Happy July!  It is my BIRTHDAY month and you all know how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE my birthday month!  I have decided to dedicate this month to the topic of empowerment!  I am going to spare you the review of all the sad sob story moments of my life.  I have written plenty of blogs about those moments that you are free to go back and read.  Instead, I want to focus on the one thing the one moment that changed everything in my life.  It was the moment that I decided to take back my power!  It was the moment I decided to stop focusing on all the problems, to stop blaming everyone else, and to instead EMPOWER myself!

If you look up the definition of empowerment on google you will see this:

1. Authority or power given to someone to do something 
2. The process of becoming stronger and more confident, especially in controlling one’s life and claiming one’s rights

Any guesses on which we are going to be focusing on?  You all know me too well!  YES!  Number two! So let’s go ahead and break this all down…shall we!  

Becoming stronger
I don’t know what is going on in this world but I feel like we are being made to believe that we should never feel weak, anxious, sad, hurt, uncomfortable, etc.  I truly think this is horrible!   Let me tell you all something.  I have been working with people for over 27 years now.  I can tell you that NO ONE and I mean NO ONE has a perfect life.  EVERYONE at some point feels weak, anxious, sad, hurt, overwhelmed, lost, extremely uncomfortable, etc.  It is called being human. Being strong doesn’t mean you never feel weak or any of those other emotions.  Being strong means you allow yourself to feel the appropriate feeling for the situation, you process those emotions, and then you move forward.    

More confident 
 I want you to take a moment to take a deep breath (go ahead no one is watching).  Ask yourself on a scale of one to ten (one being not at all and ten being… are you kidding me I am the most awesome person I know) how confident are you.  If you are thinking, yes I am confident then GOOD FOR YOU!  You are awesome and I am sure you have some inspiring stories you can share about times when you didn’t feel so confident (I know I have hundreds of stories I could share).  If you are thinking UGH I have no confidence or little confidence then listen up!  We are not born feeling undeserving.  We are not born with a lack of confidence.  Somewhere at some point in our lives, we picked up a belief system that we are undeserving or we have no right to be confident.  I will delve more into belief systems in a future blog but for now, let’s just stay on the topic of confidence.  You can make the decision at any moment of any given day to get confident!  You can watch and learn from others whom you admire for their confidence.  You can work with a therapist or life coach to become more confident.  You can read books about gaining back your confidence.  If you lack confidence, I want you to know that right now in this very moment you have the power to use your strength to say, “I am making a conscious choice to become more confident AND I am taking the first step now (well as soon as I am done reading the rest of this awesome blog)”.

Taking control of your life
Hey, here is some great news…YOU are in control of your life at all times!  Really you are.  Even when really horrible and disappointing things are going on you are still in complete control.  How is that possible.  It is possible because you are always in control as to how you react or respond to things that happen.  News flash…everything that happens in your life is NOT someone else’s fault.  Does that make you angry?  It should!  Because if you believe you have no control and others are always “doing things to you” then someone has sold you a belief system that has allowed (ALLOWED) you to give away all control over your life.  Seriously, watch:

• Don’t like your job.  Find a new one.
• Don’t make enough at your job.  Choose another job where you will make more money. Fine-tune your skills. Invest in yourself so you can make more.
• Not satisfied in your relationship.  Leave it. Go to couples counseling.  Talk to other couples who have great relationships (they are out there).
• Tired of all your health issues.  Take control. Do your research.  Find the doctor, the health care provider, the holistic person, the treatment, that will work for you.  Keep searching and searching till you find the answer!

OMG Lisa Ann you are being so mean. NO, I AM NOT!  I spent a lot of years focused on all the bad things that were happening to me and all the people who were doing those bad things.  It was my boss, my boyfriend, my health issues, my this and that. It was always something or someone else holding me back!  I can tell you that it wasn’t until I woke up one day and thought I have had enough and it is time for ME to take responsibility for my life. If I don’t like something I need to change it. If I don’t know how I need to seek out help to figure out how.  No, it wasn’t easy. I had to make some really tough, scary, and very difficult choices.  However, making those choices forever changed my life in an amazing way!

Claiming one’s rights….aka …creating the life you DESERVE to have

You do know you are deserving of having the life you want, right?  You know you do deserve to have that great job, a great relationship, great health, and on and on, right?  You do know that when you are not feeling deserving you end up attracting people who do not see your value.  When you don’t feel deserving you end up attracting situations that make you feel even less deserving.  It is time to stop, look, and listen.  Stop and ask yourself, am I happy and do I feel deserving?  Look around you and see the people and situations you are attracting, are you experiencing what you deserve?  Listen to your soul, is it happy?  If not it is time to take back your power!

So now the question is what are you going to do now?  What are you going to do today, tomorrow, next week?  What are you going to do to EMPOWER yourself by becoming stronger, more confident, and taking control of your life?  Do not allow others to convince you that everything is someone else’s fault.  When you feed into that belief system you give away your power.  This is your moment.  This is your time.  You absolutely have the right to continue as you have been or just maybe you can take this moment to say, “TODAY IS THE DAY I EMPOWER MYSELF”.