by Mary Robinson Reynolds
excerpt from "MasterMinding 101" Online Course

We give away our power every time we are caught up in believing we need outside approval before we decide anything: who we are, what we want, if something is possible or not.

Authentic power comes from being in your most "adult" self. Not in your critical or arrogant "parent" self, and not in your powerless "child" self, but in your most "adult" self. You must decide to be approving and accepting of yourself as you are. This is not the outward act of trying to "get" someone to approve of your value, or trying to "get" someone to love you, need you or want you. This is vitally important for you to fully understand and take in and practice as often as need be.

When you can look at yourself and say, "Gosh, I'm really feeling like a needy, pathetic loser today" and just accept that's who you are today, how you are feeling today and not make any of it wrong, you have just embraced what it means to love yourself and approve of yourself. It is only from accepting yourself that you can tap your power to take your life back and truly capable of functioning from a place of integrity in all of your affairs.

In your most vulnerable state, you are your most powerful.

For those who fear abandonment or have abandonment issues, the most powerful realization I once had for myself to end the gut wrenching fear once and for all was to decide that I can never be abandoned as long as I decide not to abandon me.

It is through this one decision alone that you begin to fill your empty cup. It is from this place of self acceptance that you have authentic power. It is from this place that you no longer have any fear of somebody finding you out or leaving you. It is from this place that you will fully begin to experience freedom. And, as pathetic as you may feel on any given day, when you make this kind of peace with your "pathetic-ness," then and only then are you truly empowered. This IS you learning to love and be compassionate with you.

When you choose to embrace that which you fear about yourself... you are your most powerful.

©2002 Written by: Mary Robinson Reynolds