Category Archives: Power

“Power is influence over external events. Peace is influence over internal events.”

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“Power is influence over external events. Peace is influence over internal events.”

—James Clear, Author of Atomic Habits

Image from Unsplash by Belinda Fewings

When was the last time you felt powerless?

Take a close look at times in your personal and professional worlds when your progress was stalled or stopped. Examine both big and small situations to see how you responded.

When external events don’t go your way it’s often helpful to go within to grant yourself a sense of peace.

Your inner world can provide smoother sailing and open roads even when obstacles block your external paths.

EXERCISE:

Mindfully explore your ability to experience peace and power. When you find the external doors of life closed, notice how your inner world can help you find more peaceful paths forward.

You have power over your mind not outside events

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“You have power over your mind — not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”

—Marcus Aurelius, Ancient Roman Emperor and Philosopher

Image from Unsplash by Ümit Bulut

What does it mean to have power over our minds?

If you have ever tried to meditate, you know that this can be a daunting challenge at first. Focusing on something as apparently simple as our breath, a physical sensation, or even a sound in the distance seems to go sideways in seconds.

Marcus Aurelius would probably suggest that instead of powering through our ever-bouncing thoughts, we begin playing with them like a child by simply noticing them and where they take us.

With this initial awareness, we can begin developing our mental muscle and strengthen our capacity to focus its power.

EXERCISE:

What are your preferred approaches to stretch and strengthen your mental muscles?

On what topics and in what ways can you improve your ability to concentrate and focus its power to influence your world?

In this short life that only lasts an hour

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“In this short life that only lasts an hour, how much-how-little is within our power?”

—Emily Dickenson, 19th Century American Poet

Image from The Kids Should See This Blog

I often read the blog The Kids Should See This in hopes of finding fascinating items to share with my daughter and our two grandchildren. A few weeks ago, I watched a video to help visualize man’s role on earth compared to the age of the universe. Here are some things I learned:

  • Our universe is estimated to be about 13.8 billion years old.
  • Our solar system is estimated to be about 4.5 billion years old.
  • The earliest forms of life on Earth appeared 3.7 billion years ago.
  • 550,000 to 750,000 years ago was the beginning of homo sapiens lineage.
  • 100,000 to 210,000 years ago we see fossils of homo sapiens living outside of Africa.
  • 15,000 to 40,000 years ago genetics and fossils show homo sapiens became the only surviving human species.

EXERCISE:

Do a bit of math to calculate the time each generation—including our own—has to spend on our beautiful blue world. How will you use your power to make sure many more future generations can continue doing this exercise?

Check out this to scale/time video that visualizes 13.8 billion years—It’s definitely worth 10 minutes of your time!

“The older I get, the greater power I seem to have to help the world. I am like a snowball — the further I am rolled, the more I gain.”

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“The older I get, the greater power I seem to have to help the world. I am like a snowball — the further I am rolled, the more I gain.”

—Susan B. Anthony, 19th Century American social reformer and women’s rights activist

Image from britannica.com

Susan B. Anthony spent her life working for women’s rights. In 1888, at the age of 68, she helped to merge the two largest suffrage associations into one — The National American Women’s Suffrage Association, then led the group until 1900.

She traveled around the country giving speeches, gathering thousands of signatures on petitions, and lobbying Congress on suffrage for women.

Susan died in 1906, 14 years before women were given the right to vote. The 19th amendment was passed in 1920, one hundred years after her birth.

EXERCISE:

Who are some notable people from history who kept rolling and picked up steam well into their golden years?

How and in what ways can and will you continue to gain momentum and contribute the work of your heart and hands to the world?

“Language exerts hidden power, like the moon on the tides.”

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“Language exerts hidden power, like the moon on the tides.”

—Rita Mae Brown, American Feminist Writer

Image from Unsplash by Valery Sysoev

Did you know that in addition to gravity, astronomers and physicists have identified other forces such as dark matter and dark energy, that attract and repel, respectively?

They know dark matter exists because visible matter – including celestial bodies such as our moon – do not exert enough gravitational energy to hold galaxies together.

Examine your thinking and the language used by those in your personal and professional communities. To what extent are the words and phrases exerting a positive, attractive force that holds, uplifts, and brings us together – or perhaps forces us apart?

EXERCISE:

How might greater mindfulness of your own inner voice and the words you speak aloud be used to create far more high tides and fewer low tides in your world?

What would be the value if all people used the power of language to bring their various communities together as well?