“If I don’t want to be that person who uses power for the sake of power just because I can, and because I can frighten people, and because people do what I say because they’re scared… then what power am I using? How do I find creative alternatives to power struggles - to use my power as a person to enable something to happen, but not because of fear?”

An exploration of how we can use the great powers that come with being human with intention, responsibility, care, and creativity, so that we can help shape a world we actually want to live in.

This week's Turning Towards Life is hosted as always by Lizzie Winn and Justin Wise of Thirdspace.

Episode Overview
00:00 Introduction to Turning Towards Life
01:22 Exploring Power Dynamics
06:11 Healthy Power vs. Coercive Power
11:40 Intention and Responsibility in Power
17:28 Seeing Systems of Power
20:54 Conclusion and Future Conversations

This is Turning Towards Life, a weekly live 30 minute conversation hosted by Thirdspace in which Justin Wise and Lizzie Winn dive deep into big questions of human living. Find us on FaceBook to join in the lively conversation on this episode. You can find videos of every episode, and more about the project on the Turning Towards Life website, and you can also watch and listen on Instagram, YouTube, and as a podcast in all the usual podcast places.

Our source for this week:

Both men and women suffer when power is exercised for its own sake by rule- and authority-bound women and men. Powermongers usually win their own games; they are operating on home territory. To go beyond power and the structures that support it usually involves quietly stepping aside. We do not step aside to disengage but to evolve creative alternatives to power struggles.

We may not be able to do as much as we would like about the way things turn out on sociopolitical battle-grounds, that often require well-coordinated strategies involving many people. However, we can certainly begin with ourselves. We do not have to react in kind. We can learn to choose how we want to respond.

Who are your inner powermongers? What do they say? How do they keep the rules?

Marion Woodman, from ‘Coming Home to Ourselves’

Photo by Eddie Kopp on Unsplash‍ ‍
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About Turning Towards Life
Turning Towards Life, a week-by-week conversation inviting us deeply into our lives, is a live 30 minute conversation hosted by Justin Wise and Lizzie Winn of Thirdspace. Find us on FaceBook to join in the lively conversation on this episode. You can find videos of every episode, and more about the project on the Turning Towards Life website, and you can also watch and listen on Instagram, YouTube, and as a podcast on Apple, Amazon Music and Spotify.

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444: The Power We Choose