llyeng08
02 Oct 09 - Developing Your Personal Power
We all know that a healthy self-image is essential for happiness and success. Much of this relates to how empowered we feel and how much control we feel we have over our lives. But there are plenty of things that can scuttle this sense of personal power - a particularly stinging criticism from a loved one perhaps, or the workday that makes us wonder if we are in the right job.
It’s therefore essential to develop a solid “inner armor” to deflect the attacks that come our way. How can we do this?
First of all, look within yourself — learn to reference yourself when it comes to dealing with life’s problems. Friends, spouses, family members and so on can provide great support and advice, but you are the only authority of your own experience. Learn to trust your inner voice.
Learn to learn from yourself — assess your experiences, your activities, your mistakes, your victories. Analyse your reactions and emotions to certain people and events and uncover deeper realizations about yourself. For example, if you get very annoyed by a friend who’s always late for an appointment, it may indicate how you perceive and value time. This understanding enables you to talk to that friend and other people you know about how much you respect time and that they should respect that.
Resolving this situation may simply warrant bringing your friend’s perpetual tardiness to his attention and explaining how it makes you feel. However, do not wail in frustration if your friend is still late. The victory here does not lie in changing your friend’s behaviour, but in standing up for yourself and your standards of what you consider to be acceptable behavior.
Developing personal power takes time. Reaching for that bottle, cigarette or chocolate cake rather than probing the source of our upset is not necessarily a failure; but each time we take a step away from our conditioned responses and look to ourselves as the source of insight, we have an opportunity to change our lives in profound ways.
We can create a new set of results in our lives. When we live more and more in our personal power, we can then encounter the world from a position of strength that creates a satisfying life experience.
You’ve got one life and it’s yours after all. So why not take charge of it?
02 Oct 09 - Developing Your Personal Power
We all know that a healthy self-image is essential for happiness and success. Much of this relates to how empowered we feel and how much control we feel we have over our lives. But there are plenty of things that can scuttle this sense of personal power - a particularly stinging criticism from a loved one perhaps, or the workday that makes us wonder if we are in the right job.
It’s therefore essential to develop a solid “inner armor” to deflect the attacks that come our way. How can we do this?
First of all, look within yourself — learn to reference yourself when it comes to dealing with life’s problems. Friends, spouses, family members and so on can provide great support and advice, but you are the only authority of your own experience. Learn to trust your inner voice.
Learn to learn from yourself — assess your experiences, your activities, your mistakes, your victories. Analyse your reactions and emotions to certain people and events and uncover deeper realizations about yourself. For example, if you get very annoyed by a friend who’s always late for an appointment, it may indicate how you perceive and value time. This understanding enables you to talk to that friend and other people you know about how much you respect time and that they should respect that.
Resolving this situation may simply warrant bringing your friend’s perpetual tardiness to his attention and explaining how it makes you feel. However, do not wail in frustration if your friend is still late. The victory here does not lie in changing your friend’s behaviour, but in standing up for yourself and your standards of what you consider to be acceptable behavior.
Developing personal power takes time. Reaching for that bottle, cigarette or chocolate cake rather than probing the source of our upset is not necessarily a failure; but each time we take a step away from our conditioned responses and look to ourselves as the source of insight, we have an opportunity to change our lives in profound ways.
We can create a new set of results in our lives. When we live more and more in our personal power, we can then encounter the world from a position of strength that creates a satisfying life experience.
You’ve got one life and it’s yours after all. So why not take charge of it?