“The Self-empowered Woman – Realizing You”

Today begins the week of the Self-empowered Woman. So I thought “what a great topic to begin the week.” However, when I began my research for the topic, I could not find anything about who started “Women’s Self-empowerment Week.” If you know, I would welcome the answer.

In the meantime, let’s discuss the topic of self-empowerment. I don't know about you, but for the past 15+ years I have lead my life as a very self-empowered, self-directed, self-actualized woman. Before that, let’s just say that I lived my life for others (their ideas of how I should live, eat, breathe, behave). And of course, that was because I didn’t know there was something called self-empowerment - or as I like to refer to it today, “a mind of my own”.

As I look back on my life, up to today – I see patterns of belief and behavior that helped me to get to “now.” I also realized there is a definite system to achieve empowerment. What about you? Do you feel self-empowered? Do you know other self-empowered women? Do you know what it means to be self-empowered?

According to Wikipedia – “An empowered person is one who has control of the decisions which impact his/her life. The same applies to a group. Empowering marginalized people is merely working toward helping the marginalized people gain the kind of control of their lives that the rest of us enjoy. To get it, they have to do it for themselves - albeit with external help for a while.”

Some people might say that a “powerless” person is one who feels inferior or “less than.” That she/he believes others are more worthy than she/he is. My mother’s philosophy on life was that, “either everyone is important or no one is.” I have lived my life believing and practicing that every day. Even when I come across people that seem to be somehow “inferior,” I have to remind myself of my mother’s wisdom.

Here are some ideas I have used to feel self-empowered (in no particular order). Some of them involve looking inward while others involve you and the outside world – staying connected, giving freely of yourself, and helping others.

1. Stop comparing yourself to others.

2. Stay connected.

3. Diversify your relationship circle.

4. Say “Thank you."

5. Forgiveness begins with you.

6. Look for the good.

7. Find your purpose.

8. Pay it forward.

9. Do more than survive – thrive!

10. You are responsible for your life.

These ideas are described in more depth in my article “Tips for Living a FULL Life” – to read it, click here: http://www.speakingwithspirit.com/TispforLivingaFullLife.asp. While these are by no means a complete list of self-empowerment tactics and skills, they are a place to begin the process.

Empowerment is a complex idea. There are hundreds if not thousands of books and entire libraries written on the topic of self-empowerment. And I am no expert. However, I know a few who are. Lorraine Cohen is an expert on the topic of living a fear-less life. She is a coach, writer and the author of “Fearless – Keys to Turning Mountains into Molehills,” audio program. There’s Viveca Stone-Berry of Get Ready for Love – she explores love, life and all things loving. And Leah Jackman-Weitner author of Unlocking the Confidence Code: 5 Steps to Complete Core Confidence who helps people build their self-confidence. And then there’s Marilyn Jennet – who talks about using your mind to achieve prosperity on the “Feel Free to Proper” website. These women live their days helping others to achieve an empowered life.

There’s an article entitled “Ten things you can do today” that you might find interesting.

This week we celebrate the Self-empowered woman. You!