Strategic Self Empowerment

   Self-empowerment means many things. It can be seen as the conscious decision to take charge of our destiny by making positive choices that help us advance with confidence. Our ability to make and execute decisions is central to self-empowerment and has been a major theme in my own life. I’ve struggled many times with deciding which road to follow, which job to take, who to spend my time with and more. I’m still learning, Thank God.
   Once we are able to assess and move through life with decisiveness, we can better come to understand and leverage our strengths and weaknesses in a way that brings happiness and satisfaction, through our interactions with others and our contributions to the world.
  Self-empowerment also involves the gradual gathering and harnessing of personal power, via constant and thorough systems analysis, so that we can understand where we are losing power. Perhaps we lose power through our inability to stand up for ourselves, or we are afflicted with anger or self-importance or the desire to be liked and accepted; the list goes on and on. Once seen, we get busy and ‘plug up the holes’ so that we can accumulate the personal power that allows us to recognize and grasp those millimeters of chance; those opportunities that allow us to really make major transits in consciousness.
   My journey of self-empowerment, like most, has been wrought with "mistakes".  My parents were the first to teach me that my mistakes were actually learning opportunities. We pull ourselves up and integrate the lessons we’ve learned don’t we. I’ve chosen the wrong boyfriends, made wrong job choices, wrong associations in general, but they were all right in a way too. Learning from my mistakes helped me hone my internal navigations system, which informs all my future thoughts, actions and goals. Holding on to shame and guilt around mistakes is fruitless and only hampers our progress. I believe that reframing our mistakes as learning opportunities, and not raking ourselves over the coals or taking ourselves too seriously, is a vital key to self-empowerment.
   I've noticed throughout my life that the most self-empowered people, like my own mother and father, hold out sterling examples for their loved ones, their family and their whole community. My parents created a foundation to build upon each time they took control of their lives by setting goals and taking actionable steps to achieve them. They shared this process with us and we often voted on important directional changes in ‘family counsels’, where we sat in a circle in the living room, often with favorite music playing softly from the stereo, and we discussed our way forward as a family. I watched as our decisive and well thought out choices benefitted our whole family and helped shape our future in a very tangible way.
   Mom and Dad understood how to design and intend their life projects; from which trees and flowers and herbs to plant, to which clubs to join, which classes to take, what books to read, what medicines we should take or not to take, to what decisions their kids should have a say in. They showed us how to get things done in a confident, focused, and decisive way. And when things didn’t go their way, or they were forced to reassess and learn from their mistakes, they had the resilient confidence to express abundant reassurance to friends and family, which made for a safe and secure home base. They also had a sense of humor, without fear. I will always remain grateful that they pointed out, through example, the value of viewing one’s mistakes as lessons to be well learned.
   Something else we learn from those we look up to is the importance of self care and a positive attitude. If we can surround ourselves with positive, like-minded, motivated people, they can help us feel much more empowered to achieve our goals. When our self-esteem gets knocked down, we can talk with positive friends, peers, and family members. Experiencing their positivity can improve our mental well-being and minimize our own negativity. My parents had an open door policy and any of us kids could come into their room at any time of night and just talk about what was on our heart. I probably did it far too often. Mom was an especially light sleeper and always greeted me warmly and seemed ready to listen and offer positive reassurance and advice. Mostly though, she just listened and held me in the light.
  And that’s what we always look forward to doing together with you; listening and holding each other in the light. Gathering with our MKY community and sharing on a regular basis helps empower all of us to discern when we need to step back from certain situations and go forward toward others so that we can follow and materialize our dreams.
    For the July full moon celebration next Wednesday, July 13th, Cate and I will explore this important topic of Self-Empowerment. We will examine our self care routines, our positive attitudes, our true passion to follow our bliss and our level of self-trust. We will examine the company we keep. We will touch on practical goal setting and sacred contracts with ourselves. We will strategize on how to take charge of our future.
   We will examine where our self-confidence is shaky or where we are insecure about our ability to achieve our ambitions. Together, we will begin to take steps toward a more empowered life, where we better control what is in our ability to control and how we can better abide in acceptance through those parts of our life that are not within our control. In this way, we can better recognize our own power to make the choices that will help us achieve our goals and attain peace, happiness and satisfaction on all levels. Concluding with our long gong bath will open the door to our soul, to turbo charge our hopes and dreams.
  Ultimately, the principles of self-empowerment guide our journey to enlightenment. The lifelong process of choices, in which, choice by choice, we learn strategies for maintaining our highest consciousness, starts with learning to read the signs along the way to personal ascension. The signs are many that have led me to the most important choices I’ve ever made. At the top of my list is my decision to invest in meditation skills, which have served me so well and continue to be of prime importance and integral to my teaching mission. I know Cate feels the same way and we both love to meditate with you.
   We hope you can join us in-person or online on Wednesday evening July 13th – Sign up here . We so look forward to sharing this time with you.
                                                                                                       ---- Much Love, Savitri