You're More Powerful Than You Realize

We’re social creatures. We must be part of the group. We’ve learned to adjust our behavior to those of others. We’ve learned to follow our leader. We’ve learned not to question authorities. We’ve learned to conform.

In wanting so bad to be part of the group, we’ve slowly lost what made us unique. In wanting to please, we forgot who we were. In buying those lies, we believed in them.

To survive in the animal hierarchy, we’ve learned to live like this — to follow what our instincts incline us to do. Animals have a ‘programmed’ existence. A dog won’t act like a cat, and a cat won’t act like a duck. They all behave exactly like they were ‘designed’ to.

Human beings are a bit more different. We can act like human beings — but also like a cat or a dog. This question of how we act is dependent on how soon we realize that compared to other life forms, we have a choice which they don’t.

But, do we use this choice to its maximum potential? Why do we wake up every morning? Why do we go through our daily routines? What occupies our mind most of the time? Fears? Pleasures? What have we chosen to act like? Is it any different from what ducks and eagles do?

We have to start where we are. What’s most obvious is the fact that we have a body, with its specific needs. Following our body’s inclinations is what feels most natural. But just doing this for entire lifetimes doesn’t. We’re all frustrated at some point with the repetition.

That’s when we begin to realize that there may be something else to life. That’s when we realize that we have the choice to act differently. But that’s also when one of our most uncomfortable inner battle comes to the surface.

Instincts versus choice. Past/future versus present. Unconsciousness versus awareness. Repetition versus creativity.

It always feels more comfortable to just keep doing what feels familiar. But the newness, the expansion we all crave deep inside us — requires us to try newer ways to live, again and again.

Living in accordance to the past doesn’t mean we can’t reject it and choose differently. We all begin vulnerable, and we all have to learn along the way. Each one of us is given specific environments and conditions to maximize our potential.

We’re all programmed and conditioned in different ways; first by the body with its ‘default settings’ but also through our childhood and life experiences. This isn’t ‘bad’ luck. It’s our soul’s chosen ‘difficulty’ level.

Whatever seems to be pressuring you, however things look like right now — you always have the choice regarding how you’ll process it. Accept it as it is. And the moment you do, all your power is given back to you. Observe with your fullest attention, and live it. Open yourself to life. And face it.

This is the power of choice we’ve all been given. The choice to be real, to throw away assumptions — the freedom to live in total awareness.

We can’t always control what the world presents us but we can always control how we perceive it, how we process it — and if we’re so busy giving our fullest attention to whatever situation we find ourselves in — we won’t have enough time to let it affect us.

Each pillar of awareness in a world that is still a bit too dark becomes another pillar of light. And you are this pillar of light because you’re constantly making an effort to grow beyond whatever tries to bring you down.