A quick word about power. Your power and mine.
There is a way to find your voice and stand up to the bullies and the shouters, those unhappy aggressive types that we all come across from time to time; there is a way to do this with kindness and in peace.
And they don’t always shout, do they? Often we’re facing passive aggression - that controlling behaviour that aims to look like it’s something far more positive and helpful to us. Tricky.
Gentle people can be nervous of the idea of personal power, so I encourage you to distinguish between power in, and power over. This really helps me and runs as follows -
Power over we know all about: it seeks to silence, to dominate and to get its own way. Sometimes it shouts.
Power in is very different: it strives to hold true to personal belief and to do so OUT LOUD, to stand firm in the face of that which would cause pain or drama and to tell the truth in every moment. Power in is the strength to do this without worrying what others will think of you (you will discover that you can tell the truth and continue to be loved) and it is knowing that you still feel warmth and understanding for other person, even when they are acting out or don’t agree with what you are saying.
We all do it in our own heads - say the things we wanted to say (sometimes for days) after the occasion in which we said nothing - speaking it in each moment takes some practice and some deep, rooted calm.
Peaceful people need to get to know their power, because peace, kindness and love are worth fighting for, yet the voices of the gentle are so easily drowned out.
And some things are worth defending: you, your beloveds, your tribe, your beliefs, your knowledge and commitments.
In deeply grounded peacefulness is where you begin.
Sarah x