Pathways to Personal Power

by Louise LeBrun

Pathways implies more than one way to get where you're going - and in the midst of career transition, you want that kind of choice. Personal means they're all inside you - and who better to depend on? And Power is about the result these internal pathways create: do they enhance your capacity to fully express yourself? Before you move on to unfold the next layer in your career evolution, take a moment to consider that your most powerful messages - like your greatest triumphs and darkest moments - all come from inside yourself. How well is your decoder working?

The notion of 'power' or, more specifically, personal power is one that captures the imagination. The dictionary defines power as the capacity to act. For what purpose? In what context? What exactly does it mean, in terms of quality of life? How do I become a person of great personal power? How would I be different from who I am now? Would I change the way I live my life? And if power is a force, where does that force come from? How would I direct that force and what kind of life would I create for myself and for the people around me?

Have you ever noticed that one of the more interesting things about power is that all of us thinks everybody has some - except ourselves! If you're the boss, you think the employees have it; and if you're the employees, you think the boss has it. If you're the parents, you know the kids must have it because you sure don't; and if you're the kids, you feel the need to fight for it since it certainly rests in the hands of the older generation. Why is it that power remains so elusive for so many? Why do we tend to think of power as something that exists outside of us, that we can earn or simply take, maybe even buy, and then wield like a weapon? How is it that we think of power as something finite, with only so much available and if someone else has some, we may not get enough; that power is designed to be used to make things happen, to do things to something; and that, if you aren't very careful, someone will try to do something to you or make you do something you don't want to do? Or, perhaps, even take your power away? It is as if there were a shortage and we must zealously guard whatever we have for fear of its being taken or simply evaporating if we are not relentless in our vigilance.

Stripped of our sense of personal power - that is, our ability to create for ourselves a life that we want and believe to be worth living - we are left trembling in fear and uncertainty or filled with resentment and rage. We experience a deep sense of loss of dignity and a violation of our personal integrity (i.e. wholeness). If we react so profoundly to such an awareness, is it possible that personal power is a naturally occurring state and one which we hold, at some very deep level, to be our birthright?

The things that occur at very deep levels of the body, and/or deeper levels of mind, must move beyond linguistically structured thought, which is how we have been taught to think. Our cultural conditioning has kneaded and molded us to focus our attention on the words in our heads at the cost of the sensations in our bodies. For generations, and in a variety of ways, we have been conditioned to ignore our instinct and our intuition, and to abdicate to the rules and regulations of home, church and school. By the time we get to work, where we will spend more time than anywhere else in our adult lives, we are well trained. It's a miracle that we can feel anything at all!

By the time we get to work, we have been rewarded for close to two decades for not thinking for ourselves, but for toeing the party line; being a team player; not rocking the boat; and supporting the status quo. That powerful energy that ran through our bodies seems to have cut back to a trickle. And often, we find ourselves feeling flat and lifeless; bored and wondering, 'is this all there is?'; or ........agitated and impatient, not knowing why. Perhaps it's time we went deeper into our own awareness and went beyond what we have been taught to call 'reality' or 'truth'.

In Pathways to Personal Power, we take a journey into places where many people rarely allow themselves to go. We go deep into the self.... inside....where our feelings reside; our greatest hopes and our darkest fears. And we begin to notice that before life happens 'out there', it happens inside first. We begin to ask ourselves questions, such as: If I am so quick to take responsibility (i.e. hold myself able to respond) for the things in my life that are working, why am I am so quick to hold someone else responsible when it's not working? Why it is so easy for me to reach out and grasp the things that work yet so quick to drop the things that don't work, as if bitten by a snake? What if I am responsible (i.e. hold myself able to respond) for it all - the good and the bad; the stuff that works and the stuff that makes me want to crawl back into bed and stay there!

We begin the workshop by taking a journey into the evolution of the human being: how did we get to be who and how we are? We explore how - no matter your gender, your time and/or place of birth, your cultural conditioning, your religious training - there are certain structures and experiences common to all human beings.

The first of these is that we arrive, with the basic design being one of a number of organs, structures and systems in a 'bag' called the body; including a brain and a nervous system. We concede that we have learned more about the brain and the nervous system in the last ten years than we had known in the previous 100. This is not rocket science. You need read only the more popularized journals, like Discover or Macleans or Time magazine, to find articles that marvel at the power of the human nervous system; at how with every new thought we think, the topography of the brain shifts, never again to think the same thoughts the same way. We know today that the brain and the central nervous system are living, breathing, shifting, changing and growing expressions of who we are; that as the tissue shifts and changes, so does our ability to process information. The human nervous system is recognized as the most magnificent bio-computer in the known universe, capable not only of astounding acts of repetition but also of massive waves of creativity and innovation. We all have a brain and a nervous system and as we come to better understand it and make friends with it, our capacity to fully express and create causes the world to be permanently altered.

In addition to having a body, a brain and a central nervous system, there are other things that we have in common, around the globe. For example, none of us is hatched. We all go through a process where we are conceived and grow in utero for, give or take, nine months. We all experience a birth process which is still either vaginal delivery or Caesarean section. We all have initial experiences with Mom and Dad, or our first contact with power and authority; we have extended family, including siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins, etc.; we have baby-sitters, in some way, shape or form; and we have community activities that begin at a very early age, like T-Ball, Cubs, Brownies or Sunday school. Today, we have daycare where children spend more time with relative strangers than they will ever spend with their own families. And then, of course, we have what I fondly refer to as boot camp for Life, or school; and let's not forget Church, or some form of religious structuring And finally, the one place you will spend more time than anywhere else in your life - work. Whether work takes place in the rice fields or on the 45th floor of a downtown high-rise, the effect is the same.

