Powering up

I awoke this morning to snow! And no electricity. Funny how something I give such little thought to can cause such a panic when it disappears. Fortunately, as it's late May, there's lots of natural light. Getting around the house was easy -- which is a good thing because I couldn't find a flashlight!

I'm still house-sitting at my girlfriends. I don't know where things like flashlights and matches are stored. Have to go on a hunt today.

What was interesting was how my morning slowed down without electricity. I have a routine. I get up, put the coffee on, let the puppy out for a little walk, come back in, pour myself a cup of coffee and then check my emails and begin to write. This morning, without electricity; no coffee, no email. The puppy still needed his walk, but once I came back in, I went back to bed and meditated and wrote in my journal. There was a quietness to the house, a deep silence. It seems the entire quadrant of the city was without power, so even the streets were devoid of noise. I love the silence. The deep calmness of it. The silky fluidness of the air around me. Silence is golden.

As I wrote, I felt the pen in my hand, the coolness of the paper against the side of my palm. I heard the nib of the pen moving along the page. I could hear myself thinking. Sometimes, the electronic devices that connect our lives to the things we have to do take up too much energy. Sometimes, melting into silence is the very gift I need to restore myself, to power myself up so that I can leap out of bed and greet the day eager to explore the treasures around me.

There was no electricity this morning, but my energy was flowing -- even with the snow outside. This much snow at the end of May, by the way, is unusual. Even for Calgary. When I went to bed last night, it was raining -- I figured the weather man had gotten it wrong. He'd said it would snow last night. I just didn't realize he meant in the middle of the night!

Awakening to a white blanket covering the world around me was unexpected. For a moment, I was angry. I'd told the skies I didn't want snow! As if I had the power to affect nature.

I don't. Have the power to affect nature -- or someone else's nature for that matter. There was a time when I thought I did. A time when I believed I was the cause of someone else's dark moods, angry outbursts. I thought I had created the monster who abused me.

I was never that powerful that I could create someone else's disorderly conduct. Yet, because I could not claim my power for myself, I abdicated responsibility for my power to someone else, and got lost on the road to hell.

It is a common belief for those who come through difficult relationships, particularly one where the other individuals nature is to lie and deceive. We reach a point where the only explanation has to be the one he/she tells us all the time -- it's all our fault. If we're to blame for everything that's gone wrong, we're also the one's who created the monster raging before our eyes.

Since being released from that relationship, I have learned to take back my power, to plug myself into my own orb and to use my power wisely, not to try to disown it by indiscriminately shedding it like a shaggy dog shaking water off its body.

Our power is the precious energy that ignites our thinking, our doing, our being. Our power is the energy that inspires us to leap out of bed in the morning and greet the day with an excited, "Yippeee! A brand new day!" And, it is the force that keeps us strong, that keeps us moving with grace, ease and dignity throughout the day, regardless of the weather outside. There is no external source to my power. It rests within me. It is the deep, quiet pool of being at my core. It is the cool, gentle breezes of my thinking when I am connected to me and the power within me.

I awoke to a snowy day without electricity. I journalled for an hour and stoked the flames of my energy within me. My power is on!

Whatever the weather outside. Whether or not the electricity is flowing to the electronic devices that fill our days, plug yourself into your own power source and let the juices of creativity flow. Get brewing up exciting plans for your day -- get excited.

This is your one and only life. It's up to you to live it with gusto. To create a life that reflects the wonder and beauty of you. Use your power wisely. You can't change what the weather's doing -- but you can change how you see the day and step into it. Powered up or powered down. What's your choice?