Where have you given your power away? Where have you kept your power?

Obviously, the example here is for the onset of the feeling of helplessness and not the resolving of it. Another control game the monstrous men played was: ‘Drink this poison or we’ll kill you.’ It’s amazing to me how many people would drink the poison, thinking that gave them control over the situation. What an illusion! If the result of both options is a death the person would not normally choose; then neither option takes away the person’s helplessness. Denial has never resolved an emotion. It just buries it deeper so it’s not felt as acutely. So, what does help when we’re helpless in outer situations and we’re not being offered reasonable options? Do we then heap other emotions upon the helplessness by being overwhelmed by fear or anger or hate or rage or all four? That’s not going to help us. As a child I didn’t think any of what I’m saying and certainly I was terrified being exposed to these monsters. But my pre-made decision that they had to bear the responsibility for their actions, that they had to “do the deed,” not me – that came to my rescue so many times.

I accepted I was a child and felt helpless to change the outer situation. Within myself I acknowledged that I felt terrified. And I determined that to the best of my ability I was not going to do what they wanted. That included reacting from the fear I felt or going into anger, hate or rage. I had no idea that by just standing there mute, I was maintaining control within myself. I was keeping my power. My power in any situation is over my own inner reactions. Isn’t it amazing that when we are helpless, we are still powerful. Helpless on the outside does not make us helpless on the inside. We can give our power away. But we can also keep it. It’s our power. Our power over ourselves. I had no idea acceptance, acknowledgment and determination create a calming effect within that allows peace. Thankfully, it worked.