All around you are people with a lot of potential, amazing strength and perseverance. Human beings with the inner drive to do good for themselves and the people around them. Even if you haven't met them, they are out there, doing what they do best and loving every minute of it. They are the ones who have found their superpowers and are consciously using those unique strengths every day to make a change for the better.
If you're not that person yet, not already making things happen for yourself, or others, then you may very well be out of touch with your superpowers. So keep reading...
Superman
When I was young, I loved to watch Superman movies. Although I was not impressed with the man's outfit (those tight little shorts were just a little too revealing), I was always amazed by his superhuman strength and insatiable need to help others. So, like any other boy of my age, I pretended to be him. It was easy. All it took, was to hold my fist in the air, run around with a sweater around my neck, shouting "suuuupermaaaan" on top of my lungs. I loved it. And it was healthy too.
But nowadays, I look at him very differently. I may not be superhuman in any way, but I truly believe I use my personal powers well. Actualy, what strikes me most about Superman is that he never needed his cape to fly. He didn't need the S-sign on his chest to have access to his powers. Even without his suit, he was powerful. The only suit he was wearing, was the suit he wore when he pretended to be someone he wasn't. When he pretended to be weak and least respected. When he didn't share his powers with the rest of the world.
Why is a soap bubble round?
What does this question (actualy a line from the 2001 movie K-PAX) have to do with finding your superpowers? Well, a soap bubble is round, because it is the most energy efficient configuration. In other words, for a soap bubble to have a different shape, it would have to apply force onto itself. It would have to pretend to be something it is not.
We are very similar to the soap bubble. We were made in a form that is the most efficient configuration for us to be in. But unlike the soapbubble, we have a conscious mind. We can choose not to accept the physical or mental shape we are in. We can workout and change the shape of our body over a period of time. However, as soon as we let go of our training regime, we return back to the shape that requires the least amount of energy.
Our mind works the same way. We can change how we see ourselves. We can even trick ourselves into believing we are someone we are not. To do things we don't even like.
But at what cost? To not express yourself who you are, means you have to use additional mental energy to change your beliefs about who you are. You then act against your natural state of being, very similar to creating a lie. A lie that struggles to not become the truth.
You have skills, qualities, talents, gifts... But unless you accept what was given to you from birth, you will continue to fight a battle against your true nature. A fight you cannot possibly win. It will continue to tempt you to invest in a struggle that requires you to defend a version of you that isn't meant to be. Your true self is the part you don't want to change, because you accept it is unchangeable. It's that part of you that simply wants to be what it is and grow. To use the analogy of the soap bubble: you can blow air into the bubble and make it grow, but no matter how you blow, it will always look like a soap bubble. The only difference you can make, is the amount of effort you put into the blowing, how fast the bubble grows...
So what about what we do on a daily basis? Is it empowering you? Does it give you a feeling of growth? Or is it doing the exact opposite, is it making you weaker?
We often believe we are caught up in the same horrible story. That life is an unpleasant struggle. But it doesn't have to be that way. It can just as easily be a fun challenge.
There are people out there who gain so much energy from their passion it can make your head spin how much energy they have available to them. And what they lack in resources, they make up in spirit, willpower, drive, motivation, emotional energy, inner strength... and they are truly happy. And yes, even they face a lot of difficulties on a daily basis, have to confront their fears and go through periods of doubt... But they prove it is possible to live a happy, energetic and challenging life.
So what makes one person superman and the other cant-seem-to-find-any-power-man? Where are the former getting their energy from?
Directing Your Energy
We are energy. And what we do with that energy is directed by the choices we make. Choices that make every one of us unique. Choices that will either shape us... or break us. But when we send energy to aspects of ourselves that aren't involved in our personal growth, that's when we become wasteful. We then try to nurture a part of us, that doesn't want to be. And no matter how much energy we put into it, we don't get anything in return. In short: wrong choices are nothing more than bad investements of your energy.
You can also think of it this way: when you spend money and your bank account drops below zero, it not only means you are spending more money than you make, it also means you are making bad decisions and misdirecting your energy. If the money you spend is well invested, you gain energy from it. For example: if you spend money to renew your gym membership and exercise regularly, you gain physical strength and stamina after your workout, which makes you feel healthier, more alert, energized and capable of getting a lot of work done. Your increase in productivity then influences your bank account in a positive way. If your money is badly invested, you lose energy. For example: if you spend your money to buy junk food, after eating it, your body will struggle to process that meal. You then feel drained from your energy and feel the urge to not do anything until that digestive process stops stealing your thunder. You then feel unproductive and demotivated to get anything done, so nothing changes on your bank account as well.
The same idea applies to your personal energy. When your energy levels drop below zero, it means you are more involved in energy consuming activities, than you are in energy creating activities. Bad choices lead to demotivating results.
When I look around me, I often see people with great potential. But they don't succeed in releasing their power onto the world... yet. They feel stuck, because they haven't got a clue how to change it. They haven't figured out where to find their source of energy. They don't know what their purpose is in life, what they really really really want to do with the time they have. So they sit there, waiting for an answer that will never come, instead of taking a few moments of their time to dig deep into themselves.
Dig. Dig. Dig.
Life is not about who you think you should be. It's not about what society thinks you should be. It's about who you are. About acknowledging and empowering that which already exists in some form inside you. If you don't know what it is... you have to dig inside yourself. It means taking a short amount of time to let the answers come to you and catch it. The good thing is... you only have to do it once.
So here's what you do:
Find a place where you can sit down comfortable and where you can be alone. Grab a piece of paper (or if you prefer to use a computer, open up a new document) and write down what you would love to do, what makes you excited, what makes you feel happy, how you want to see yourself, how you want to contribute to others, how you want to spend your time on earth... and don't stop writing until you've written down that which truly resonates with you. During this exercise you shouldn't worry about how you want to accomplish any of the things you write down. For example if you write down "I would love to be self-employed", it's not important how you will do it, simply continue to write until you've written down what feel right to you.
When you can't write down anything else that is better than what you've written down, you have found your superpowers, your purpose in life, that which drives you, your shape. If the results of this exercise resonate with you and your desires, you will find it hard not to get started right away.
Ask To Receive
Life never gives you the answers, you know... You have to ask yourself what you need, because nobody "out there" can get to know you as well as you can get to know yourself. So do it. Learn about yourself. You are the only one who has access to who you are and what you want. But you have to consciously look for those answers. So when you decide to no longer pretend to be weak, it means you have decided you want to be strong. And from that moment on, you will grow the way you are supposed to grow. Not a second sooner.
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