Personal power is something we all have in varying degrees. If we analyze the different aspects of our lives that contribute to our personal power, we find several sources.
Primarily, personal power is a combination of physical, intellectual, emotional, and material strength. Depending on who we are, one of these may appear to dominate the others as our primary power source. Which one seems to be greatest source of personal power?
They all play an important role!
In some situations, we may need to rely on shear physical strength or endurance. Another set of circumstances may require intellectual power, or even material support. Clearly, every aspect of personal power makes a valuable contribution the quality of our life.
However, the greatest potential source of personal power is not your physical, emotional, or even your material assets. Would it surprise you to learn that it is actually your emotions that hold the top position in your personal power arsenal?
By way of comparison
Perhaps we should do a few comparisons to help establish the potential value and strength of our personal emotional powerhouse. Let’s start with…
1) Physical Strength. If you are an athlete of some kind, it might feel like your physical strength is your greatest asset, but is that really true? There is no doubt that it feels wonderful to be in great physical condition. In fact our physical health has a profound influence on the quality of our life.
Taking reasonable steps to live a healthy and active life is something I encourage everyone to do. There are some people who have developed their physical strength to astounding levels. Olympic powerlifters follow carefully constructed training programs for years to develop superhuman physical strength.
Now think about this. We’ve all heard stories of ordinary people who were able to lift automobiles off of trapped children in an emergency situation. How is it possible that an ordinary person could exhibit the superhuman strength of an elite powerlifter?
Was it a flood of adrenaline? Yes it was, but what initiated the release of adrenaline? It was an emotional trigger called the fight or flight response. So, which is more powerful, the physical or the emotional?
2) Material Wealth. We often refer to the wealthiest people as the most powerful people. Why do we use such a metaphor? Because great wealth allows them to control many aspects of their own lives, and the lives of others. But that control is limited. Does being wealthy equate to being happy, fulfilled, or loved? Often times it’s just the opposite.
So if a person controls great wealth but is depressed and unloved, how fulfilling is there life? Because money can’t buy happiness, fulfillment or love, we need to ask, which is more powerful, the material or the emotional?
3) Intellect. Intelligence is a wonderful and powerful asset when properly used. Over the years highly intelligent psychoanalysts have explored human behavior from every angle. Does that mean that they have an accurate understanding of how to solve their own emotional problems? The answer is usually apparent. Once again, we need to ask, which is more powerful, the intellectual or the emotional?
The challenge is in learning to harness that power
Emotions can be our greatest asset or most devastating liability. Understanding human behavior means understanding human emotions. Personal development means learning to harness this great power so that it truly becomes our greatest asset.
Where do we begin? We begin with the realization that we all create our own emotions. That means that we can choose how we feel about any situation in our lives. Don’t misunderstand; emotions are very real and very powerful. However, that does not mean that we don’t create them, because we do create them.
The nature of emotions
Many people suffer from the misconception that emotions are entirely out of their control. They feel that emotions are something that is strictly spontaneous, some kind of unmanageable reaction to events in their life. Some feel that allowing themselves to experience their emotions will make them vulnerable to pain and suffering. Others feel that emotions are someone else’s fault, the product of someone’s words or actions.
Emotions are the spice of life. Without emotions we could never experience great joy or deep love. We also wouldn’t experience feelings of sorrow or despair. A life without emotions is a life without feelings and feelings are a two-sided coin.
How emotions serve us
When we feel positive emotions it’s a message that, what we are currently doing is probably something we should move toward or cultivate. We all naturally move toward pleasure. What is pleasure but an emotion?
When we feel negative emotions, it’s a message that, what we are currently doing is not working. It could be the way we perceive the situation, or it could be the situation itself. If we cannot change our perception, then we will naturally move away from the painful emotions that we have linked to that situation.
Either way, our emotions help to guide our decision-making process. Emotions also bring passion and motivation into our lives. If we avoid or deny those emotions, we are cutting ourselves off from our greatest source of power.
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Hi Jonathan, I would like to welcome you as a first time author on Change Your Thoughts. This is a great article and I loved the way you divided self power into the three sections.
Emotions, and control of them, is a subject I am really interested in and I love what you wrote in your book about ‘emotional homeostasis’.
Thanks for writing this article Jonathan, it’s been great working with you.
