To me the inner power begins, where we let go of comparing ourselves with others, and accept ourselves no matter what may emerge and follow our inner knowing.

When we surrender ourselves to the judgment of others, we are to some extent loosing our power.

We can listen to each other and ask for help and advice, but if we subsequently fail to listen inward, whether the advice resonates with for us, where we are in life right now, we lose power. In stead we are following the power of the other, rather than experiencing life by ourselves and thereby gaining power, so the help we think is a shortcut might as well be a detour. As long as we are a physical person on earth, we carry our ego, and it will always color our expression through what we say, do and emit. This also applies to the person we may decide to surrender our power to.

The inner power can be quite invisible on the outside.

The inner power is a certainty.

What may discourage us from seeking it and strengthening it?

For me, it's about anxiety and lack of confidence and an inner and outer pressure to do and be something else than we truly are.

What does it mean to succeed in life?

As we ask, we get answers. The questions we ask, we may answer by ourselves and with help from outside. It often takes time to find the answers from within. Few are educated in that practice, and the ability decreases as we surrender our power to an external authority that we rely on when it comes to our well-being. Time pressures and demands and expectations arise from anxiety, the anxiety of losing what so ever....

Waiting in stillness may arouse further anxiety. Anxiety is a physical experience and can be triggered by a thought of losing control of life, health, identity, and death, something we cannot fully control anyway. The power decreases as the anxiety rises, so we often seek to avoid the anxiety with all kinds of means and ways. Anxiety is also a natural response as a sign of a shift in our consciousness is on its way, like a call from our inner knowing towards a necessary change.

Self-reassurance and inward listening in can be learned if we want to and believe in this path.

Trusting that everything is well and waiting and acting out of trust can be difficult if the power fails, since power is followed by courage, the courage to stop and say "no" and choose life and truth.

The truth that we know very well inside, and which unfolds continuously with our life experiences, as long as we take our time to live and listen.