"Words to Thrive By" by Mary Anne Dorward

So often the people I talk with say they feel powerless: powerless to change themselves, others, their circumstances, their life. I certainly share a sense of feeling powerless at one time or another. I have learned, that often when we feel we are most powerless, we are in fact at our most powerful.

There is something quite powerful that takes over inside us when we absolutely know we are right and we know the other person knows it, too. We don’t always get our way, even if we are right, and others may still refuse to do the right thing, in the end. But to be a witness to ourselves or to someone who stands firm in their own belief is truly inspiring.

Observing someone who stands firmly in the power of his or her faith and country can be equally breathtaking. Recently there was a story on NPR about a Muslim woman who had been a translator for the Allies in WWII. Normally, translators in that job lasted a week before the Nazis found them and tortured them to give up information. This woman lasted three months in the job and when the Nazis captured her and tortured her, they could never break her.

They themselves began to doubt if they even had the right woman. Her internal power, Muslim faith and her belief in what was right for a better world, were far too strong to allow any physical torture to shake them.

There are all kinds of ways that healthy power shows up in the world.

How do you see healthy power showing up in your life and work?