Do you feel like you have control over your life and your experience of the world? Or do you feel like you have little control and are more or less powerless over your life and the workings of the world? I ask these two questions because your sense of control is more about how you think than it is about reality. If you think that you shape your life experience by taking responsibility for what is going on in you and your world, then you do. If you think you are a victim of circumstances, bad luck, oppressive people etc., then you feel helpless to change your life.
In psychology the examination of internal vs external influences is called the Locus of Control. This means that if you feel empowered to make a difference in your life and in the world than you have an internal locus of control. Internal is about feeling within you is the power to affect your life and to be a positive force in the world. If you are in touch with the power within, then you could feel the following ways:
• You are in charge of what you think
• You are in charge of how your feel
• You are in charge of how you respond to life
• You understand you can make a difference
• You have the ability to affect positive change
• You believe is yourself and who you are
• You believe in the possibilities of others
• You take full responsibility for your life
• You are open to receive the abundance of the universe
• You understand the power of the moment
• You understand the importance of letting go/forgiveness
• You have compassion for those who struggle
• You have your own sense of what the truth is
• You know you are a creator
• You hold yourself accountable for what you do
• You understand and feel the power of love
• You understand the limits of ego and pride
• You believe that you shape your experience of life
• You understand that you are connected to a higher source
• You understand you have a purpose and you express it
• You feel your connection to all living things
• You value and seek consciousness
• You explore the potential you were given
• You feel the joy in you that wants to be expressed
• You feel gratitude for the many gifts of life
Living with a sense of internal control means you are ready and willing to take on the challenges of life because you believe in yourself and your ability to make a difference. Take the list above and copy it so it can serve as a reminder of the possibilities in you. The world would benefit greatly from you being all you can be.