Power
Perhaps
the word alone sparks a reaction. Here are some musings on the topic which
may awaken your curiosity or a different level of awareness. If you'd like
to share comments with me, please reply to this email.
What
is the nature of power? Why do some people fear it, while others lust for
it? Perhaps this has more to do with our beliefs about power than with the
nature of power itself. Power is too often understood to mean the ability
to dominate and destroy. Another view is that power is the ability to create,
to nurture, and to heal. The first view is based in fear, while the second
comes from love. The dictionary definition is: "the ability to
act effectively"; "to be able." Power is neutral. Our
confusion seems to be around how we choose to use it.
Power
is strength, and the ethical use of strength requires clarity and compassion.
The first step is to recognize our power. We all have power in varying degrees,
whether we realize it or not. Our power varies in different situations and
in different relationships. We may not recognize our power because it is
not overt, or because it doesn't match our beliefs about power. We may not feel
powerful. For example, someone may be crying, feeling intense, painful emotions. She
doesn't feel powerful, but it affects people.
We must
make peace with power, our personal power and whatever greater power we may have
access to. We must learn to recognize it and become conscious of how we
use it. Can we have the courage to be harmless?
Namaste,
(Honor the Light within),
Sue Redding
The
Right Use of Power (Heart Centered Ethics)
"This
is a course that turns Ethics on its head and approaches it from a service orientation,
rather than a fear-based orientation. You know the "thou shalt not"
orientation.
(The workshop is) filled with lots of exercises
to raise consciousness about power. The model is relational,
recognizing that ethical missteps are inevitable, and the skill is in being able
to be aware of ourselves and find the resources to repair the error. There
is, in fact, some evidence that most effective therapy works not because the therapist
is perfect, but they are able to stay in relationship...
Right
Use of Power is applicable to all of our lives, not just therapy."
For
more information on The Right Use of Power workshops, email:
Richard
Ireland, MA, LMT
rireland88@yahoo.com
Oregon
School of Massage
www.oregonschoolofmassage.com/port05b.html
"What
looks like weakness is actually where your strength lies, and what looks like
strength is often weakness, an attempt to cover up fear."
John
Kabat-Zinn, "Wherever You Go, There You Are"
"The
need to control and dominate others is psychologically a function not of a feeling
of power but rather of a feeling of powerlessness….The power of another person
or group of people was generally seen as dangerous. You had to control them
or they would control you. But in the realm of human development, this is
not a valid formulation. Quite the reverse. In a basic sense, the greater
the development of each individual, the more able, more effective, and less needy
of limiting or restricting others she or he will be."
Jean
Baker Miller
" 'You shall have joy, or you shall have
power,' said God.
'You shall not have both.' "
Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Rather perish than hate and fear,
and twice rather perish than make oneself hated and feared."
Nietcasche
"There
are two ways of spreading light – to be the candle, or the mirror that reflects
it."
Edith Warton
"A
truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour."
Unknown
"Faith is to know that you have a power within you that
is always available to you."
The Creative Spirit by Daniel Goldman, et al.
"An
altar is a fire on which we burn our hearts in sacrifice to the gods."
Journey
Wisdom
"I remember the dark wharves and the slips,
And
the sea tides tossing free,
And the Spanish sailors with bearded
lips,
And the beauty and mystery
of the ships,
And the magic of the sea…"
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Is
It a Stroke?
Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are
difficult to identify. Unfortunately, this lack of awareness can spell disaster.
The stroke victim may suffer brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize
the symptoms of a stroke.
Now doctors say a bystander can recognize
a stroke by asking three simple questions:
1. Ask the individual
to smile.
2. Ask him or her to raise both arms.
3.
Ask the person to speak a simple sentence.
If he or she has
trouble with any of these tasks, call 911 immediately and describe the symptoms
to the dispatcher.
After discovering that a group of non-medical
volunteers could identify facial weakness, arm weakness and speech problems, researchers
urged the general public to learn the three questions. They presented their conclusions
at the American Stroke Association's annual meeting.
Widespread
use of this test could result in prompt diagnosis and treatment of the stroke
and prevent brain damage.
(Excerpted from an email.)
"Does 'Blind Justice' Do
Justice to the Blind?"
Review of ABC TV Series About a Blind
Cop
National Federation of the Blind
Voice of the Nation's
Blind:
www.voiceofthenationsblind.org/articles/114%20
Blind Right-of-Way
The
Oregonian
Monday, April 18, 2005
"Despite signal,
cars yield for canes"
We were driving in downtown Portland
last week when we stopped behind a car that was waiting for two blind pedestrians
to cross the street. The signal indicated the pedestrians didn't have the right
of way.
It got us thinking: If you can't see the signal, you
obviously can't tell if you have the right of way. So, could a police officer
issue a ticket to a blind person for crossing against the light?
We
turned to Officer Jeff DeBolt of the Beaverton police traffic safety team. He
pointed us to ORS 811.035, which says this:
"A driver
approaching a blind or blind and deaf pedestrian . . . who is crossing or about
to cross a roadway, shall stop and remain stopped until the pedestrian has crossed
the roadway."
It goes on to say that if there's a traffic
control device involved, the driver still has to wait for the blind pedestrian
to crosscompletely, "notwithstanding any other provisions of the vehicle
code relating to traffic control devices."
The statute
applies only to pedestrians carrying a white cane or accompanied by a guide dog.
So, the pedestrians we saw, who both had white canes, did have the right of way
and weren't subject to a ticket.
Once again, we are humbled
by our own stupidity.
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