What is power and being empowered?
One of the themes of this site is looking at ways we compromise our self confidence and authentic inner strength, and how we can be more empowered to realize our talents and dreams.
So what does this loaded term ‘power’ mean? With current events like the war and police reactions to immigrant rights protest marchers, there are plenty of examples of social control kinds of power as force. But the more important kind is internal.
Gloria Steinem, in her book Moving Beyond Words, commented:
“The way I’d grown up had encouraged me to locate power almost anywhere but within myself… I gradually began to see that many of the people I had been brought up to envy and see as powerful… actually had the other half of the same problem… Often, they were suffering, too.”
[The photo is by Joyce Tenneson - see Photography 3 for more images.]
James Arthur Ray notes, “We have often been told that ‘knowledge is power.’ … Now there is a cliche that is full of crap! Knowledge is not power… knowledge is nothing more than organized information; and therefore only ‘potential power.’
He thinks “Real power is only accessed and directed when knowledge is placed into action. To tap into your internal core, where true motivation resides, you must get your own self-limiting beliefs out of the way and allow your Infinite ability to flow through.
“This will never come from an outside source, although it may be triggered after an exposure to an external source.”
[Those quotes are from his article Motivational Speakers Don't Motivate.]
Marianne Williamson says in her book The Gift of Change that “The only way to gain power in a world that is moving too fast is to learn to slow down. And the only way to spread one’s influence wide is to learn to go deep.”
“The world we want for ourselves and our children will not emerge from electronic speed but rather from a spiritual stillness that takes root in our souls. Then, and only then, will we create a world that reflects the heart instead of shattering it.”
A minority of people are in significant “positions of power” as politicians, CEOs etc - but for most of us, power - it seems to me - is the emotional and spiritual force that enables us to achieve.
As Cheryl Richardson [author of Stand Up for Your Life] once described it on her site:
“Power is the energy that fuels our actions. Real power is the spiritual energy that comes from living with integrity, from aligning your thoughts, words, and actions with the deepest part of who you are - your soul.”
> See more quotes, books etc on the page Power and my bookmarks for power
