It’s easy to underestimate our own power. We think everything is happening to us, purposely derailing or distressing us, when in fact everything is happening for us, so that we can see ourselves and the impact of our choices more clearly. The irritating or exhilarating in our lives is like a master class about the places we need to focus on. It points to what needs our loving attention, a different attitude, and perhaps a little working out or working through.

It may not sound like much, but the truth is a shift in perception or how we approach what’s going on in our lives has the potential to change our entire reality. When we can see past what’s aggravating us or take a deep compassionate breath at what’s flusters us, we begin taking our power back. Power is choosing what we’ll attend to and nurture or what we’ll move on from instead of handing our reactions and the reality they create over to someone or something else. Really what we’re doing is owning our own baggage. That is the first step forward, seeing where we are complicit in our own misery.

But it’s not just the prickly feelings that can throw us for a loop, it’s the joyful ones too. Relationships are a good example, especially when we’ve just fallen in love. It’s easy to get pulled off center and believe it is the other person who holds the electricity, the splendor, and mystery. But that isn’t quite the truth. It has more to do with us and all the parts of who we are that get overlooked on a daily basis. Part of what we’re seeing in another is a reflection of ourselves, our beauty and wonder that we have a hard time acknowledging. Instead, we second guess and give ourselves, our potential, and our power away.

That’s just one example, but in reality it happens more than we realize. Somehow we’ve gotten caught up in thinking others know better or understand more deeply than we do and we hand over how we feel and what we know. But that’s not the truth either, really we each hold our own magic and know exactly what we need, all we have to do is listen. And the good news is, the more we pay attention to our soul truth the more we embody our uniqueness and our quirky qualities, and that is what shifts the way we see ourselves, our situations, and our reactions.

The deeper truth is we create the reality we live in the day-to-day with our ideas, our actions, and our perceptions. The more we listen with our heart, the more we’ll hear what’s calling to us. We are the change we need in our own lives and often it starts simply by thinking differently. We’re asked to look at ourselves in a new light, look at our lives on another level, and honor our capabilities and our gifts. And then give ourselves a little bit of credit.

Creating our reality begins when we see ourselves more clearly, when we take responsibility for the state of our lives and step up to change what we don’t like. Is it easy? No. Does it happen instantly. Not usually. Is it the hinge for the rest of our lives and what we will create, who we will become, and what we allow in? Absolutely.

Stop looking to everything and everyone else to fix what is happening within you. Put an end to mindlessly reacting to what life throws your way. Begin looking at where you’ve given up on yourself or given your truth away, or where you let other’s dictate what you do or how you feel. Then start taking it all back.

You are more powerful than you imagine. Begin by owning your own life.

kb