If you’re anything like me, then you’ve heard the phrase, “Step into your power,” so many times that it’s become little more than a self-help platitude. When I first started on my personal growth journey I liked this phrase, I liked to imagine my power as an outfit I could put on and then BOOM! I’m powerful and ready to take on life from this mighty new position. And for a while it did work that way–using the phrase as an affirmation along with my outfit visualization did help to bolster my confidence in myself.
But as I furthered my personal and spiritual growth I came to understand the true meaning of the phrase, which can be summarized as the ultimate expression of your authentic self, without limitation. And then things got a little more complicated because it can be a challenge to really get acquainted with your authentic self, especially when you live in a body and have a mind! (Yes, even if you’re a professional intuitive!) I spent a long time believing that stepping into my power and aligning myself with the divine light within me meant ridding myself of all the “imperfect” pieces of myself that were “holding me back.” Have you felt this way too?
I’ve written previously about all the work I’ve been doing to release the things that aren’t serving me, but I recently channelled some guidance that completely contradicted this practice and honestly rattled me to my core. The guidance read:
Set the intention to effortlessly cultivate an appreciation of all the aspects of yourself. It is only through embodying your whole self that you step into your full power and ability to serve.
And as I read it and let it sink in, something major occurred to me:
Accepting and appreciating the parts of myself that I struggle with is more powerful than releasing them.
Whoa.
That’s a freeing idea, isn’t it? If you think about it, the places where we struggle are just as valuable as the places where we move with ease because they teach us so much about ourselves. These are the places where we learn and grow the most, and through our learning and growing experiences we are able to authentically connect with and serve both ourselves and others.
What if instead of trying to forcibly banish those unwanted habits, experiences, and qualities we looked on them with the same loving appreciation that we usually reserve for our talents, successes, and lucky breaks? I’m certain that the changes we seek in ourselves and our lives will come even faster and more easily using this loving approach. I have the sense that the things that aren’t serving us will be integrated in a way that actually helps us, with the negative aspects of those things simply falling away.
I’ve always viewed myself as a compilation of interchangeable parts. Remove this unwanted piece and replace with something better, repeat, and then someday all the pieces will be correct and the “whole” will be what it needs to be for me to be happy, to contribute, to have what I want, etc. This is denial, this is resistance. The pieces aren’t interchangeable, they just are. We are already whole.
Everything we need is within us–including all the stuff we’ve been thinking holds us back or limits us. The only true limitations are created by our conscious mind and our refusal to accept ourselves.
I’m really having a “why didn’t I understand this before??” moment here, because, duh, acceptance is always preferable to resistance. But you know, realizations take time and readiness. Maybe I just wasn’t ready before (and when I think about my struggles with perfectionism and control, this of course makes perfect sense).
By allowing ourselves to simply be who we are, we can stop worrying so much and trying so hard. We can stop walking around feeling flawed and incomplete. This is how we truly embody love, which is of course, the most powerful force there is.
The easiest and most effective way to truly step into your power is to lovingly allow yourself to be as you are.
I find this idea so revelatory (because change has to be hard and take effort, right?!), and I’m still working on internalizing it, but I can tell you that intuitively it feels so much more open and expansive and loving than treating myself like a project that needs to be finished.
I see now that the only thing I ever needed to release was the belief that I was broken, incomplete, and needed to change in order to be worthy of what I desire.
Does this resonate with you? I would love to know your thoughts!
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