EMPOWER YOURSELF IN 2020
Happy New Year my friends!
Let me tell you a story.
For Christmas this year, my daughter Casile got me the book, “The Courage to be Disliked”. We laughed because I already seem to have that courage.
But it’s a good book. Not what I expected.
It is a conversation between a young man and an older philosopher who is an Adlerian psychologist.
The book was so timely for me because, for me, this year is going to be about empowerment… for myself and for others.
I was recently at an event for personal growth that emphasized the same idea… that even though I experienced terrible things in my life, often at the hands of others, I don’t have to be a victim. What I mean is I don’t have to stay stuck in my victimhood. I do not have to allow this to determine my future. I can be self-determining!
At the top of my list of being personally empowered is “playfulness”. I am going to enjoy life, be happy, and spread that joy to others as I help them to empower themselves too.
This is one of the key things I do for others, especially for those who are deconstructing. I encourage them to stop seeing themselves as the victim in other peoples’ stories and to start seeing themselves as the hero in their own.
Like this: Yes, sure, you grew up in a conservative and even strange religious culture and were lead to believe the ridiculous. Yes, you may look back with a sense of embarrassment and even shame for what you thought and did. Maybe even guilt!
But, now, why not fold that chapter into your story. It’s made you who you are today. It’s helped you to be the wise, empathetic, caring person you are now. You wouldn’t be who you are now without your very own backstory. Own it. Embrace it. Integrate it.
Allow this to empower you as you step into a more loving future… which means you being more loving towards yourself.
The book essentially says what was being taught at this workshop I went to… that the event itself is not the thing, but the meaning we assign to it. It’s the story we create about it that is self-determining.
It’s very powerful because it’s very empowering.
How will you be more empowered this year?