The loss of our personal power can often be traced to one powerful fear: What if being vulnerable means I’ll get hurt again?

What if we protect ourselves by becoming over-functioners, perfectionists, caretakers?

What if we hide behind stones walls, feeling safer when we can’t be seen or heard?

What if part of us is seeking safety by over-relying on self-competence and continually striving for independence?

Vulnerability isn’t exposing ourselves to risk, it is no longer hiding.

It is standing fully present in our power.

It’s the courage to be seen without armor.

And it’s the only doorway to real intimacy…with ourselves and with others.

When we stop bracing for pain and start trusting we are equipped to handle what comes, we begin to soften.

We begin to receive.

We begin to breathe again.

What Role Does Indulgence Play?

Sometimes, when we’ve gone too long without tending to our needs, we swing to the other side:

• We numb.

• We overdo.

• We distract.

• We seek intensity.

Not because we’re indulgent, but because we’re tired of starving.

This is a cycle of deprivation:

• We deprive ourselves for too long.

• Then we indulge to fill the void.

• Then guilt follows, and we start depriving again.

This isn’t a sign that we’re broken.

It’s a signal that something inside is asking to be nourished consistently.

The Way Out Isn’t More Discipline. It’s More Trust

When we stop seeing pleasure, rest, or support as a threat, we begin to trust ourselves with what we need.

• Instead of swinging between all-or-nothing, we meet our needs with balance.

• Instead of punishing ourselves for wanting more, we offer steady care.

• We pause before saying yes when we mean no.

• We receive without needing to question whether we earned it.

• We let life in without losing ourselves again.

This is self-honoring, not indulgence or denial.

It’s the natural alignment of responsibility, authority, and receptivity…the three sacred forms of personal power:

Personal Responsibility – Choosing to meet your own needs even when it feels uncomfortable.

Personal Authority – Standing in your truth without guilt or apology.

Receiving – Allowing nourishment, care, and support without compromise.

An Empowering Reflection

• Where might you be withholding from yourself and over-relying on strength?

• Where have you convinced yourself it’s safer not to need, not to want, not to feel?

• What might change if you trusted yourself ask for and receive what you desire?

Personal power doesn’t come from control.

It comes from presence. It comes from alignment and choosing to stand softly in your truth.

It responds to gently and consistently relying on the divine orchestration already underway.

And then, trusting it unconditionally to guide, provide, and inspire, again and again and again.