Edited: Nov 25, 2025

Hello! I’m Naïma, a professional Fine Artist based in the south of France. I create paintings inspired by the wild feminine energy.

To my fellow adventurous women, I share your spirit...

Upon encountering Clarissa Pinkola Estés' s book "Women who run with the wolves," a whole new realm unfolded before me. I thoroughly enjoy delving into the tales, each time feeling a fresh awakening of something profound within me.

I have chosen to share with you 10 impactful quotes from the book "Women who run with the wolves" by Clarissa Pinkola Estés that have resonated with me.

NB: All quotes are from Women Who Run With the Wolves by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés, used with respect and for inspirational purposes. I'm sharing my personal interpretation and journey following each quote.

1: "There is no greater blessing a mother can give her daughter than a reliable sense of the veracity of her own intuition." Dr Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Women who run with the wolves

I find this quote particularly interesting because I am a child-free woman, and at 43, I have come to realise how important it is for a woman to learn to trust herself.

Although I don't have a daughter of my own, I think about how much easier life might be if, from an early age, we were encouraged to listen to our intuition rather than doubt it. To trust what we feel, to recognise when something doesn't feel right, and to understand that we don't always need someone else's approval to make our own choices.

Growing up, I didn't always feel free to express every part of who I was. Like many women, I had to find my own way through the expectations placed on me and learn to distinguish between what I genuinely wanted and what I thought I was supposed to want.

It took me years to understand that my sensitivity wasn't a weakness, that my need for freedom wasn't something to be ashamed of, and that the quiet voice inside me deserved to be heard.

Looking back, I can see how important intuition has been in my journey, particularly when I decided to not have children, and to return to painting and finally take my art seriously. It wasn't necessarily the most conventional or secure path, but something inside me kept telling me that I needed to follow it.

I believe that this is a lesson worth sharing with younger women, whether we are mothers or not. We can pass on wisdom through the way we live, the choices we make and the courage we show when we decide to listen to ourselves.

At 43, I'm still learning to trust my intuition. I don't always get things right, and I don't always know where a decision will lead me. But I am becoming more comfortable with the idea that I don't need to have every answer before taking the next step.

Perhaps one of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves, and the women around us, is the freedom to listen to that inner voice and trust that it has something valuable to tell us.

2: "Rather than defining intuition as some unreasoned faulty quirk, intuition is defined as truly soul-voice speaking". Dr Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Women who run with the wolves

I love the idea of intuition as the voice of the soul. It makes me think about all the times we feel drawn towards something without being able to explain why.

For me, this connection has always been closely linked to art, wild nature, wildlife and especially wolves.

As a child, I could spend hours observing flowers, birds and little details in the landscape around me. I grew a deep passion for wolves. I didn't need to know why I was so fascinated by them. I simply felt connected to them. Nature gave me a sense of peace and belonging that I sometimes struggled to find elsewhere. Wolves a sense of freedom.

Years later, when I returned to painting, I began to understand how much that childhood connection still meant to me. It was as though I was finding a part of myself that had been waiting patiently to be rediscovered.

I think we sometimes dismiss these feelings because they don't seem practical enough. We tell ourselves that we should choose the serious "adult" path, the one that makes the most sense on paper.

But what if the things that quietly call to us are trying to tell us something important?

We don't always need to understand everything straight away. Sometimes, we can simply follow our curiosity and see where it leads us. It personally has changed my life.

The archetype of the Wild Woman

3: "She is intuitive, typical, and normative. She is utterly essential to women's mental and soul health." Dr Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Women who run with the wolves

When I read this quote, I think about the importance of allowing ourselves to be natural, instinctive and fully alive.

I don't believe that being a woman means having to fit into one particular image of femininity. We don't all need to behave in the same way, look the same way or want the same things. There is no single right way to be a woman.

For me, reconnecting with my feminine nature has meant allowing myself to be sensitive, wild, creative, emotional and curious without feeling that I need to justify these qualities.

Growing up, I sometimes felt that certain parts of me didn't quite fit the world around me. I learned to question myself and to keep some of my feelings to myself. It took time to understand that there was nothing wrong with being sensitive or seeing the world differently.

