By Linda Dierks

It took breast cancer, deep depression, debilitating fear, then a series of further losses for me to finally step into my power—my authentic power.

As I reached rock bottom, I began to take steps that took me from my own personal “Dark Ages” to my life now, a life that I truly love. These steps gave me a healthy sense of self-esteem and personal worth. I was also able to claim my greatest potential, as a unique expression of Source creator.

In my case, a new sense of freedom emerged. My doubts began to fall away, and I quit being a marionette to other people’s expectations or being vulnerable to external circumstances. This new confidence allows me—and can allow you–to let go of the need to judge, criticize, or compare yourself to others.

My work now is to help move people into healing and joy from all kinds of challenges to their physical and mental wellness. My own journey is also why I’ve become the host of the Step Into Your Power EWN Channel, and why I created the Step Into Your Power mini-series.

So, how can you rise to the top of your personal game and know that you are on your spiritual path? What are the steps? They are:
1. Know Yourself
2. Embrace Your Gifts
3. Self-Love
4. Walk With a Higher Presence
5. Engage, Expand, Express

It is these steps that lead to a life of joy and wellness.

1. Know Yourself  (Watch Video)
Knowing yourself comes first because this is the cornerstone of expanding your personal power.

When you know who you are, you can lay a foundation on which to build. The picture of who you truly are will begin to emerge. Once this image develops, you can become more genuine, authentic, and comfortable in your own skin.

The way to start connecting the dots to your true self starts by defining your personal and unique abilities and qualities. You can start by asking yourself these questions:

• When I let go of fitting in, what is it about me that rises to the top?
• What gifts are distinctly mine? What rings sterling and true about my abilities and personal qualities?
• Are there talents or tasks where others seek my help or advice?
• What did I love to do as a kid that got “practicalized” out of me?
• When that force of intuition and desire tugs my sleeve, where is it pointing me?

You can then also ask yourself, “What qualities light me up?”

• Am I practical or a daydreamer?
• Do I seek adventure or quiet solitude?
• Is my life a bustle of activity or tuned to a laid-back pace?
• Do I recharge my batteries in an exuberant crowd or curled up with a book?
• Am I happiest when I stand out or when I am part of a larger whole?

When you know who you are, you will be able to generate practices that will best care for your individual needs. These self-care practices will give rise to a lifestyle that matches your authentic nature, and you’ll feel more and more anchored.

As the effervescence of your true self bubbles to the surface, you can quit trying to be liked by everyone. When you let go of being pulled in multiple directions, you can be more resilient to life’s challenges.

2. Embrace Your Gifts (Watch Video)

The second step is to embrace your gifts. You are endowed with distinctive talents, skills, and interests that mark your magnificence and set you apart.

Broadcast what is special about you. Shine your light on the world.

Take a moment to think about whether your really are embracing your unique gifts. Ask yourself these questions:

• Do your gifts launch or languish?
• Do you see yourself in the term, “fear of outshining?”
• Are you fitting in by turning down the volume on your talent?
• Do you downplay your skills so they won’t stand out or threaten others?

In addition, do any of these old voices sound familiar?

• “Don’t be too big for your britches.”
• “Quit being a show-off.”
• “Look at the Smarty Pants.”
• “Act like a lady/gentleman.”

If your light is barely peeking out from under that bushel, allow yourself to shine. Remind yourself that when you embrace your gifts, you will inspire, not intimidate.

3. Self-Love (Watch Video)
Love is the highest frequency and gateway to your dance with the divine. The benefits of self-love are instant and enormous. When we infuse ourselves with love, we honor the sacred and become more closely aligned with our creator.

Remind yourself that you are perfect, whole, and complete.

Here are a few of my favorite tips for enhancing your capacity for loving yourself:

• Drizzle luxurious love down through your central core in a steady flow. With a flush of warmth and expansion, ignite your heart and wash away any doubts, insecurities, or self-limiting thoughts. Infuse yourself with calm and confidence. When you move from being your worst critic to being your best cheerleader, the world says “yes.” Try it, right now!

• Set up your day. Before getting out of bed in the morning, infuse yourself with love and reinforce this love throughout the day.

• If you lose your center or your confidence wanes, try turning your phone on selfie and have an eyeball-to-eyeball heart-focused chat.

The combination of self-love and operating out of authenticity can make you invincible!

4. Walk With a Higher Presence (Watch Video)

When you partner up with spirit, you can become a co-creator in a life of abundance and wellness. As you partner with this higher presence, you anchor your power. It’s like having a coach or companion with you. All you need to do is to create the space for that relationship.

Another key point is that we can create a spiritual practice for ourselves that is personal, unique, and self-created. Since pre-history humans have expressed spirituality in countless ways that are personal and unique to each of us.

Long ago, I began hiking every morning to salve my trauma-torn nervous system. It has become my most productive and cherished practice. Now my time in nature is my everyday place of worship where I can physically experience being part of a greater whole.

A meditation practice also increases this connection, but anything that brings inspiration and joy will open your crown chakra creating a deeper energetic connection with this wisdom and bounty. Don’t overlook the importance of joy in your life. Is it gardening, crafts, nature, family, or anything else that you loved doing?

When you incorporate and live by your personal spiritual practices and principles, you will be raising your vibrational frequency. This higher frequency will allow you to become more closely aligned with an abundant universe that is invested in your highest good.

Your confidence will flourish when you know that you are never alone and have an ally who is invested in your joy, wellness, and prosperity. The hard edges of life will soften as your barriers fall away—barriers of self-doubt and fear.

5. Engage, Expand, Express (Watch Video)
Step Five is about engaging, expanding, and expressing yourself, a self that is a unique sparkle of the divine. We can generate an energetic cycle of vitality when we expand to our fullest expression and potential.

Use some of the tools I’ve outlined here and in the Step In Your Power EWN mini-series. As you do so, you will be getting higher on the ever-escalating ladder of growth and expansion, one realization at a time.

So, express yourself! Show up and shout it out. When you sing your song and put your skills out in the world, you generate an energetic cycle of vitality that says to the Universe, “Give me more!” Reinforce this energetic loop by supporting and mentoring others. You are part of a sacred cycle of vitality.

Personal power and self-esteem are the foundation for creating joy and wellness. It motivates us to be more. It gives us resiliency in the face of adversity. It’s the root of mental and physical health and opens us to positive interaction with our world and our higher power.

When you step up to the plate and invest your time and interest, the Universe invests time and interest in you. Take the plunge, go out on a limb, put on your cape, read your poetry to the trees. There is a great void just waiting for you to fill it.

Find more by listening to the Step Into Your Power EWN mini-series.

About Linda Dierks
Linda is a pioneer of self-empowered joy and wellness through the power of thought, love, and the mechanics of energy. Finding the source of wellness became her life’s mission after breast cancer left her debilitated and depressed. After studying several alternative health modalities and wellness philosophies, she found core healing and joy in the integration of science and spirituality.

As a speaker, author, and intuitive Linda shares the methods behind her triumph over illness and depression. She has been published in Science of Mind Magazine, the Deepak Chopra newsletter and will soon be publishing her first book, Three Stepping Stones to Joy and Wellness: A Woman, a Higher Presence, and Triumph Over Illness and Depression.
You can join her one-minute Creating Joy and Wellness blog at spinstrawtogoldnow.com.