My husband and I decided to meditate together the other morning. We don’t usually do that. Anyway. It was sort of comical but also eye opening for both of us. We have both been using the calm app, which is so good and has several “new to meditation” programs. Anyway, the program we have been using has you really working on equanimity.
Which is basically being open and easy about things. If theres unwanted noises or distractions during meditation then welcome them and continue your practice. SO here we are during our 11 minute meditation and all of a sudden our little yorkie hears a noise and is barking her little head off at the front door.
Remember we are working on welcoming distractions and then continuing to meditate. So through her barking my thought went to “Oh man is this annoying him?” So I open one eye and look at him and he is just sitting there calmly with his eyes closed like he doesn’t even hear her barking, so I was inspired to do the same and we finished our meditation and went on with our day.
A little later I mentioned to him how impressed I was with how well he meditated through the chaos of Kenzie barking and he laughed and said well, I opened one eye to see how you were handling it and you were so calm and peacefully still meditating that it motivated me to continue to do the same. So both of us had inspired the other without even knowing it! I thought that was a fun story to tell because so often we have no idea who we are touching throughout the day with a smile or our habits or our work ethic or whatever we are doing… just realize you may be inspiring someone and not even know it.
So, today, I wanted to just remind you today that you have the power inside you to not only inspire others but also inspire yourself. To be your own source of power and inspiration. I was having an entrepreneur club meeting on Saturday with my friend Brooke and we were talking about empowering thoughts and she said “I am my own power source” and I loved that so much I thought I would incorporate it into my blog post today!
What does that mean really? Being your own power source doesn’t mean doing everything on your own. In fact knowing that you need help and asking for it is a very powerful tool that so many women just don’t use.
Another tool that is super empowering is admitting you don’t know the answer when you, well……don’t know the answer. HA. There is power in saying “you know what? I don’t know, so let me do a little digging and I will get back with you.” That is perfectly ok and actually empowering to use.
Being your own power source also means knowing when it’s time to rest and not just knowing, but then taking that time and actually resting. Even if it’s for a 20 minute reset. There is no badge of honor for running yourself into the ground.
Being your own power source means recognizing that self care is more important than anything else. Putting your self care first is a tool that so many women just neglect. Self care looks different for each of us and only you can define it. Do you know what that is for you? Do you have a set standard for yourself?
Self care includes your mental and your physical health. It’s super empowering to set and keep a standard for self care. And this standard can be fluid, especially if you have neglected it. For example, when I started really deciding to get In shape I was 30% body fat. My goal was just to get below 30%. Then as I exercised and started noticing how much better I felt and how much better my clothes looked, my standard kept getting higher. I’m working now in the 20% body fat range and that’s my standard. So meet yourself where you are right now and just say you know what? Where can I be this time next week? What can I do this week that casts a vote for who I want to be, who I identify as being?
It also means saying no to toxic relationships. I looked up the word toxic so we can all understand just what a toxic relationship is. Because it’s thrown around quite a bit. So It means poisonous, harmful, very bad or unpleasant. We are all imperfect and we all have faults. If you throw away friends for having faults you’d have no friends and no one would be your friend either. So toxic means relationships that actually harm you.
You have to decide for yourself what that looks like.
I love to have a variety of friends and not all of them have the same standards that I do, so I just make sure to know my standards and have the strength and the power to keep those standards even if others don’t. You can also be the standard bearer of your friend group! You’re strong enough to do that, I promise you are.
So, this week my challenge for you is to meet yourself where you are and to take a look at your habits. Decide if those habits are working towards empowering you or are they working towards weakening you.
If you notice that you have more habits that weaken you then maybe try to add in one good habit that empowers you like journaling, meditation, listening to empowering podcasts…. (like mine, “Wildly Successful Lifestyle”). Eventually you may see the other less than empowering habits aren’t so enticing anymore! When you fuel your body and mind with empowering thoughts and messages, you’ll find your tolerance for the other stuff may go down….which I think is a good thing!
I want us all to be able to say with confidence “I am my own power source”! It feels really good and empowering to hear that thought in your mind, work on saying it and maybe even journaling it in the morning and in the evening….. Ok guys I love you and I will chat with you in a few days!
