Subtitles section Play video Print subtitles For thousands of years women around the world have suffered from what is called Cleopatra's CurseTM. When you hear my name 'Cleopatra, Last Pharaoh of ancient Egypt', what comes to mind? Some might say “beauty” “power” “a Love affair with Julius Caesar” “a love affair with Mark Antony” “a mysterious death”… Did you know that I spoke 9 languages fluently?After 300 years of Greeks controlling the Egyptian thrown I was the only one to ever make the effort to learn the local language to earn loyalty and love? I was a powerful strategist with a genius mind running my country like a modern CEO? I controlled more money than all the Forbes billionaires combined? Most people don't. And the reason they don't is because the victors MALE roman historians wrote my his-story.It was politically less dangerous to create the image of me as a powerful sensual temptress -- than admitting my power and brilliance. “Cleopatra's Curse” was born! Since then power for women was conceived as something negative and dangerous for their reputation, femininity and life! What does that all have to do with you my modern sisters? Everything! I'm watching you… How can it be that women still make up less than 15% of top positions in corporations and only 22% of all national parliamentarians world-wide? Don't you ever wonder why -- despite the fact that you all are brilliant, highly educated and committed – so many of you struggle to live your full potential in all areas of life? Officially I might be dead for over 2000 years. But my spirit lives on.I'm still ALIVE in the brain of all living women. How that is possible? I let Sylvia, my German sister and Lady with the Brain, explain to you. (Taking wig and neckless off) I grew up in Germany as a single child with parents who loved me dearly. Like millions of Germans of their generation, they were inside their adult bodies psychologically, still traumatized children from the second World War. I was a so-called “gifted child” and always the best in class through school. Whenever I came home with the record card papers showing top-grades, my father would look down on it, then up straight into my eyes with this sincere expression of worry – and sometimes even panic. Then he would shake his head in pain, “Oh honey. You are way too intelligent. You will never find a husband!” Having learned from my mother that the most important job of every women is to find a husband by the age of 25…. I felt doomed. Surely enough all my first admirers and later lovers and 2 fiancées leaving me proved my father to be right. In my early 30s, after TWO university degrees, I was a rising star in Germany inside the new professional field of executive coaching. I worked in an established consulting company, yet I was the only woman on the team. Interestingly the top-assignments started pouring in right AFTER my wedding and I asked the CEO of that consulting-company: “Hey, why is that, that suddenly since I wear this ring, I get all these assignments you refused to give me before?” His answer: “When you were young, beautiful and single you were considered too much of a threat for our top-executives clients. Now being married you are not any longer a threat for them.” Cleopatra's Curse in full swing!In my understanding her curse is a list of beliefs like: “It's dangerous for a woman to be successful.” “When a woman stands up and speaks her truth, she might get attacked or killed.” “When a woman makes more money than anyone else in her company or advances her career with speed the only answer is 'she slept her way to the top'.” All these beliefs are strong and alive in so many people's brains today. When a female executive designs her career plan or a business woman maps out her product line she uses mainly her conscious mind. WHERE exactly IS that? Raise your right hand like this and touch gently your forehead. What you sense behind your skin, thin layer of flesh and the scull is your neo-cortex. The part of your brain which is the youngest from an evolutionary perspective and also the youngest in your individual development. It's finished developing at the end of your puberty around your 24th birthday. You can put your hand down now.The neo-cortex makes decisions on conscious goals, creates strategies and designs plans. It is able to distinguish incoming information and choses what to believe or what to dismiss. This decision-making neo-cortex is not fully developed when we are children! Raise your hand again and touch the BACK of your head, above your neck, and gently feel what's beneath your hand. This much bigger and older part of your brain is the seat of your SUBconscious mind. This subconscious mind is like a sponge. It takes in EVERYTHING. It doesn't distinguish between 'good for you information' or 'not good for you information.' Everything you ever thought, ever felt, ever experienced, the environment you were born into, parents, family, culture is deeply imprinted into your subconscious mind. Including the beliefs of our collective sub-consciousness as women! Here is the place where Cleopatra is still alive and strong! How does all that show up in our life TODAY? A woman stands here in her current situation and she feels her potential. She longs to have more impact. More money. A bigger team. A wider reach. She has conscious goals and dreams. So she lays out her conscious plans and decides to move forward towards her dreams. But her ego, as part of her sub-conscious mind, which is committed to her SAFETY, says: “NOOOOO!” “Stay here.” “That's is dangerous!” “They might kill you!” “And if they don't kill you -- you will lose your love.” I experienced that dynamic again and again: for example my revenue after years of growth plateauing after getting married, or me asking for lower coaching fees than competitors, or trusting other people's advice more than my intuition losing a ton of money. The key here -- is to understand that our ego -- and its our success sabotaging strategies -- is NOT our enemy! Our EGO is our strongest partner inside our brain committed to our safety. Our ego got developed when we were cute little girls without a mature neo-cortex to make appropriate decisions for us. The intentions of our ego are always good. Just its strategies are completely outdated and destructive! I repeat: Your ego is not your enemy. It is your most powerful ally when you manage it correctly. As an example, when a perfectly prepared, brilliant woman starts to sweat and stumbles while speaking in public, it's her ego kicking in, trying to keep her safe! In order to change that -- collectively we have to do what we are doing here today: talking about it! Talking about these taboos. Meeting at a public leadership conference and acknowledging honestly our intimate and most private fears. Because they are not only Cleopatra's Curse, they got reinforced by 300 years of witch-hunts in Europe where hundreds of thousands of women lost their lives! These women were not cutesy little naïve girls. No, they were the business women, the widows and the wise medicine women and shamans! They were often wealthy and financially independent. They were intelligent. They traded. They taught. They healed others. Can you imagine how 300 years of thousands of women being tortured and killed leaves an imprint on our female collective subconscious mind? (This might be one of the sentences I forgot. Need to re-listen to my own SUE-Talk. I have a bad audio-file on my Iphone.) Generations of generations of mothers and fathers in Europe told their daughters: “Psst, don't tell them that you can read and write.” “Hide! Make yourself small! Hide!” “Be seen as pleasant to look at but not heard as intelligent.” We all are good daughters. With the help of our ego we make sure to stay safe which means inside our old comfort-zones of role-plays, careers and life-style designs. My mother 78 – still suffers from WWII effects in the form of anxiety and depression attacks. She never felt for just one moment in her life that she is fully in charge owning her power. My passion to empower women is fueled by her pain about her wasted potential… Are you ready to step into your power? Are you committed to live your full potential? Are you ready to turn your ego into a powerful ally? Ladies, please stand up now …..and put your hand on your heart. Repeat loud after me: “I am powerful.” “I am powerful.” “It is safe for me to be powerful.” “It is safe for me to be powerful.” “I am successful.” “I am successful.” “It is safe for me to be successful.” “It is safe for me to be successful.” Thank you. Be seated. I invite you to repeat these 4 sentences every morning in your bathroom while looking into your own eyes in a mirror for 90 days -- and before any challenging meeting where you want to show up as a powerful leader. When your ego starts believing that you are safe, it turns all the energy it invested to keep you small into the energy INSTEAD to move you towards your goals and dreams! Please share these statements with as many women as possible, so that TOGETHER we collectively rewire our brains, break Cleopatra's Curse and enjoy being SUE - Successful Unstoppable and Empowered! Thank you.
B1 US ego cleopatra powerful subconscious mind curse neo Your Ego | Sylvia Becker Hill | SUE Talk 9 0 Daisy Wan posted on 2018/10/30 More Share Save Report Video vocabulary