ARTICLE TO BE FEATURED IN Maui Vision Magazine- the SEPT/OCT 2017 edition
In any given moment, you can unlock your personal power. Right now, you have the choice to become fully present and fully responsible for your life. Victor Frankl described this inner power when he wrote, “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” All humans have this power.
Pay close enough attention and you can feel it; your heart beating, your body breathing, you simply being. There is a quiet power within you, always there buried underneath the noise of your mind, waiting for you to notice it. Be still a moment and pay attention to what feels like to be alive. Feel your hands touch the page, feel your eyes moving across this sentence. Take a deep breath in through your nose and let it out slowly and completely out through your mouth. Notice your 5 senses; touch…taste…smell… sound…sight. Through a lens of curiosity and intensity, connect with your human senses. Observe your experience without judgment. If you pass judgement, notice that with neutrality as well. Notice as you observe yourself, you become more spacious and more aware of what exists in this moment. Make a habit of cultivating a neutral and compassionate mind as you encounter your human experience and you will discover an incredible power that has always been yours.
Your inner power exists only in this moment. Your decision to harness your power and turn your life into something more is now. The past is gone and the future is yet to be determined. Right now, you are not the story of who you think you are; you are infinite, limitless, and expansive. If you tune your attention onto this moment, with compassion, curiosity, and neutrality, then you will discover the awesome power that is always there, deep within you.
Tanya Gabriel, MA, LMHC provides affordable counseling and mindfulness instruction. She is passionate about teaching present moment awareness to her community.