E = Empower: “make stronger and more confident” – its about making ourselves stronger and more confident. Like on a plane – fit your own mask first, empower self before we can help others to empower themselves.
Power is one of our spiritual gifts, and to use it well we need to Empower ourselves and encourage others to Empower themselves. This means to make (someone) stronger and more confident, and only when we empower ourselves to fulfil our own true potential can we offer support to others wanting to empower themselves.
Jesus is a great model of the ability to empower.
- Jesus didn’t give his followers power – he empowered them to find the power within themselves.
- Jesus didn’t heal people, he empowered them to find the healing power within themselves.
- Jesus didn’t send his disciples out as clones of Jesus – he drew from them their own power to be inspiring speakers and healers.
So can we draw on the Christ power within ourselves.
M = Mind – Our thoughts and feelings determine how a situation is for us, not the circumstances themselves. How we see ourselves is how we are; what we believe about the world around us is how it is for us.
Paul Hasselbeck in Heart-Centred Metaphysics points out, “Our thoughts/feelings, beliefs and ideas do not necessarily create the events in the world around us.” We are subject to the results of the thoughts of others. But they do have an effect of what is going on in our consciousness, which, depending on whether they are positive or negative, lead to our empowerment or our disempowerment”.
CF: ASP 11 – “Have faith in the power of your mind to penetrate and release the energy that is pent up in the atoms of your body, and you will be astounded at the response.”
“You’re braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” A A Milne.
P – Power –
The right use of our Power faculty is to empower ourself to fulfil our own true potential. Misuse of our gift of power is thinking we have power over others.
Jesus lived in a time when the Romans held power over Israel and most of the known world. They were subject to the Roman rules like paying taxes, and there was a law that a Roman soldier could make you carry his pack for a mile. Jesus said, if that happens, carry the load for two miles, then it is your choice, not his. In other words, take your power back, empower yourself to do the task.
We Aussies are very independent. We don’t like to be told what to do. We can self-isolate or observe physical distancing because that’s what we are being told to do. Or we can choose to isolate to protect ourselves and those we could come in contact with. That’s using our gift of Power to empower ourselves.
O = Open to Opportunity – 1st June tomorrow = winter – time we tend to Cocoon at home – “something that envelops someone in a protective or comforting way”. In later years, or in the experience of depression, it is easy to slip into the habit of cocooning, to draw in the boundaries and make the world we experience smaller. Watching the bigger world on TV or on social media is not the same as experiencing it. [Leunig – watching the sunset on TV instead of out the window].
Current Isolation measures could easily lead to a tendency to over-cocoon, and it might take effort to go back out into the world as the restrictions ease. We will need to be Open to new Opportunities, new possibilities, and to be willing to accept and embrace change so we can find new ways to live our lives to the full.
Next month’s power is Imagination, well timed to use the gift of imagination to be open to new experiences, new blessings.
W = Will. Will is our special inbuilt tool to step out into new opportunities, to be Willing to move forward and take on new challenges. As we emerge from the current restrictions, we will not be going back to life as it was before the virus. [New BC – before Corona].
Our gift of Will needs to be activated to take us into a new way of living, as a planet, as a society, and as individuals. We must seek a new vision for how to live on this planet, and act on it.
We can dream and visualise all we like, but it is only when we are WILLING TO ACT that anything happens. First ask for guidance as to what steps to take to establish the highest good, and that guidance will usually only come one step at a time, so use the powers of Will and Strength and Faith to move forward one step at a time.
E = Energy – Everything is energy, and we are beings of energy.
The very atoms of our body create their own energy field. What are we drawing to us through our thoughts, feelings, words and prayers?
CF in ASP 40 writes “True prayer brings about an exalted radiation of energy, and when it is accompanied by faith, judgement and love, the word of Truth bursts forth in a stream of light that, when held in mind, illuminates, uplifts and glorifies.”
R= Rebound: “recover in value, amount, or strength after a decrease or decline” – In the post-Corona world we will need to do more than bounce back, we will need to Leap forward.
“Bounce Forward” book by Sam Cawthorn – How to transform crisis into success. A wonderful model for turning adversity into opportunity. One of the most inspiring motivational speakers I have every heard. Sam’s recovery was more than just a bounce back to where he had been before the accident. Instead, he used his accident as a launching pad to bounce forward to reach even greater heights than before. Lost an arm (daughter – don’t worry Daddy, we’ll find it!”), in wheel chair. Now walking and playing guitar. Played trick on PM Kevin Rudd.
This applies to us all as we move forward into a new way of living on planet earth. Bouncing back won’t do it, we need to Bounce Forward.
“The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.”
Read more on Unity Brisbane Facebook. Thanks Phyllis.
So as we move forward into the next era on planet earth, let’s do so with Empowerment. Let’s put all these tools into operation to ensure we are empowered.
Or to quote Tina Lifford: “When you know yourself you are empowered. When you accept yourself you are invincible.” Tina Lifford. Let’s be INVINCIBLE!
