--- title: "Power" description: "For all the effort we spend trying to acquire power, how much have we given to discovering the power already within us?" author: "Rahim Rasul" type: "Article" published: "2019-01-20" thread: "The Field" url: "https://iloveprocess.com/articles/power/" site: "I Love Process" --- # Power _For all the effort we spend trying to acquire power, how much have we given to discovering the power already within us?_ [Cover image: Illustration in red and black: a figure on a rock, seen from behind, one fist raised and glowing with light] For all the effort we spend seeking power and trying to acquire it, how much attention have we given to discovering the power that already resides within us? We tend to think of power as something to wield. I’ve come to see it as something to express. > “The greatest power requires the lightest touch.” ~ Bashar So what is power? How do we flow with it? And how does it differ from force? - **Power:** the current that flows throughout all consciousness. It is the flow that connects us with all that is and all that source knows. It is the activating principle. The power I’m describing comes from a broader perspective that orchestrates, prepares, and organizes on our behalf. It is ours, even when we’re ignorant of its true nature. Power is being in alignment with one’s true nature. ## Always within reach That true nature combines two perspectives: our physically focused self, and the nonphysical perspective that supports our physical reality. The power that flows from it is always accessible. My first question used to be “How do I access it?” Once I accepted that our true nature already flows within us, the question shifted: “What activities hold me apart from that power?” The power is ours. We only have to open ourselves to it. Manifestation opens a window onto what’s already there, and we begin to see a world our awareness had been closed off to. [Figure: How do I access it: you reach toward a source out there and fall short. What holds me apart: the current already runs through you, and activities sit in its way] Power becomes a result of our state of being, paired with intention and expectation. Power is source. Power is the creative life force that fuels all life. Power is the organizing principle. And the greatest power requires the lightest touch. ## Power is not force Comparing power with force shows us our role in creation more clearly, because the difference between them is where proper action lives. Force is control: manipulating circumstances with the intent to orchestrate specific outcomes. It means friction, pushing against what is and against conditions that feel like constraint. It carries restlessness and dissatisfaction with the way things are. When we stand in defense, trying to safeguard against a limiting future, we’re using force. As we release that stance, we begin to point toward our true nature. When you sand against the grain, the finish is never smooth. The sanding is our action. The why, together with our intention, sets the direction. > The same action offered upstream and downstream can produce two distinct realities. [Figure: One stroke offered in two lanes of the same current: the boat heading upstream moves half a length, the boat riding downstream moves five] ## The seed doesn’t force itself While writing that, I caught a mental note. If we are always creating a more expansive version of ourselves, then every period of discontent or resentment is us pushing against our own creation. A seed taking root and preparing to break the crust of the earth into sunlight flows with its nature. It doesn’t force itself toward some perceived finished state. Neither are we finished. We’re in an endless series of creative expressions, always in motion. There is no final state, only infinite segments. [Figure: Five stages of a seed, from the ground through breaking the crust to a young plant, under a line of segments that runs on past the last: no final state] So relax, and suspend the urge to keep score. The game is hardly over. Release your need for those X, Y, and Z things. They’re done. The contrast of daily experience has already woven those desires into your total consciousness. ## Play it like a game View life as a game, lighthearted and relaxed. I’m always telling Janelle Monae not to be so serious. The same goes for me: “Rahim, take a look at how seriously you’ve approached your pursuit of success. Look at the states you’ve defined yourself playing.” Nothing really serious is going on here. We know what happens when you keep winding yourself up. That energy has to be released one way or another, outwardly or inwardly. Approach life as a fun game. No consequences. Be intrigued. Be curious. Be open. Be youthful. Be interested. Be lighthearted. Be present. Be available. That alone shifts your expectations and your state of being. Games ask you to experiment, roll with unfolding circumstances, and keep adapting. Look into the world wide-eyed, full of potential and possibility. Why? Because it feels good. It feels natural. It feels like a deep, refreshing exhale. The only thing I’m letting go of is the uphill plight, the chronic story of dissatisfaction with circumstances that seem to engulf me. Those circumstances are the furniture of my life. They don’t define me, and they aren’t permanent. They may reflect my active vibration, but even that vibration is in motion and will feel different as I move through the field. The law of attraction handles the heavy lifting, bringing whatever matches where my consciousness is at any given span of time. From this playful approach, I take my hands off the steering wheel and let the power that’s natural to me orchestrate every convergence I’m a match for. I open up source’s ability to express itself through me. In essence, I step out of my own way and let my true self step forward. ## Beliefs in motion Be flexible, loose, playful, open, hopeful, at peace, and neutral. Beliefs are a moving cascade of evolving ideas. Some we outgrow and discard like old clothes. Others no longer represent who we’ve become, yet we hold on to them anyway, mostly for safety and comfort. Limiting beliefs lay the foundation for limiting experiences. As Seth put it, **“My beliefs are not necessarily true.”** My beliefs are a body of ideas in motion, active with refinement and new configurations. As I wrote in an earlier journal entry, the contrast in my life has created a new pathway. --- I must flow with it to keep up with who I’ve become.