Whaaaaaaaat

Are you serial? Look who’s back again…

Three in a row! Woo hoo!

Last time we spoke, I riffed on the power of a party. How letting go isn’t a luxury, it’s a lifeline. And how aliveness doesn’t belong to Fridays or festivals, it belongs in everything we do. (Check it out here if you missed it.)

Today, I want to pause the party and just talk about power.

What it is. What it means to us. And why our relationship with it might be the reason we’re stuck.

Cause let’s be honest…who wouldn’t love a little more power? A little more magnetism in your meetings. A little more sway with your team. A little more voltage in your everyday life.

Power rocks. But perhaps we need a new lens in which to view it to get the most out of it.

Alrighty. Let’s get wild!

Two minds. Two worlds.

Just for context, I have a mentor. Her name is Dr. Marti Spielgeman. She’s part spirit guide, part nurturing elder, part kick-up-the-bum, part best thing in my life.

For the last few years, she’s been leading a small group of us back to a deeper understanding of power. Not the kind you acquire. The kind you remember. The kind that serves life.

With her blessing I want to offer you a simple contrast. And share a taste of what she’s gifted me.

Two different mindsets. Two worldviews. Two wildly different understandings and expressions of power.

*(Side note - I’m oversimplifying & generalising to make a point.)

To the western mind, power is possession.

It’s something to accumulate, control, and defend. It lives in hierarchy, leverage, and dominance. It’s often extracted and hoarded from land, people and systems.

Power is something you get, not something you grow. Something you take, not something you tend to.

It often arrives at the expense of others. Is disconnected from land, spirit, and responsibility. And is measured by how much influence, status or productivity it commands.

In this worldview, the powerful are often the most separate.

Untouchable, protected, removed from consequence. The more power you have, the more ‘above the fray’ you become. You are the exception. You are the top. You are the rule-maker.

And when power fails? The answer is almost always: more power. More systems. More control. More tightening.

Sound familiar?

To the indigenous mind, power is relational.

It is not something you own. It is something that flows through you. And only when you’re in right relationship with the land, with spirit, with the ancestors.

When you are born, you’re given just enough to begin. To kick-start your heart and catch a glimpse of your gifts. But real power—the kind that moves mountains, and heals communities—that comes later. And only if you learn how to hold it.

Power is inherently reciprocal. You are given power to serve life, not serve yourself.

You don’t climb your way to power. You humble your way into it. It’s not for your personal gain. It’s for participation in the great unfolding. And it can never be separated from responsibility, reverence, and renewal.

An indigenous mind knows to become a person of power, you don’t climb up. You deepen down and expand out. Into the ground. Into the collective. Into the eternal.

Can you feel the difference?

Here’s the invitation:

If you want to become a person of power.

Someone who moves with big energy, who can hold a big space, who can bring life back to the room. You’ve got to deepen your relationship with larger forces. With nature. With spirit. With your own beautiful soul.

The power that matters isn’t fought for, acquired, and hoarded. It’s gifted, held with grace, then given away.

And here’s the best bit:

When you commit to using power in service of life, life gives you more power to carry.

That’s the kind of power we need at work. That’s the kind of power you can learn to access in your life. Not the loud kind. Not the manipulative kind. Not the performative kind.

But the fertile kind. The regenerative kind. The kind that grows things.

This is the kind of power we talk about in Wild Work™.