Stepping-UPP

Years ago, as I finished writing ‘ME FIRST – If I Should Wake Before I Die”, it occurred to me that an essential component was not only waking up, but stepping into personal power. In this sense, I do not mean power over anything or anyone, simply owning personal power and taking one’s place in the world.

I began to observe people and how they interacted with the world. I noticed the timid and the bold, the focused and the scattered, and the ones who moved forward while others held back. As I did so I wondered what the recipe was for fully Stepping- UPP, that is stepping into Unlimited Personal Power. As I did so, I realized that some people were very clear regarding their intentions while others were not. I also realized that knowing one’s intentions, that is Clarity, needed to be partnered with Action, or life would still not move forward. And so the equation became:

Stepping UPP = Clarity + Action

As I continued observing my clients, I noticed that people fell into one of four categories: Settling, Spinning, Stalled and Stepping UPP.

Settling:

There are many people who believe they have little or no say over their life. Settlers hold what I refer to as an external locus of control. In this state they believe that external forces, or fate, control their lives. As a result, they have no specific goals, set no intentions, and respond to events in their life versus taking actions they initiate. They sometimes feel like victims or scapegoats.

Spinning:

Spinners are in action but have no specific goals or intentions. The are on the move, occasionally like twirling dervishes, touching down but rarely resting for long as there is no intentional purpose behind their actions. They often complain that they are ‘dancing as fast as they can but rarely accomplish anything’.

Stalled

Most of us are trained in the art of goal setting at some point in our life, whether that is setting goals for personal/career development or planning a project. After the goals are set, actions must be taken. Stallers are great at planning but fail in execution. They are often procrastinators, clear on what they want to do but failing to take the actions required to accomplish their goals. Stallers do so for a variety of reasons often associated with fear of failure.

Stepping UPP

Finally we have those who step up. They have clarified their intentions and goals and are practicing the three steps of intention setting:

1. Set an Intention: remember an intention is different from a goal. It clarifies what you want but is not attached to a specific outcome.

2. Pay Attention: being mindful and watchful as to what is shifting or changing in your life as the result, seeing the SIGNS which cross your path

3. No Tension: because intentions have no set outcome, attracting different possibilities in terms of answers and actions. No tension implies being open minded when things show up that you are not expecting.

Paying attention and being in ‘no tension’ are actions. It suggests that to Step-UPP, you understand that beyond setting intentions, you are on the look out and accepting an invitation to change.

Another significant aspect of action is learning to ‘BE’ your intention before it already manifests. That is to say, instead of wanting to be healthy, you step into “I am healthy’, or ‘I am in my perfect healthy body’. I understand that is a challenge when you do not yet believe that what you want has already happened, yet it is an important step as you are preparing the ground for manifesting your desires.

UPP – Unlimited Personal Power (Potential)

I use the acronym UPP, standing for Unlimited Personal Power, as that is what you create when you engage intentions versus goals.

As I mentioned previously, most of us are trained in the art of goal setting. It begins at an early age when there are teacher and parental expectations regarding academic performance, in sports when you are expected to reach certain milestones in athleticism, or even in planning a party, vacation and more. As such, goals are important as they help you achieve. Goals are however attached to a specific outcome. We have all hear of SMART Goals: Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic and Timed.

“I plan to lose ten pounds through decreasing my carbohydrate consumption.

I will reach this goal by April 20th , 2025”.

Versus an intention:

“I am attracting my perfect healthy weight in perfect timing.”

As you can appreciate, the second statement opens up several discussions: what is your perfect healthy weight, what time frame is ideal for weight loss, what program supports your weight loss goals. Essentially you are planning for the same results but the how it happens is completely different. Intentions open up possibilities and as a result allows you to explore personal power and potential in a multitude of unlimited ways.

ME FIRST

Stepping-UPP is an essential aspect of the ME FIRST journey. Although many would interpret ME FIRST to imply selfishness, this is not so.

A ME FIRST approach means to embrace the understanding that for anything in your life to change, you must change first. In other words, ME FIRST is an invitation to do your work, to understand what it is you want from your life and to set your intentions, to step fully into being the change you want to see in your life, and to be mindful of what is happening around you and within you that is inviting you to shift or grow.

I often share with clients that ME FIRST is not for the faint of heart. It implies that you and only you are responsible for your life. I understand that there are many things you can not control around you. Some of these are well outside your circle of control, some are not. Regardless you do have a choice in terms of how you respond and how you move forward.

Final Word:

We will all have moments where we spin or when we stall, and even a few where we throw up our hands and settle. That is okay. In the long run however, I encourage you to take charge of you, to clarify your intentions and step into being/action. This is how you Step-UPP!

Until Next Time, Betty Healey