flip answer: not letting the bastards grind you down
more-serious answer: empowerment is not just a personal thing. no matter how much individual power you have, you're still part of larger systems. the systems around you need to be in a state where your actions *can* cause the results you want. very rarely, empowerment involves taking action to change those systems. more often, the systems around you (friends, family, government, culture-matrix, neighbors, etc.) align so that when you reach for what you want, your actions can actually effect change in your life. so for me, 'empowerment' is the feeling that I *can* reach my goals, given enough work and time (i.e., that i have the resources i need and the systems around me are not actively working against me).
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2010-03-15 06:44 pm (UTC)more-serious answer: empowerment is not just a personal thing. no matter how much individual power you have, you're still part of larger systems. the systems around you need to be in a state where your actions *can* cause the results you want. very rarely, empowerment involves taking action to change those systems. more often, the systems around you (friends, family, government, culture-matrix, neighbors, etc.) align so that when you reach for what you want, your actions can actually effect change in your life. so for me, 'empowerment' is the feeling that I *can* reach my goals, given enough work and time (i.e., that i have the resources i need and the systems around me are not actively working against me).