Knowing Your Power

I read recently that "Our personal power is a direct reflection of our own sense of compassion and inner voice."  This very much describes power as I've experienced it in my own life, but I don't think it's commonly thought of in this way.

Power is found in our connection with what is highest within ourselves.  It is that place that allows us to respond with compassion to all that we encounter, because we know that nothing can diminish the truth of infinite good within us.  When someone treats us less than kindly, we can respond with power in our compassionate and honest communication back to them.  When bad things happen or when circumstances cause us to feel vulnerable, we can respond with power in affirming that we are calling to ourselves an opportunity to know fully the loving and divine order that steers all of life.

People often perceive power as the ability to override others and by sheer will get our own way.  We wrongly believe that in most situations someone wins and someone loses, and so power comes from exerting enough force to win.  But the truth is, power is not born of competition but of communication.  Only in communication can we understand and cooperate, and thereby raise the energy of our interactions with others to one that serves the best and highest for all.  In doing so, we express God within us, and that is true power.  Living as our Godselves is the highest power there is.

We are often taught that power comes from living with a good offense as our best defense, remaining ever-vigilant and always ready to respond to another's jab with an even stronger punch.  Within this dynamic, the over-riding lie that controls communication and prevents any type of harmony is that we are not safe, therefore we have to spend a good deal of energy warding off what other people might do to us.  We end up creating, through our own false belief, our own victimization.

Power has nothing to do with how others perceive us, but with how we stop to hear the quiet voice of spirit within us.  It is not a reaction to what we fear will be invalidated in us, but rather a decision we make again and again to share the truth of who we are, and all that we have to give.

I am reminded of a prayer from Unity: "There is only one presence and one power in the universe and in my life, God the Good."  That, to me, is what power is all about, in our ability to know the truth of our own limitless good.

May this tool be a blessing. . .