?Hello and welcome to Awaken Your Power. I'm so glad to be back. I'm excited to have new episodes that are even more powerful and empowering than ever before.
I'm looking forward to challenging the status quo to getting rid of. Stigmas to pushing back against cultural myths that keep us small, that keep us quiet, and that keep us from living our fullest lives. And especially this episode, I want to dedicate to the word power and what I first meant when I decided to call this podcast Awaken Your Power.
Especially in our world today, the word power has so many different connotations and makes us feel different things. I would just start by asking you, how do you feel when you hear the word power? Is it something that makes you uncomfortable or something that makes you excited? When you think about power, do you think about people who are manipulative or power hungry or, seeking power over other people?
Or do you think about power as being able to live a life that is fully yours on your terms, that is aligned with your integrity, aligned with your highest soul purpose? Because there's a really big difference between the first kind of power, which is really a power over a desire to control circumstances and other people, and really a desire to shrink the possibilities in their life.
A lot of times when we say we wanna have power, what we're really saying is that we wanna have control . By that control, we mean I don't wanna have this happen. I don't want this inconvenience. I don't want that problem. And then we feel somehow like we're in control.
Maybe we think that that means being in power, but again, that sort of is a limiting kind of life, and that's not really a powerful life, not one that is driven from the inside, not one that is led from soul, from integrity, , from our personal ethics and morals and from. Consciousness. So for me, the kind of power I'm talking about in this podcast is about consciousness and about awareness of all that is going on.
A kind of power that doesn't seek to control the outside, but knows that it can navigate it, move through it like a snake can be. Many different things at different times has a full toolbox of ways of being in different circumstances in life. So the kind of power we're talking about here is a power that puts you in a place of agency versus control.
Control is about really limiting our experiences so that certain things can't happen or shouldn't happen, which they inevitably do. And agency, which is more about being in a place of full awareness and having a full arsenal of tools within our toolbox that we can respond in a way that is aligned with our highest.
Purpose with our highest self in mind. So what I wanna do today is go through some of these myths that we have about power and come into a greater understanding and common ground about what I mean by power, so that as we move through this season. As you listen to the episodes, you can see how they are all helping you restore your fullest agency and the ability to use your voice to use your skills, to use your gifts in a way that is not limited by what other people think or what's expected of you, or whatever boxes you might have originally have.
Put yourself in. So power is not something that is bad, but it's just often misunderstood. From that place of misunderstanding, sometimes it's feared we certainly see how power can be. Dangerous in the hands of the wrong people. This is where I think the first myth is birthed. The first myth is that power corrupts, that power changes us at the core.
To some degree, maybe that's true, that it changes us into more of our true selves. But power, if in the wrong hands and with the wrong intentions, can be a corruptive force. And I think that's why we think that, , if I am going to be powerful, that's synonymous with being arrogant or being manipulative.
And instead maybe, I should be humble and I should go about my life in a quiet, unobtrusive way. I have a story from years ago where I was seeking to start a business with a friend of mine, and we were really stepping into our power. We were really creating something, at least on paper that could have been amazing, but at some point she backed out and she said, I have always been raised to be humble, and this idea doesn't feel humble.
First I say whoever says that to men. That feels very much like something that is said to women, especially right when they're on the brink of doing something really great because when you are on the brink of doing something really great, yeah, you might get scared. And yeah, these other voices from our past, from our childhood might come up and.
Find a way to make us small again to tell us step back. It's not your turn, it's not your place. It's not for you. Let somebody else better than you do that work. , At the end of the day, perhaps somebody will, and. Since that day, I have seen this particular business idea, , take root in other forms because that's the power of an idea, right?
An idea likes to be manifest. Elizabeth Gilbert talks about this all the time. That an idea. If you don't manifest it, if you say, no, no, no, I'm too humble. I don't wanna be arrogant, I'm not knowledgeable enough, smart enough. Well read enough, , charismatic enough, whatever else you can come up with that might stop you.
The idea says, okay, well then that's fine. I will go and find somebody else who will come into their power, who will make this idea manifest. So we are all here. To embrace our gifts, we're here to discover what they are and embrace them wholeheartedly. Whether or not their gifts that the culture is open, armed, or enthusiastic about.
