We all have a choice to harness Power and come from our Power, always.
1. Using your own experience to serve you.
Have you seen Powerlessness?
2. Understanding what Power means to you.
What is Power?
Where does your Power lie?
How do you lose your Power?
3. Acknowledging you own Power and accepting your need to come from it.
Decide ‘I choose to come from Power.’
4. Realizing you are Powerful and pledging to be Authentic.
Affirm ‘I am Powerful’.
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1. Using your own experience to serve you.
Have you seen Powerlessness?
Often our interactions with people, expose the powerlessness; in them and in ourselves.
Two years back, visiting a counselor did help me, but not in the way you’d expect. I remember sitting across the table in a tiny gloomy room, listening to the benefits of practicing self-love and the use of positive affirmations, amongst other things.
As the counselor professed, I couldn’t fail but notice her hasty body language and feel her own tense energy. To me she didn’t come across as someone who “practiced self-love” herself. And I wondered if I was wrong. (After all, I was the one going through a depressive state of existence! Or who openly claimed it.)
Her good sense and sincere intent did not help me imbibe what her qualifications claimed she knew. Her advice, though invaluable, seemed trite with limitation that only an idea strictly mental could tolerate. And I remember doubting her ability.
The right words were spoken but they weren’t infused with the aliveness of personal experience. I had fallen short of my goals, had been unsuccessful to make best use of my talents and I had lost my power and was probably in search for someone to help me replenish it. But, I was disappointed.
In short, even when I was eager to listen, I wasn’t moved, influenced or inspired. In that moment, I saw Powerlessness and the definition of what Power meant to me.
2) Understanding what Power means to you:
a) What is Power?
For me it means Authenticity.
Being safe in the knowing that you have used your resources rightly, fully & fearlessly.
That meeting imprinted upon me a clear idea of who I wanted to be, rather, what I wished to embody. I wanted to come from my Power, and to me Power meant Authenticity.
Authenticity to me meant applying and embodying my know-how, lessons, beliefs and values fully and fearlessly. I wanted the Power of being safe in my skin. I also realized real Power can create a positive impact on people and that only authenticity can truly help people to be inspired by you, feel safe in your presence and guidance, and learn from your experience.
(Behind the scenes: I was now even more careful (the word is finicky) about the suggestions I offered, even if it was a close friend who asked me and who wouldn’t probably judge me, and even when I knew he would voice my lack of mastery/ ownership in the area should he find it and would be wise enough not to blindly follow. For example, I am not an early riser or even a fitness freak so I don’t even speak on this. I speak on cross learning because I have always been a learner. )
To embody your know-how, beliefs and values, to walk the talk, to practice what you preach, is Power to me. I understood Power as the deliberate choice of harnessing each resource – talent, gift, ability, know-how, experience, lesson, etc., to the fullest.
Power to me is this choice of leaving no moment unexplored or to chance, it is this readiness to evolve that gives us the developed ability to live in the moment and a feeling of being safe and whole within oneself.
‘Karmanye vadhikaraste ma phaleshu kadachana’, the Bhagavad Gita verse, instantly offered me solace. I discovered a strong armor cleverly hidden in this humble attitude, and waiting to shield me: ‘You have the right to do work, but never to it’s fruits.’ What could be more soothing than a guarantee that at this life-(b)end you know that you ensured doing everything you could?
This understanding of Power also seemed to me give me an insurance from the guilt of not doing enough.
b) Where does your Power lie?
My power lies in learning, exploring and in creative self expression.
Deep inside we often intuitively know where our power lies, we know when we shine the brightest. I believe we all have an inbuilt mechanism that accepts a personal secret code, sacred to each individual. It drives us subconsciously and when fully integrated and keyed in can unleash a ‘powerful’ program.
I love to feel powerful and this episode made me more aware of what makes me feel so. Power to me means the mastered faculty to inspire and to empower, even if it just by being yourself. I had experienced this power before and I wished for this power always.
I experience power when I express my truth wholeheartedly without hesitation or manipulation. I love to explore, learn and listen and writing, acting, healing, whistling and painting or any form of authentic self expression makes me feel Powerful.
Coming from this place I feel safe, I don’t feel the need to try hard, to hide or to show – my originality gets expressed effortlessly. We can’t lie to ourselves. The counselor was right after all, it is about self love and acceptance because that leads to authenticity, and ultimately to Power.
c) How do you lose your Power?
I lose my power by suppressing my own truth and when I don’t use all my resources fully.
I also understood a certain truth about the Power within us. I realized we are all so powerful that even a bit dishonesty to ourselves gets amplified in our subconscious and does not permit us the feeling of true power, or Confidence! After all, we can’t cheat ourselves, can we?
I feel, to feel powerful we must be more and more real, honest and authentic to ourselves. We give what we have. So when we have real Power we give others their real power too and inspire them to find it within them.
I recognized I lose my power when I don’t think big, when I don’t use my resources fully, when I lack courage, when I hesitate to express myself truthfully, when I do not accomplish my goals and when I stop learning.
I was determined to truly, totally and fearlessly embody the power of my being. I had just seen the repercussions of an inability to do so and had almost rejected someone instantly. I didn’t want to disappoint or be rejected this way.
With all my understanding, I found it easier to start my journey of Power. I not only affirm I am Powerful but I also consciously choose all those things that empower me and avoid all those that don’t.
You are powerful. That is a fact. So you might as well be aware of your understanding of Power. What makes you feel powerful? How do you lose your power?
Photo via: http://www.shesingstothestars.com/ (No copyright Infringement Intended.)
About the Author:
Malvika loves to learn, listen and explore. She is a Pranic Healer from India.
Writing, healing, whistling and painting help her experience and express her truth.
Malvika recently scripted, directed and performed a red-nose clowning act at Kala Ghoda Arts Festival, Mumbai, India. The act promoted cross disciplinary learning, urging the audience to explore life, and it also encouraged authentic creative self-expression as a way to realize oneself and to experience the Divine.
Personal Blog: http://malvika-thesearchwithin.blogspot.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/malvikavazalwar
