You Are Truly Powerful

I have become aware that language is extremely powerful, and I have been changing the way I speak about myself in order to use some of this power to my advantage.

Whenever we affirm something we make it more solid in our experience. I used to say things to myself like “you are stupid”, “you are weak”, “you are useless”. This perpetuated a vicious cycle of shame and powerlessness.

As I became more aware of this I started to change my language. I stopped consciously defining myself in such negative terms. This has no absolute truth I reasoned, as whatever I affirm becomes true, so why not affirm something more empowering?

In an attempt to strengthen my awareness of my inner processes I have taken to owning how I feel in a given situation as opposed to hiding from those feelings and beating up on myself. “I feel stupid” “I feel weak” “I feel useless”. This is much more empowering because it is acknowledging the painful feeling without blaming myself. It allows an opportunity to understand and work with my conditioning.

Well bully for me…. except that self-criticism can be a slippery customer sometimes…

I have found myself on many occasions responding to a situation by saying “this makes me feel….”

Until today I saw this as a beneficial expression of my experience.

Then my wife pointed something out to me that blew my noggin.

By saying “this makes me feel…” I am giving up my power to that thing. I am claiming victimhood of something outside of me. The reality is that nothing is making me feel anything. I am making me feel what I feel as a response to any given situation. This is always the case with zero exceptions.

It’s a choice. It’s always a choice. We all have the ability to choose how we respond to external stimuli.

You could argue “what if you have experienced something traumatic? Surely, painful feelings are unavoidable in some situations.” This is true and natural and these feelings should never be denied. But if we deny our own complicity in these feelings, if we blame the event for making us feel this way then we deprive ourselves of the opportunity to learn and grow from it. We give up our power. Pain can be empowering if we can claim ownership of it. It is happening for us so that we can learn this very lesson. I truly believe this at the core of my being.

Right now, I am reclaiming my power. I refuse blame anything for the way I feel.

I make me feel everything I feel. From the deepest sadness to the pits of rage to the joy of bliss. It is all my own work.

What power I wield. What a power we all wield.

You are truly powerful!