Standing In Your Power.

Recently I went to a women's circle that gathers every month to contemplate a topic of life.
There are about 8 women, gathering around cups of tea, each taking a turn to speak. At the end of our meeting we choose whose house we will gather at next month and what the topic will be.
The last topic was Standing In Your Power. I rolled my eyes when I heard it, "so corny".
That was before I let it sink in.
I'd like to expound on how the phrase "Standing In Your Power" changed for me completely after working with inquiry.

First, what the hell does Standing In Your Power mean or look like? I used imagine I was somewhat like a castle surrounded by a moat- alligators below. Walls and boundaries, strong gates and guards. I'd be powerful inside and anyone or anything that wants to get in must first go through the fortress. While I thought this way, of course- I didn't perceive myself as powerful. I felt like the Wizard Of Oz, "the man behind the curtain". But as long as it looked powerful from outside and others were convinced- shrug. Good enough.
I've experienced a shift of perspective since integrating many aspects of the sense of the small self.
I open often enough to what energy is moving through me in the present moment- animation itself.
I don't think standing in one's power happens in a closed space, within the boundary of skin or bone. Standing in one's power from this perspective is multidimensional and includes all perspectives- including everything that is.

What used to require dramatic boundaries (like moats and alligators) contains the same stuff that the world is made of. Because there isn't any REAL division between "me" inside and everything else, the world isn't threatening or needing to be kept out. Real fear arises in the face of actual danger- a biological response that I don't have to maintain. (If you're skeptical about no divisions, read into what happens to time when measured at Planck lengths or what matter is at the smallest level).

So where does standing in your power come in when no longer stuck in 'small self' mode?

Power is redefined. Power is beyond anything the limited mind can grasp. Power is felt as less of a clenched fist and more like an outstretched, welcoming hand. When living from inner wisdom- concepts of powerful strength transform into actions fostering connection.
The power we consist of is welcoming and curious. It is pure acceptance of whatever emerges from the dark corners into which we cannot see. It is fortitude.

One definition of acceptance is to receive a gift. Standing in our power is saying yes to the gift of life in it's ever-many forms.

When living from the directive of love, why would we want to miss a single beat? Power is being that outstretched welcoming hand, open to loss.
It is being open to staying with intense feelings in the body,
stepping into the unknown,
and saying what we never before thought we could say.

Standing in our power is openness to joy and life itself. Where we end up when we participate in our own awakening is knowing in the most intimate way the fullness, the vastness, and the fundamental power of our very own true nature.