Standing in your power: How to do it
Standing in your power: How to do it
February 04, 2021
6 min reading time

Standing in your power: How to do it

How should you be in your power now? That question presupposes that you are not in your power right now. You are in something else, I don't know in what. Maybe you are standing in the blubber and from that blubber you have to stand in something else

So how do you do it? Literally you can't, because it's not a thing you can hold. For example, you can stand in a box, but not in your power. Where do you find that power, too? In a room or something like that? Where you haven't been yet? Or on the couch, you lie down in your strength.

It's quite distinct, of course. After all, power is not a thing you can grasp, which also makes that whole statement tricky.

In fact, it can't be done, so the idea is wrong. The question is wrong.

It's a super statement to sell something: "I teach you to stand in your power." That sounds great, of course. But what really happens?

You will teach people to feel their power.

You do something and then you start to feel powerful.

But so how can you feel powerful? That's a little different than "being in your power." "Feeling your power."

Then you better ask yourself what will make you feel powerful.

For example, you can think of certain goals that you really want to achieve. Then when you think about that, you feel a certain energy. You get the idea that you then become very powerful when you achieve that, or maybe even while you are achieving it.

Or through pain. You then feel the pain of something. This can be emotional pain. It is then about something nasty or whatever and it also gives a powerful feeling to get away from that.

That's usually not what people mean by it.

Pain to be in your power

Being in your power makes people feel more positive. It's not people saying, "I'm going to make you feel all K, so you feel powerful afterwards." It's not a backlash.

That in itself is quite a natural principle. For example, if I give you a push, you will automatically push back. Or you are so paralyzed by circumstances that you think, "Yes push, push me into that abyss."

But often this stops when you are right in front of that figurative precipice. That's when a survival mechanism kicks in. Perhaps you allow yourself to be thrown around for a while at first, until it becomes a matter of survival.

Then all at once comes a powerful feeling. Then you feel energized and alive again and then a kind of survival instinct comes, because you just don't want to die or anything like that.

It may also be that you are in a relationship that is not working. That you haven't been cozy for a long time. At some point you're done with it. You feel very powerful all at once and then you also just say, "I'm done with it." Then you start avoiding that pain of the bad relationship.

A lot of people have that strategy.

So it's very likely to help you be uncomfortable. So how do you do this in a helpful way?

Because often when something feels uncomfortable we go and numb it. For example, we start drinking and then the next day you feel even worse and you say to yourself, "I'm never going to do this again." You really mean it then.

The day goes on and a few days later you still feel like another drink.

What happens next? You forgot about the pain, so you don't get motivated anymore .

If you repeat that feeling of being broke every day, you're not going to drink again. Then something inside you claps that you absolutely don't want it.

We also call this a compulsion blowout. Pain is then the catalyst for that powerful feeling.

I had this with drink and drugs. I suddenly had this powerful feeling in a very intense painful way that I needed to stop doing that. This allowed me to decide to quit.

When you are searching for your power, it is very likely that there is something painful going on, something you don't want to do or sit with anymore. This could be work, relationship or family related or whatever.

Good feelings for standing in your power

Other people just need good feelings to feel powerful, to stand in their power.

These benefit more from a catalyst of good feelings. At the idea of what they want to achieve, they get such good feelings that they are energized to work toward it.

It must be some kind of magnet of where to go.

This strategy works best.

For example, pain is a good catalyst to get started, but to keep feeling powerful you often need to do something permanent and then it helps more to strive for something.

For example, I find it cool to crossfit three to four times a week, which draws me like a magnet. A pleasant side effect is my reflection in the mirror (yes nice vanity), but I do it for the energy. It calms me down and that helps me.

This also keeps me from "not doing it" unless I need to take my rest to recover.

These then are all decisions I make from something that drives me rather than what I want to avoid.

So I want to avoid that stress.

Feeling your power or not is something you do

So there are ways to be in your power, but it is very important to realize that you are doing it.

So ask yourself what drives you. Or what can I do if I want to avoid something.

Those two principles can make you feel powerful and empowered.

Also listen to this podcast:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/195236/2568784-in-je-kracht-staan-kan-je-gewoon-nooit-dus-stop-daarmee?play=true

So the second principle is about doing something long-term to make your life better from a positive slant. Researchers have also looked at using inner strength and positive psychology.

The effect of being in your power

Using inner strength then, for example, is doing things you know you can do well enough or even very well. That you can use your power in multiple areas and that you are familiar with using your inner power[1].

Research shows that when people do it regularly, it reduces stress and increases self-confidence[2].

Psychological strength can also be recognized by hope (that often gives that good feeling when you haven't achieved something yet), optimism (that's when you have confidence that you can achieve it), self-efficacy (the feeling that you have the skills to achieve your goal) and resilience (that even after a setback, you get back at it).

In general, your social environment ensures that these feelings are stimulated[3]. Now, you may be unlucky enough to be surrounded by negative people or their well-meaning support somehow does not work for you.

In this case, hypnosis can also help you strengthen feelings of optimism and the sense that you have it in you to achieve your goals. There are several techniques for this.

An advanced technique is to visualize and feel where you are in, say, a year from now if you want to achieve your goal and then visualize taking a step back each time until the time of the hypnosis session.

This gives you clear tools and steps to reach your goal, and experience shows that it often comes true! How cool is that?

So the compulsion blowout technique can help you determine that you want to leave certain pain behind and the above technique can then help you work toward the hopeful goal. This is then the catalyst for the good feelings.

Then again, if something is blocking you from determining this path there are other techniques to release those blockages, for example regression. Regression is a technique that you will learn in the first training of the Hypnosis Institute Netherlands.

That way, nothing will stand in your way of being in your power anymore.

Want to learn more about hypnosis and these techniques? Then come to the free online master class on hypnosis.

Or enroll directly in one of the HIN's training courses. Trainings are conducted online from a professional studio and with plenty of assistance for one-on-one attention.

Sources:

[1] http://www.pprc.gg/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/strengths.pdf (page 159)

[2] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886910003946

[3] https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.2466/pr0.106.2.534-538

 

About the author
Edwin Selij is owner and founder of Hypnose Instituut Nederland and provides training in Hypnosis. He is author of the books "You Don't Have It You Do It" and "Break Free!" and regularly appears on radio and TV to talk about hypnosis. He is the #1 Hypnosis Trainer in the Netherlands and has been giving hypnosis training for years. He was the first in the Netherlands to teach modern hypnotherapy via livestream.
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