Three Ways to Empower Yourself

When you’re feeling unsure of yourself or your capabilities, your options in life can seem few and far between.  Not only do you have trouble recognizing opportunities to improve your life, you also resist taking action and end up feeling stuck and defeated much of the time.

Empowering yourself is a simple matter of switching your perspective and choosing to believe that you are not powerless or stuck.  For example, you may currently have a perception that you’re not talented or resourceful.  Such a belief will keep you locked in a cycle of fear, futility and inactivity because you won’t see the point of trying to improve your life, or you’ll be too afraid to try.

Regardless of the perceptions and beliefs that may be holding you back, there are specific things you can do to transform them and embrace more empowering beliefs.  Below you’ll find three easy ways to help you switch your perspective from disempowerment to empowerment:

1) Challenge your limiting beliefs and fears.  The most difficult thing about perceptions is that they appear to be undeniable truth in your own mind.  For example, you may have held a belief for years that you’re not good at a particular task or activity, but when you begin to explore that “truth” later, you realize that you never gave it your full effort or didn’t allow time to fully master it.  Once you do, you realize that you’re capable of much more than you ever suspected!

In order to fully empower yourself, get into the habit of questioning and challenging any limiting beliefs, fears and doubts that come up about you or your capabilities.  Are they really true?  Why do you think so?  Have you ever tried to prove them wrong?  By asking questions like this and being willing to expand your perceptions, you quickly realize that you are the only one holding yourself back!

2) Affirm your strengths and capabilities frequently.  Along with disempowerment usually comes a belief that you’re weak and powerless, which is simply another perception!  Begin changing this perception by affirming frequently that you are strong, powerful, talented and capable.  Build up yourself up with encouraging words and thoughts and you’ll begin to believe in yourself more and more each day.  Over time, this belief continues to grow and you’ll be able to do things you never would have believed you were capable of before. 

3) Take action.  Feeling disempowered usually causes you to hold back on taking action, either because you’re frightened, or because you believe it’s futile to try to change anything.  Your first impulse might be to wait until you’re feeling stronger before you take action, but did you know that taking action can make you feel stronger?  That’s right, taking action can empower you!

Be willing to take action in order to build up your confidence, even if you have to take very small steps.  Come up with one small action you can take, push your fear aside and then go for it!  Then keep that positive cycle going by taking small action steps and moving forward bit by bit, and eventually you’ll realize that you are anything but weak and powerless!

Self-Love Empowers You

When you think of personal empowerment, you probably think of qualities like strength, confidence, courage and tenacity – but did you know that self-love is also an important aspect of empowerment?

When you truly love yourself . . .

• You treat yourself with respect and kindness.  You set firm boundaries in your life, you devote time and attention to proper self-care, and you consider your personal time to be a high priority.  Feeling loved and cared for automatically makes you feel more balanced and strengthened from within. 

• You expect fair treatment from others too.  No longer do you find yourself settling for less than you deserve or allowing others to take advantage of you.  Instead, a strong level of self-love gives you the courage to stand up for yourself.

• You have a greater sense of self-awareness and self-knowledge.  Loving and accepting yourself helps you to feel more connected to your authentic self, which inspires confidence and assurance in who you are.

There are many more ways that self-love can help you feel more empowered, but more important is knowing how to begin loving yourself.  If you’ve spent the majority of your life feeling negatively about yourself it might seem like an impossible task to suddenly bring forth feelings of genuine self-love, but it’s probably easier than you think!

First and foremost, it’s important to spend quality time alone on a regular basis so you can get to know yourself.  You can explore and discover your interests and passions, indulge in some favorite hobbies, write your thoughts and feelings in a journal, or simply dream and plan for your future.

Make time to relax and do the things you love.  Listen to uplifting music, read great books, stimulate your creativity by exploring your artistic talents, or take classes on topics that interest you. 

Nurture yourself as often as possible.  Go easy on yourself when you’re not feeling well, and pamper yourself when you feel the need for a little comforting.

Buy nice things for yourself.  Speak kindly to yourself.  Romance yourself!  Take long walks on the beach and gaze up at the stars at night.  Buy a beautiful greeting card, write an encouraging note inside and mail it to yourself.

Most importantly, be sure to look at yourself in the mirror every day and say, “I love you.  You’re a great person and you deserve the best that life has to offer.”

All of these activities are simply suggestions, of course.  Follow your heart and do what feels right to you.  As long as you’re doing things that make you feel loved and cared for, you can’t help but feel happy, fulfilled and empowered!

Knowledge is Power

Part of being an empowered person is having intimate knowledge and awareness of yourself as an individual, including your strengths, talents, weaknesses, capabilities and limitations.

