Staying Empowered During Divisive Times

“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” Mohandas Gandhi

It almost feels to me as if things are slowly winding down after the world wide pandemic. I don't know about any of you, but I find myself feeling a little worn out and raw. It's been a year of revelations, endings, beginnings, shadow work, inspiration and most of all, change.

For me, it's almost like a metamorphosis of the self and of society. Our world is no longer the same as it was and through this new birthing of circumstances, we've seen a huge division with humanity. I've seen friendships and marriages dissolve, families torn apart and huge crevices created by differentiating beliefs. And it made me wonder, how can we stay empowered through divisive times?

I'll admit that I, too, got caught up in the whirlwind of fear and leaning towards one side of the political and social pendulum throughout COVID. I, like you, am human, and over the course of my life have adopted beliefs about what is right and wrong, good or bad, uplifting or not, and so on. We all have. That's the nature of having a human experience.

For me, empowerment came in the form of loving detachment. Normally this term is widely used when dealing with recovery and addiction. Of releasing codependent cycles and learning to adopt self care. It's consciously choosing to become less emotionally involved with addiction and stopping any attempts to fix things. The goal of loving detachment is to prioritize one's own personal life and self-care above everything else.

It's a proven fact that fear and anxiety create stress hormones which lowers our immunity, physical and mental health. Our bodies actually become addicted to how the stress hormones biologically and psychologically affect us. I learned about this recently by reading Becoming Supernatural by Joe Dispenza. It was an incredibly interesting read that included how the brain and body reacts to thoughts and beliefs. I found that I was too focused and integrated into all the outside noise. Was I addicted to what I was seeing on social media and media outlets? Was I allowing my emotionally charged beliefs to affect me? Did it make me feel empowered? I had to get real and honest with these questions.

For my peace of mind, my mental well being and physical health I had to compassionately detach. It didn't mean that I didn't still have feelings or beliefs about the events and changes in the world. It meant that I chose to do a self evaluation of who I was and who I wanted to be. Of what my life was and what I wanted it to be.

I had to come to a place of acceptance that it's okay for others to believe the way they choose. That I didn't have to agree with them, just honor and love them from afar and realize that their journey is their own. It takes practice. It takes self awareness and spiritual maturity. It takes work.

For me, empowerment meant leaning into my passion for writing and my personal spiritual practice, building communities around me of like minded people and practicing non judgement. It meant working through letting go of old thought patterns and beliefs that no longer served me. Which consequently is probably a lifetime journey, being the ever changing and growing being that I am.

We all have the power to empower our thoughts, we just need to want it enough to make the necessary changes. And, really, I feel like sometimes we choose to take the steps willingly, and sometimes life chooses for you. I mean have you ever felt that enough is enough? That if you have to face yourself in the mirror one more day with the way things are, the way you know you're not living your truth, that you might go a little insane? I got to that point, and yes, there was a part of me that didn't get there willingly. Life gave me plenty of push on this. But I also like to think that I chose to rise to the challenge and do the work.

Empowerment looks and feels different for all of us. I asked my middle school son once if he could consider the possibility that both parties were "right" and it was just a matter of perspective. He promptly responded with, "No, because I’m right!"

See? I took that as an opportunity to accept that others have the right to their beliefs. Don't worry, I still love him and all the beauty of watching him discover his identity and developing his own beliefs. Even if they differ from mine, especially if they differ. What a beautiful, and admittedly frustrating, lesson in acceptance and compassionate detachment.

I invite any of you reading this to ask yourself, how do you stay empowered in divisive times? What feeds your soul, and what depletes it? Are you being true to yourself and if not, what steps are you willing to take to move in that direction? Because, you have it inside you to become who you were meant to be.

This article was published originally on one of my website blogs at www.empoweryourthoughts.com. If you like my article or can relate, please Heart or Share me - Tips Optional :)

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© 2021 - A. N. Tipton