How to keep your Super Powers strong for when you really need them.
By: Cat Knott | Photo by: Alice Bartlett
“No matter how many times you save the world, it always manages to get back in jeopardy again. Sometimes I just want it to stay saved! You know, for a little bit?” – Mr. Incredible
Have you ever felt like you’re the resident Superhero? The person that everyone comes to when they’re in trouble or need some help, advice, or sympathetic ear?
If so, you need to make sure that your Superpowers remain in tip top condition.
You see, being a Superhero can be quite exhausting. There is always a disaster going on somewhere in the lives of someone we know or love. It’s just the way the world is – a series of challenges, some big, some small (but hopefully not too many involving super baddies with brain melting abilities to wreak havoc).
As a Superhero it’s built into your DNA to always step up – to fix, do, heal, or change anything you can that will help ease the pain of someone else. You’re a safe harbor in the storm, the person that everyone can open up to (even the slightly weird lady on the number 47 bus).
The world needs Superheroes like you – your ability to care makes the world a better place.
But even Superheroes can feel the pressure, and it’s at times like these that it’s important to take a step back and keep your Superpowers in reserve.
Sometimes you need to take off the mask and just be you for a while… and this is when your intuition can let you know how to help without needing to be the hero.
Are you holding up bridges that actually need to fall?
One of the favourite moves of the Superhero is to catch the falling thing. It could be a bridge, a road, a railway track – it’s a signature move that no Superhero movie can do without. Saving the screaming innocents as the bridge they’re standing on collapses, only for super-you to swoop in at the last minute just as it’s about to hit the ground.
But let’s be honest, that scenario doesn’t usually happen in real life. The real life example of a falling bridge is usually a plan that someone’s been putting into place that suddenly becomes impossible – for whatever reason. But our Superhero tendencies still want us to dive in, to fix and lift and do what we can.
But here’s the question… what if that bridge was meant to fall?
Just because the person that came to you for help has been working toward something which has crashed around their ears, take a quiet moment to ask yourself if it’s really your job to try and fix those plans. Or would it be better for you to take a step backward and listen… to try and piece together why it had to fall?!
It’s OK to let someone else’s bridge fall from time to time. Maybe holding it up isn’t the help that’s needed.
When to know that listening is enough
Sometimes we can only see the truth behind someone else’s disasters when we take time to listen.
Your intuition is your toolkit for listening to everything around you.
You can use your intuition to truly listen to another person and see the real stories behind what they can only view as impending doom.
Take a step back and listen. Not only to the fear and panic of the moment, but to the reasons why the falling bridge was so important. Was it being seen as a last hope or an only option, and is that really the case or just a symptom of a blinkered way of seeing the world?
Allow the full picture to form just by listening, and instead of diving in to offer solutions, just let the pieces of the story come out as they should.
It’s OK to just listen.
Is your Superhero intervention stopping someone else from finding their own Super Power?
Sometimes in life it’s only by being forced to undertake a tricky road, or when the odd bridge or two we’d pinned our hopes on collapses that we find inside the strength to take a different route. Self worth is a tricky thing and if we’re always saved from disaster it never has a chance to really smack us around the head and say, “See… look what you did, look what you achieved. Well done! You see, you can do it!”
By stepping back out of your Superhero role now and again, you give other people a chance to find their own inner strength and the Super Powers that they didn’t even know they had.
Step out of the emotions – they’re not yours
When you’re the one that is always at the end of the phone, you’re the one that always gets hit full and square in the face with the fresh force of emotional disaster. Boom!
In those first moments, when you’re the first responder to the crisis that is just unfolding it’s easy to get swept way in the emotional flood that is overwhelming the person on the other end of the line.
But remember, those emotions are not yours!
As intuitive beings in a complicated, connected world it can feel as though everyone else has the power to whip us along in a frenzy of their own fear and panic. But that’s not the case. You can step out of those emotions that aren’t yours… and here’s how to do it: STOP!
Stop yourself from falling into the trap. Be aware that the pull of someone else’s emotions can feel overwhelming, so just be aware that this pull is happening.
Be clear in your mind that those emotions are not yours and refuse to take them on board. Have a clear intention and use the word STOP clearly and firmly in your mind to hold that oncoming wall of emotion back.
Stop the energy with ‘I understand’. It’s perfectly ok to not allow someone else to splurge out at you a venomous flurry of words, no matter who they’re directed at. In doing this, the other person is subliminally asking you to jump in and fuel their energy fire with your own affirmations that the doom is indeed real.
By repeating only “I understand”, you’re implementing a powerful way to show you care, but without adding to the energy of the moment.
Choose your fights wisely
Often the Superheroes of the world are left exhausted and overwhelmed by the constant incoming calls for help.
But it doesn’t have to be this way – YOU MUST SERVE YOUR OWN NEEDS FIRST.
Ooooo, I felt that sharp intake of breath – but surely the Superhero is always on call?!! Yes, as it’s a part of you – but you must choose your own health and wellbeing first. If you’re too tired, falling behind on your own work or ignoring your own family’s needs because you’re always on call to everyone else, then burnout is just around the corner.
As a Superhero, you need to be there. You make such a difference to the world as a whole – so choose your fights, reserve your own energy for when your amazing gifts are really in need. If you’ve exhausted yourself by giving too much, you’ll not have the reserve power you need for when that really urgent call comes.
You can’t split yourself in two, so choose your battles and choose to nurture yourself too.
Give as much love and care to yourself as you do to others and you’ll always have Superpowers a plenty when they’re truly needed.
About the Author
As an Intuitive Creative, Cat Knott has helped hundreds of people find their voice and get their passion out into the world. She is a dedicated courage giver, and screams encouragement from the sidelines of other people’s lives as they take their scary steps forward to create incredible change.
Cat knows that under the weight of all the Coulds, Shoulds, Maybes, If Onlys and Buts you’re carrying there is an amazing, powerful, successful person aching to get out. There comes a point where you need to put away the reasons why not and Take Action NOW!
For more tips, free tools, and inspiration from Cat, visit: www.action-alchemy.com
