Today I am here for my friend. I want to support him through his troubles. My friend was sexually abused as a young man by a Catholic priest. My friend (we’ll call him Robert) has finally quit running from the dysfunction of his life and he is bringing himself — and this priest — to accountability. As a result he is going through some dark nights of the spirit.
A misty sundown drifts into your senses on salt air. You ride on this soft breeze into another, gentler life. The wet firm sand of the ocean’s edge caresses your toes as you walk along the shore. You see a small flower; a wonder of nature; so beautiful. It grows between some rocks and it makes you happy just to see it.
You walk further through the cleansing ocean air. You see a beautiful woman, or a beautiful man. You are in awe of everything. Your heart swells and you say to yourself, “this moment is beauty; life is beauty; I am beauty.”
Empowerment takes courage. It is difficult to be yourself in a world that shouts the personal power message, but really just wants to sell you something.
What is empowerment anyway? How do you find it? Does paying a thousand dollars for a one day workshop empower you, or does it just demonstrate the depth of your dependence on others?
Building self confidence and personal power is an especially tough task, because you must make empowered decisions on how to be yourself, from a weakened living-for-others perspective.
It is a classic example of trying to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps. That is why you seek guidance to empower yourself.
But…
Continue Reading … “Empowerment: The Courage to Be Yourself”
True love is our ideal. We desire it, and in our desire we want to possess it.
What could be more natural? True love, after all, is the most comforting and beautiful aspect of relationship. Who would not want to possess it?
But can you possess true love, and does this involve possessing the person you love? Or is true love somehow separate from your lover?
Self concept: the wording would imply that it’s a concept about you, by you.
But that’s not entirely true. Other people define you all the time. That might be fine if they kept it to themselves, but they don’t. People you know unconsciously project their opinions about you, onto you. And just as unconsciously you absorb their feelings, subtly reinforcing or altering your self concept.
What if everyone you work with held a negative opinion about you? Would you not feel that? Over time, wouldn’t their feelings cause you to believe that they may be correct, even if they weren’t?
Why do we create concepts about ourselves, or anyone else for that matter?
