empowerment – Page 3 – Cynthia D. Griffin

Many of us give our power away on a daily basis, and we don’t even realize it. It’s an automatic reflex that chips away at the power we each hold inside of us. After a while, we can feel completely powerless because we’ve allowed so much to be leeched away.

Did you know that you can take that power back? You can feel more energized and happy. You can feel lighthearted and peaceful.

The first step to feeling more powerful of yourself and your life is to recognize who or what you are giving your power to. Anything that steals your time and energy is considered a power stealer.

What’s stealing your power?

People (family, friends, coworkers, acquaintances)
Things (books, tv, phone, computer, ect.)
Situations (this can be anything that makes you feel drained and empty)
Yourself (Your thought patterns and negative emotions)

Notice I put yourself on the list. It actually should be number one, because I believe that is the biggest power stealer of all. How many times have you caught yourself in a downward spiral of negative emotions? Or have you caught yourself giving yourself a bunch of negative self-talk? Be honest. It happens a lot, doesn’t it?

That’s okay, because being aware of bad habits is a good first step to releasing the power stealers so you can move forward in a more confident way.

Step 1: Make a List

So first things first, make a list of all your power stealers (including yourself), and just allow yourself to be an observer of your own life. Don’t judge. Don’t beat yourself up for falling down and letting the power stealer(s) suck you dry. Tomorrow is always a brand new day. A fresh start to try again.

Step 2: Be Patient

That leads me to the second step. Be patient with yourself. Don’t expect to be perfect or to sweep your whole life clean of power stealers overnight (or even in a week or two). It takes dedicated time and effort. Slowly, you will notice a change as you have more energy and creativity in which to do things.

Step 3: Find Balance

The next step is to find balance. What can you do to keep yourself centered and focused on what’s important in your life? Maybe even set up a daily routine that helps you shine. Try doing one or more of the following…

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I do not think I will ever find the appropriate words to express how much journaling has benefited me and my life. I began journaling as a way to help my writing process many years ago. I figured if I started keeping a journal of my progress, and jot down ideas for stories, it would be a great help. And it was, but also it became so much more.

It took a few years, but once I started expanding my journaling to all parts of my life (not just as a writing tool), I really began to reap major benefits from it. I started to understand myself on a much deeper level, and it caused me to expand the way I thought about myself and life in general.

Journaling has helped me experiment and work through ideas in my writing and personal life. It opened a door to repeating destructive habits I had not allowed myself to see before, and catapulted me toward living a far more satisfying and empowering life.

With all this in mind, I have decided to start doing a lot more blog posts focused on journaling. I will talk about what journaling can do, many ways in how to journal, and any other journaling topics I can come up with. In fact, I will be beginning a new blog series called Journaling Discoveries.

This series will be where I will take one of my past journal entries and talk about how that entry persuaded me to make certain choices, or helped to change my perspective to understand something better. In doing this, I am hoping to show just how empowering journaling has been for me, and can be to others.

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