How well do you know yourself?  You’d be surprised how many people don’t know themselves at all!  If you’ve spent the majority of your time focusing on the people around you, you may not have a clear self-image, which can lead to feelings of inner disconnection and dis-empowerment.

On the other hand, when you know yourself well you are empowered in that knowledge.  You feel confident, self-assured, centered and strong, which enables you to live purposely and make more beneficial decisions.

Getting to know yourself is easy to do with a consistent investment of time and focus.  Basically, you’d start just like you would if you wanted to get to know another person better – you’d spend quality time with them!  By spending frequent quality time with yourself, you’ll gain a clearer idea of who you are.

Start by considering your interests and passions.  Grab a sheet of paper and jot down some of the things you enjoy doing now, or have wanted to explore in the past.  If you’re not sure, think about the things you did when you were younger.  Have you always had an interest in creative activities like art and photography?  Did you belong to any clubs in school?  Have you always wanted to take foreign language classes or travel to exotic places?

Eventually you’ll want to devote time to exploring these activities because they’ll help you to grow more fully into yourself as a person.  However, for now simply explore your dreams, passions and interests on paper.

It’s also a good idea to get an idea of your personal values using this same process.  What is most important to you?  Honesty, love, compassion, service to others, family connections, making a positive difference in the world?  Jot down some ideas about the things that really matter to you.  Through these values you’ll get a clearer idea of the type of person you are.

Eventually you’ll want to be sure that the majority of your daily activities are in line with these values.  For example, does your job support your value of honesty, or are you required to “fib” or act in ways that are contrary to your values?  This is important because you will never feel truly empowered until you are living in alignment with your core values!

Another great way to get to know yourself better is through journaling.  When you journal, you are connecting with a deeper part of yourself: your authentic self!  Start by writing down some of your inner thoughts and insights about yourself.  If you’re not sure exactly what to write, try asking questions like these:

• Who am I?

• Why am I here?
• What is my life purpose?
• What am I here to contribute to the world?
• What do others think of me?
• Is that who I really am?

Don’t worry about getting the answers right – the important thing is to explore your personality and get a clearer idea of who you are.  Open your mind and let the answers spill out onto the page.

Getting to know yourself is a process that will continue throughout the rest of your life, but the more connected you become with your inner self, the more confident, self-assured – and empowered – you’re going to feel.

Empowerment and Fear

Do you ever allow fearful thoughts to erode your confidence and diminish your sense of empowerment?  It’s a common trend for many people, and when you’re stuck in the midst of fear and uncertainty it can seem like an impossible task to pull yourself out of it.

However, fear and empowerment are actually like two opposite sides of the same coin.  On one side is the belief that you are not strong or capable enough to handle challenges or life in general; while on the other side is the certainty that you are fully in control of your own life and have the power to triumph over adversity.

Transforming fear to empowerment is as simple as flipping the coin so it lands on the other side!  The “coin” in this example is a little thing called “perspective.”

In order to release fearful thoughts and become empowered, you need to be willing to see yourself and your life circumstances in a different light.  Here are three easy ways to start:

1) Start small!

Many people believe that in order to empower themselves they need to have massive amounts of courage and inner strength, but that usually comes later.  Instead, be willing to start small and empower yourself more gradually.  Start with one small action that makes you feel nervous and nudge yourself to move forward and do it.  As you face your fear and master one small challenge, you’ll begin to feel stronger and be willing to take on more, which will continue to build your strength and empower you.

2) Affirm your strength.

Fearful thoughts often cause you to doubt yourself, which creates more fearful thoughts!  To reverse this, begin affirming that you’re strong and capable as often as possible – and most especially when you begin to feel disempowered.  Affirm not only your strength and capability, but your flexibility, resiliency and resourcefulness to handle anything that comes your way.  The more you affirm it, the more you’ll begin to believe it.

3) See the unknown as a good thing.

Fear of the unknown is one major factor in feeling disempowered.  You’ve likely gotten used to seeing the “unknown” (anything you haven’t encountered before) as a bad thing, with dangers and pitfalls lurking around every corner.  Most often you don’t even know why you feel fearful, you just believe there is reason to feel that way!  However, if you instead shift that perception to one of optimism and enthusiasm for the unknown, you’ll feel less threatened and develop the willingness to do and dare more.

When it comes right down to it, empowerment is usually nothing more than a choice; being willing to believe that you are stronger than any challenge or difficulty that arises.  The more you focus on releasing fearful thoughts and strengthening your belief in yourself, the less intimidated you’ll feel by outer influences.