Do I Have Power?

You need to claim the events in your life to make yourself yours.
When you truly possess all you have been and done,which may
take some time, you are fierce with reality.
-Florida Scott-Maxwell




Am I powerless over people, places, institutions, situations, and my thinking? Am I helpless around what other people do or say? Can I make the sun come out? Can I get someone to stop drinking or overeating? Can I get the government or the Catholic church to make better choices? Am I powerful enough to change my internal and external circumstances?
In general, if I want to make myself go completely insane and crazy then I need to keep focusing on trying to make other’s do and feel something they aren’t , don’t want to feel, or choose to do. This is a recipe for disaster because the more I try to control others the more uncontrollable I become.
What I am not powerless over are my own thoughts and how I respond to other’s. I can choose to think and act in ways that I want, and I am not powerless over how I act and think if I am conscious, awake, and aware.Some of my friends believe that they are victims of their thoughts, and I believe we can exercise our minds and control our thinking if we choose.We can control our thoughts with a mental diet and through discipline and practice. If it seems very difficult to direct thoughts then prayer is the most powerful tool. I ask God every morning to help guide my thoughts, actions, words and deeds.
The more I focus on what I have some power over, and leave what I am powerless over alone, the more peace and solace I have in my life.I am powerless over changing others, the weather, my height, my past, the color of the sky, the color of the sun, and that I was born with a twin sister. What I am powerful with is whether I choose to have a good day or a bad day.I have the power to pray or not pray, or to meditate or not meditate. I have a choice of whether I eat junk food or healthy food . I can choose to be proactive or reactive with outside circumstances, situations, and people. I can choose to say “yes” or “no” to things that feel comfortable or uncomfortable. I have more internal choices rather than external choices,, and if I am powerless over things that I dislike than acceptance is the answer, and the primary focus is ultimately on myself for sanity and serenity!