Nature helped me find my way back. There is something comforting about being in a forest, watching the movement of water or observing a wild animal. Nature doesn't ask us to become someone else. It simply allows us to be there.

I think we need that feeling in our everyday lives, too. We need spaces where we can breathe, create, feel and exist without constantly judging ourselves.

For me, being connected to my wild nature doesn't mean being untamed in some dramatic way. It means feeling free to be myself, including the parts of me that are gentle, vulnerable or difficult to explain.

And I think there is a quiet kind of strength in that.

Reconnecting to our Wild SELF

4: "When we are connected to the instinctual self, to the soul of the feminine which is natural and wild, then instead of looking over whatever happens to be on display, we say to ourselves, "what am I hungry for?".

Dr Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Women who run with the wolves

“What am I hungry for?”

This is such a simple question, but I think it can change the way we look at our lives.

How often do we stop and ask ourselves what we truly need? Not what other people expect from us, not what we think we should want, but what would genuinely make us feel more alive?

We can spend so much time trying to meet expectations that we lose touch with our own desires. We become good at doing what is required of us, even when something inside us feels empty or restless.

I know that, for a long time, I didn't fully understand what I was missing. I knew that I felt disconnected, but I couldn't always put that feeling into words. Looking back, I can see that I needed more freedom, more creativity and a deeper connection with nature. I needed to make room for the things that made me feel like myself.

At 30, I left my job where I was mentally abused for a year and a half, I decided to go to a place that was calling me..."Yellowstone National park" where I could finally witness wild wolves. when I came back home, I felt the urge to create again.

Returning to painting helped me recognise that hunger. It wasn't simply about learning to paint or creating something beautiful. It was about giving a meaningful part of myself the space it needed.

I think our hunger can take many forms. Perhaps we are hungry for rest, for adventure, for meaningful relationships, for time alone or for the courage to begin something new.

Whatever it is, I believe we deserve to listen to it.

We don't always need to change our entire lives overnight. Sometimes, we can begin with one small question: What do I need a little more of in my life right now?

And then, perhaps, we can give ourselves permission to move towards it.

5: "The wildish woman is, by nature, intense and talented". Dr Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Women who run with the wolves

I find this quote beautiful because it reminds me that intensity is not necessarily something we need to hide.

Some of us feel things deeply. We notice little details, become absorbed in our passions, dream of other possibilities and experience the world with a particular sensitivity. Sometimes, these qualities can feel overwhelming, especially when we are surrounded by people who don't quite understand them.

For a long time, I didn't always know what to do with my own sensitivity. I sometimes felt different, as though I was looking at the world from a slightly different place.

Today, I see how much that sensitivity influences my art. I am drawn to women, flowers, landscapes, animals and the relationship between humans and nature. I love exploring feminine energy, emotion and the feeling of being connected to something larger than ourselves.

My creativity comes from that place. It comes from observing, feeling, remembering and trying to translate something I cannot always explain in words onto a canvas.

I also think we often underestimate our talents because they don't always look like the skills that are valued most by society. We may be naturally imaginative, intuitive or artistic, but if those qualities aren't encouraged, we can struggle to recognise their value.

I returned to painting as an adult, and I had to allow myself to be a beginner again. I had to accept that I wouldn't know everything and that learning would take time.

But I also discovered that I didn't need to be perfect to begin.

Perhaps embracing our intensity means no longer apologising for the way we feel or the things that inspire us. Perhaps embracing our talents means giving them a chance to grow, even if we don't yet know where they will take us.

I think there is something beautiful about allowing ourselves to care deeply about what we create.

6: "The psyches and souls of women also have their own cycles and seasons of doing solitude, running and staying, being involved and being removed, questing and resting, creating and incubating, being of the world and returning to soul-place."

Dr Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Women who run with the wolves

In this passage, Clarissa Pinkola Estés describes the natural cycles of a woman's inner life: times of solitude and connection, movement and rest, creating and incubating.

This passage reminds me that we are not meant to live at the same rhythm all the time.

