A couple of weeks ago, I was asked “What is your orientation to power?” At first I was taken aback by the question. What did it mean? I started to ask for an explanation and then I decided I didn’t need one. Just before the conversation, I had been thinking about power and chose to interpret the question to mean “Where do you think power comes from?” or “How do you define power?” or “What is your relationship to power?”

What is my relationship to power?

I used to think power was something I attain – I am given it, I take it from outside of me. Now I think power is something I unleash or tap into from inside of me.

Power, in its most basic sense, means the capacity to act or strength.

My orientation to power is the belief that my power lies in my capacity to create. I am creating all the time – I create emotions, thoughts, words, actions, stories, relationships, dynamics. In any given moment, I can choose what I do with that power.

In my current relationship with power, I am wanting to be conscious and aware.

What am I choosing to create?

Create simply means to bring into being.

What am I giving life to in any given moment?

I am wanting to work with my power to support others to tap into/unleash their power and our collective power in ways that nurture well-being.

In other words, I am wanting to root my power – my capacity to act and my strength – in the practice of love.

My orientation to power is the practice of love in how I relate to my self, others, the planet and the collective creative process that is life and how we live together.

What is your orientation to power?