First Step To Harness Your Power

This week I wanted to take a few minutes to explain why I chose "Harness Your Power" as the name for this blog. I've experienced major transformations in my life the last few years -- in fact, people around me often remark how different I am. The changes are visible in my physical appearance, my emotional state and in how I carry myself through life each day. The changes I've experienced have allowed me to harness my personal power so that I truly enjoy each moment of life and so that I create what I truly desire to experience in my life.

My desire with this blog is to share with you ideas that will enable you to begin harnessing your personal power so that you too can enjoy life to the fullest.

Several years ago I felt stuck in my life. While I was succeeding in my career, I felt empty when I went to work. I would wake up each morning with a pit in my stomach. Even after 8 or 9 hours of sleep I still felt drained. I was extremely worried about the future of my oldest daughter who has special needs -- would she be able to lead a normal life? I worried all the time. Each month when I sat down to pay the bills I felt my chest tighten and my blood pressure rise -- how were we ever going to "get ahead?"

I stayed in constant motion during the day. I wanted to keep busy because I believed relaxation had no value. The fast pace of my life, on top of the tremendous fear and worry I had inside, brought me to a point of complete physical and emotional exhaustion. I honestly felt that I was going to breakdown if I didn't start to change my life.

What a gift that "tipping point" was for me. It was the worst feeling I'd had in my life but it was the catalyst for me to take steps towards making personal changes that would transform my whole life.

This week I share with you one of the most important steps I took in my journey of transformation: I slowed the pace of my life and I began to create spaces of silence throughout my day.

I had packed my days full of activity -- rush to get out the door, rush to work, non-stop motion at work, rush to daycare to get the kids, rush to get dinner on the table, rush to get the kids in bed, rush to the gym to get in a quick workout then CRASH at home for a few moments before bed. Rush, rush, rush, rush. . .stress, stress, stress, stress. I knew something had to give if I was going to find time to focus on healing and personal change.

I made a decision, a very difficult one for me, to stop going to the gym in the evenings. This was a hard choice for me -- I had struggled with my body image all my life and I worried that I would gain weight if I stopped going to the gym. But, I knew that my priority needed to be inner change so I decided to leave gym workouts to the weekends.

Instead of going to the gym in the evenings, I decided to sit in silence after I got the kids in bed. I left the TV off and sat on the couch each evening. At first, even a minute of silence felt like an ETERNITY to me. I felt awkward and uncomfortable with quiet. I had become accustomed to constant noise in my life. I saw my inner noise turn on as I sat quietly. My mind raced. My thoughts were unruly. Why couldn't I get my mind to settle down? I had no idea how difficult sitting in silence would be!

I'm the type of person who likes a good challenge -- and I saw immediately that learning to master my mind was going to be my next personal challenge. Each night without fail I would take my position on the couch and close my eyes. I began using my breath as a focal point. If I saw my mind begin to race, I would refocus on my breath. I did this over and over again in the few minutes I sat quietly. After several weeks of doing this, I saw that my mind began to slow down a bit. I also noticed that sitting quietly simply felt good. Breathing deeply relaxed my body. Slowing my thoughts relaxed my mind.

I decided that I would create more "spaces" in my life for silence. Rather than having news-radio or music on in the car on my way to work, I turned it off and enjoyed a few moments of peace before I walked into work each day. I would sit and breathe deeply as I drove. I laughed at myself as my hand would still reach to the power button on the radio in my car each day -- I saw what a creature of habit I was! I knew it was time to create new habits. That is what I did.

During my lunches at work I would take a few minutes of lunchtime to enjoy spaces of silence. If it was nice outside I would take a walk and focus on the beauty of nature as I walked along rather than allowing my mind to go through my mental to-do list. Sometimes I would find a park bench and be totally silent.

By slowing down my life, I opened up the space to change. By slowing down my mind, I opened up the space to heal. And, healing is what happened. I began to see how much healing my thoughts needed. (I will save that topic for another day -- Healing Your Thoughts is another essential aspect of Harnessing Your Power.)

How fast are you going every day? Do you ever feel out of control and overwhelmed by the schedule you are keeping? Is everything you are doing really necessary? Or, are you in constant motion for fear of what you might feel like if you slowed down?

If you are ready to harness your personal power, consider slowing down the pace at which you live. Consider as well giving silence a try. . .these steps I took opened the doors to tremendous joy, inner peace, hope and inspiration to flood into my life.

One last thing I wanted to share with you-- I had the privilege of speaking to an amazing group of 110 kids last week at Hudson Community Enterprises. These 15 - 21 year olds were so full of energy and excitement. Each one of these kids is disabled to some degree and they go to Hudson Community Enterprises to learn life skills and job skills that will prepare them for life after high school.

The highlight of my time with them was the point in my presentation when we practiced our new, positive thoughts. We all were on our feet together shouting at the top of our lungs "I CAN DO IT. I'M GREAT. I'M TALENTED. I HAVE GIFTS TO GIVE THE WORLD!" Imagine the energy that filled the room as we joined together in one voice to express these truths.

If you want to feel really good right now, why not get up on your feet and shout some of these thoughts -- see how good it feels to use these positive thoughts to get your good energy flowing. In fact, why not say these thoughts to yourself at the beginning of every day?

I'd love to hear from you if you ever want to discuss these ideas further. Please drop me an email at patricia@patriciaomoqui.com . Or, feel free to post your comments to this blog here on the website.

May your week be blessed!