Power of Definition

I've come to the conclusion that every expression is really an expression of oneself.

In the office we have a new girl. She's not really new, and she's hardly a girl, but she was hired to develop a new line of revenue as a corporate concierge. To do this, she first has to get close to the clients. However the clients are rabidly protected by their handlers, who view the new girl as a threat. She's not. She just needs the handlers to help launch her business. Still the handlers go out of their way to make her job difficult and to make her look bad. It's all very passive agressive.

So in an effort to keep my brain from freezing while on the train to work today, I thought about what these handlers were doing and realized that their actions said more about them than it ever could about the new girl. Even assuming the new girl was an incompetent boob, which she's not, the fact that they do nothing to help her, the fact that they exclude her socially, and the fact that they've gone running to the CEO to complain about her, says absolutely nothing about the new girl. But it speaks loudly and clearly about the character of these handlers. Think Wicked Stepsisters and you have a pretty accurate picture. So sad.

With this new-found realization, paradigm if you will, I took a look at my own actions and I have to say that I did not like what I saw. And beginning immediately I am going to evaluate my decisions, actions and speech in this new light. "What does this say about me?" In the past I've viewed things in terms of how people reacted to me. Did they like me? Did they think I was smart? Now, I'm starting to think about what I'm trying to say and how I define myself. That's the key. Instead of giving everyone else the power to define me, I have to take back that power and define myself for them. Then, if they don't like it, too bad. I'm taking control of the message, and there is infinite power in that action.

And I'm no longer allowing people to review my actions and define them for me. Nor will I any longer accept other's definitions unquestioningly.

I have the power.