Personal power is all about having the ability to create and lead the life that you truly desire. According to Psychology Today, “personal power is based on strength, confidence, and competence that individuals gradually acquire in the course of their development. It is self-assertion, and a natural, healthy striving for love, satisfaction, and meaning in one’s interpersonal world.”
So how do you unlock this power in yourself? How do you harness it and use it to help create the life that you want and the life that you deserve?
The truth is, your personal power is inside of you already, and all you need to do is unlock the doors to it. You simply need to remove the blocks that you have consciously and subconsciously allowed yourself to create.
Beginning to access your personal power first begins with owning and mastering your personal responsibility. Not responsibility in the sense of the errands you must do and the tasks in life that you are responsible for accomplishing, but personal responsibility in the sense that you are the creator of your life. Only you are responsible for how you choose to show up in life and how you choose to interact with life.
Personal Responsibility is:
- Choosing how to respond rather than simply reacting
- Having a high degree of self awareness
- Owning your own feelings and effectively communicating them
- Maintaining effective boundaries
- Embracing conflict and undesirable circumstances as doorways to growth
- Recognizing that only you can create the life you want for yourself
To begin embracing our personal responsibility, we must begin to embrace and become aware of our inner state of being. We must become aware of how we are truly feeling and stay aware of our inner state. We have to learn to understand our feelings and recognize what kind of things “trigger” us. The more intimately we get to know our inner self, the more personal power we will begin to have access to.
Most of us don’t even know how we feel or how things truly affect us in our inner world. Our fast paced lifestyles don’t really value any time working within this inner space. Embracing your inner space and getting to know yourself is the first step in owning your personal responsibility. When you choose to work within this inner space, and get to intimately know yourself, you can begin to remove the blocks that have kept you from your power.
Beginning the Inner Work to Unlock Your Personal Power
Recognize your feelings; become aware of your reactions to situations
The first step to owning your personal responsibility is to become aware of your feelings. Take time to pause and recognize how things make you feel throughout your day. Pay attention to the way you feel when you’re stressed, or what it feels like to be in a good mood. Slow it all down, and allow yourself to explore your feelings. What do your feelings do to your body? How does your breathing change? What kind of thoughts do you have while feeling different emotions? Simply start to become aware of how you feel on a regular basis. Journaling is a great tool for this and an amazing way to process the day’s events and get in touch with this inner space.
Recognize your “triggers” and become aware of when you are reacting from stress responses or from triggered states of being
Begin to explore what kind of things really get under your skin. What kind of situations make you angry or set you off? What are your pet peeves? What kind of interactions leave you feeling exceptionally overwhelmed or stressed? Can you find correlations between them? Do they maybe relate to anything in your childhood or anything that you’ve been insecure about in your past? Can you identify an underlying emotion behind the triggered responses? Journaling is another great tool for this. Inner child work can also be beneficial when beginning to identify and work with our triggers.
Be honest with yourself about your feelings. Don’t judge yourself for your feelings or reactions
Once you start to dive into this inner world, you may find things that you don’t understand or things that make you uncomfortable. As uncomfortable as this can be, this is a good sign, as you are becoming more self aware and more deeply connected to yourself, which means you are becoming more deeply connected to your power. Don’t shame yourself for feeling anything. Recognize that all of your feelings are valid, and that your programmed reactions to things have served you in some way in your life, and that is why you react the way you do.
Before you can begin to change your reactions to things, you must first become aware of how you react to them. By being honest with yourself and allowing yourself to feel whatever you feel, you are becoming more authentic with yourself and in your expression. As you embrace your authenticity, a new level of personal power opens up to you.
When you start to embrace your personal responsibility, you start to activate your personal power. Diving into the inner space is something that only you can do for yourself, but allowing yourself to have a space to be supported in this can be immensely beneficial to your process and to embracing your power. 1 to 1 coaching sessions are available and you can apply for free today. Groups can also be a great source of support. Talking to a trusted friend is always a great way to process and to move through these changes. Whatever you need, don’t be afraid to seek support, and know that you, my dear, are never alone.
May you embrace and embody your full potential and power!
Room to Bloom Empowerment and Inspirational Coaching 