True empowerment comes from within each of us as individuals. It comes from giving power to ourselves by awakening what already lies within us.
I believe one of the most unsupportive beliefs about empowerment is that empowerment is given to us by other people; it implies we must wait for it to be given to us, or search for the right person to bestow it upon us. This mindset is actually disempowering as it places us at the mercy of others.
This has a very negative spiral effect. Most women don’t consciously see this happening, but when we wait for someone else to give us power, we then unwittingly find ourselves waiting for validation and acceptance and a sense of worthiness as well; because if we had all of this to begin with, we wouldn’t be waiting for anything.
The daunting truth is that I cannot give you power. No one can. I can give you a title or a position with implied authority, and I can give you permission to make certain decisions on my behalf. But if I give these to you then I am able to take them back, so it’s not actually power that I am giving. The power is mine all along.
To be powerful you have to choose to BE the power that already lies within you. This starts with seeing it within you, even if all you see is a tiny essence of it, and then allowing your power to awaken within you.
From there, you have to KNOW your power. This means not just seeing and acknowledging the power within you, but feeling it in every cell of your body. It shows itself in how you feel and know you are worthy of creating the life your soul desires for you, in how you are meant to make a difference in the world, in knowing that you matter just by being you – your truest self.
Because it is only through the BEing and the KNOWing that you can then ACT with power. This is when you choose to take action. This is when you choose to decide what you really want for you, and what is in the higher good of your Higher Self – the part of you that is loving, good, and kind, not angry or resentful or jealous or insecure or negative, and then you take action and go for it. This is when you choose to speak up and let your voice be heard, which is when you begin to influence and lead others.
What is it about this truth that is genuinely daunting? That it means ultimately each of us must take responsibility for our own empowerment, and this is not easy. It is so much easier to just tell ourselves we have to wait for someone else to give it to us. To take responsibility for our own empowerment means we have to go to work on what blocks us from BEing our power and KNOWing our power and ACTing our power: and that is fear.
Sometimes it’s fear of failure and sometimes it’s actually fear of success. Sometimes it’s fear about what others will say about us or do to us. Sometimes it’s just not seeing how we can possibly overcome the societal, cultural, economic and political roadblocks that are in our way globally as women.
And all of this fear is understandable. The fear within us builds up silently during the course of our lives, and the global roadblocks are real and often quite terrifying.
This is why I believe empowerment is a choice. When we choose to release the fear – to acknowledge it and work on moving through it and past it – we are taking the first step. This, alone, awakens the power within us, setting us on the path of BEing and KNOWing and ACTing the power that already lies within each of us, given to us by our Divine source.
Let’s choose to make 2015 the year we learn to empower ourselves. I’m ready. Are you?
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Email me at Lisa@CLevelStrategies.com if you’d like to get to work on this vital issue in your organization in 2015, to begin making much-needed, credible inroads.
Photo is Lao Tzu Quote 3 by HartwigHKD.
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