Self-empowerment is crucial to living authentically, without fear, guilt or judgement. Joy Makers: My Tools for Self-Empowerment is the story of Anyaa H’redulla’s path to self-empowerment and how she learned about choice – our greatest gift. It is hoped that readers who are beginning to question the quality of their own life will find simple tools to help them on their own path.
Joy Makers: My Tools for Self-Empowerment supports you on your path to living authentically in your own power.
Discover tools and techniques for overcoming 'Joy Takers': Those experiences that leave you feeling less than totally joyful, peaceful, enthusiastic, successful, or loving.
Consult the Joy Maker Reference Chart at the beginning of the book to locate the appropriate Joy Maker Tool for a specific Joy Taker.
Understand the role of choice in your life and how making different choices can have a profound affect on your experiences.
Gain the confidence and perspective necessary to see ALL experiences as 'good.'
Learn how to acquire power, and understand the difference between power 'without' and power 'within.'
Where does true power come from? See the Sample Chapter about Choice below for more information.
What do we really know 'for sure'?
Discover how to recognize and resolve inner conflict.
Figure out who or what is the source of day-to-day challenges and what can be done about them.
Excerpt
Self-empowerment is the 'door' to freedom; the 'key' to that door is choice.
It may be difficult to see how empowering our self through our choices can lead to freedom, but it’s true. Often we believe we have no choice, but as I’ve said before, there is always a choice in everything we do. We may not like the choice, but it’s always there. Through our choices, we discover more about our self and our power to change. With that discovery, our life changes. We are in control. What do we choose? Why do we choose what we choose? How do we choose? Who do we choose to be? What do we choose to stand for? What values do we choose to fight for?
These are valid questions to ask our self. The answers will assist us in knowing more about our self. They will determine the type of person we are at present, as well as whom we wish to become. We have the power to be whomever we choose and we are always free to change our mind about that person whenever we desire.
If, in answering the above questions, we discover some aspect of our personality or value system that we are less than pleased with, we can always make the choice to change. We have that choice. Our choices set in motion the process of transformation… of our self and our life.
Many people do not believe we are capable of change. When my eldest daughter’s university class discussed personalities, one of the other students said it was impossible for a person to change. He said everyone begins life with a certain personality and this is maintained for the rest of his or her life. My daughter spoke up and said, “That isn’t true, because my mother has changed!”
Self-empowerment is learning to feel good about who we are. We are free to utilize the power of choice consciously and appropriately in all life situations. This frequently makes some other people feel uncomfortable and/or threatened. They recognize the power that lies within us. We can make a choice to behave in self-empowering ways by refusing to compromise our values. For instance, if we value equality, we can choose to stand up for women and members of sexual, racial or ethnic minorities, demanding equal opportunities for them. We can choose not to allow other people's bigotry or violence to go unchallenged.
Another way we can utilize self-empowerment is to channel anger at government inaction through lobbying and direct political action. These are wonderful examples of transforming powerlessness into self-empowerment, and there are many more.
I don’t know what hardships you’ve endured in your life. I don’t know what you are going through right now. However, I’m guessing you wouldn’t be reading this if everything in your life were rosy. If you are feeling powerless, make the choice to change your life and empower your self. You have to start somewhere and the first step is to decide whether you are the person you want to be and whether you’re living the life you desire right now. If not, why not? What sort of person do you wish you were? What do you want to change? What do you want to do in this world? What mark do you choose to leave?
Ask your self these questions and those presented earlier in this chapter. If you truly want a different life, then make that choice and start changing it.
Placing this book under your pillow will do absolutely nothing for you. Unfortunately, you can’t change through osmosis! Nobody can do this except you. So if you’re feeling powerless, take responsibility for your life and try some of the Joy Maker Tools I have used. Very soon, you will be on your way to empowering your self.Choice determines the level of freedom we experience in our life. We can choose whatever brings more joy into our life; whatever makes us laugh; whatever makes our heart sing.
Remember, procrastination can be one of the biggest Joy Takers of them all. Don’t get sidetracked. Don’t put this book down and forget about it. There is nothing more important than experiencing all that there is to experience in this life. What are you waiting for? Do a Dialogue and find out!
[Authors Note: A Dialogue is one of the Joy Maker Tools available in the book.]
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