.-= Steven Aitchison´s last blog ..Set Your Mind Alight and Find Your passion =-.
Hi Steve, I consider it an honor to be here at Change Your Thoughts and really appreciate this opportunity. I am currently traveling and it’s been challenging finding internet access, but the scenery is beautiful. We are in the northwest corner of Oregon where the Columbia River meets the ocean. The coastline is amazing and the weather is perfect.
Physical strengh, material wealth, and intellect are all very powerful assets that we human beings have. But they do not equal the power of emotions. You are right, Jonathan, that if we can harness our state of emotions to doing something productive, we can get a lot done in our lives. This was a great post; thanks for writing this!
.-= Tristan Lee´s last blog ..Captain of the Ship =-.
Hi Tristan, and thanks for leaving a comment. I like to think of our emotions like a high horsepower engine and out mind like a steering wheel. When we drive a car, we use the steering wheel to choose what direction that power will take us. Learning to use our thoughts to control our perception of the world around us gives us the ability to direct the power of our emotions.
.-= Jonathan – Advanced Life Skills´s last blog ..11 High Powered Personal Achievement Principles =-.
In my experience personal power breaks down simply to – your DISCIPLINE and WILLPOWER – these are your two sources of power. Everything else money, objects, people are useless. It is only by cultivating your discipline and willpower and developing this “silent power” that you can really be successful in life
.-= Faramarz – Anxious Candy´s last blog ..Hyperventilation and Successful Breathing =-.
Hi Faramarz, and thanks for sharing your thoughts. I agree that discipline and willpower can certainly serve use well. I also think that it can be a very demanding approach to self-management. There is a certain flow that comes from adjusting our internal (emotional) map of reality. This approach still requires a degree of self-discipline and willpower, but in many ways has a much easier feel about it. When we can choose our personal emotional anchors, it helps us to move naturally in our intended direction rather than using shear willpower, which is limited, to force ourselves to do something. In a battle of will against emotion, sooner or later emotions will win.
.-= Jonathan – Advanced Life Skills´s last blog ..11 High Powered Personal Achievement Principles =-.
Great article, Jonathan! I like the examples that you used to show how emotions are often more of a force than these other more commonly appreciated sources of power.
.-= Vin – NaturalBias´s last blog ..The Stupidity of the Smart Choices Food Label =-.
Hi Vin, thanks for joining us. I thought that these comparisons would give us some practical examples that we could all relate to. Once we recognize how powerful emotions really are, and that we have the ability to direct them, it opens up some amazing possibilities.
.-= Jonathan – Advanced Life Skills´s last blog ..11 High Powered Personal Achievement Principles =-.
One of my favorite writers, Ayn Rand, always focused on each emotion having a reason behind it, that strings back to our values. She focused on people being honest in both their thoughts and emotions, telling people to never be ashamed of what they feel.
.-= Justin- AlittleBetter.net´s last blog ..5 Reason to Believe in People Again =-.
Hi Justin, she is absolutely right. The only time we are uncomfortable with our emotions is when they are out of sync with our personal code of ethics. This is why it’s so important to be honest with ourselves. We all have an inner sense of right and wrong that helps us to maintain our integrity to our true self.
.-= Jonathan – Advanced Life Skills´s last blog ..11 High Powered Personal Achievement Principles =-.
Love all the comments and your wise words with respect to utilizing emotions Jonathan. Emotions are often those areas we CHOOSE to ignore when in reality they can be our biggest asset in personal achievement through learning to master them. Its hard to admit sometimes that our emotions control us so much but its true!
.-= Mike King´s last blog ..Book Review: The Pursuit of Something Better =-.
Hi Mike and thanks for joining us. I like to think of emotions as the rocket fuel of personal development. Provided they are channeled in a productive direction.
.-= Jonathan – Advanced Life Skills´s last blog ..11 High Powered Personal Achievement Principles =-.
Emotions are powerful indicator to that we think. We can do our best to master out thoughts so we can have full control of our emotions. Great post!
.-= jonathanfigaro´s last blog ..Top Fears That Keep You From Succeeding =-.
Thanks Jonathan, emotions can reveal a lot about a person from our passions to our limiting beliefs. The key to unlocking the power of our emotions begins with acknowledging them, and then figuring out why we feel the way we do about certain things.
