Personal power comes from taking time to step back and gain a broader perspective.
June 30th marks the half way point in 2009 - It is my clue to stop, take a few deep breaths, and spend some time reflecting on the past 6 months…
Where have I been - physically and mentally? Have I been on purpose and served others? What have I learned? How am I feeling? Did I become more authentic?
“The key to wisdom is knowing all the rights questions.” John A. Simone
Over the next few days, with some quiet time… and journal in hand, my answers will help me chart out the next 6 months.
I believe that there is time to make some minor course corrections and tweak my habits, so I can move closer to my stated intentions back in January.
To increase our personal power, we must come to know who we really are and be true to ourselves.
If we do not know who we really are, it becomes very hard to set boundaries around what is acceptable to us and what is not acceptable. And when we do not have those boundaries around us, we tend to get sucked into other people’s stuff. No boundaries, and taking in other people’ stuff all contributes to our wearing masks and thus having a lack of authenticity.
Without boundaries we are also more externally driven. We rather receive advice than listen to our own inner voice. And when we don’t have those boundaries because we really don’t know who we are, we usually put whatever is external on a pedestal. Once again we give our power away.
The first thing to do to change this around is ask ourselves: Who am I really? We may need to go back to this question on a regular basis and to sit with it for a while.
Next, we need to start turning within. You can do this using various strategies that will allow you to quiet your mind and to hear your inner voice. You can also do some journaling and read some personal development materials.
We do not need to cut out the external completely to go within, otherwise we may just create fear for ourselves. Everything done in baby steps is easier and less overwhelming.
With time, we start to realize a sense of oneness with the external and internal world. Once you start trusting your internal world to a larger extent, you care less what others think, you can be more authentic, and you can establish and follow your boundaries.
You come to know that what others think is there baggage and not yours. When this happens, you may start thinking that this is your Ego speaking. It can be. At other times it is just an awareness. You are not judging the other, but simply more aware of their reaction.
Your clue to knowing if it is your Ego kicking in is you might feel angry by another person’s reaction. You may actually feel self righteous. You may have a button or two being pushed.
Something that often occurs during this stage of internal development is that you start second guessing yourself, because a button within was pushed by another. The danger with second guessing ourselves is that it leads to confusion. The confusion then takes you away form the knowing you might of had within.
If you are confused, take a moment to connect with your inner self/your Essence; speak to it, ask it the question: “Essence, I need to know if this is truth or illusion. Please show me as gently and as positively as possible. What is it that I am still not understanding? Thank you.”
As we learn to establish boundaries, we actually develop a thicker skin that will allow us to be truer to ourselves.
The secret is to prioritize where and with whom you would like to establish boundaries. I suggest you start with one relationship at a time, otherwise it could be too overwhelming.
Being authentic is very empowering, and it is big on my mind these days, as I am making some major changes, and I am in a period of transition.
Most of us step away from being authentic, because we have been raised not to rock the boat. We may have been encouraged to please others - we feel we need to put others first.
However being not authentic, wearing one or many masks for a long period of time… takes its toll. We become tired, confused because we really do not know who we are anymore, we become unhappy and less empowered.
It has come to my attention, that by being not authentic because we do not want to rock the boat; Read the rest of this entry »
“We need to find the courage to say NO to the things and people that are not serving us if we want to rediscover ourselves and live our lives with authenticity.” Barbara DeAngelis
As we continue our journey of personal growth and transformation, we realize to what extent becoming truly authentic goes against our programming. From the time we were young society has programmed us to be the same, to be like another.
Our programming has actually contributed to our false beliefs that others and what is outside of us know more about us than we do.
Therefore do not be surprised if becoming authentic is challenging at times and puts you right out of your comfort zone. Read the rest of this entry »
Self empowerment comes from assessing the situation and then taken bold, confident action.
This past weekend, while spending time with friends, I caught a few glimpses of the US Open which was being played in less than ideal conditions… And although I am not a golf player and know very little about the game, through 2 types of golf shots, there was a life lesson being played out over and over on the course, that caught my eye. Read the rest of this entry »
Self empowerment comes from knowing what you want, knowing your values, and what you stand for?
