‘You, At Your Most Powerful’
I love this post ..
I’ve added a few photo’s below of people ‘in their power’ from EG facebook page but check out some of the rest, and read their inspiring comments to her.
I love that this woman is all about empowerment.
SilverGirl x
Post by Elizabeth Gilbert – Writer
Dear Ones –
I want you to do me a favor today.
I want you to post a picture of yourself taken at a moment when you felt like you were at your most powerful.
Here is a photo of me, for instance, at my most powerful.
It’s not me at my prettiest, and definitely not me at my most glamorous. I hadn’t washed my hair for a few days, and I was wearing my rattiest old tank top. I wasn’t hanging out anywhere exciting — not meditating in India, not eating my way through Italy, not walking on a beach in Bali, not climbing a mountain, not watching a sunset, not receiving an award, not meeting a famous person.
When this photo was taken, I was at home. I was doing research for my novel THE SIGNATURE OF ALL THINGS. I was reading yet another scholarly treatise on 19th century botany, taking notes on some index cards that I’d purchased at Staples.
That’s what I did pretty much all that year — I just sat there, reading books, and studying 19th century botany, and taking notes, and dreaming of my novel.
When I look at this picture, I see a woman who is doing exactly what she wants to be doing with her life.
That’s what power means to me.
In fact, that’s the ONLY thing power means to me.
Power doesn’t have to be fierce. It doesn’t have to be aggressive or combative or cocky. It doesn’t have to tear anything down. It doesn’t have to be in your face. It doesn’t have to be a moment of fist-pumping victory. It doesn’t have to be expensive or monumental. It doesn’t have to make the world explode.
Generally speaking, the deepest kind of power doesn’t have much to do with anyone else at all. Nothing to do with status, nothing to do with reputation, nothing to do with winning.
Because you can achieve all that stuff (status, reputation, victory) and still feel lost as hell.
No, true power comes from standing in your own truth and walking on your own path.
That’s it.
When you are operating from that place (standing in your truth; walking on your path) you are the mightiest thing that has ever lived. Nothing can harm you.
And it usually doesn’t even feel exciting! In fact, the moments in my life where I have completely inhabited my own power have been incredibly relaxing — because there is nothing to fight, nothing to prove.
You just ARE, and you have no doubts about what you are, or where you are, or who you are.
Show me a moment when you felt that way.
I don’t care how long ago it was — let’s see those pictures!
Sometimes just looking at a picture of your most powerful self will remind you of what you’re supposed to be doing with your life, and how it’s supposed to feel.
Sometimes it will point you back toward your path, back toward your truth.
And if you haven’t felt powerful like this in a long time, maybe it’s time to start thinking about what it’s gonna take to get you back to that place, OK?
Because it’s still there. You can still access it.
Sometimes it’s a whole lot less complicated than you think.
ONWARD,
LG
In Their Power
Click on Images
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- I needed a hero, so that’s what I became. I’m a single mom who left an abusive marriage with zero sense of self and zero confidence. This picture was taken at midnight at the top of the Empire State Building on a random Saturday when I called a friend and said “I’m in the mood for an adventure.” Left our houses near Philadelphia and drove to NYC because we could. We had the time, the means and the energy. So we did. I teach a fitness class called Body Combat and that always makes me feel powerful. This little excursion was a quiet victory for my children and I though and it represents to me how powerful intentions can change your life.
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- Painting John The Baptist. While I’m not a religious person, I find power in painting the Saints
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- My first Solo trip as a Widow was to Africa I felt empowered !! I can do anything
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- Ran my first half marathon at 69 years old.
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- After hiking over 24 miles in one day in support of a family member for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Never thought I could do it. But I did. And I smelled great.
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- I took my teenage girls from California to NYC on New Year’s Eve. I was scared being so responsible for three lives in a crazy environment…but I did it!
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- This is me speaking in front of 150 people facing fears of being seen and listening to my wise self who says I need to be heard.
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- Not letting having a body that wouldn’t produce children stop me from having a family of little miracles (all adopted, all beyond amazing)
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- What a great post….painting from my truth…love of color and peace. Plein Air on the Beach.
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- I had just given birth to my second child – as a single mother. My ex decided he didn’t want a family anymore when I was four months pregnant. This was the most difficult time in my life, but I survived. This photo reminds me that even though I was alone, I was strong enough. Almost two years later to the day, my two children and I are doing well. I have a job helping people that I love, and am hoping to buy my first house later this year.
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- In January, I completed my MFA in fiction at age 52. My mentor is pictured. This is right after I finished my final reading. Joy and power! I completed the MFA in two years while working full time and commuting two hours a day. I realized I can do whatever I set my mind to and I can do it with joy and fun!
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- This is me in my second day in New York. Yesterday I almost broke down in downtown New York after feeling anxious, scared, uncertain and cynical. I’m from the Philippines with dreams of huge impact to my community in advertising. Then I remembered I’m in NY for an adventure, following my dreams, braving the way to my higher self, braving my way to world class. I’m picking myself up and singing in a corner in the bus with an Empire State of mind
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- I finally (in my 40s) got my Moto license… I’ve never felt more powerful or free
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- Here’s me on my first walk 10 days after life saving open heart surgery it was such a huge effort to walk 250 metres outside but when I got to the end I felt like I had beaten the illness that had tried to kill me
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- Birth of my son, the third and last child, who is now 11 months old and playing with the coal scuttle as I type this………Get away from there!!!!!!!
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- This is a picture of me and my oldest who has fought his whole life to be accepted. He was diagnosed with Aspergers, ADD and Anxiety at a very young age. He has been such a blessing in my life because he has taught me to use my voice and to fight for what is right. I always kept quite about those things until I had no choice but to be his voice!
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- My Ex had just broken my heart and shipped me back home half way across the world. I remember his words of “you will never be a good enough Rock Climber to keep up with me”… So I become one, and proved it. I used the pain to encourage myself beyond my doubts. Thank you for your words Liz
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- A time I was most powerful was when I took our children to the beach their daddy and I got Married on ,on the 1 year mark he’s been gone, I had not ever thought I’d be able to stomach driving so far, we lost him in a car wreck. I feared touching the same sand he and I started our life on. This trip proved I am most capable and powerful and can do anything I want. And I will continue to do so.
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- This was taken shortly after moving in to the house I purchased after leaving a 12 year abusive marriage. I am going on 4 years single and love my life and my children more each day.
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- On vacation in Jamaica, I finally understood how joy really felt and that this one messy life of mine was indeed perfectly imperfect.
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- This photo was taken at the Louvre. My mom had recently died and I had never left the USA. I went to Paris solo.
