11:11 Waves Blog 52: Power

Weekly ideas to stimulate reflection, inspire new possibilities and encourage new ways of doing and being.

1. Test the water

This week’s word is: Power

Power comes from the Latin word “potere”, which means "to be able to do something”.

Stemming from a verb, power denotes movement and energy. Power is the ability to create, direct, influence and do something in order to bring about what we want.

What is your definition of power and how do you relate to it? Discuss the question here.

2. Experience the initial wave

To broaden your perspective, take few minutes to read the following thoughts and notice what comes up for you.

I.                  

In this day and age, power has a gained a bad reputation. So has anyone who values power or wants power. We all heard sentences like: Power hungry. Power corrupts. Power destroys and so on. In fact, there is nothing wrong with power. Power simply needs to be in service of something. Researcher Kenneth Boulding says that power takes three forms: threat (power over), exchange (power to) and love (power with). “Power over” usually comes from force and threat when a person dominates another person or group. This is power for power’s sake. “Power to” is the ability to do something in service of something. "Power with” is the ability to work with others to get something done in cooperation.

II.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.”  Marianne Williamson

III.

“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any”. Alice Walker

3. Dive deep

To deepen your awareness and spark new discoveries, I invite you to take few minutes this week and reflect on the following questions:

Think about a time when you gave your power away:

• How do you give your power away?

• How can you own your personal power?

Think about a time when you experienced a “power over” dynamic:

• How could “power over” be transformed in to “power to” or “power with”?

4. Ride your radiant wave

Words hold incredible power. Words shape the way we think about ourselves and the world around us on a deeply subconscious level. As a practice, this week, I invite you to use words that acknowledge and honour your power instead of words that take it away. For example: change “I can’t” with “I choose not to” or change “I have to…” with “I get to…”. When we are not owning our power, when we make excuses, when we blame, when our language absolves us of responsibility or ability, it absolves us of our power as well.