Created & Edited by Leah Oviedo This zine is produced by ImpowerYou.org & Patreon.com/Loviedo
In this issue: Sea Serpent Warning Pain Becomes Parable by Iris Orpi Wild Woman by Inisa Fajra D.I.Y. Therapy: Your Inner Power Shine Closing Quote Cultivating Radical Self-Love – Free Book
Read previous issues at Impoweryou.org/radical
What is Radical about? Radical is a creative arts zine supporting the idea that we should live our journeys on our own terms. It is moving beyond expectations and limits to see what we are made of. It is forging our own paths and creating an accepting, compassionate community along our way. I created this monthly e-zine to spread a message of sustainable self-care and to promote independent artists, writers, and healers. After spending 17 years of suffering depression and defining myself by my failures, I said STOP! Change was extremely difficult, and it didn’t happen in one moment or even one year, it has taken years to heal. This has been an epic journey. I’m still learning, but I have never made a better decision. Choosing to love myself unconditionally and heal my depression is the reason I am still alive today. Peace and hugs, Leah
>> Sea Serpent Warning << By Leah Oviedo
I made this sea serpent while pondering the myths of monsters that would swallow boats whole and the amount of power our oceans hold. There are tsunamis that destroy cities, smaller waves crashing on the shore breaking shells, rip tides that drown swimmers, and torrential storms that sink boats. Killer whales, great white sharks and electric eels swim around the world hunting for their next meal. Sometimes they grab a surfer or two. We may not have sea serpents as told in myths, but the ocean is indeed a powerful place. We need to respect it more, stop polluting it with plastic and start loving it unconditionally. Reconsider your purchases of single use plastics, of Styrofoam cups and straws. When you go to the beach, donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t bring trash that will easily break into small pieces, left in the sand and swallowed by unknowing birds and fish. If we are so dense as to kill our oceans, it wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be sea serpents that kill us. We must show respect to Mother Earth. Our lives depend on it.
>> Pain Becomes Parable << By Iris Orpi And then, out of the pain came beauty, beating its majestic black wings and bearing all the flaws that conspired to make it perfect and pure. Vagabond soul hand painted, torn and tormented by people who take a twisted kind of pleasure in being unexpectedly cruel, the grinding gears of chance, being at the wrong place at the wrong time through fateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s obscure design, found alleys of kindness to sleep in on days of rough weather and kept pieces of warmth in her pockets to turn into the only currency honored by angels. Legend has it she hurt until she learned to dance with lightning, wept enough tears to set fire to the rain, conquered the night on her bare feet and casually passed words in a roomful of philosophers over shot glasses of poison and Russian roulette and came out alive, the science of her inimitable survival writing her name on the wall
and tattooing the sun. There, now, she sits in the solace of her secrets on the edge of the living sky with the world in her hands. Iris Orpi is a Filipina writer living in Chicago, IL. She is the author of the novel The Espresso Effect and two books of collected poetry, Cognac for the Soul and Beautiful Fever. She was an Honorable Mention for the annual Contemporary American Poetry Prize in 2014. Her work has appeared in over two dozen online and print publications around Asia, North America, Europe, and Africa. Find more work by Iris at twitter.com/irisorpi & facebook.com/irisorpi
>> Wild Woman << By Inisa Fajra
Wild woman, won’t you stop and listen Won’t you stay and wait for everything you’re missin’ Won’t you hold your breath of fire for a little while Wild woman, forget for now your goodbye smile Won’t you follow the straight path that’s nice and clear The one we made for you that’s built on trust and blind fear Wild woman, won’t you sit under the cool shadows of routine The place where nothing moves, with only fog and clouds that can be seen?
Inisa Fajra is a fire woman, a believer in the transformative powers of fire and everlasting change. She has travelled and worked in countries across the world, igniting her passion for the new and unknown. Recently abandoning her biggest passion and dreams of a career, Inisa decided to pursue a life, where careers are of no importance, but spiritual exploration, uplifting and love give life a meaning. We often seem to have it the other way around. She currently resides in Vietnam. As her priority in life, Inisa puts believing & dreaming (both carrying the same meaning) - into making yourself and your world into whatever you’d like it to be and being part of the energies that shift, move & travel through time.
