How to identify your personal power (and know it when you see it)

At my last day job, I worked with a woman who would sometimes pause our conversations and say, "I know it’s off-topic, but can I talk about your tattoos for a second?"

"Sure," I would say. I’ve been getting tattooed for over 20 years. People often have questions.

One day, my colleague finally told me why she was so curious about them. "I really want to get the name of my son tattooed right here," she said, pointing to a spot on her wrist. "But I’m afraid it will hold me back if I ever want to move up in my career."

"It sounds like you’re making decisions for people you haven’t even met yet," I said. "And maybe you never will. Who knows where you’ll be working, or who you’ll be working with? They might not mind."

Though I could relate to her worries. After all, this story isn’t really about tattoos.

It’s about the ways fear of judgement and lack of acceptance erodes joy, confidence, and self-expression.

It’s about the ways we adopt other people’s opinions about what we should or should not do, rather than just listening to our own voices in the first place.

How many times do you stop yourself from doing something meaningful, important, or heart-felt because you’re afraid of what other people might think?

How many times do you second-guess your own interests, dreams, and decisions – no matter how big or small – because you’re afraid someone will tell you you’ve done something wrong?

The potential for rejection is a real fear that gets seeded within us early on. Right from childhood, you are warned that you’ll soon find yourself on the outside if you draw outside the lines, dress a little bit differently, or crave a different path than the one everyone else taking. And that you will potentially struggle with the consequences.

A couple years later, I ran into my old colleague. "Look," she said, lifting her sleeve to show me her son’s name tattooed on her skin. It turned out he had died unexpectedly several months before.

"After that, I didn’t want to put it off any longer," she said.

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Spiritual work comes in many forms. It’s not just about prayer or devotion. It’s not relegated solely to deities or sacred celebrations.

It starts with giving yourself permission to be who you are – not what your family, school, industry, or society dictates for you. Spiritual work awakens you to your personal power and the confidence to make your own choices.

It sounds simple, right? Just do what’s right for you.

Except it can be a lot harder when your personal power has become blocked. There are so many manipulative factors that hijack your life and convince you that this is the way things are supposed to be.

Tarot is a tool to help you undo the damage of fear-based conditioning. It helps you to reconnect to personal power and learn how to stand in it.

Tarot for Self-Recovery and Reclamation is a game-changing course where you will learn to transform your emotional and energetic blocks.

It's a self-paced program, suitable for tarot readers who have some knowledge of tarot reading and are looking for a more advanced learning experience.

Learn more about it here.

Until next time,

Liz xo