Empowerment is a popular topic. Many books have been written about it and many progressive leadership experts speak to the importance of empowering people to do their work independently so that they will feel trusted and valued and therefore excel at what they do.
Being empowered by another, say an employer who says, “You have this project, run with it” is an awesome thing. However, the world will always be full of individuals and institutions intent on curtailing our empowerment so that we may remain controllable.
True empowerment though, is not in the hands of others — it’s in our own hands.
If I fully trust my creative impulses, my intuitive feelings, my instincts, motivations, and drives, without second guessing myself, without wondering what other people will think, and without hesitancy, then I will have fully empowered myself to a new kind of life.
If I write a blog that bombs, I have only to ask myself: Was it honest? Was it an authentic expression? Was it fair minded? Was it true? If the answers to these questions are yes, then I did my job of living the authentic expression of who I am. It is not so important for the blog to resonate with others so long as it’s honest, authentic, and true. Perhaps it will resonate with just one person and have a positive effect on their life. Couldn’t that be enough?
By trusting ourselves, and doing so regularly, we develop the strength and courage to chart a different course for our lives. When we trust ourselves more each day, we change the trajectory of our lives, we become a trendsetter, we take on the ability to see things differently, speak differently, and become a part of a new vanguard of forward momentum for a healthier, happier, and more balanced culture.
In such a space of living life, an exciting fringe benefit is that we also become fuller more interesting versions of ourselves. Rock on friend! Trust yourself! Be your authentic self! And in so doing you will empower yourself, and inspire others to do the same.
