінізму — коли ми несвідомо критикуємо себе через глибоко вкорінене «програмування» вихованням і суспільними нормами.

Авторки аналізують досвід жінок крізь три призми — культурну, сімейну та особисту — і діляться порадами, як позбутися застарілих уявлень про гендерні ролі. Багато прикладів базуються на їхньому власному досвіді та історіях інших жінок.

Цікавим був розділ про 9 типів особистостей. Ідея в тому, що розпізнавши свій тип, можна краще зрозуміти власні сильні й слабкі сторони та сміливіше діяти.

Водночас деякі формулювання — на кшталт «жіночої енергії» — були для мене тригерними. Але багато залежить від того, який сенс ви вкладаєте в ці поняття.

Для тих, хто не знайомий з філософією фемінізму та хоче подолати внутрішній мізогінізм

[Amy Layton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautiful  book aiming to uplift young woman by showing them ways to look at their histories, cultures, religions, memories, and families.  Learning how they got to this moment in life is important, for learning the past's narratives allows for understanding the future and forging new paths.  

Filled with astounding watercolor illustrations and full-page inspiring quotations, this makes an important reminder for young women that they are in control of their narrative, that they control their future, and that they control their decisions.  And by unlocking the connections that have guided them to this moment, they can better learn how to advocate for themselves and for others.

Overall, I think this is a necessary book, especially for the young woman who is ready to explore feminism, archetypes, and her family history.

Review cross-listed here!

[Whoeps · Rating 3 out of 5]

Will come back to write a review.

[Mieke · Rating 2 out of 5]

Leest heel vlot, mooie figuren, beperkte inhoud

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will go back and dig deeper into this book because there are so many layers. Elle and Susie create a beautiful work empowering women to discover their stories and use those discoveries to forge a future.

So good.
So stinkin’ good.

[Gina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up this book in part for the artwork, in part because I was interested in the idea of accessing my “story” for a purpose, and in part because I had enjoyed Luna’s book, The Crossroads of Should and Must.

I have to say that I was disappointed, but, in the interest of full disclosure, I must also admit to being more of a not-so-secular humanist who tends to believe that all of the “isms” out there just pit people against one another. While I agree with the authors that understanding the variety of influences (social, familial, personal) and recognizing unfairness, injustice, and inequality in our stories is important, I think they lean toward victimizing women by giving far more weight to the negative influences than encouraging us to look for the positive influences and role models we may have had.

At the end of the day, we GIVE our “power,” feminine or otherwise, to those who would take it, whether they are actively looking to acquire it, or not. If someone says something in anger, they are angry, but not necessarily out to manipulate us or “put us in our place” because we are women. If we don’t stand up for ourselves, it could be because we’ve been trained to be misogynistic and don’t believe that we deserve our voice, but it could also simply be a matter of all the fears and insecurities that come with being human. I’ve seen plenty of men “bullied” into silence by angry men (and women) as well.

I would argue that finding our authentic voices and remaining true to them is part of the human journey and is challenging for everyone. The result is called integrity, and most of us identify and admire it in anyone who displays it— in part because we understand, fundamentally, how difficult it can be to achieve.

[Pam Cipkowski · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really excited when I saw that this book was coming out, because I loved Elle Luna’s The Crossroads of Should and Must so much. Unfortunately, I found Your Story Is Your Power to be very disjointed—a book not quite knowing what it wants to be.

The book is designed in the same style as Crossroads, filled with artsy illustrations and inspiring quotes on beautifully color-washed pages. It starts out discussing how women have been conditioned early on to accept the Cinderella and Snow White princess-type stories as part of our narrative. What we must do, though, is take back this narrative, and learn to tell our own powerful story.

There is lots of instruction on how to structure your story, and many psychological exercises to help you learn about you and your family, and what has affected you. But halfway into the exercise here, it seems that this isn’t necessarily a path to writing your story: it’s more of a path to knowing and owning your story. There is some good discussion about enneagrams, but then there’s talk about conversations with internal misogynists, the martial art of Aikido, dream interpretation, lots of Cinderella similes and metaphors...this book is all over the place.

Taken individually, parts of this book might be good exercises for a writing class or journaling workshop, but collectively meant as a practical and inspirational read, this book really fell flat for me.

[Lorelei · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think that about half of this book was...useful? I hesitate to describe it like that. It's an inspirational book and a beautiful one. However, some of the language used was alienating. I'm not sure I agree with feminine power being such a mystical force, though I understand the thought process behind it. I do think solidarity among women is important! Some of the things covered are also a bit common sense.

The first two parts that covered examining your family and cultural stories felt pedantic. Of course your past has influenced who you are. Do you really need a book to tell you that? Or rather, would the target audience of this book really need this book to tell them that?

Once I got about halfway through—and this was after putting the book down for several weeks—things improved. The chapters about Enneagram, about coming to terms with your inner voices and accepting them rather than denying them—those were good chapters. They reminded me of Yumi Sakugawa's work, her concept of "having tea with your inner demons."

