When you think about yourself, do you see yourself as someone with power or someone who is powerless?
There are so many things in our lives that we have little or no control over that we can be left feeling powerless. Probably, as you read this, you can name several of these in your own life.
Perhaps there are situations in your life or people you interact with that can leave you feeling this way. And yet, it’s important that you ask yourself if you truly are powerless.
You will answer ‘yes? to this question if you think of your power as coming from the ability to control these things in your life.
However, there is a different way of thinking of power. Power comes from the response we have to these situations or people in our life. That is something we do have control over.
So, how do you begin to take charge of the response you have in your life? The first step is to identify where you are reacting from?
A) Are you telling yourself a story about this situation or person from past experiences that you have had? This will limit your ability to see and experience this situation or person in this present moment.
B) Are you telling yourself a story about this situation or person from some future point? Are you worrying about the future? This also will limit your ability to see and experience in the present moment.
C) Are you telling yourself a story in which you blame the other for what you are experiencing? Telling yourself you can only be okay if this situation or person changes? Once again, this will limit your ability to respond in the present moment.
D) Are you telling yourself a story about yourself that leads you to believe you are helpless or inadequate? Telling yourself you can’t deal with whatever it is that is going on in your life? Again, this will limit your ability.
So why is it important to be in the present moment in dealing with our life? Mainly it’s because that really is all we have to deal with in our life.
We are not living in our past or our future. We are living in the here and now. It’s only in being aware of this that we are then able to know how to respond.
When we are living in the present moment we have the ability to think more clearly, make more effective decisions and tap into the creative part of ourselves.
If you want to feel more powerful in your life, ask yourself this key question: Where am I standing?
One of the ways you can help to answer this question is to check in with your body. How is your body feeling? And where in your body are you feeling any sensation?
For example, usually when we are standing in the future, worrying, our bodies will feel tense in some kind of way.
You can also pay attention to the kind of thinking you are doing. Is it thinking that is taking you back into the past, blaming others or blaming yourself? If so, then you know that you have moved away from the here and now. That means you are limiting your ability to access the power you have within you.
It’s your choice. Do you choose to keep trying to control people and situations that you have no power over, or do you choose to control what you have power over, YOURSELF?