“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.”
Alice Walker

Disempowerment is something I’ve felt frequently.  I often feel that those who have created the systems use their power against me to their own benefit, and that there’s nothing I can do to stop them.  But I’m starting to realize that disempowerment is a way of thinking. It has major consequences, draining me of energy and motivation, dragging me into the Dark Forest.

I decided to use mediation as a way of taking a disempowering situation and changing the way I viewed it and how I framed it.  Again, I used the chakra model as a framework to build off of, applying the concept of power to the qualities of each chakra…

I have the power to accept my current safety, provision, and level of abundance and belonging.  I have the power to create even more security, provision, and prosperity.

I have immense power to create.  I accept and welcome my power to create harmony, joy and balance.

I open and accept and tap into my own radiant power.  I see that I am connected to all the power of the universe and I can draw this into myself as I need.  (At this point I imagined a sort of funnel effect, as if I could really tap straight into vast, unlimited power and pull it in to rejuvenate myself!)

The greatest power is love.  I open my heart to give and receive love.  I have the power to replace resentment with hope for the future that I myself create by extending compassion and gratitude and inspiration out into the world.

My voice is a powerful tool and I accept the responsibility to use it.  I will use the power of my speech and written word to speak truth with kindness.

I acknowledge and welcome the power of my intuition.  I calm my busy mind and listen to hear the still voice within.

I have the power of my own higher wisdom at my disposal, and the higher wisdom of others.  There is great power in humble attention to this wisdom.

I am grateful for the power of my body.  I recognize my body for the hard work it does day and night, for the great effort required of it to keep me healthy and alive, to recover quickly from ailments, to endure year after year all the stresses of life.  This is awe inspiring power.  I acknowledge the untapped power of my body.  I open myself to this power and welcome an exploration of the power of my body.

I am grateful for the power of my spirit, my resilience, enthusiasm, drive, and idealism.  I allow these to inspire and multiply power.

I am grateful for the power of my mind.  I acknowledge and appreciate myself for my ideas, dreams, schemes, plans, visions, and ingenuity.  I am grateful that I can see these qualities in myself and for those who see them in me.

…By working through this mediation, I didn’t feel so much that I had taken back my power as that I had begun to heal a perception of disempowerment, creating new power.  Power to build new structures and encourage others to build new structures that use power for unity!