All humans came from a womb (at least for now) and with that, we all deserve to be here. Whether you are worthy of the greatness this life offers is not tied to how you got here, the body you were born into, the family you are part of or any other segment of your identity.
You are worthy of the greatness of this life because you are. 

As a mother, I have learned that I have a lot of power to shape my kids’ lives.

And as Uncle Ben said – “With great power comes great responsibility.”

Responsibility is a balancing agent to power. If we were to have limitless power with no consequences, the world would be in trouble – as is demonstrated by many people with exorbitant amounts of power.

Coupling responsibility with power keeps us in check. It means that we recognize there is a domino effect to our decisions. Of course, we can only feel responsible for something if our values, or our fears, align with it.

We are either responsible to ourselves and values, to those who we have power over or to an even greater power (God or even a boss). If we are moral-less or leader-less, we will flail.

Flailing is not a good look on anyone – and definitely is not powerful.

People have a funny relationship with “power.” The word sends a chill up and down my spine sometimes.

We want to feel powerful but we don’t want actual power.

In itself, power isn’t a four letter word. There certainly have been people who have let their ego take the wheel and created a form of power that is exploitive, extractive and abusive.

However, that is not the only form of power.

We have the ability to redefine power for ourselves, to mold it so it aligns with the change we want to create in the world.

We act out when we are hurting. It is so automatic that it may not actually even be recognizable to ourselves and most certainly, not by others.

Whenever we recognize it happening to ourselves, we can sit with the hurt to understand it better.

When it happens to others, we must not dismiss it either, especially if it is someone we love, and we must acknowledge their pain even if they don’t know it themselves. Acknowledging does not mean we tell them they are hurting (that’d be quite unhelpful). We can acknowledge by doing things that help the hurt feel safer, like sitting with the person and listening, spending time together watching a movie or telling them that they are unconditionally loved.

I write this as I realize I did a poor job acknowledging the hurt of one of my kiddos. I realize that my triggered parts labeled their actions as entitlement and selfishness when they really were the reactions of someone who was sad and disappointed. Motherhood helps me constantly review, repair and grow.

I had a 3.5 day agenda planned with one of my kids as the rest of the family traveled elsewhere. It would be the first one-on-one time we’ve had since they became an older sibling. I was really looking forward to this special time together. Unfortunately, they got sick and we had to scrap the whole agenda.

However, the 3.5 days were even more connective than I could have planned. We enjoyed each other’s company and were truly able to feed our relationship.

We can plan out the “how’s” all we want as we work towards a goal or intention. However, those “how’s” are more a wish list than anything else.

Ultimately, we have no control over the how’s. When things don’t work out the way we expect, we must hold space for things to unfold to meet the goal or intention that we have in mind. If we allow our disappointment, sadness or anger to overtake us, we will miss what the opportunity actually gave to us.