Supreme Power - and how to get yours

This cultural moment, and the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, elevates the question once again, “what constitutes women’s power?”

Regardless of your perspective it’s undeniable that Judge Barrett stands on the brink of embodying a significant expression of power. But is she truly a woman of power, or does she simply check the cultural boxes that say she is?

And what’s the difference anyway?

I’ve been thinking about this question a lot lately, one that can be situated as one of institutional power vs. personal power. And just as a refresher:

“Institutional power is power conferred by an institution - it’s given or derived power - and the quest for such power is an outside-in pursuit. Personal power is just the opposite. It’s inside-out power, meaning the power you express outwardly is an extension of the power you experience internally.”

Inside-out power is self-generated and self-validating. Outside-in power is other-generated and externally validated.

Outside-in power is dependent power, and as such can be taken away, and sometimes at a moment’s notice.

Inside-out power is independent power; it stands on-its-own-two-feet as they say.

And let’s be clear. The two powers are not mutually exclusive.

It’s totally possible to be in a position of institutional power and stand in your personal power. The difference is that institutional power is then an expression of your personal power, and not a replacement for it.

Personal power is an inside job, and where you sit relative to your personal power is something only you can determine.

Is Judge Barrett working from a place of personal power? Only she knows.

Or maybe she doesn’t.

Many women in positions of power exist in states of confusion: “why do I command such external authority, and yet struggle to realize my own happiness or self-expression? Why do I feel so beholden to or driven by the institutions I serve?”

This internal conflict is a sure sign one’s personal authority is in question.

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What are some of the principles of personal power and how do we as women come to express them?

There are many, but today I want to focus on just one, and that’s the ability to act authentically, to make choices in keeping with who you are, your Truth.

Personal power emerges as you express your Truth into the world. But until you know what that Truth is through a transparent relationship with your authentic Self, true personal power is not possible.

What does it mean to have this relationship with your Self? It means being able to hear your Truth independent of all the “truths” that have been layered onto you since birth.

Now hearing one’s Truth doesn’t always mean you know what to do with that Truth, which direction to take in life. It also doesn’t mean that what you hear will always be without challenge - sometimes the things we want are at odds with each another.

These complexities are natural transitional states as you live with personal power.

But living with personal power also means you know how to move forward and take right action despite these uncertainties. It also means you know how to take action so your actions lead to success and the continuing expansion of your confidence, ease, vitality, pleasure, and all the other attributes that go along with true personal power.

A way of personal power I call the Via Dae Nova.

As Judge Barrett seeks to assume the mantle of institutional power, only she knows if it’s an expression of her personal power, or but one more checked box on a long road of continued servitude.

But that’s her situation. What’s yours?