“You’re giving them your power.” The notion that she was giving away her power hit The Girl like a lightning bolt, flashing across a clear blue sky of heightened awareness. Instantly, she knew it was true: That's exactly what she had been doing! Not only had she been giving her power to the people in her workplace, she had been giving her power to other people, for as long as she could remember. Why? As she considered this question, the answers flowed into her mind like a checklist.
She had been trying to garner love, acceptance and belonging by trying to:
·Please others. Check.
Be a good girl. Check.
Fit in. Check.
Be a good employee. Check.
Be a good wife. Check.
Be a good daughter. Check.
Be a good mother, a good friend, a good person. Check, check, check.
She had been trying so very hard, but what had she gained? Disappointment. Despair. Sadness. Even depression, as her own anger turned inward. These insights were clear, but surprisingly, they caused her no pain. No self-judgement. No self-flagellation. That had been her old pattern… A pattern now shattered by the beautiful and, although she didn’t know it at the time, profound experience that had just occurred.
The Girl had just had... a radical transformation of her power. It now flowed from a place of peace and love, and vastly outstripped her old power, which had been fueled by anger and despair.
She did not label it a spiritual experience until many years later. At the time, she did not label it at all. She simply knew that ‘they’… the people who had abandoned her in the workplace… were no longer in charge of her.
Excerpted from Sheila's book, The Power of UN available on amazon.