Deep inside us, each of us carries information unique to our structuring of the world in which we live. These experiences, from conception to death, are wired directly into the nervous system and literally shape whom we become. Traditional psychologists believe that our core beliefs - meaning our beliefs about ourselves (good person, bad person); our beliefs about the world (safe, unsafe) and our beliefs about our ability to manage in our world (competent, incompetent) are in place by the time we are five years old. Having had two children and having worked with adults now for close to twenty years, I believe they are in place much earlier. Few of us ever revisit those core beliefs as structured and defined through the experiences of a five year old. Just ask yourself: when was the last time you thought about what you believe, about what really matters to you - not what someone else wants you to believe, or thinks you should believe, but what really matters to you? If it's been a while, you also have to ask yourself who's driving the bus.

Is it any surprise that we become adults and when certain circumstances present themselves, we feel like children? Have you ever wondered why it is that you are an intelligent, articulate, capable and responsible adult until you cross the threshold of your parents' house and then, all of a sudden, you're eight? What is stored inside us that leaves us believing in our own powerlessness and helplessness?

Although we have been trained to operate from what is referred to as linguistically structured thought - meaning that how we think the process of thinking occurs is in words and phrases - there is much more occurring inside the body. For hundreds of years, ancient wisdom has proffered the notion of energy centers in the body, or chakras, that are like generators that keep the body energy, or life force, moving freely. Many trained in the traditional allopathic world view have, until recently, dismissed this notion as ludicrous, as there was no evidence that could be measured with the naked eye or with existing instrumentation.

However, with the discoveries of scientists such as Candace Pert (Molecules of Emotion) or Valerie Hunt (Infinite Mind: The Vibrations of Human Consciousness), we are becoming more aware of the power of the human body and the implication of the presence of an electromagnetic field that surrounds it. There is a correlation between the movement of energy through this electromagnetic field, the process of thought as we have come to know it, the movement of energy and information through bio-chemical and electrochemical impulses through the body, and our sense of personal power. Given that few of us were taught any of this in Grade 10 biology/science classes; or even beyond at the University level, how well do we know how to decode the messages of the body and their relationship to our thoughts?

The next step in the program is to introduce a tool that we use not only for defining the relationship between linguistically structured thought and movement of energy, but also for decoding the messages of the energy system in the body and identifying their expression through linguistically structured thought. We explore how our cultural conditioning has taught us to ignore the messages from the body and defer to the rules, whatever they may be, at work, at home and in relationships. We have been taught to value linguistically structured thought, which often translates to logic and reason, above all else in our lives. But have you ever noticed that before you ever think a linguistically structured thought there is always a movement of energy through the body? We sometimes call that movement 'a hunch' or 'a gut feel'. And yet, as our thoughts become more habituated, we notice the energy less and less, as it has become a habit of thought and moves through deeply rooted existing pathways, with very little resistance from tissue in the body. Science tells us that the average human being thinks about 65,000 thoughts a day. That's the good news. The bad news is that more than 90% of them are exactly the same as the ones we thought yesterday!

As you allow yourself to think new thoughts, meaning to move away from the traditional, culturally conditioned, biased thinking, the topography of the brain is actually transformed by the action of this process and its related movement of energy. When this happens, a sensation runs through the body. You have just had an original thought or a new insight, or an interpretation that is entering your awareness for the first time. It is not unusual at such times to find yourself unable to put words to what you have just experienced. When this happens, you become able to perceive your experience through new eyes, to process the data of your life through new thought models. It is now impossible for you to come to the same old conclusions.

Personal power is the deep sense of calm and alignment that comes from knowing that you create your own reality. What matters is not what happens; what matters is what you do about it. Personal power is trusting, at a very deep level of mind, that no matter what is occurring in your experience, you created it. If you created it, you can change it and create something else instead. With this level of trust also comes a willingness to think new thoughts, take risks, say no to the things that hold no value for you and move forward. What also comes with this level of trust is a willingness and an ability to allow yourself to know the truth - not truth as an absolute but truth as it exists for you, from deep inside you where you live.

Your body is sending you messages all the time. You will interpret these messages through culturally conditioned thinking, which may result in your interpreting them as pain or the flu or a sinus headache. Were you to become more familiar with the energy centers in the body, you would come to realize, for example, that your headache is about the energy center called the Third Eye, which is the center of ethereal sight, the platform on which we stand to move into the future, or the center of the possible self. If you are experiencing pain, which is caused by a blockage of movement of energy, you may want to consider what is going on in your life with regard to your future. Are you allowing yourself to know the truth of where you want to go and what you want to do? Of who you want to become? Are you experiencing confusion about your next step in life and feeling uncertain about taking action? Are you trying to push away an insight that you know is there and, should you allow yourself to acknowledge it, you will no longer be able to live as you do? (For more detail, refer to Anodea Judith, "Wheels of Life".)

Each of these energy centers relates to a specific level of thinking, meaning that movement in each of the energy centers carries clues and cues about its corresponding level of linguistically structured thought. When you work with both of these together (integrating the process of the left brain and the right; or the processes of the conscious mind and the unconscious mind), you become aware of things that are sometimes hidden from view. Learning how to decode these messages could be the key to changing your life. There is no greater sense of power than to know that you are in control of your own destiny.

Take the big plunge and read Candace Pert, or Valerie Hunt or Anodea Judith. So what if they weren't recommended reading in high school or university! You may be surprised to know that science has made leaps and bounds since you and I were in our twenties! We are not who we have been taught to believe we are. We are multidimensional, multi-faceted expressions of pure potential. But sometimes, when we look in the mirror, we'd never know it

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If you enjoyed this article, additional information is provided on the audio tapes Pathway to Personal Power also by Louise LeBrun.