So much of inner work in coaching revolves around personal power. Life events can disconnect us from our personal power and trigger doubt, fear of failure, and feeling like we’re an imposter at what we’re trying to do. So how do you come back home to your personal power? I really want to attain some fitness goals this summer and would like to up my percentage of personal power by 20%. How about you? Is there something you really want to achieve? What percentage of your life do you feel in touch with your personal power? Here are a few tips Cathy Bernatt, Effective Communication Specialist, recommends to reconnect and rediscover your inner power. I will share the outcomes of these suggestions that I applied to myself as a case study.
Returning to personal power involves two things. We have to know and befriend our inner gremlins in order for them to sit down and stop running the show. We have to remember powerful moments of being in our power and success in our lives.
Know Thy Gremlin
Yes, again. If I know and befriend the inner critics in my head, I can succeed at not allowing that thought to drive the bus of my life. It sometimes feels repetitious but that is to celebrate! When we catch our thinking as limiting and know “who” showed up, we can re-direct to the present and return to our power. I notice with fitness, I hold back. “Are you sure?” “You don’t want to get hurt.” “Do you really know what you are doing?” are examples of my inner critics. Once I see that it’s a gremlin voice, I can return to my challenge and up my game. If I don’t see that it’s just a gremlin, I hold back and discourage my work. Returning to personal power is being deeply aware of what you’re thinking about in order to be telling yourself the right story. My “right” story is that I am strong, able, and powerful. I can ask for help and support. I can achieve and accomplish with the steps it takes to do it.
Remember Powerful Moments
When I think about remembering powerful moments and my fitness goals…I cannot come up with one moment of success with fitness. Total blank. I’m not a marathon runner. My weights at the gym are at the lowest setting. I throw up when I’ve tried to run. Wait…Laura, Relax. Really think about MY success. I walk my dog three miles 4 mornings a week. I go to the gym 3x a week doing what I can do. When I look at my progress in relationship with MYSELF, I find worthy success. Am I where I want to be yet? Nope. Not yet. Powerful moments for me are not centered on fitness, yet. My powerful moments are presenting my work at conferences and workshops, witnessing a coaching relationship reach a new level of learning, working on social justice in my community, and fostering connections that I hope will change our world for 7 generations to come. I can feel that power. My heart feels bigger when I think about it. I walk with pride. There’s a smile on my face with an inner knowing of that power within me. It is this power that Cathy Bernatt suggests I take into my goals to achieve success. So when I feel an inner gremlin try to make me feel small or derail my progress, I’m going to pull up my inner power self to keep going.
Reclaiming Inner Power
Think about a time when you felt fully in your power, in your skin.
Let yourself fully embody that experience now. This is your power.
Find a picture of that time and remember fully your powerful moment.
If your inner gremlin is loud, go to that moment of power and breathe in and out from that moment of personal power.
Tips to Success
One suggestion Cathy shared was to do two timelines of your life. The first is a “Documentary of my life”. Put a mark on a timeline, birth to present, that gives you a “pop” remembering it and give it a maker and title. The second is an “Impact Lifeline” which are the things and people that have had a large impact on you. For me, my documentary timeline made me smile with a memory of a turtle laying eggs in my family’s front garden in Chicago, my dad and I having a water fight that went beyond all water fights in 40 degree weather. My first kiss. My first awareness of wanting my life in the world to mean something. The impact timeline brought up powerful women both good and bad that impacted my perception of the world. Other impacts were global travel and living in other cultures. What are your makers that give you a “pop” when you remember them in your documentary timeline? Who or what stands out as impacting your lifeline? These are all information of powerful moments of wonder and belief in yourself as well as negative moments that shape the messages of the inner critic. Information is important to recognize where we feel pride and shame.
Water the Right Seeds
The seeds you water and the seeds that grow. Upping your personal power bank is watering the seeds of pride, accomplishment, and enthusiasm. I think of watering what keeps me engaged in my daily living. For me it’s meditation/prayer, health/fitness, and living in line with my values. My power goes UP with these activities. I find it difficult to maintain discipline even though I know how great I feel doing it. So, I have accountability partners to help me succeed. I invite different people to participate in things that are challenging for me alone. Walking partner, gym buddy, personal challenge I share with a friend or family member. How do you want to up your personal power? Is there someone who could help you stay the course?
“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.” —Winston Churchill
In Progress
If you are breathing, you are in progress. Winston Churchill said, “Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.” I am in constant flow of things going well and things in need of improvement and work. I am finally moving past the idea of failure to enthusiastically moving. I’m getting a lot more accomplished and reaching goals that have been many years in the making. What I’m learning is that each success and failure gets me farther along on my lifeline for the goodness I bring into the world. It started as scary work and is growing into a life of adventure. Are you seeking to grow beyond limits and tapping into your personal power? Give me a call to unlock your power and pride. It is beautiful work that lasts a lifetime.
Namaste,
Laura