The storm that hit the East Coast this week left many of my neighbors without power. My house was lucky to be spared, until last night, when our power went out.
I savored the absence of sounds that typically reverberate through the house. There was no sound of televisions or air conditioner. The motor for the pool, which sits outside my window, was stopped.
In the silence I could hear the faint hum of a neighbor’s generator from down the block. I could even feel its vibration.
In a world where power plays an increasingly larger role, “losing power“ is often seen as a ”negative” event.
I’m not talking only about the type of power that charges our devices or that requires a generator.
Power Hungry
People work hard to obtain power. When they get it, they do whatever they can to protect it.
People in power are invested in maintaining the system that keeps them in power. They are reluctant to change if change may mean losing their power.
People fear losing power.
This is why change typically comes from the bottom up, not from the top down.
In Power vs Out of Power
This fear stems from an illusion of duality. You’re in power or out of power. You have power or you don’t have power.
We see this in so many places, particularly our political dynamic. One group is in power then the other group is in power. Trading off like on a seesaw.
But that duality is not real.
All opposites exist within each other. Light exists in darkness and darkness exists within light.
Yin contains yang and yang contains yin.
Power contains the absence of power and the absence of power contains power.
Power vs Control
The key to retaining your power is to lose your power.
The power that most people are seeking is control.
In the darkness and the stillness, you discover that power is not conferred externally. It exists within you at all times.
I did not control when the power would return but I did control how I responded to the moment.
We always have the power of choice:
How do you choose to view the situation?
When you are willing to dismantle the systems that you invested in creating, thereby giving up your power, that is when you find something greater than power or control: empowerment.
Allow yourself to fail. Allow yourself to lose. In losing all, everything is gained. This is the difference between being in control and being empowered. — Pamela Eakins, Tarot of the Spirit
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