Again, the book is beautiful. It has some great quotes and even if some of the points made are somewhat obvious or pedantic, they are phrased in a nice way. So it's by no means a bad book, but I wish it had delved a little deeper. I'd still be very interested to see what else the authors come up with!

[ViSha · Rating 1 out of 5]

Не смогла дочитать.
Были большие надежды на эту книгу, все-таки сила твоей истории!

По факту - феминистическая чушь. Я не против феминизма, а очень даже за. Когда он объективный. В этой же книге факты искажаются, взгляд не объективный, а бабский. Явления интерпретируются в свою пользу.

Например, несчастные женщины в погоне за независимостью начинали курить, ведь реклама им об этом говорила. А вообще-то все наоборот - реклама была в точку, потому что женщины стремились к независимости. Дети впитывают ВСЕ, без разбора, слышите? ВСЁ. Мы росли на Диснее, а не на настоящих сказках. И так далее..... стандартная песня о том, как нам женщинам все навязываю, бедняжкам.

И вообще эта книга скорее не для женщины, а для жертвы. Этакая выручалочка для забитой бедняжки.

Так как себя с таковой не ассоциирую, продолжать читать не было смысла.

[Kelsey Mech · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super quick read. Some thoughtful content, although nothing new to me other than the interesting incorporation of the Eneagram. That was cool! The illustrations are beautiful. A couple things were a bit culturally appropriative - less cool. Overall some nice remembers about the importance of owning and knowing our stories which has re-inspired me on a quest to find out more about my family history and my own story!

[S · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hesitate to give this a review at all because I feel like it just doesn't have enough for me to consider it a real "book". That's probably unfair. But I've read more blog posts that have more content.

There's plenty in this book I don't much buy. I think it's dangerous to push the idea of some sort of mysterious feminine power because it 'others' us unnecessarily. At the same time, it feels like we have to do something when so much of society has told us that women suck. I really liked the page that put quotes out there that will stand for all eternity that show that many respectable men never respected women. I feel like the push to make being a woman a "magical" thing is because it's something that men can't specifically counter, unlike every other measurement of women that men so carefully collect to prove we suck.

I don't like the part of the book that suggests women are 'born' altruistic. I feel like that is done in large part by society telling us that the most value women have is in our ability to prioritize others (often men) above ourselves.

The Ennnegram is an interesting personality measuring thing I hadn't seen before, but I don't have all that much faith in it's application from the perspective of thinking women's personalities should be shifted to promote gender-acceptable powers like altruism.

For whatever reason this book also included some self-important ideas that dreams come to you from some mystical place and to pick an 'object' to consider your guiding force or something weird. I don't really know. It seems like a way to produce meaning in life. Is this what we're doing now that we're not religious anymore?

"As a nine-year-old, self-sacrifice was not done out of love, but out of fear and a need to be loved. I was so cooperative that I assumed others would look out for my needs. I would let others make decisions for me rather than voice my needs and risk upsetting others... [My friends and lovers] weren't interested in someone who did not state her own preferences or stand up for herself." p77

Some part of this book I can't quite find did make a point about how advocating for your beliefs and standing up for yourself is how you as a natural "peacemaker" can "take action for the benefit for self and others.". I liked that.

[Karen K. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautifully-designed book, adorned with original watercolor art by Elle Luna who curates the #100DayProject. While I’m not a huge fan of self-help books, this one pulls my heart because it’s focused on the creative process. The authors’ main idea is that in a labyrinth there are no wrong turns, only a continuous journey to one’s own creative center.

YOUR STORY IS YOUR POWER advocates for disrupting the dominant western thinking that has historically placed females in subservient (and often silent) roles. There are ways to reclaim the authentic-self center, and to heal from past injustices and life imbalances. Susie Herrick is a psychotherapist, and offers workbook exercises that are both fun and informative, for any reader ready to examine how their life has been impacted by particular intersections of cultural, family, and personal forces.

This book is an affirmative companion to read while healing— whether from injury, disease, emotional malaise, or from complex pressures of living in these times. There is much to think about and discuss; a good pick to dive into at a girlfriend getaway, or as a gift.
This review is based on an ARC from the publisher and NetGalley.

[Maggie Moore · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was decent, but it lost points with me for two reasons, and I have deducted a star per point.

1. This is a white woman’s feminism book. There are only the briefest of mentions about POC, though the authors borrow heavily of eastern religions and other concepts originating outside of white circles. A white woman’s feminism only gets half of the job done for me. Sorry.

2. The book made men out to be violent aggressors, never in touch with their feelings or emotion, and insinuates that caring for others is a job of women alone. I believe that men should be invited to the feminist space and that excluding men from feminism is one of the biggest problems of the feminist movement. To deny men’s own emotion and vulnerability does a disservice to them. On this note, the book makes no mention at all of trans and other gender non-conforming people, who are just as involved in this movement as anyone else, if not moreso.