Some of our gifts inherently are going to run against the culture because the only way you can truly change culture is to bring ideas to it that don't fit, that aren't necessarily cohesive with culture's, larger message culture would prefer that we all just fit in and get along, it tells us, Hey, don't you want to belong?
So if you wanna belong, well then you're gonna have to do a few things. You're gonna have to make a couple adjustments. But there is a big difference between belonging, true belonging, and fitting in. True belonging is being fully who you are and knowing that you are welcoming yourself home and then knowing that you will bring that self with you to the various places that you go throughout your day.
Fitting in is adjusting yourself. Depending on where you are and depending on what you think the circumstances call for. Now to some degree, of course, being a human being walking this planet means some amount of adjustment and modification. It just does. But if we're doing that all the time and in every place trying to adapt, trying to adjust, first of all, no wonder we're exhausted.
No wonder we don't feel authentic. No wonder we struggle with imposter syndrome and all of these other kinds of things because we're not letting ourselves be full. We're not giving ourselves permission to be whole, to be powerful, to embrace our gifts, to embrace our voice. Not a single one of us was put on this planet, or the way that I like to see it is chose to come to this planet to sit on the sidelines.
We're all here to make a difference. We are all here to make our presence known and our souls have a certain idea of what that is. If we can tune out all of those voices that tell us to be small, to be humble, to be grateful, to be simple. And you know, there's nothing wrong with being grateful.
Gratitude is wonderful, and you can have gratitude and be reaching into your fullest power. Be stretching into it all of the time. So certainly power can corrupt. It all depends on your intention. What do you want your power for? Do you want it to serve all beings everywhere
or are you trying to wield a power that is about control, about controlling yourself, about controlling your experiences, and about controlling others? My guess is because you're listening to this podcast that you're seeking. The first kind of power. The power within. The power to the power to find your own freedom, find your own path, find your own way.
In a world that really does prefer conformity.
Another myth about power is that it's a zero sum game. So it's this idea that if some people have power, then others don't. But the reason I called my podcast Awaken Your Power is because within all of us lies this ability to awaken this power. There are not some people on this planet meant to live great lives filled with adventure and possibility and creativity and joy and others of us that are meant to be meek and small and play by the rules and not get in trouble and don't bother anybody.
When women are talked about in a positive way, it's usually because of their. Willingness to capitulate, their willingness to go along with everybody else's desires, to not cause problems, keep the family together, allow everybody else to have their tantrums and for them to stay centered and calm.
And always, again, here's that word, to be in control. Such a different. Kind of human being, someone who is in control versus someone who is powerful. As we spend more and more time in consciousness as we work with meditation or with breath work, or simply just living a life as aware as we possibly can and as we are willing to.
Reflect and analyze and review our lives in such a way that we actually create wisdom. We churn wisdom like an alchemist. We turn the lead in our life that which has been difficult or challenging or struggle or some kind of challenge to overcome. We turn that into wisdom and life lessons.
If we don't live that kind of life, if we don't live this reflective life where we're willing to see what's working and what's not, and how can I grow and how did that feel, then we can grow old, but we'll never grow wise. Wisdom is not granted to you based on years lived. It is worked through you as you digest and process the lessons of life.
Awakening your power can start by just becoming aware of how you feel. How you feel after you leave an interaction, how you feel after you do something hard, how you feel after maybe you took a shortcut somewhere. You can look at your own body. You can look at your own mind, and you can see, did this come from a place of power or did this come from a place?
Of fear, did it come from a place of ego desire or did it come from a place of soul movement?
Another myth about power is that it is something that you get through achievements and outside validation, that is not true at all because again, this power represents our fullness and our wholeness and our particular gifts that may or may not. Ever be accepted or praised by society. You may always be a bit of an outsider.
You may be a bit of a rough edge, and that's okay. So accolades and praise, and. Raises and new job opportunities are not the marker of how powerful you are. There is only one person that can determine how much power you have, and that's you, and that's in your day to day lives. It's not something that anybody else can give you.
