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Agency -- Power
Oct. 1st, 2005 08:34 amThis has been an interesting topic to ponder the last few days: my emotional perceptions of the difference between these two concepts, and how focusing on one or the other makes me more effective in pursuing what I truly want.
I think "power" is a wonderful word. It sings of potency, of energy, of vast resources. It is formidable not only in itself but in its potential. I have always wanted power: the potent energy to do, to accomplish.
( More behind the cut, out of respect for your Friends page ) Then there's "agency," a word that I only recently learned can refer to more than an "organization." A person who has agency is a person who makes choices, and who acts. It is a word of personal sovereignty, of the kind of freedom that transcends external circumstances.
I don't feel "powerful." I very seldom have, for all that I have been blessed with talent and priveleges. But for the past week or so, I have been affirming my own agency again and again and again. And I have been doing. I have been moving forward. I have become more confident, more in control of my own life.
I have never thought of myself as the Cinderella type, waiting for a prince to come and rescue me. But I do seem to have always been waiting for others to drop things in my lap, to present me with opportunities, to draw me out, to encourage me, to enable me. I've been waiting not for a prince, but for my fairy godmother to dress me up, give me my coach, and send me to the ball, where then I could dazzle everyone and win my heart's desire. Lacking a fairy godmother, I gave up on the ball instead of going shopping for a dress and calling a taxi -- or limo service.
( Another cut for space )
I don't feel powerful nearly as much as I would like. But I have come to believe in my own agency. I have the freedom to choose, and to act. And that's where the changes are coming from.
I think "power" is a wonderful word. It sings of potency, of energy, of vast resources. It is formidable not only in itself but in its potential. I have always wanted power: the potent energy to do, to accomplish.
( More behind the cut, out of respect for your Friends page ) Then there's "agency," a word that I only recently learned can refer to more than an "organization." A person who has agency is a person who makes choices, and who acts. It is a word of personal sovereignty, of the kind of freedom that transcends external circumstances.
I don't feel "powerful." I very seldom have, for all that I have been blessed with talent and priveleges. But for the past week or so, I have been affirming my own agency again and again and again. And I have been doing. I have been moving forward. I have become more confident, more in control of my own life.
I have never thought of myself as the Cinderella type, waiting for a prince to come and rescue me. But I do seem to have always been waiting for others to drop things in my lap, to present me with opportunities, to draw me out, to encourage me, to enable me. I've been waiting not for a prince, but for my fairy godmother to dress me up, give me my coach, and send me to the ball, where then I could dazzle everyone and win my heart's desire. Lacking a fairy godmother, I gave up on the ball instead of going shopping for a dress and calling a taxi -- or limo service.
( Another cut for space )
I don't feel powerful nearly as much as I would like. But I have come to believe in my own agency. I have the freedom to choose, and to act. And that's where the changes are coming from.
