Wow! Has it really been 2 years since I wrote to you last?? Time flies even when you’re living through a pandemic it seems. Time did become altered by the times of isolation and disruption in community and family rituals and events. Being on the Board of Health in my little town meant my life was more intimate with the pandemic’s impacts and toll. In my business I’m working with more people than ever before; people feeling a sense of urgency to no longer putting up with being unhappy in their life or in a relationship. Time in this pandemic has gone by quickly, if not always easily.
Now that we are in a quieter time of the pandemic, daily life is resuming more rhythm and activity. Yet, who has not been somehow affected by what we have gone through? Many of the people I’m working with these days are no longer putting off what’s in their hearts for living or tolerating bad behavior in a relationship. How have the past two years changed what you are willing to put up within your life or relationships? And what have you realized about what is actually important to you and are you making that a priority in your living?
Much of the work I have done with women and men in the past two years continues to be the work of learning about and mitigating the abuse of power in an intimate relationship, at work, or in a family relationship. While I was early in calling out narcissism’s prevalence in intimate relationship dysfunction, resting in labeling yourself a victim of an abuse of power simply keeps you as one. It is in learning to embrace your intrinsic value and allowing your power to have a presence that your life and relationships get better.
While I still help people realize an imbalance of power maybe what they are dealing with, we focus on cultivating what I call “the power of your presence” in their life and their relationships. Both women and men suffer from the distortions of power taught them for being a woman or for being a man. The distortions are different for a woman than they are for a man, yet the distortions do harm to both men and women, simply in different ways.