There are seasons when we feel full of energy and inspiration, when we want to explore the world, meet people and bring our ideas to life. And there are other seasons when we need to retreat a little, slow down and spend time with ourselves.

I think we sometimes feel guilty when our energy changes. We wonder why we aren't as productive as we were last month, why we need more rest or why we suddenly feel the desire to be alone.

But nature has never been constant in that way. The landscape changes with the seasons. Trees lose their leaves, flowers disappear, and the earth rests before beginning again.

Why should we expect ourselves to be any different?

My creative journey has taught me that inspiration doesn't always arrive when I want it to. Sometimes, I feel full of ideas and can't wait to paint. At other times, I need to observe, collect impressions and let things settle inside me before I know what I want to create.

I am learning that these quieter periods are not necessarily wasted time. Something can be growing even when there is nothing visible yet.

I think this is especially important for women, who are often expected to keep going, keep giving and keep everything together.

We are allowed to change our rhythm. We are allowed to pause without having to explain ourselves.

Maybe we can learn to trust our own seasons a little more, knowing that rest and movement both have their place in a meaningful life.

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Returning, going back to your home.

7: "Home is where a thought or feeling can be sustained instead of being interrupted or torn away from us because something is demanding our time and attention. Although there are many physical places one can go to "feel" her way back to this special home, the physical place itself is not home; it is only the vehicule that rocks the ego to sleep so that we can go to rest of the way by ourselves." Dr Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Women who run with the wolves

The vehicules are many: music, art, forest, ocean spume, sunrise, solitude...These takes us home to a. nutritive world...

In this passage, Estés describes home as a place where a thought or feeling can be sustained without interruption, and where the physical world can help us return to that inner home.

When I think about home, I don't only think about a house or a particular place. I think about a feeling.

It's the feeling of being able to breathe, of not having to pretend, of being allowed to exist without constantly wondering whether we are enough.

Growing up in Normandy, I found a sense of refuge in the natural world. The meadows, forests and countryside gave me space to observe, dream and draw. Those moments were important to me because they allowed me to feel connected to something peaceful and genuine.

I think we all need places where we can hear ourselves think. Places where we don't have to be constantly available, productive or responsive to everyone else.

For me, art has gradually become another way of creating that space. When I paint, I enter a world where I can explore my feelings, follow my imagination and let things unfold at their own pace.

It isn't always easy, and painting doesn't magically solve everything. But it helps me return to myself.

I also think that finding our inner home is a journey. We may spend years trying to belong somewhere, hoping that a particular place, relationship or achievement will finally make us feel complete.

And sometimes, those things do bring us happiness. But perhaps the deeper work is learning to create a sense of belonging within ourselves, too.

A place inside us where we can be honest, imperfect and free.

A place we can return to, even when the world feels overwhelming.

8: "Home is the pristine instinctual life that works as easily as a joint sliding upon its greased bearing, where all is as itshould be, where all noises sounds right, and the light is good and the smell makes us feel calm rather than. alarmed. Whatever revivifies balance is what is essential. That is home."

Dr Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Women who run with the wolves

In this passage, Estés describes home as a return to our instinctual life, a place of inner balance where things feel right again.

I think there is a difference between being comfortable with the life we have built and feeling truly at home within ourselves.

Sometimes, we can do everything that is expected of us and still feel that something is missing. We may have a routine, a job and responsibilities, yet feel disconnected from the person we are beneath all those roles.

I experienced moments in my life when I felt that distance between the person I was becoming and the person I wanted to be.

Returning to art was part of finding my way back. In 2020, when I visited Monet's gardens in Giverny again, I felt a strong connection with the little girl I had been when I first visited at eleven. The flowers, the water, the light and the beauty of that place brought back something I had carried with me for years.

It felt as though I was meeting a younger version of myself and remembering what had always mattered to me.

That experience didn't give me a complete plan for my future. But it helped me understand that I wanted to make space for art in my life again.

At thirty-eight, I decided to stop waiting for the perfect moment and to take my artistic journey seriously.

