Yes I Can Empowers
The empowerment of Yes I Can is amazing.
I don’t know about you, but No I Can’t makes me feel low, down, and dejected. It’s not a pleasant sensation.
On the other hand, Yes I Can makes me feel good, up, and enthusiastic. It’s a very pleasant sensation.
Positivity and negativity, at their core, come down to YES and NO. While there are certainly times when saying NO and stepping away from a situation is the way to go – its power is frequently misplaced.
Look at American politics. Though the two parties are imperfect in any number of ways, the Republicans over the years have increasingly become the party of NO. Look at all the restrictions they attempt to impose towards women, LGBTQA+, blacks, and so on. Hell, the lead Republican in the Senate has stated all he plans to do is say NO to everything proposed by Democrats.
Every NO those politicians place is about disempowerment. They do and say a lot to make it look like its intent is to protect people. But step back and look from a wider angle and it’s pretty clear that’s just not so.
This is something beyond personal control, save voting these naysayers into positions of power. I believe one reason we do that is because of a form of societal Stockholm Syndrome. We believe the lies so thoroughly that we’re in love with a system continually failing us.
Recognizing the empowerment of Yes I Can is one key way to break this pattern. And that begins with you and me.
What is Stockholm Syndrome?
If you are unfamiliar with this phrase, you should get to know it. Stockholm Syndrome is a psychological condition where hostages, victims of abuse, and the like form a bond with their captors/abusers.
In our society, a lot of the wealthiest businesspeople – and politicians – have convinced us to accept a ton of abuse. Don’t believe me? How many businesses are run by uber-wealthy individuals – but their companies are unwilling to pay a real living wage or offer much in useful benefits? Why do we accept that healthcare in the United States bankrupts people and should remain hard to get?
These are the signs of Stockholm Syndrome. We’ve bonded with these insanely rich people who convince us of their suffering. Yes, they will suffer – when they can’t afford the 3rd vacation home and have to buy the $100,000 luxury car rather than the $150,000 luxury car.
They do not suffer. Those people never worry about choosing between paying the rent, buying food, or seeing a doctor. They can easily afford all three – and take their entire family along, too.
Yet we accept their need for tax breaks and subsidies so they can afford those things. Meanwhile – they continue to abuse us.
But to fix this – we need to see if for what it is. Once we do that, we need to move to empower ourselves better. This is where the positivity of Yes I Can comes in.
But first, an important note:
Be mindful of toxic positivity – but not how you think
Before I get into more detail, it’s important to address toxic positivity.
Frequently, toxic positivity is cited not to empower – but, frankly, to further disempower. Often, people lump ALL positivity into toxic positivity. And I think that falls right into this whole societal Stockholm Syndrome.
By having us believe that so many messages of positivity are toxic – we continue to be disempowered. And when so many of the gurus and self-help authorities are just as privileged as the businesspeople and politicians – this should come as no surprise.
Toxic positivity is simple to identify. It’s positivity that neglects, denies, ignores, and otherwise pretends negativity either is non-existent or can be disregarded entirely.
But that’s not the truth. We need to know negativity – or else how can we employ positivity to counter it and empower ourselves?
Positivity is best summed up as Yes I Can. It’s empowerment to find and/or create things both tangible and intangible. That’s how we went from the first 12-second powered flight in 1903 to flying faster than the speed of sound in 1947. If birds can fly, so can we! And now we have regular commercial air service and rockets taking people and things into space.
The other issue with toxic positivity is mocking. When former President Obama’s message was Yes We Can,it was intended to empower the masses. But his opponents chose to mock it – and twist it in ways that created a frankly toxic culture. A message of unity got twisted into a mockery of disempowerment and used to widen gaps and further divides. Toxic positivity was artificially created – entirely to disempower.
It’s important to be aware of real toxic positivity. But you need to be mindful if it’s truly toxic – or made out to be so to disempower.
Yes I Can is not selfish
The message of Yes I Can sometimes can cause people to think it is selfish. When you focus too much on “I”, it can be made to be that way. Particularly when you find lots of examples you can point to of true selfishness.
I AM are two of the most powerful words in all the Universe. What follows these words are conscious reality creators. Whatever follows I AM can empower or disempower.
Unfortunately, we all too often are inundated with messages of I AM that are followed by narcissistic, unrealistic, self-aggrandizing statements that disempower. Worship me and my awesomeness is a disempowering statement because it blatantly implies superiority.
Nobody is superior to anyone else. I repeat – NOBODY IS SUPERIOR TO ANYONE ELSE. No matter our hierarchical structures in society – they are not about superiority as much as they are supposed to be directional. Hence why good leaders encourage, delegate, and empower and bad leaders discourage, hoard control, and disempower.
Yes I can is not a selfish statement in and of itself. Some people misuse and abuse it – which is true of everything. When your intent is one of empowerment without taking away from others or denying them due empowerment – that is positivity.
Empowerment can be contagious. When you are empowered, and open and sharing the positivity of that – you encourage others to take the same position. The more people empowered the less we need the so-called leadership that cares for only their own good. We can escape the Stockholm Syndrome and work together to build something better for everyone.
The encouragement of Yes I Can is a powerful tool of positivity. Used well – Yes I Can opens countless doors and provides potential and possibility for a better world for all. That’s something we’re ALL worthy and deserving of experiencing.
Seeing how Yes I Can empowers isn’t hard
It begins with mindfulness of your thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions.
Knowing that everything you look to find can be approached from a place of YES or NO – you get to decide if you are seeking positivity (yes) or negativity (no). When you recognize how Yes I Can is an empowering statement that can evoke positivity and find and/or create tons of potential and possibility – that ultimately empowers you.
When you feel empowered, your mindfulness increases, you become more aware overall, and that gets reflected and spreads to more people. This creates a feedback loop of awareness and positivity. A feedback loop we can all take part in.
Then, we build more positive feelings and discover further reasons to feel positivity and gratitude. That can be the impetus to improve numerous aspects of our lives for the better, help overcome the overwhelming negativity of any current situation, and generate yet more positivity and gratitude.
You, me, and everybody are worthy and deserving of all the good we desire.
An attitude of gratitude is an attitude of pure positivity. That positivity can generate even greater positive energies – and that is always worthwhile.
This is the three-hundred and eighty-seventh entry of my Positivity series. It is my hope these weekly messages might help spread positive energies for everyone. Feel free to share, re-blog, and spread the positivity.
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