Power and Empowerment - What Do Empowerment Mean to You?

In my Power and Empowerment forum there are two main questions get asked: "What does empowerment mean to you?" and "What does empowerment mean to you?. life then it's impossible to ask "What does empowerment mean to you?

That's because empowering yourself means that you're the one who makes the decision on how you want to use your life. In other words, empowering yourself means that you're in charge of making your life what you want it to be.

So what does empowerment mean to you?To me empowerment means giving yourself permission to be who you are; to have the personality and beliefs that you want to have in your life. I don't mean to suggest that you're not worthwhile or that you don't have value, I mean that you should be empowered to make decisions about how to use your life.

For example, one of my clients shared a story about the time she was driving on the freeway and the car in front of her slowed down to make a right hand turn into her lane and on their right hand side of the driver had a unique character and attitude. She then shared that she wanted to talk to this person but was afraid she would be perceived as rude towards the other driver.

The important thing about that story is that this individual realized that she could see that he was genuinely remorseful for his actions and wanted to turn around and apologize. I find that in our leadership training on the Power and Empowerment forum this same individual went on to say "I do now know that I am going to know whether or not I am being empathetic or not based on the person I am interacting with.

What I love about that experience is that this person learned that she didn't have to be in a relationship with someone who was not aligned with her desires, beliefs, character and leadership. She was able to see through his motives that he was not going to be aligned with her desires and beliefs; he was not the right man for her.

Of course, for the person who shares the story below it really doesn't matter which side of the road they are on, it's just more important to learn that they need to truly listen to other people and take their thoughts and suggestions seriously. They didn't feel as though they needed to take charge of their life and their personal and professional development; they realized that they were empowered to do so!

That's why it's so important to learn how to identify the messages and feelings around us that tell us we aren't empowered, we're helpless and incapable of success, we're not worthy of love and we must be saved. We're all capable of making choices and deciding to be empowered; it doesn't take anyone else to make that happen. It's up to us to determine our own destiny and to realize that we are capable of taking charge of our own lives.