Becoming Powerful YOU: Step 3

Attaining power over your personal self is much like training for a triathlon.  There are many incremental steps you will take along the way, and you will work to strengthen multiple skills at once.  The great thing, though, about cultivating power over your personal self, is that a new awareness of one area of focus creates space for another area of focus to enter.  In other words, embracing a new concept and trying it out in your own life will naturally prepare you for the next concept you wish to explore.

With this in mind, I'd like to talk about an essential practice that must be part of your foundation if you are going to live a life of personal power.  Think of something you would never leave the house without.  Your car keys.  Your cell phone.  Your wallet.  Whatever it may be.  That is how important this practice is.  I urge you to carry it with you at all times and use it as often as possible throughout the day.  Over time, it will become habit, but it would be helpful at first to have something that serves as a reminder.  Tie a string around your wrist for a week.  Put a sticker on the back of your cell phone.  Paint your fingernails a funky color.  Do something different that you will notice many times throughout your day and tell yourself that, every time you notice it, you will practice.

You get it.  This is important.  So what is this crucial practice that is about to become part of the backdrop of your life?  It is what I call self-vigilance.  Now, most often when someone thinks of a vigil, they think of either a religious ceremony, or an event to honor an ill person(s) or someone(s) who has tragically passed away.  A vigil also tends to be associated with nighttime.  What, then, does it mean to be vigilant with yourself?  I use this word quite purposefully; I am not stretching its meaning or recreating it to serve my purpose.  There is just one definition in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary for the word "vigilant."  It reads:

vigilant :  alertly watchful esp. to avoid danger.

Additionally, there is a broader use of the word "vigil" that does not pertain to a specific event or ceremony. In The Merriam-Webster Dictionary, it is definition #4. It reads:

vigil : 4 : an act or a time of keeping awake when sleep is customary.

If you think about this for a moment from the perspective of achieving power over your personal self, you will see how perfectly it relates.  In fact, with some thought, the implication is crystal clear.  Self-vigilance is the practice of watching yourself.  It is the call to be "alertly watchful" within your own mind and heart.  Customarily, we are asleep to our own inner thinking.  We do not consciously realize that there is an "I" that is separate from our thoughts.  We think we are our thoughts and therefore we let our thoughts run our life.  But, as demonstrated in Step 2, our thoughts frequently differ from our genuine intentions, and often do not serve us in our quest to live happy, fulfilling lives.  Our task, then, is to take a step back from our thoughts, to "keep awake when sleep is customary" so that we can be aware of how our thoughts have a tendency to take us in directions we had not planned on and do not want.

You may be wondering - what is this "I" that is separate from our thoughts?  The "I" that I am referring to is the constant, unshakeable consciousness that is You.  It is home.  Sometimes it is quiet, sometimes it is loud.  Either way, you recognize it.  It is the inner awareness that tells you when something feels correct or when something feels wrong.  It is the inner guide that pulls from stored knowledge and allows you to make the best decision for you.  It is the inner presence whose joy it is to constantly improve upon itself.  It is the very essence that is acting out the reason you are here on this planet.  Bluntly put, it is You, without the bull-shit.  It is You, minus any sense of insecurity, doubt, limitation, or fear.

To get in touch with this inner "I" is the most valuable thing you will ever do for yourself.  Make no mistake of that.  Once you are consciously aware of the distinction between your inner "I" and your stream of thoughts, you can begin the most important work you have ever done.  Simply by observing your thoughts from the perspective of the inner "I", you will widen the space between that which is real and that which has held you back in life.  As the space widens, it becomes easier and easier to notice when you are having destructive thought patterns.  And here is the gem:  the more time you spend in the presence of your inner "I", the less powerful your thoughts are.  Welcome to a world of complete freedom, a world where nothing keeps you from living the life you most want and deserve.

Just as a side note, I would like to point out that thoughts are not inherently bad.  We are reasoning, thinking beings and this serves us well in terms of creating the material reality that surrounds us.  By being vigilant of our self, however, we are able to filter and, once we've practiced for a while, even edit our thought process.  The basic premise is this:  thoughts are meant to be tools that our inner "I" uses to exist in this physical world.  They are the horse.  They are not the person plowing the field.

When we let our thoughts run our life, it is like letting a horse plow a field.  (I know, my technology is outdated, but the analogy does not work with a tractor!)  A horse would have no sense of the task we want to accomplish.  It would run willy-nilly around the field, creating a mess.  Our crops would have no chance!  And that, friends, is my point.  The inner "I", the real You, has purpose.  We harvest that purpose by constantly returning to our real selves, our inner "I", and observing the thoughts that are running through our mind.

By practicing self-vigilance, we give our purpose a chance.  It is that simple.  Whatever you most want from your life, whatever you most desire to give, whatever you most wish to feel... All of it is possible.  Begin by committing to yourself, this week, that you will "be awake when customarily asleep," that you will be "alertly watchful" of your thoughts so as to avoid the danger of letting them run the show.  Let your inner "I" tell you when a thought does not feel good.  If it does not speak to what you know, deep down, to be good and true about yourself, dismiss it.  You are a powerful, intelligent, creative being.  You know that, and you can begin to live it right now.