Mastering Empowerment
by Sheila Radha Conrad
Imagine empowering your life with more love, compassion, strength, joy, spontaneity, wisdom and peace right now. You and only you hold the key to unlock such big changes. The key is called ‘choice.’ You already made the choices that make you who and what you are today. You are probably not aware of the hundreds of choices you make daily or how they will play out over time. Still, they get made and you end up setting the boundaries that keep you from feeling and being powerful.
The history of our past choices is built into the cells of our bodies and brains. They guide and shape our behavior. But, you are not stuck with them. You can change the old restrictive patterns and learn new empowering patterns. HOW?
You do it the same way you built the old patterns. Only this time you make conscious choices built on awareness of the old patterns and how they restrain you.
Stop for a few seconds. Take a quick look at what is holding you back. Can you admit, even for a moment, that it is your own ideas, beliefs, and doubts that keep you bound and feeling like a victim? Yes? Then you just began the process of liberating yourself from your self-imposed limitations. Now is the time to recognize and make the choice to neutralize and change these attitudes and behaviors that keep you in check. In fact, the present moment is the only time you can make such a choice.
Years of counseling people of all kinds convinced me that the individual is greater and more powerful than any idea or belief. Each of them gave themselves permission to think and act freely in new and powerful ways. What could be stopping you?
Maybe some fear of what would happen if you tried to change. Of course, that is one of the attitudes that need working on, isn’t it? Changing deep seated attitudes needs a direction, a method, support and encouragement. To get results you have to do the inner work on yourself. This means setting aside some time each day to calmly consider some part of your life. Methods of starting a change include asking a question, looking inward to some past experience or belief, writing answers to a question, changing a point of view, rehearsing a new way of responding. Simple actions can put you on the path to a new and empowered way of being you.
The first step? Make the choice to be in charge of your life. Say it out loud. Affirm it . “I am in charge. I can change. I will change.” Then work with the ideas and attitudes that disempower you. By re-experiencing old fears, self-doubts, negativities and dependencies, you can find ways to revise them and rehearse new successful responses. You may experience how this process works by re-imagining a challenging situation, looking within for guidance, writing answers to questions or reflecting on your behavior. All can lead to insights, the release of limitations and a positive change in energy and understanding. Learn more about Self-Empowerment here.