Do You Understand Your Own Power?

Yes, some positions hold power, but there is no power like the power within you.

At any time, you can feel connected to your inner power. You feel it best when you are inspired; your inner voice is saying “go you!” But when you are feeling stressed, fearful or any shade of grey that inner voice is saying “your focus right now is not serving you”.

When you look at the most influential people in our history, you see an eclectic mix of humans, most who were not in any position of power. From authors to scientists, prophets to playwrites, business people to politicians, the only thing they had in common was their belief in themselves.

That goes one of two ways – depending on which version of yourself you buy into.

There’s the you that was born into this life, full of self worth, full of love, full of talents, traits and intentions. This version of you knows it’s connected to everything, and that when you are in tune with that, anything is possible. Associated with this version of you are feelings of joy, happiness, love, natural power. When you are tuned into this self, your inner self, you are loving and giving.

Then there’s the version of you that emerged as a product of the (often well-meaning) expectations and experiences you had growing up, reinforced trillions upon trillions of times through your subconscious mind and subsequent experiences. This is the mind-created version of you, often called ego. Associated with this version is stress, lack and feelings of powerlessness. When you are focused here you are more likely to want to take than give, to control than to allow and to feel some shade of grey.

Understand most of the people on this planet, most of the time, only recognise this self-created version of themselves. They feel powerless and they are more likely to look for that power in all the wrong places – outside of themselves, usually by trying to take it from others.

That is not you, not now that you are becoming aware that your own power lies within. That said, we have nothing to offer anyone except inspiration. To do that you must first find your own, that is where your power lies.

But you have years of momentum going in the grey version of you. You have likely worked very hard to make that grey look like shining silver to the outside world. You are heavily invested in that shiny image you worked so hard to create; it won’t give itself up easily even if you feel the value of what you have read here.

I got asked this week, “How can I change? Even when I want to say no to people, I find myself saying yes”. This is common, the self-created version of you likes its shiny image.

The answer is simple, you start to focus on things you want to say ‘yes’ to. Recently when my partner started his own business, it brought up a lot of old stuff for me. Momentarily I got swallowed up in fear of endless hours of bookkeeping. I withdrew myself completely, lost in an angry swirl of indignance “how can I have come so far on my own journey only to be led here?”

Then my mother-in-law said, gently, “you don’t have to do bookkeeping, but you could help in other ways”. Still on my inner tirade my first thought was “I am helping! I’ve been doing x,y and z”. Once I let the air out of that balloon, I realised there were many things I would happily do, things that are more ‘me’. The real me, the one that takes genuine pleasure in the task, not the one that is doing a task because of its egotistical payoff.

So the way to start saying no to what you don’t want, is to start saying yes to what you do want.

Be easy about it, it takes time, just set a new intention. Start by creating awareness. The more you start to observe that self-created version of you in action, the more you start to become aware of your thoughts, the more frustration you are likely to feel – at first. That is normal, but it’s infinitely better than despair or depression because it’s more motivated.

Direct that energy towards things you love doing, and look for more of the same.

Tune out. Meditate. Meditation is not hard, it’s not weird, it just means consciously practicing – every day - letting go of your thoughts. It means that for 15 minutes each day you do nothing except become aware of your thoughts and let them go, over and over. You become aware of the ‘you’ that life created. You become aware of the thoughts that are not serving you.

In the process, you start to tune into something else, the things that inspire. You start to tune into to the inner you. The one that has always existed, that always will, that is connected to everything. Spend time in nature, it soothes, it helps you reconnect. In the face of the world’s atrocities, the sky is still above our heads, the ground beneath our feet, and all around us is beauty when we choose to see it.

I have no idea what specific power you hold inside you, that is for you to uncover.

What I do know, is that the power inside you is greater than any power outside you. You have the power to change not only your life, but the lives of people all around you through the inspiration of your example.

We want you to find your own inspiration, your own gifts, your own power, because that is the you who will be happiest and contribute the most to this world.

Knowing I’ve helped in some way through my writing means a lot - I’d love for you to like, comment on, or  share these thoughts with others, or contact me directly at shona@shonakeachie.com, I’m always happy to help if I can. You can also subscribe to my newsletter and, as a special thank you, you will receive the link to my video 3 Steps to Becoming You.