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| Leading by example |
Power and control are two key concepts, which play an important role in some major mental health issues. Because of the feeling of powerless that can emerge from some life situations, people turn to their bodies to compensate: they try to change their body image, affect their body to compensate for the lack of the influence they feel they have on others or the world around them.
Upon further examination, such behaviours have close to no effect on others or the world.
Sometimes we meet individuals, have relatives we see are making mistakes and we wish we could tell them, we wish they could benefit from our experiences, we wish we could spare them the mistakes we made. Often they won't listen and it is even sometimes better that they learn from their own mistakes.
Influencing others in a non-lecturing, non-threatening way?
Left is the power of example. "Be the change you want to see happen" is a motto that goes along the same lines. It is possible to affect someone else by being inspirational, by doing what we think is right in our lives. Sometimes we are given the opportunity to share our experience and sharing with someone who may have faced the same difficulties might contribute to nurture their own potential for resilience. They greatest thing we can give these people is hope. By sharing what we did, in what way we were afflicted by a similar problem and the strategies we have set in place to overcome it, we are contributing hope to the life of the other, in a way that is not ego-threatening for them.
The second viable form of power I see is the power of meaning, a power, which, one may say, makes the human being so distinct from the other species. We have the power, in hindsight, to give meaning to events that happened to us in the past or happen in our lives now. We can give a meaning to whatever has happened or is happening to us. The human brain is so resourceful that it can give meaning to any situation. Along with the power of meaning goes the power of empathy, of sharing, connecting with other human beings on a deeper level. The hardships life deals us can be interpreted in a way that give them sense within the narrative we call our lives, we use to give sense to our lives. Whatever the difficulties, however they may have affected us, they are a common ground for a possible exchange with others, they make a deep sharing possible. Furthermore, if we were able to overcome these difficulties, we can give them a meaning and share these strategies that we developed and may help others. We might then find meaning in the sharing of these experiences.
In general, power and control are concepts that should be manipulated with care and we see how, if forms of control and power were to be used and promoted, it could be the power of meaning and the power of example, which logically suggest acting according to an ethical code of conduct (if we want to be able to inspire) and the nurturing of an integrative attitude and open-mindedness toward the events life deals us, remaining cautious until we are able to give the events a meaning.