We embark on the thirty-third day of a 40 Day Practice, based on the energy of the Labyrinth (releasing – contemplation – receiving). If you have a local labyrinth, I invite you to walk the labyrinth with today’s theme as your focus. If you don’t have a local labyrinth, you can create your own, take a walk somewhere peaceful, or even sit in contemplation in your own home. I will be scheduling various public labyrinth appearances, and you are welcome to join me when and where you can, if you feel moved to do so.

The theme for today is Empowerment. We are masters at disempowering ourselves, at turning ourselves into victims. And we dis-empower others when we don’t allow them the dignity of making their own decisions. To be empowered means to be able to make choices. When we tell ourselves we don’t have a choice, we give up our power. When we swoop in to fix things for other people, we dis-empower them. When people feel powerless, they are much more likely to lash out, to react rather than respond. They act from a place of fear. If everyone in the world felt empowered, this would be a much more pleasant place to be.

Questions that might help you see what can be released: What do I think I have control over? What do I try to exert control over?  Where do I let others make decisions for me? What am I still holding on to from the past that I am allowing myself to feel badly about? In what situation do I let my emotions dictate my actions? How often do I make a conscious decision about what mood I’m going to be in (and what is the ratio of positive to negative moods in those circumstances)? How often do I hear or read about solutions to a challenge in my own life and think “yeah, but that wouldn’t work for me” without ever trying it? Where do I give unsolicited advice? Where do I try to force or manipulate others into doing things the way I think they should be done, whether or not they are achieving the desired result? Do I make decisions for other people “for their own good?”

Suggestions for contemplation: Reach out and pull your energy into your core, taking it back from the people, places and institutions to whom you have given it, taking it back from the people you have thrown it at. Pull it into your center. Feel yourself present. Feel all of the power that you contain. Allow that power to fill you entirely, without going out past the confines of your body. Breathe. Feel your connection to the earth. Feel your connection to the air and the sun and the moon and the stars. Feel what it like to be solely responsible for your power, and your power alone. Feel your connection to humanity and allow yourself to be aware that every single person on the planet has that same right, to own their power. If you had access to supernatural assistance in helping you own your power more fully, and you asked for it, what might happen?

Your mantra for receiving today might be: “I open myself to a greater understanding of empowerment today, that I might honor my power and the power of others.”