As I have a few days left of business before heading back home, I have been taking some time to be outdoors ( up here in Canada the weather has warmed up - YES!), observe and reflect….and a line I heard from a very successful woman came back to me: “Every time I have heard a woman tell me she did not achieve her goals, upon further discussion, the same scenario has repeated itself. The woman was not clear on what she wanted, what was important to her and therefore got distracted and derailed along the way.”
This morning I am sitting and thinking how have I gotten distracted this past year and what were the results of these distractions? Where was I not clear in my intentions?
“The quality of our lives depends on the quality of the questions we ask ourselves.”
You can increase your personal power by taking time to get clear on what is important to you and why. This way any decisions you need to make will be easier to make. And more importantly you will be closer to honoring your true self.
Self empowerment - Recently, many individuals have turned to the field of positive psychology in the hope of manifesting a greater sense of well being, more happiness, and hence more personal power.
By becoming aware, and balancing both the pleasurable moments and the purposeful work in their life, these women increase their chances of experiencing true happiness.
To read the article in its entirety go to http://www.formulatomanifest.com. Click on Document Files and then on the Article Folder to read: [i]Self Empowerment - Discover a Secret to True Happiness and More Personal Power[/i]
Learning to love yourself will assist you in so many ways, including increasing your level of personal power and happiness.
We hear the phrase Learn to love yourself -more and more. The reason it is important to do that is because without loving ourself you truly cannot love another.
However, depending on our culture, the family we group up in, the religion we have embraced, the beliefs we were fed from a young age… Learn to love yourself - may at first bring us much discomfort. We may feel that is being selfish and we may then attach a negative feeling to that process.
Nothing could be further from the truth. By learning to love yourself, and how to love, you can then go forward, accept another, see the beauty of another - flaws and all… and love another as she or he is.
Learning to love yourself in my mind is getting to really know who you are, learning to listen to yourself, it is even listening to your pain so you can work through it.
Learning to love yourself is meant to honor your desires and dreams, and to let go of what you think you are “suppose” to do.
What do you understand by the phrase “Learn to love yourself”.
Your personal power can be greatly enhanced by turning within.
Many times we come face to face with major decisions to make, and we have a hard time deciding what is right for us.
One of the reason that occurs is our monkey mind keeps interfering, and we have a hard time listening to the small voice within.
Secondly, we often feel we are in a major rush to make the decision, and at that point if we have not trained our mind to quiet down, to tune into our higher wisdom, we feel that it is not time to start the processs.
Personally, over the last four months, I have had two major decisions to make - one in regards to my career, and one in regards to a personal relationship.
By continuously choosing to anchor into my Essence, to set out my intentions, and to trust that I would receive the messages needed in as gently and positively a way as possible… I am happy to share that I have received my answers, though the answers are not what I had orignially thought they would be.
Both situations are now unfolding, and I have learned to trust my inner self on a much deeper level.
Four months, to straighten out two major areas of my life … now feels like a short time.
One of the greatest lessons through the process of turning within, is that the most effective doing can simply be no doing at all, but rather Be in a better state of Being.
Furthermore, my sense of inner peace has increased and I feel a deeper satisfaction and happiness.
I am truly grateful.
For me turning within is now an essential part of my day … as I am witnessing my personal power increase.
[b]Can you share a strategy you use to turn within and hear your small voice?[/b]
We were looking back at how our beliefs have changed over the years
due to new information, new choices we have made, and then discovering what works for us.
Then we both realized that everything in life is really about fine tuning
what we currently believe and do. What may appear to be fact today (sometimes due to someone’s very confident manner of speaking) may
in fact be false tomorrow.
For me, the conversation was one more reminder that when I hear
someone speak on any topic or read the latest book, it may serve me
well to think of it as simply a theory that is currently working for them,
and not necessarily a fact that I need to base my decisions on.
From that perspective - I can be more discerning, feel free to ask more
and better questions, do my own research, try the theories that are appear appropriate for me and make decisions on what feels right and in the flow
for myself. This way I can continue to learn to be my own wizard.
Life is not about putting pressure on ourselves to do everything perfect,
but rather about enhancing our day to day living as we grow forward.
Personal power comes from taking time to step back and gain a broader perspective.
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