A Vision for Your Life: Empowering Vs. Disempowering Thoughts

Recently, Rev. Michael Bernard Beckwith, the founder and spiritual leader of the Agape International Spiritual Center in California, was interviewed by Oprah on her Super Soul Sunday program:

Rev. Michael Beckwith on OWN Super Soul Sunday

Something that he talks about, and I am just beginning to fully comprehend, is the concept of creating a vision for your life and manifesting it to happen. A part of this visioning process is daily asking yourself empowering questions versus dis-empowering questions when it comes to your life. Beckwith preaches and lives the lesson of manifestation; that we are all unique aspects of the divine able to show our own unique selves as a reflection of the infinite possibilities of the universe. He was instrumental as an interviewee in the movie "The Secret" in which Rhonda Byrne presents how the law of attraction and positive thinking can attract health, happiness and abundance.

Beckwith emphasizes living with intention and asking ourselves: "What am I setting forth for myself?" I was struck by his discussion in the episode about changing from dis-empowering questions and self-talk to empowering questions and self-talk. He provides an example of what that means. Dis-empowering questions are those that surround the idea of "something happened to me." "If only my husband didn't die things would be so much better..." "Why am I stuck in a job I hate?" or "What should I be doing with my life?" Rather, Beckwith encourages us to ask questions that empower ourselves each day: "What is unfolding in my life?" "What is the gift I want to bring to the world?" "Why is this challenge presenting itself in my life?" and "What is unique about me that I can bring forth and manifest?" These questions, rather than questions that keep us in the "victim" stage, can help us begin on a path of unfolding our dreams, abundance and unique purpose in this world by holding ourselves accountable to our own lives.

I found a website as well that provides more concrete examples of dis-empowering vs. empowering words (From this article on powering up your language):

Dis-empowering	Empowering
should	choose, desire, want, could
need to	want to, choose to, desire to
have to	desire to
can't	am not willing to, choose not to
always, never	sometimes, often, seldom
must	choose, desire
but	and
try	intend, aim, will, can, commit to
nah, nope, huh-uh	No
yeah, uh-huh	Yes
just, only	I AM
maybe
you make me	I feel, I am
you - used when talking about yourself	I
if only	next time
problem	opportunity, challenge

Two keys to asking empowering questions are 1) Being open to the answer and 2) Ask with sincerity and transcend religiosity (meaning, ask from the heart and not in a prayer you feel like you "should" be doing)

How might you be able to incorporate empowering thoughts into your day? How might you keep yourself open to the answers that may come to you intuitively? What about empowering thoughts may seem to be out of reach or scary to think about? What about empowering thoughts get you energized?

For myself, I made some "reminder cards" from various phrases Beckwith used in the OWN episode. I keep them by my bed and read them each morning when I wake up. And I have noticed that when I face challenges throughout my day, I take them more in stride and try to find the gift these challenges are presenting to me and with the gratitude that I am alive and able to face opportunities that come my way.