Looking back, I think that was one of the ways I began to feel more at home within myself. I was making choices that reflected what I cared about, rather than continually putting those desires aside.

I don't think we can feel balanced and connected every single day. Life is too complicated for that.

But perhaps we can pay attention to the moments when we feel most like ourselves. They can show us something important about the life we want to create.

For me, those moments often involve painting, being in nature or simply having the freedom to follow my curiosity.

And I am learning to make more room for them each day.

The practice of Intentional Solitude

9: "To converse with the wild feminine, a woman must temporarily leave the world and inhabit a state of aloneness in the oldest sense of the word."

Dr Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Women who run with the wolves

I have always felt that being alone can be a way of reconnecting with myself.

Of course, solitude and loneliness are not the same thing. Loneliness can be painful, especially when we feel disconnected from others. Solitude, when we choose it, can be something very different. It can offer us the space to listen to ourselves without all the noise of everyday life.

Nature has always helped me find that feeling. Walking among trees, observing the landscape or simply sitting quietly outside allows me to slow down and become more aware of what is happening inside me.

As an artist, I also need moments when I can be alone with my thoughts and ideas. Creativity often requires a certain amount of space. I need time to observe, imagine, experiment and sometimes make mistakes without feeling that I have to explain what I am doing.

I think women, in particular, are often made to feel that being available to others is a natural and constant responsibility. We can become so accustomed to responding to other people's needs that we forget to ask ourselves what we need.

But we are allowed to step away sometimes. We are allowed to close the door, take a walk, spend an afternoon painting or simply do nothing for a while.

We don't have to earn that time by finishing everything else first.

For me, solitude is not about rejecting the world. It's about returning to it with a little more clarity, a little more energy and a stronger sense of who I am.

Sometimes, being alone is exactly what helps me feel connected again.

10: "Solitude is not the absence of energy or action but is rather a boon of wild provisions transmitted to us from the soul."

Dr Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Women who run with the wolves

I love this quote because it changes the way we think about doing nothing, or at least about appearing to do nothing.

We live in a world that places so much value on being busy. We are encouraged to produce, achieve, share and constantly move towards the next thing. It can be difficult to accept that some of the most important moments in our lives happen when we slow down.

But I think solitude can be deeply nourishing. It gives us time to absorb our experiences, understand our feelings and make room for new ideas.

When I paint, some of the work happens long before I put a brush on the canvas. It happens when I observe a flower, notice the light falling across a landscape or find myself thinking about something that has stayed with me. These small moments become part of my creative world, even when I don't immediately turn them into a painting.

Sometimes, I need to let an idea rest before I know what it wants to become.

I am learning not to see these quieter periods as a lack of progress. They are part of the process, too.

The same is true of our lives. We don't always need to be doing something visible for something meaningful to be happening within us.

Perhaps solitude gives us the freedom to hear thoughts that are easily drowned out by everyday noise. maybe it helps us remember what matters when we have become distracted by what everyone else expects.

For me, it is one of the ways I stay connected to my creativity and to the natural world that has always inspired me.

And I am learning to value those moments, not as time taken away from life, but as an essential part of living it.

I hope you enjoyed reading these quotes and my reflection, my own journey....that it inspires you to follow your own as a woman... We may spend years trying to understand where we belong, learning to fit in, meeting expectations or putting aside the things that make us feel different. Sometimes, we lose touch with our intuition, our creativity or the parts of ourselves that need more freedom.

But I don't believe those parts disappear completely. Sometimes, they simply wait for us to make room for them again.

with love,

Naïma

I invite you to explore my website, where you can discover more of my artwork and my journey. You’ll find original paintings available (worldwide shipping from France), fine art prints, canvas prints, and lifestyle products created from my art — all inspired by the wild, untamed feminine spirit.

Stay Wild! Naïma

About the Artist

Naima Namaste is a French contemporary artist whose original paintings explore the profound relationship between women, nature and the wild. Inspired by symbolism, intuition and the beauty of the natural world, she creates soulful, collectible artworks that invite moments of reflection, connection and wonder. Every painting is created by hand in her atelier in the south of France.