Vicki Hinze, ©2008
Power.
We hear a lot about it. We’re taught from an early age to seek and seize it. We’re warned against being hungry for it to the point of our own stupidity. We see those chasing after it, those willing to sell their souls for it, and we often hear it connected to politics and other hot-button issues. Oh, yeah. A lot is said and written on power. And yet we hear far too little–and maybe as a consequence of that lack–we spend far too little time coming up with our own definition of power.
That raises a question that just begs an answer:
If we aren’t cognizant of our own definition for power, then by what standard do we judge the ultimate–our true power?
I’m a simple woman, and often when exploring these type things from my perspective, I find it easiest to wrestle and grasp broad concepts by exploring what something is not. It eventually narrows down the concept to a point that I find a path to what that something is. So here’s my narrowing down on what true power is not:
It’s not a commodity to be bought, sold, or given or taken in trade.
It’s not a weapon to be used to force one’s will on another.
It’s not a tactic employed for the purpose of manipulation or harm.
It’s not a separate entity, and yet we can separate ourselves from our true power.
Everything else I’ve thought of regarding power fits into one of the above, so for me, those things define what power is not.
Looking at the text-book, dictionary definition, power is “the ability to do something or act in a particular way” or the “ability to direct or influence the behavior of others or the course of events.”
There are those who have the power of authority over us–(elected officials, judges, bosses, spouses, parents). But that is power we gave them by electing, appointing, accepting employment, marrying, or being born to them.
These are not holders of true power, only of provisional power. With provisional power, someone has power until we no longer give it to them. The elected officials are voted out of office, the judge leaves the bench, we change jobs, shift the balance of power with spouses, or grow up and leave home, removing ourselves from parental authority.
There is the power of things or entities: a car engine is powerful, for example, or laws that enacted protect and/or prohibit actions.
The power of speech is disputable. So is the power of a speech to inspire us.
Power takes on many forms. And that’s the point. But in form, it still is a two-part process: the first part establishes power and its form, the second part comes from us and our willingness or unwillingness to accept, adopt and/or abide by it in that specific form.
The power of faith is, for example, deemed more significant by some than by others. The power to create change, the power to change. So our reaction to something’s power is a strong influence on its true power. In short, it has what power we give it.
And that’s my point.
Each of us has a measure of true power. Our power to run our lives, to live them in the manner we choose, adopting those things we consider constructive into it–or not. Our power to choose is our true power.
We can keep it, give it away, allow it to be stolen or taken from us. We can spend such an inordinate amount of time guarding it that we totally lose it.
Our power lies in our choices; our true power, in the choices we actually make.
For example, when you awaken each morning, you make choices.
Let’s say, you have a meeting or a task you’re dreading that you must attend or you must do that day.
The power isn’t in the meeting or task. That you might or might not be able to control.
The true power is in the emotional investment you attach to it, the dread. That you can control, and by dreading, you’re giving dread your true power.
No one is taking it–no person, no entity, nothing outside you. You are giving it away.
On realizing this, the perspective shifts a little, doesn’t it?
It does, and should. Why? Because we also realize that we can choose to retain our true power. We can decide how much we allow this one meeting or one task to impact our lives.
Will we allow it to ruin our day? The days preceding it? The next week or month? We choose.
Today, many of us find ourselves in situations or events in which we are victims of others’ power plays. We didn’t ask to be in this position, we didn’t want it, but we’re in it. And because it isn’t our choice to be there, we often can do little to extricate ourselves.
That’s part of being a member of the human race and something we all face at one time or another. But note that these are external things that impact us internally.
Too often we forget that and allow these things to rob us of peace, to steal our joy. To command our focus and attention, which negates our ability to expend our efforts and energies in the way we would have chosen.
Some of these challenges are totally outside our control, which adds new dimensions to our emotional reactions to them. Along with the challenge itself, we develop a “victim” mentality, and then we’re really robbed of peace and joy and an ability to focus where we wish to be focused. Again, they’re largely external. Often the result of someone’s warped perspective that they’re projecting onto us–often because we allow it.
But if we remember that we hold the keys to our true power, we can limit–not eliminate, because we can’t control others, only ourselves–the impact on us. We can choose how much effort and energy and focus we give these things. How much of our time and life we allow them to rob and steal from us.
Unfortunately, in some of these cases, we allow the balance of power to strip us entirely. But we don’t have to do that. Remember, we choose.
So what if you realize that you’ve forfeited your personal power. That you hadn’t realized it was gone (often these snatches are insidious and one day we wake up and discover our true power depleted), then what do you do?
Reclaim it.
Because the power of choice is internal, because you still hold the key to what goes on in your mind and heart, with each thought you have, you can make a decision to reclaim your true power.
You decide what to think about. You decide what gets your time, energy, effort and attention. You decide who and what is constructive and of value. You choose.
You can’t live your life free of challenges imposed or inflicted on you by others. What you can do is to retain your true power so that those incidents have minimal impact on you rather than usurping your life.
True power is your innate gift. It is yours and you own it. Whether or not you retain it, or how much of it you retain, is a matter of choice. Yours.
And knowing it, believing it, exercising it–that is your true power.*
Loading ...