.-= Jonathan – Advanced Life Skills´s last blog ..11 High Powered Personal Achievement Principles =-.
I just LOVE this article and resonate with it completely. I love emotions and could not live without them. They are one of our most powerful guides. They also are one of our most powerful life experiences. They are a vehicle to astonishing self-discover. Beyond that, if we can embrace, explore and understand our own emotions we can better empathize with the emotions of others.
Beautiful post!!
.-= Robin Easton´s last blog ..Are We Eradicating Soul? =-.
Hi Robin, thanks for your comment. I know that you regularly experience the full range of your emotions and that your life is richer for it. I think there is an important lesson in that for all of us. The power is in the feelings!
Steve, thank God you made it very clear, that WE are the creators of our emotions, not the victims. Every emotion that I experience could be triggered by outside factors, but it is under my conscious decision to let that emotion been triggered. If I consciously decide to change that association, then it is under my control to do so. Good read.
.-= Patrick´s last blog ..What Butterflies and Mountains can teach you about Self-Respect =-.
Well said Patrick! When we are willing to accept responsibility for our emotions, as you have done, it puts us in a very powerful position. One of the first things that happens is that we stop making excuses and blaming others for our unwanted feelings. This is incredibly liberating.
.-= Jonathan – Advanced Life Skills´s last blog ..11 High Powered Personal Achievement Principles =-.
Jonathan, I am sorry I forgot about the fascinating read, that it was your post and not Steven. So I now jumped to your blog and subscribed
.-= Patrick´s last blog ..Do You Really Know Who You Are? =-.
Hey Patrick, WELCOME, glad to have you on board.
.-= Jonathan – Advanced Life Skills´s last blog ..11 High Powered Personal Achievement Principles =-.
Hi Jon,
This is great! Yeah, i do believe in what you’ve posted and discussed. I share this to my class, because ill be discussing some sources of personal power. really emotions do a great part above the rest you’ve mentioned.
thanks. I salute!
Hi Marigold. I am so glad you enjoyed this article. Personal power is a really good topic to discuss with your class. Thanks for joining the conversation.
.-= Jonathan – Advanced Life Skills´s last blog ..Validation, Approval, and Happiness =-.
Nice article and valuable comments.
I would add personal time as also another source of personal power.
I addition, when we find ways to conserve energy, save money, use our time effectively, our personal power is automatically increasing.
Hi Lilitha, how we spend our time and energy will certainly affect our personal power. Learning to focus on the things that are important, while eliminating unnecessary distractions, will allow us to make the best use of our personal power. Thanks for contributing to the conversation.
.-= Jonathan – Advanced Life Skills´s last blog ..Is it Really a Bad Thing to be Judgmental? =-.
Hi Jonathan! I am so pleased I came acorss this post. Indeed I agree with what you say about wealth. It does not in itself bring absolute happiness. Money in fact affords us the opportunity to further explore aspects of our lives that we would not have otherwise been able to do because we are buried in making a living rather than experiencing life. For me, the best things in life are the things that come for free. Thoug as Zig Ziglar says ” money isn’t everything, but it ranks up there with oxygen!”
Hi Nancy, I think it’s just a question of balance. I totally agree with you, there are plenty of benefits to having money. We all prefer to have enough so our options are not limited by a lack. The problem comes when we see money itself as a source of happiness rather than the things it allows us to experience.
Like your blog, by the way. Thanks so much for taking the time to interact.
.-= Jonathan – Advanced Life Skills´s last blog ..Is it Really a Bad Thing to be Judgmental? =-.
Jonathan, thank you for enlightening me. I grow each and every day from so many different people’s insights, experiences & perspectives.
Tell me, have you ever heard of “The Tenth Insight” by James Redfield …or Zeitgeist? How about “The Venus Project”? All very interesting and they actually compliment your discovery of emotions as well. (imho)
Hi Curt, it is so encouraging to hear that you are using the things you learn as a vehicle for constant personal growth. In reality, that’s the way it should be for everyone. I have heard of the Venus Project, but haven’t read either book. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts by leaving a comment. Comments are always appreciated.
.-= Jonathan – Advanced Life Skills´s last blog ..Optimism and the Spirit of Renewal =-.