Empower Yourself

"Be the master of your mind rather than mastered by your mind."
- Zen Saying

Man, when compared to superheroes like Superman and the X-men, is somehow similar to them in terms of possession of power. Yes, you've read that right. Man, like you and me, has a power. If these superheroes have supernatural powers that give them the ability to fly, to climb buildings and walls, to become invisible, to produce fire and ice, and to have special physical strength, we human beings, on the other hand, have the ability to mold our personality, to shape our future, and to create our own destiny. And all these are due to the power we possess - the power of the mind!

The power we humans possess can never be compared to any supernatural powers these superheroes use. After all, they are not real, ours is. Some agent in our body is responsible for giving us this power that makes us more hero than they do, an empowering agent, and this is our mind. It is our mind that gives us authority and superiority, confidence and self-esteem, and inspiration and guidance over ourselves and others. This is how the mind works. This is how the mind empowers.

What is empowerment, by the way? I used to believe that empowerment is simply giving power or authority to somebody that not anyone can possess until I've read this book entitled Empowerment Takes More than a Minute. It is about Marvin, a president and CEO of a midsize, once-successful company. I found the story to be really inspiring and motivating that I'd like to share it with you. It will give us a clearer insight on what empowerment really is and, like me, it might also change your view on it. For some time now, Marvin had been thinking of his problems on the company he was working at, or for that matter, he was managing. What he failed to see was the company also has its problems on him - that he is turning out to be an ineffective leader. He had taken over leadership there for over a year, and yet his effectiveness as a leader is already not enough for the maintenance, if not progress, of the company. But, at least, in all fairness to him, he cared enough to reflect on the matters that might lead to the company's failure. Again, only it was hard for him to accept the fact that change should start on him before the rest of the company changes. This made him ponder for quite a while. And then he came up with a solution, one that would make them leaner and meaner, one that he 'thought' was helpful - empowerment. And since he believed that everyone needs to be empowered, he made them, not certain if it was at all for the best of the company. Well, for nine months, it seems that it was not even close to being good; especially that empowerment was merely a word to those supposed-to-be-empowered, and nothing more. Desperate, he sought help from Sandy, the so-called "Empowering Manager." At first he was hesitant because he found out that what he once thought as a "he" is really a "she." It's as if his self-esteem decreased since he was asking for a help from a lady. But eventually, he had accepted the truth that he really needed advice. The conversation went through and the most interesting part was how Sandy defined empowerment: "Empowerment is not giving people power. They already have plenty of power - in the wealth of their knowledge and motivation - to do their jobs magnificently. We define empowerment as letting this power out." With such clear and motivating points of view, Sandy was able to change the attitude of Marvin towards managing his company and being able to compete once again. Well, actually, it was not only Marvin that was moved with Sandy's discussion. There was also me.

Although the story was basically focused on managing and leadership, what we can relate to is what empowerment really is and how it works. But then again, mind power is really about managing ourselves until we can lead others, isn't it? Therefore, restating what the Empowerment Manager said, all of us have already that power inside of us. What the mind does is empowering us by releasing that power and letting us use it in appropriate measures.

It was also discussed earlier that the mind generates two kinds of thoughts: positive and negative thoughts. If our mind is full of positive ideas on dealing with everyday life, our way of thinking also becomes positive. Likewise, if we let negative ideas to rule our lives, then we may suffer from negative thinking. Both of these kinds of thinking have power over us. It's now up to us which thinking we choose to empower us, since both may shape our future and create our destiny; only, bringing different results. Now, which do you prefer?

And, oh, before that, how do you see your glass of water, half-full or half-empty? Go on and find out what your answer means.