They could have done better... but the other concepts described are solid. So I gave the book three stars.

[smschumacher · Rating 3 out of 5]

I agree with other reviewers that there’s just not much here. In the first portion they ask questions to encourage self-discovery, so that might be helpful for some. However, I’m guessing the people buying this book are those who have already done some inner work and want something deeper. This is not it.

I’m a huge fan of the Enneagram, so I was happy to see that included, but it’s only the most basic introduction, without any discussion of the most important part: levels of health/unhealth. Read more on the EnneagramInstitute.com or get The Road Back to You for more on that.

I love Elle Luna, and her other book is awesome. It’s also a blog post that got turned into a book, so I had that expectation going in. This book was meant to be a book from the beginning, so I feel there should have been a lot more substance. Yes, her art is beautiful, but I don’t feel that format works for this subject matter.

[Cynthia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I rate this book a 3.5. It didn't inspire me as much as Elle Luna's first book, so that was disappointing to me. In this book there is a lot of time spent on the Enneagram--both in the middle and in the end. They discuss the various types, and then they have a section devoted to how the types can use their power. The problem was, after looking at all of the types, I didn't feel that any of the types fit me, and I didn't feel attached to any of them. So i felt very disconnected from the book! And then later, there is more about the enneagram, but I already didn't feel connected, so continuing to reading more about each type seemed pointless to me, and I was not engaged. Who knows? Maybe I will one day take an enneagram test to figure out which type fits me, and later I will love this book. But for now, overall, I didn't love this book as much as her first one. I'm sad to say that, but there it is. It just didn't grab me.

[Madi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Conflicted about this one!

It was well-written and researched, citing lots of different studies and influential people throughout history. The watercolor illustrations were beautiful, and I enjoyed a lot of the visualized quotes. This is the kind of book I wish I had read when I was in middle / high school before I had a baseline understanding of feminism. It was a bit repetitive of a lot of ideas I already knew.

That said, I did take about 5 pages of notes from the text, and I enjoyed the prompts and questions, it got me thinking about my story, which was the aim of it. I only wish there were more writing exercises, I thought this would be more of a book for writers looking to hone their craft and less of a self help book.

[Tanya · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't think of any reason not to read this book.

As someone else had said, this book only touches the tip of the iceberg on feminism. There are many more books that have more information and more depth in them. But that shouldn't stop you from reading it. Unless maybe you have already read everything about feminism and self help type books, then maybe this book isn't for you.

Yes this book has a lot of art work, and not as much writing as many books out there have. But I see that as a benefit. It's a fairly quick read, but something that you could always come back to. I think that there would be something in this book for everyone to learn/use.

[Ashlie Swicker · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this and wish I had borrowed it. It's very lovely and has some great quotes (think Pinterest-worthy images) but the actual content is sparse. I think the subject-matter jumped around a little too much. I really enjoyed the section about talking with family members and examining the values of your upbringing and writing out narrative that you tell yourself in order to change it. It felt to me like the first steps of drafting a memoir or some personal essays. The connection to the Ennegram was interesting but didn't feel fleshed out enough. It was a very surface level book that I enjoyed flipping through but will probably pass on.

[yamiyoghurt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Colourful and easy to read - designed to capture the reader’s attention. A good primer to start the inward journey into oneself, to investigate the unconscious conditionings that shape of our beliefs and being, and through confronting our shadow selves, become empowered.
This book is a good practical guide with activities and steps to explore inwards. I’m giving it 3 stars because of my personal preference for heavier theories.

[Raquel · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the concept of overcoming societal and internalized misogyny is critical in grasping how to harness feminine power, this book fails in two ways. One, it focuses heavily on the Enneagram personality types, which is reductive. Second, while the first parts of the book focus on storytelling tools, the end of the book turns wishy washy and doesn't reference storytelling at all. The world needs a better resource on this empowering tool.

[JoAnna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Three-line review: This book is beautifully illustrated and lovely to flip through but the substance was lacking. It attempts to lead women through a journey to find their feminine voice yet spends a lot of time regurgitating historical and topical information about feminism and misogyny. It would have been nice to work through some personal self-discovery exercises, but this wasn't engaging or interesting enough for me to remain invested.

[C · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved Elle Luna’s first book, The Crossroads of Should and Must, but this one did not hit the mark for me. While I do think women’s stories are important and valuable, I do not see my self-worth in relation to “the patriarchy” and do not identify my inner critic as misogyny. The primary messages of this book do not feel empowering to me as a female, and thus this is not a book that will find a permanent place on my bookshelf.

[Shannelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

Uncomfortably steeped in the mystical and the authors justifying things based on foreign religions, and upon realizing that, I thought that 1.) this book doesn’t really have a lot of helpful content, it’s just mostly art and personal anecdotes that don’t do much and 2.) it’s glaringly unhelpful for women of color or trans women and etc. Would not recommend