It's not something that you can buy. It is something that you cultivate through day to day actions, reflections, and stories.
When we step into our fullest power, a whole new life opens for us. This is a life that is filled with abundance. With integrity, with resiliency, with ideas that flow through us because the universe knows that we're going to see them through. It's a life of curiosity and openness and steadfastness and ease.
It is a life that. Has an allegiance to our own path. Not expectations, not other people's pressures on us. Living a life from our power is not an easy life, but it is what we must do. It is when our bodies and our souls and our minds come into greatest alignment. It is when we feel most vibrant.
When our bodies have the greatest chance to come into their best ever health and wellbeing. There is something so nurturing and nutritious about living a life from your full power. Of not letting yourself become small or become quiet, or to try to control your life into little tiny pieces. This is a life of agency, of choice, of every moment being fresh and new.
Now we're not living on habit or routine. We're not living off of unconscious patterns that maybe have been handed down for multiple generations. We're living a life that is fluid and adaptable. To me is what consciousness is all about, becoming more conscious. And if we have one more conscious person on the planet, then we have more and more opportunity for the rest of the people to awaken one conscious person being in a room can help raise the consciousness of everybody in that room.
Everything I've talked about so far has been about the changes that you'll see in your own life, and those are significant and those matter. But as we step into our power, the microcosm begins to teach the macrocosm. More and more people step into their power.
Coming into our fullest power is like turning the lights on. That's what consciousness really is. It's about lights, it's about awareness. It's about that which used to be in the shadows is now made visible. And once something is made visible, it's impossible to send it back into the shadows without creating a whole lot of discontent within the body and the mind.
Some of what comes to light are mal adjustments in our own life, ways in which we are not living our true selves, ways in which we are not being fully authentic. All the misalignments start to show up. And this happens in society too, certainly the light is pretty bright in our society right now, and we are seeing so much, so much pain and suffering around the world.
The lights have never been brighter, and yet so many would still prefer to try to stay in the dark, to not stay up to date, to not stay informed, to not get involved, to not use their voice. To not speak out. Finding your own power is the first step in bringing power to the people everywhere on this planet, to making a better world, tipping hierarchies, challenging.
The status quo challenging those that hold power over us. These things must be challenged because when people start hoarding power, it becomes very dangerous. It becomes a dangerous world to live in. It becomes very dehumanizing, and this is what we're seeing right now. So we're at a pivot point where us being small doesn't serve the world.
Us being quiet actually allows those who are consolidating power, power over to consolidate more. They can take yours. If you're not gonna take it, they'll happily take it. They're not over there worried about whether or not they look humble or grateful
they're just looking for another way that they can take more and more power in all of its forms, through fear, dehumanization, division, they consolidate more power. So this podcast is. Personal. It is about your personal journey. It is about you finding your power, you're claiming it, your agency, your choice, your creativity, your resilience, your ideas, your alignment with your core truth.
That's really what this is about, so that you can live a life aligned with your terms. You can live life according to your own internal compass. And then you can bring that out to others. It's always about taking the microcosm and bringing it out to the macrocosm. It's never about making ourselves stronger just so that we can personally benefit.
That is not the point. This podcast is equally about our own journeys, and it is about the culture. I want to find ways to challenge and critique the status quo.
If we do this one myth at a time, just take them and explore them and see how they're hurting us. See how they're limiting us. That's power.
Let this podcast be a partner to you as you make this journey towards turning the lights on and awakening your consciousness. Notice what else comes to you. Step up to the challenges in your life. You don't need to overcome everything. You can just move through things like a snake, with fluidity, with ease, with an understanding that if you stand in your integrity, you stand in your own voice, you will always be okay.
You will always find your way. It doesn't matter. It doesn't mean anything. Whether or not other people approve of you, if you don't. So let's begin there. Let's begin with this message for this season of Awaken Your Power.
Thank you for listening to this episode of Awaken Your Power. Subscribe so you never miss an episode. Leave a review to help others find the show or share this episode with someone ready to challenge the status quo in their own life. Find all the links mentioned in this episode in the show notes and find [email protected] mangus.com.