Ten Questions to Personal Power

The tragedy of Self-suppresion.

Highly Sensitive People are conditioned to keep things clean–who wants to own the messes of life–that we learn to hand out our personal power to the lowest bidder. We avoid asking the difficult questions, speaking our needs, and asking for what we want, for fear of appearing high maintenance. It’s too hard to follow our dreams at the risk of disappointing others. And setting the boundaries crucial for our wellbeing seems impossible at times, because keeping the peace often means putting blinders on to the chaos of our overstimulated nervous system.

Keeping our “you’re-too-much” voices silent, the side of us who prefers to get real, for years or decades on end is an excellent prescription for a psychological breakdown. (Speaking from personal experience here.)

Suppression be damned, what I now know is our personal power will emerge, no matter how epic our battles to contain it.

Caroline Myss writes in her book, Anatomy Of The Spirit, a great paragraph on personal power. She says:

The late Dorothy Parker once remarked, “I hate writing. I love having written.” The same could be said about developing personal power: it feels like heaven once we’ve arrived, but the journey getting there is long and arduous. Life relentlessly brings us to realize the importance of the words of Polonius, “To thine own self be true.” For without personal power, life is a frightening, painful experience.

Like flying a plane with no rudder.

Handing away our personal power, something so many of us do, should feel much more terrifying to us than asking for what we need, or setting boundaries, or expressing our anger every now and then.

Because while we’re waging an impossible battle to keep our life neat, and free of conflict, our inner world starts to tear us apart.  Our bodies thrive when our spirits thrive. But that can’t happen until we live according to what feels true for us. We have to learn to live that truth outwardly as well as inwardly.

Personal Power journal prompts.

Here are a few questions to journal your way through. Answer them honestly and in-depth. There is freedom to be found in your answers, so take your time.

1. Do you like yourself? If not, what don’t you like about yourself and why?
2. Are you honest? Do you sometimes misrepresent the truth? If so, why?
3. Are you critical of others? Do you feel a safety need to blame others as a way of protecting yourself?
4. Are you able to admit it when you are wrong? Are you open to feedback from other people about yourself? Does it hurt to hear it?
5. Do you need the approval of others? If so, why do you think this is?
6. Do you consider yourself strong or weak? Are you afraid of taking care of yourself?
7. Have you ever allowed yourself to be in a relationship with a person you didn’t really love, but it seemed better than being alone?
8. Do you respect yourself? Can you decide to make changes in your lifestyle and then stick to your commitment?
9. Are you afraid of responsibility? Or do you feel responsible for everything and everyone?
10. Are you continually wishing your life were different? If so, are you doing anything to change it, or have you resigned yourself to your situation?

The power in the questions:

The purpose of these journal prompts is to practice being totally honest with yourself without fearing repercussions. Asking yourself difficult questions allows you to better access what feels true for you. This is an exercise in unconditional self-love.

Nobody will see your answers, so you can feel free to embark on this self-survey from a place of pure curiosity and exploration.

There is great personal power in awareness.

Much Love,

Kristy

P.S. ~ And if you ever need any help sorting out your Highly Sensitive inner world, you know where to find me.