Reclaiming Your Power

Power has many different meanings which can vary among whomever you talk to.

 For some, power is measured by their influence and direct control they have over other people’s lives;

 For others, power is acquired temporarily by the direct control they can exert over other people by means of threat;

 For still others, their claim to power and happiness is measured by the approval of their friends, neighbors and others who belong to their social networks; and the list of meanings goes on.

But what about the personal power that is the core of your being? There are many people who feel entrapped or overwhelmed by their responsibilities in life. Decades go by, each year draining a little more of who we truly are. And then some of us awaken to the fact that we have really lived our life empoverished by these erroneous feelings of entrapment, howbeit, late in life.

At this point, let’s look at a few of the major emotional challenges that are a part of our daily lives,

 We are faced with more chronic health problems which often start in childhood;

 We are living longer, many with declining quality of life;

 The foundation of the “old economy” is changing leaving many without stable incomes;

 And, if this not enough, we are alerted to all the life challenges occurring on the global scale.

Who, When, What, How and Why?

 “Who” means YOU.

 “When” means NOW.

 “What” means it is essential to assume responsibility for our own being. When you try to spend more money than you have, you end up owing a debt. When you over-extend yourself, the same principal applies. Thus, it is absolutely essential that you establish your boundaries; thereby becoming accountable and assuming responsibility for your own inner being.

 “How” means you can reclaim your self-esteem and self confidence by taking action on the following steps;

1. Accept yourself and your current life situation without judgment and/or labels;
2. Learn to live only “in the RIGHT NOW moment” without consideration for past experiences or what the future may hold;
3. Assume an “I can” attitude in all challenges;
4. Believe in yourself;
5. Be grateful and feel good not only for this particular challenge but for your success in acknowledging and confronting it; and
6. Above all, learn to love yourself unconditionally.

 “Why” means to be forewarned, “If you should make the choice to ignore this responsibility by taking no action, you are choosing to continue your emotional suffering and unhappiness.”

Enough said.

Take good care and Have a Wonderful Week!!

Obstacles to Self Improvement-Part 5 of 6 - Anger

Good Morning and Welcome Back

In all honesty, "What is your "take" on anger?" Are you prone to get angry often? What is it that makes you angry?

Without being aware of it, many of us spend a great deal of time in the emotional world of anger. Several years ago, my mentor once told me that I lived in the emotional world of anger. I was dumbfounded; and, yes, my 'prideful" feelings were somewhat bruised.

"How could this be," I asked myself. What did I do to make him even suggest that I lived in the world of anger? I guess my error was that I always considered anger as being an outward manifestation of aggressive and belligerent behavior, hostile, outraged,vengeful and violent.

Anyway, I pondered this personal criticism for a long time. If the matter be known, I still ponder it from time to time only because I happen to believe our political environment, no matter what country you live in, cultivates a lot of our anger by nipping away our personal rights/freedoms in the name of religious beliefs or morality. This can and does create an overlying "cloud cover" of stress which effectively blocks the "feel good" emotion of the warm sunshine of the day and the clear starry skies at night.

So, where does this leave us? My own personal solution is to ignore the external influences in favor of seeking the inner peaceful place [heart/soul] of being. This takes a strong intention/determination; but, believe me, it is worth the effort. Unless you can free yourself of the baggage of false teachings/indoctrination, whatever its source, this euphoria of joy and inner peace will not happen.

This series on "Obstacles to Self Improvement" is almost finished. Part 6 of 6 will be related to "pride".

I welcome your feedback. Your feedback/comments are extremely important to me. If you have found these articles to be of help in understanding how these obstacles impact your well being and inner peace; or if you would like additional articles on "Obstacles to Self Improvement" or some other related aspect, please feel free to post a comment.

Until next week, please do take care.