Power or Control
Let us start with this question:
Do you want to be in your power with food, or do you want to control food?
Do you want to be in your power with your body, or do you want to control your body?
My own relationship to power and control has been different at different stages of my life.
I spent most of my teens developing my power and being punished for it. In fact, I was labelled as a rebel because I was in my power. Over the years of being told over and over again that what I was being a daughter, a girlfriend, a young woman in her power wasn’t right, I started to doubt myself and my ways.
From my mid-twenties to early ’40s, I spent seeking control. If being in my power was wrong, then the opposite should be right. Now, let’s be clear. I didn’t wake up thinking, “Oh well, power doesn’t work, let me try control.” That’s not how it happened. On the contrary, it was subtle. Instead of being punished for being in my power, I was being rewarded by society for “being in control.” That is to say, I was given money, promotion in my career, higher social standing, etc…
Notice that what I outlined as signs that being in my power worked was all externals signs, nothing really personal. There’s a reason for this: because internally and personally, “being in control” didn’t lead me to success, to health, to joy, to happiness, to health.
Power vs. Control
In fact, it’s only recently, over the last couple of years, that I was able to see this distinction. What led me to see the difference between the two is my own relationship to food and the consequences on my body.
And I have to say thank you to the thousands of women that I have worked with over the years that led me to not only see the tremendous difference between power and control but to truly understand it—and being the witness to the transformation well beyond the food that happens when we shift from one to the other.
That’s what I’d like to share with you today… and you can decide for yourself what will serve you the best in your life today: Power or Control.
What you’ll learn listening to this episode:
- What does it mean to be in our power
- Why we seek to be “in control”
- What happens when we shift from control to power
- How to claim our power