Power

I have power on the brain lately, the particular radiation treatment I just went thru made me feel completely powerless, I am going to the Omega Institute for a seminar on Women and Power this weekend and I just picked up my copy of this month's Oprah Magazine and what's the theme? you guessed it, power. I just read something in it, "Real power is usually unspectacular, a simple setting aside of fear that allows the free flow of love... The process of spotting fear and refusing to obey it is the source of all true empowerment". The words of Martha Beck, page 57 in this issue, read it. I have often been blown away by Martha's books and columns, but more than anything I have been blow away by her personally. I attended a workshop run by her and by Koelle Simpson back in April, right after I had surgery and before I started treatment, and more than anything during that amazing weekend when I learned so much about myself and being in my own energy, a weekend when I met a small group of amazing people completely open and vulnerable to each other, more than all the powerful experiences we shared, is the memory of a conversation Martha had with us all at the very end of the workshop. We talked about presence, about mindfulness and about our connection; I was so moved by the pure goodness of this woman and how she completely gave of herself, how open her soul was to us all with the message that we are all one, we are connected. I know that probably sounds hokey to a lot of people but it was one of the most real and human experiences I have had in my life. I periodically plug back in to the memory of that day and I feel power.

The other words I have recently read that moved me came from Elizabeth Lesser, her book, Broken Open, is, in essence, a gift. I had purchased it a while ago, it's subtitle is "how difficult times can help you grow" and I assumed it was going to be another one of those smile thru your fear and sorrow approaches, I wasn't quite into that. But from the minute I started to read it I realized this was something real and it proved to be something very important to me during this journey. I not only felt the camaraderie with Elizabeth the seeker (although clearly she has followed a more direct and more sophisticated path than the one I have been on intermittently in my life) but her words are poetry for a hurting soul. I am blown away by the fact that this woman is able to and willing to open herself up as she has and touch people as she touched me. To be able to help someone come through pain is power, and I am grateful for her fearlessness. Elizabeth Lesser founded the Omega Institute and has spent a lifetime working in the field of wellness and personal growth, working on the delicacy and complexity that is the human experience, really. How happy am I that I'm heading there tomorrow?