PERSONAL POWER

By

Vicki Hinze

 

We all have personal power.  At times, we feel our lives are out of control, as if we are helpless and maybe even hopeless.  We get trapped in the clutter of the reality we’ve created and we lose sight of what we are and far too often of who we are.

 

But those situations are temporary and we can make other choices.  Wiser choices that best serve us and those we influence.  I can hear you now—I don’t influence anyone else, you’re saying.  That simply isn’t true.  We all influence others.  Both by what we do and what we don’t do.

 

Picture it:  A stranger is having an awful day.  You run into in a shopping mall.  As you pass each other walking, you smile.  The stranger needed that smile.  Didn’t just want it.  Needed it.  That’s influence.

 

Picture it:  You sit down on a bench to people watch.  The stranger sits down next to you, and you nod a greeting.  The next thing you know, the stranger is pouring out his or her troubles.  You listen.  Listening is influence.

 

My point is we all can make a difference to someone else—and that makes a difference to us.  If you’re feeling hammered and as if you have no personal power, it doesn’t take a major effort to reach out to someone else.  It does make a major difference—to them, and to you.  That’s one way to reclaim your personal power:  to do something that affirms you’ve influenced someone in a constructive, positive way.

 

Remember that others can influence and have control over you but only to the extent that you let them.  No one else can control your thoughts, your ideas, your dreams.  That is your domain and in it you are the master.  You can change the path of your thoughts at any time. And that’s no small thing.

 

What happens is we get a negative thought or feeling and then focus on it.  With that focus and energy, it becomes bigger than it really is.  But if we believe it is huge, then it becomes huge to us.  And once we indulge ourselves (think pity party), we’re in a downward spiral and it’s difficult (not impossible) to haul ourselves out and break away.  To get to a healthy-for-us place again inside our own heads.

 

So if you feel negativity settling in on you, counter it with something positive.  Make a choice that better serves you.  Decide and act on the better choice.  Thinking better is good.  Acting better becomes better.

 

That’s the key to reclaiming your personal power.  Acknowledging that those with authority or influence over you do have it—but only to the extent that you let them.  You choose how deeply you take in what they say and do.  You choose how much weight to give to their influence.  What does it mean to you?  How much does anyone else’s opinion matter?  That choosing is your choice.

 

And if you’ve allowed others to choose for you, if you’ve given them your personal power, then you must choose to reclaim it and then do so.

 

Too often we trap ourselves in a victim mentality.  “Nothing I can do about it,” we say.  “Have to accept what I can’t change.”

 

That’s what we tell ourselves because doing nothing and being the victim is easier than saying, “No, I’m not accepting this statement about me.  I am not that person.”  And then defining the person we are.

 

We define us.  Who we were is not who we are.  We are who we become.  And that is through our choices, our actions, our attitude.  You can be a prisoner and still be free in your mind.  You do that through establishing or reclaiming your personal power.

 

So look at your current situation.  Have you relinquished your personal power to someone else or several someone else’s?  If so, and you’re not content, isn’t it time you reclaimed it?

 

Think about it.  Who better knows your hopes and dreams, your heart and thoughts, than you?  Who has more to gain or lose by making personally empowered choices about your life?  Of all people, who has more invested and at risk in managing your personal power?  You can . . . if you choose.

———————

 

 

Vicki Hinze is the award-winning bestselling author of nearly thirty novels in a variety of genres including, suspense, mystery, thriller, and romantic or faith-affirming thrillers. Her latest releases are: :Legend of the Mist (time-travel romantic suspense,)Torn Loyalties (inspirational romantic suspense), Duplicity (mystery/thriller), One Way to Write a Novel (nonfiction). She holds a MFA in Creative Writing and a Ph.D. in Philosophy, Theocentric Business and Ethics. Hinze’s online community: . Books. . Contact. www.vickihinze.com.