Give me strength. Really. Put some in a bottle, send it through the air, just empower me. Uh-huh. Why should I be dependent on you to be empowered? Shouldn’t I be able to empower myself? Exactly.
What happens when we are having problems? We need strength. Where does that come from? Well, that, my friends, is the big question. What do we draw on to empower ourselves to get through a problem?
In the movie ‘Network’ years ago, Peter Finch played a television news personality that was losing ratings points and was probably going to be let go. At one point in his last newscast, the pressure got to him and he declared “I’m mad as hell and I’m not gonna take it anymore”. Then he encouraged everyone watching him to stand up, go to there windows and shout it, to let the world know that they have had enough.
Isn’t it strange that one of the things that would give us the most power to get through something is anger? The person picked on by the bully reaches his limits until he gets mad enough to fight back. Unfortunately, as we’ve seen in recent years, the hurt is so ingrained that when these people strike back, they go way too far.
Anger is a great source of energy to empower with. The problem is that anger is a negative emotion which empowers someone with more energy than they need which can push them too far.
At the opposite end of the scale, love is a great energy to empower one’s self with. The love of living, the love of doing something, are great sources. One of the best is the love of another. If you have someone loving you and depending on you, you find the strength. Pulling in this emotion can give you tons of strength.
But, what about taking back strength from someone you’ve given it to, given it to unwillingly? Whether we want to, we empower others over us. I used to give my boss power. Effectively, I empowered him over me. One has to consciously stand up and take back that power, that strength. One empowers one’s self by taking back the power given others that really didn’t deserve to have it. Of course, in this situation it may be necessary to tell the boss that “I’m mad as hell and I’m not gonna take it anymore.” Of course, that might not be, er… prudent. Another way is to keep telling yourself that you will not give them any more power, and that you take back everything you have given them.
So, empower yourself. Choose the best path to do it. As said to Indiana Jones when he had to determine which cup before him was the Holy Grail, “Choose wisely.”