7 Power Wounds
1) Clutter.
What ever is in your space is taking up your energy, consciously or unconsciously. Think about it, what do those months of unread magazines piling up on your shelves represent? Uncompleted tasks you’ve yet to finish.
If it’s still an open task, it’ll be in your mind somewhere. Stuff that you don’t need or want anymore in your life still weighs you down if you keep it.
2) Blame.
Blaming only makes you the victim. ‘It was all his fault.’ Where in that statement is your ability to act? Blaming takes away your power because they had the power to make things happen and you could had no power to do anything about it.
The opposite extreme of the victim mentality is to blame yourself instead of others, which is often mistaken for responsibility. ‘It’s my fault’ is as good as ‘it’s their fault’ if it doesn’t include a solution for you to act on. Taking responsibility means taking the ability to respond, not to immolate yourself or others with blame.
3) Passivity.
Otherwise known as waiting for things to happen. This is sitting under a tree day after day until the cows come home, waiting for the lottery to strike and bring you the life and riches you’ve always dreamed of…without even buying a lottery ticket.
If you buy a ticket, you’ll stand a very low chance of winning. If you don’t buy a ticket, your chances drop straight to zero. Get off your butt already.
‘One hundred percent of the shots you don’t take don’t go in.’
~Wayne Gretzky
4) Worry.
Working out all the things that could possibly screw up is planning, getting yourself all worked up about it without thinking of solutions robs you of your power. How do you do worry? You have to spend time and energy imagining all the things that could go wrong, before they even go wrong.
When you could have spent all that time and energy thinking about how it could have worked out instead.
5) Procrastination.
Putting off things you could have done and chucking them on a growing pile of to-do lists only adds to the clutter and worry in your life. Imagine having a to-do on your mind that could have been done…6 weeks ago. And it’s still lingering at the back of your mind, now.
If it takes less than 2 minutes to do, polish it off! If not, dump it, stuff it and deal it.
6) Jealousy.
When would you be jealous of someone with a vanilla ice-cream cone? When you tell yourself that someone else has it better than you and you’ll never ever have it as good. Would you still feel jealous if you owned a Ben & Jerry’s store and could have all the ice-cream you ever wanted?
The trick is to realize that your worth and your ability to make things happen isn’t deducted when you see someone else having it good. It’s in your belief in yourself and your belief that you can learn, grow and achieve.
7) A Weak Identity.
Of all 7, this is the deepest wound. Do you have a strong sense of who you are, what you stand for and what you want to do in the world? Until you do, you’ll be who others say you are, be swayed by the opinions of others and do what you’re expected to do.
Of all 7, this is also the most profound change you can make in your life. Who are you at your noblest self? What does your noblest self stand for and believe in? And what does your noblest self want to change in the world?
I really enjoyed this post. It’s easy to forget how powerful our physical reactions are! I like your approach here. Especially reminding the reader that we are not always ready for change — though we think we are! I agree that the real failure is letting fear stop us. Thanks for posting this!
Hi Julie,
Thank you for your kind words. I am glad it was helpful! “Coping with Stress” is a part of a series of articles on Stress that I have written, hopefully Life Coaches Blog will be posting the rest. So keep in touch!
Kindest regards,
Karen
This is a great article. I especially like the list of symptoms… some of which a lot of people may not recognize as a sign of stress.
It’s also important to continue with your stress managment activities even when there are no signs or symptoms of stress. Doing this will help you become stressed less often and ward off stress before it even begins.
Hi Jill,
Absolutely, it should be a way of life! Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts.
Kindest regards,
Karen
Hi,
Great site!!!!! Good health is very important with the high cost of medical coverage. We need to have a healther lifestyle by taking care of our health eating and exercising. I am a cancer survivor and I know. Our health is our greatest asset. Keep up the Good Work!!!!!
The physical body does not differentiate between happy stress and overwhelm. Stress is stress. We need to develop coping mechanisms in our daily life to avoid the harmful, physiological effects of stress.