She writes by ‘translating poetry in people talk’, silencing external distractions with real food for the soul through her poems and short stories. You can follow her on Instagram here: www.instagram.com/phenowomenally
>> D.I.Y. Therapy: Your Inner Power << I used to shrug off my intuition in favor of fitting in and being liked, for a quick fix, and to follow others definition of happiness. By ignoring my feelings and true desires I put myself in situations of quick and painful learning. Here are a few examples of how I ignored my intuition. • • • • •
There was the bully at school who I walked home with who eventually turned on me and threatened my life. I already knew she was volatile after seeing her so easily turn on others. I tried dating people because they liked me, but to whom I was not sexually attracted and never romantically liked. I attempted to forge friendships with people I wanted to be like, but with whom I had very little in common and ended up very alone. I would go to bars and drink even though I don’t like the taste of alcohol and don’t enjoy the scene. I went into debt trying to find contentment in material items even though I knew I couldn’t afford the debt.
These actions went against my intuition, but I followed them anyway. These actions also destroyed my selfworth. I started to give up and that’s when my depression really got painful. Eventually, I realized this life I was building wasn’t healthy and I would never be happy following that path. This wasn’t an overnight change. Learning to follow my intuition took time. Healing takes time. Deciding to follow my intuition wasn’t a quick fix. I was so used to the wrong choices that I continued to make them when faced with an impromptu decision, felt lazy, or wanted to follow the crowd (peers, co-workers or society in general). It was frustrating because I knew deep down that I was taking the easy way out. Breaking habits is a lot of work. I had to teach myself to make better decisions by following my intuition. When a new or nerve-racking moment presented itself, I thought about what I really wanted and what felt like the best choice as opposed to what someone else felt was the best choice or what was “normal”. I began to look at the bigger picture in terms of my life. Every day it’s becoming easier to listen and follow my intuition. It’s been bumpy. While grieving after my parents and a best friend died, I made all sorts of quick decisions that made my life more difficult. Following my intuition was rough because there were so many emotions and such pain all battling for my attention at once. Now that my grief has mellowed it’s easier to follow my intuition. Don’t get down on yourself when you get snagged. Remember that life is an adventure. We can’t control everything, but we can control how we respond and we can pick ourselves up and forge ahead knowing we are capable. Listen to the voice inside of your heart. It’s your true voice and will guide you exactly where you want to go. If you’re consistently unhappy then it’s time for a life review. If most of the choices you make turn out wrong or if you often feel yourself going against your gut, it’s time for a review of your decisions. Answer the questions below and see what insight you can glean. It’s never too late to start following your intuition.
What choices am I making that don’t feel quite right? When did I make a choice that felt good and worked out how you imagined? How did I feel and why did I make that choice? What parts of my life would I like to grow and what parts would I like to leave behind?
If you like this practice, you can find related work on my website: ImpowerYou.org/healing-depression
Please don’t let others opinion of you cause you to doubt your capabilities, your intelligence, your beauty or the truth that you are a gift to the world. I ask this because that’s what I did for most of my life and it sucked. Life was just one sad day after another because I believed the haters. During my healing years I struggled with leaving this part of me in the past. It can be challenging to believe in beauty in a world with so much pain and hate, but it’s there. Beauty and peace is inside each of us, it is part of our nature, part of our ecosystem. Open your eyes and see.
>> Closing Quote
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“Women can help turn the world right side up. We bring a more collaborative approach to government. And if we do not participate, then the decisions will be made without us.” Wilma Mankiller. This quote is from her autobiography Mankiller: A Chief and Her People.
“Cultivating Radical Self-Love: A Collaboration of Healers, Artists and Writers” What is radical self-love? It’s a letting go of the idea that your worth is tied to your future accomplishments. It’s being accountable for your actions. It’s choosing your own path. Self-love manifests itself in different ways for different people. By cultivating radical self-love, you are choosing to believe in the radical idea that you are whole and valuable as you are. Loving your imperfections is one of the bravest things you can do. This book features work by Michelle Minero, Kiyoshi Shelton, Jaz Gray, Corry Lang, Natalie Small, Rae Lawrence, Jason Freeman, Jasmine Farrell, Anaid Garcia, Donovan Cheney, Vidya, Katrina Mendoza and Leah Oviedo. These amazing people are different genders, skin tones, sexual orientations, abilities, spiritual beliefs. What they all share is knowing that self-love is an important aspect of everyone’s journey. Choose your e-book format or PDF on Patreon.com/Loviedo.
Like this zine? Become a patron at Patreon.com/Loviedo Want to be featured? If you are interested in contributing to a future issue, please send an email to Leah at investinginwomen@gmail.com. Need help with depression? Try my FREE e-course full of tools to help you heal from the inside out: Impoweryou.org/healing-depression Like to color? I have free coloring pages on my website: Impoweryou.org/color Buying a gift? Check out my art and merchandise at Zazzle.com/Oviedostyle
THANK YOU – YOU ARE POWERFUL!