The most common reason we stumble into the delusion of powerlessness is that we're afraid of what other people would do or say or feel if we were to act as we wanted.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
We may overcompensate for our feelings of powerlessness by attempting to control and manipulate other people and our environment. Or we may eventually burst forth with uncontrolled rage that is highly exaggerated and distorted by its long suppression.
Anything that we do to make ourselves feel worthy and safe is a flight from the pain of powerlessness. Every pursuit of external power - every attempt to change the world or a person in order to make yourself feel valuable and safe - is a distraction from the pain of powerlessness.
Excessive fear is always powerless.
Unlike a lot of people, I don't feel powerless. I know I can do something. But anyone can do something, it's not about being special. It's about deciding to do it - to dive into work for peace and justice and care for everybody on the planet.
What we actually learn, from any given set of circumstances, determines whether we become increasingly powerless or more powerful.
The pain of powerlessness is excruciating. It is the most painful experience in the earth school, and everyone shares it.
Sure you're powerless, sure you're just one person, sure you can't change anything... but you don't have to be miserable about it as well.
The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any.
I'm not saying we have power over everything in our lives - if that were true, my hair would look so, so different - but I am saying that there's no circumstance in which we are completely powerless.
If we give up on politics, we're done for. Powerlessness is a self-fulfilling prophesy.