Creating lasting prosperity requires a willingness to embrace and develop your personal power. To help you do this, let's start by defining the concept of personal power as we will be discussing it.

Your personal power is a reflection of the creative, universal force within you. When it is developed and you are in touch with your personal power:

• You know, with a deep knowing, that you are safe and secure.
• You have faith that your true mission and life purpose will evolve and that whatever you are doing today is part of that evolution.
• You know what you need and want internally and can probatively take the steps to meet your own needs.
• You take responsibility for your life.
• You are focused on the present, not on the past or the future.
• You are willing to be guided by the powerful force within you.

People who are in their personal power often affect others -- without trying. As leaders, they empower rather than control.

Everyone has personal power, but many people choose not to use it or are afraid of it. Recently, a woman who is very gentle told me that she was afraid that if she used her personal power, she would become aggressive and obnoxious. In her mind, powerful meant controlling.

Accepting your personal power means being willing to accept responsibility for your life. In effect, it means that you are going to grow up. If this idea rattles you a bit, you can be sure that you are not alone. People often think that growing up means getting cranky and critical and giving up having fun. 

Giving away your personal power
Very few people live their lives from a point of personal power. More often than not, people give their personal power away.

How can you know if you are giving your personal power away? Here are some indications. See how many apply to you.

• You often follow the guidance of others, even though you don't really want to.
• You don't trust yourself to make good decisions.
• People often control you.
• You make your decisions based on whether you think your actions will hurt someone else.
• You would rather not make waves, so you often give in to what others want.
• You let others talk down to or demean you.
• You often feel used, manipulated or discounted.
• You don't really know what you need or want.
• When you are with other people, you feel like a child.
• You don't vote.
• You trust as the truth what you hear in radio or television commercials.
• You assume that elected officials have your best interest at heart.
• You don't pay much attention to what happens in local, state and national politics.
• You complain about what is, but do nothing to try to change it.
• Other people can easily push your buttons and make you angry.
• You are easily hurt by what others say or do.
• You carry a lot of anger and resentment about what happened to you in the past.
• You expect the worst from life.

Do some of the statements above apply to you? If they do, then there's a good chance that you want your life to change, but aren't sure how to make that happen.

Skills are needed
Often, skills need to be developed in order to embrace and maintain a position of personal power. These include:

• Setting boundaries
• Knowing how to express wants and needs
• Being in touch with feelings
• Willingness to stay focused in the present.
• Being able to set goals
• Being proactive
• Developing your intuition
• Instilling the habit of positive thought

Developing and expressing your personal power is a process that takes time and effort. There is no quick way to do it. But, if you are willing to go through the process, I guarantee that as a result of going through his process, you will experience prosperity in many areas of your life.

Action Plan
Here are some suggestions for you to begin the process of embracing your personal power. The first step is to become aware of where you are now.

1. Make a list of the ways that you give your personal power away. Use the list above as a guide. You might want to write down some specific incidents that relate to these questions and ask yourself how you might have handled the various situations differently.

2. Listen to your self-talk.
Do you find yourself wishing that others would take care of you and rescue you from a difficult situation?
Do you often criticize yourself, or do you support and encourage yourself?
Are you always thinking about how much better your life would be if . . .  or when . . .?
Are you critical, skeptical, judgmental?
Do you spend a lot of time longing for a different life or bemoaning the life you have lived?

3. Listen to the teleclasses, Embracing Your Personal Power and Releasing Your Personal Power with BSFF. Both are in our free audio section.

4. If you find yourself resisting any of the above, do  the power word technique or BSFF statements, such as the following:
I want to experience my personal power.
I'm afraid to experience my personal power.
I have the right to experience my personal power.
I release my resistance to my personal power.
If I develop my personal power, people won't like me.
If I develop my personal power, people will want too much from me.
Developing my personal power is being disloyal to my family.
I'm not supposed to develop my personal power.
I give myself permission to develop my personal power.
I can develop my personal power and be a kind and loving person.
I'm willing to let go of my desire for others to take care of me.
I'm willing to take responsibility for my life.
I'm afraid that if I take responsibility for my life, people will expect too much from me.
By avoiding my personal power, I have a good excuse for not performing well.
I no longer need to hide behind my fear of my personal power.
I have the ability to create the life I dream of.
(If doubts or fears come up, treat them with your cue word)

Read about the power word technique
Read about Be Set Free Fast (BSFF)

Listen to the two teleclasses