Hatred vs. Empowerment: Flip the Script
Sexual harassment. Terrorism. Racism. Genocide. Human trafficking.
Dis – empowerment. The list goes on. We are divisive and rageful, hateful and blaming, exploiting and violent.
You feel exhausted, disempowered, and depressed.
Your power is not in what separates you, it’s in what connects you to others.
It’s in being receptive rather than reactive.
Your conscious mind’s ability to reflect, evaluate, and problem solve sets you apart from other animals.
You choose how to think and behave.
You crave empowerment, self worth, and purpose. You need to feel connection, love, and belonging – without it you suffer.
These are basic human needs. As long as food, shelter, and safety are provided, you aspire for meaning and a higher purpose. It’s visceral and biological.
Looking outward isn’t as powerful as looking inward.
Telling others what to believe or how to behave isn’t as effective as leading by example.
Are any of us truly feeling empowered by the outrage and angst being expressed today?
Here are a few tips to rebuild your personal empowerment arsenal. Dig deep to cultivate the following:
Your strength lies in clarity. What do you really want? Focus on actionable behaviors for change, not complaints and blame – that only triggers defensiveness. When people understand what is requested, they can choose to fulfill those requests.
Your strength lies in poise. How are you presenting your message? Can it be heard? Is it tactful? Or is the intense emotion further alienating you from others?
Your strength lies in integrity. Do your words and actions align with your values, beliefs, and goals? What’s most important to you?
Your strength lies in desiring good things for everyone. When others feel supported and connected, they are more likely to hear you. We all eat, sleep, love, and share this planet. Think common good.
Your strength lies in your personal truth and an honest voice. Get crystal clear on your “why”. What makes this issue important to you?
Your strength lies in acceptance of struggle and strife as part of the human condition. A privilege of being human is the ability to reflect and respond. We are more than animal instinct. Moving through challenges makes you stronger and wiser.
Your strength lies in reframing uncomfortable experiences and emotions as natural products of a life worth living. It means you care and you’re trying.
Your strength lies in creating win-win solutions. When both sides win, we all win. This requires compromise for the greater good, but in the end is what keeps us moving forward as a whole.
Your strength lies in seeking opportunities to love more, connect more, and help your fellow humans more. Keeping others down is fragile and only an illusion of power.
Rise up.
We are not opposites. There are more desires binding us together than tearing us apart. Find the thread that weaves us together.
Embody the change you want to see.
Lasting change is change that benefits the many, not the few. Lasting empowerment is expressing your honest voice and supporting all toward positive change.
