Caroline Myss’s Sacred Power: Self Esteem and the Power of Choice
Self-esteem is misrepresented, according to Caroline Myss, leading expert in medical intuition, energy medicine, human consciousness, and higher living. “To esteem the self means to recognize what the power of your soul is,” she says.
Myss’s new Gaia series “Sacred Power,” takes viewers on a journey into how self-esteem and the power of choice profoundly impact the development of our soul and our ability to live wholly.
Self Esteem and the Power of Your Soul
Myss looks beyond the first layer of what we normally associate with self-esteem to the deeper, core ingredients: intuitive clarity and trust in oneself. As opposed to being something that gains us attention, self-esteem at its highest purpose is quiet, self-contained, liberates us from seeking others’ approval, and sustains our health and well-being.
The strength that comes from developing a healthy self-esteem, in which we rely on our values and personal sense of integrity, help us to create a resiliency that is, as Myss says, “unshakeable no matter the circumstances.” Learning to develop one’s self-esteem in this way is not an option, Myss advises; today’s demanding and stressful world makes it a necessity.
Quantum Power and Self Esteem
Myss believes we are in an era where we are the first generation to “add power to self.” What does she mean by that? All we have to do is look at the personal development and self-empowerment books that line the shelves of our local bookstore. But self-esteem doesn’t fit in one package; it can be best understood by what Myss calls the “Three Levels of Self-Esteem”:
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- Level One, Survival Self-Esteem: Inner qualities such as cleverness, endurance, physical stamina, or our survival gut instincts.
- Level Two, Inner Self-Esteem: Refinement of personal qualities of character that include courage and integrity, and learning how to rely on your values in life.
- Level Three, Mystical Self-Esteem: Capacity to rely upon your inner spiritual experiences and guidance, creating a harmonious balance between the interior and exterior consciousness.
Myss points out that the deep transformation that emerges from the development of our three levels of self-esteem can not only have a global impact, but is also causing a shift in our relationship to the world, one in which we have become hypersensitive. She relates this to the amount of personal power we contain; by learning how powerful we are and the potency of our words and our lives. We are navigating a “mindfield” that is also a “minefield,” what our mind contains and what we claim as “mine.”
What is Mine? What is Mind?
Hypersensitivity can be the portal to understanding what is “mine,” as well as the “mind” because it can give us critical information about what power feels like.
We’re able to learn to transform the small hurts into a sense of mindfulness and personal power that is the “microcosm of our own soul power,” or as Myss calls it, “charism,” the grace an individual soul has; one’s “single tone in this universe.” Myss sees this charism as both a response to our rapidly changing world, and part of a sacred “archetypal initiation” essential to our self-esteem’s fullest potential.
When we move away from worrying about what others will think, we tune into and trust what Myss calls the “interior, the unreasonable self-esteem…where miracles are.” It is the place where we go from living by fate, allowing fear to determine the outcome, to living by destiny, trusting in and listening to our inner guidance. To do so requires that we understand we have a choice, and there is power in our choices.
The Power of Choice
Do you pay attention to how much time you spend in your day being concerned with how other people view you, or giving away your power through accommodation, or what others say about you and your actions? Do you rely on self-guidance, or on other’s guidance? Myss suggests if we offer up our inner life for others to sort through and return to us, rather than relying on our own self-esteem and the power of our own choices, we’re taking the path of fate, and not of destiny.
While the path of destiny is full of risks, it is one rich with inner guidance. It is a path we choose to walk on where our esteemed power is released. “Power is the fundamental ingredient of the human experience,” Myss shares. “And choice, it is our great tool.” As creatures of energy, she continues, our power fuels our being with choice being the expression of our power. But really, how powerful can one active choice make for you, or those around you?
Choice as a Powerful, Transformational Instrument
What if your choices could change the quality of your health, your life, or the direction of our world? What if our choices contained that much power? Well, Myss believes they do; she believes all of us are that powerful to positively impact the way in which our lives unfold. As we are more and more in contact with our intuitive, energetic selves, and the energetic world, we’re beginning to make more energetically-focused choices which contain more power than any physical ones.
Energetic choices assist us in looking beyond the obvious and to attune the underlying energies that are there to help us live in balance and truth. These deeper choices represent “power of one clear truth of one clear choice” and represent what Myss calls our “inner-net,” an energetic grid of life made up of our emotions, thoughts, and actions.
Whether you believe in God, Buddha, or a divine higher energy, Myss teaches that we’re led into “guidance so that you can make a choice. You are always being directed to make choices that empower you.” In fact, she believes we’re living in an “energetic Renaissance” in which every choice needs to be thoughtful and is profound. Myss also believes the times in which we live dictate a different “power strategy,” a strategy based on investing in the power of our life force and life choices.
But in order to develop our “power strategy,” we must learn to discern what choices empower us and which disempower us. To assist with this, Myss shares eight of the most important power biophysical spiritual choices one can make:
-To not betray yourself or others
-To live with integrity and truth
-To know and live your values
-To have a spiritual world view
-To practice kindness
-To be reflective daily
-To be of service
-To empower others
These biophysical spiritual choices are ones, Myss says, that don’t live in the outside world; they can only be seen by the person making the choices and “take place in the world behind your eyes.”
Myss recommends we set aside time every day to take stock of what motivates us, what directs our inner agenda, and the consequences our choices bring with them. For while self-esteem, self-empowerment, and self-choice are at the center of this discussion, every choice has a ripple effect on the whole of our world and we must accept responsibility for how our choices impact the entirety of life itself.
Myss’s “Sacred Power” teachings are ushering us into a new era of authentic power in which if we, individually and collectively, embrace our power, then we can empower others. For Caroline Myss, she considers this “the greatest choice I can do…because I am now giving grace away.”
About the Author
We Can Easily Solve The Problem of Food Waste
Imagine yourself at the grocery store, in the produce aisle, sorting through the fruits and vegetables you wrote down on your shopping list for the week. You sift through bunches of broccoli or piles of apples and pears, ignoring those with blemishes and scratches, searching for only the ripest and most appealing specimens. But this behavior is part of a massive problem that is contributing to global hunger, climate change and agricultural instability. The good news is we can solve this problem by teaching current and future generations simple methods on how to reduce food waste; the question is will we?
Why Food Waste is a Problem
Throughout the world, there are nearly a billion people who are considered starving or food insecure, meaning they do not always have access to a sufficient quantity of nutritious food. But there is more than enough food produced in the world to ameliorate this issue, so much that if we were to redistribute a quarter of the food that is wasted in the world, the problem would be solved.
This waste issue is pandemic and can’t really be pinpointed on one nation or another, though developed countries are undoubtedly the largest contributors. In Europe and North America, each year we average between 95-115 kg of wasted food per person. Developing countries like many in sub-Saharan Africa typically waste a tenth or less than that, but still contribute to avoidable food waste when it comes to production and distribution from poor infrastructure and equipment.
In Europe, 29 million tons of dairy products are wasted each year and in the UK alone food waste totals 7.3 million tons annually. In South America, Argentina wastes 1 kg of food per person, daily. Clearly this problem transcends borders, politics, and culture, but it is also one that will likely require some international cooperation to solve at an aggregate level.
So, how does the U.S. stack up? Despite our relative affluence, 14% of families in the U.S. are considered food insecure. Meanwhile, we spend between $1,500 – $2,275 per family, on easily avoidable food waste cost every year. This stems partly from the fact that we throw away nearly half of all produce that we buy, adding up to roughly $160 billion a year. This problem is not solely an American issue, but there are definitely some systemic factors that contribute to these food waste statistics.
Avoidable Food Waste
Much like our society’s unattainable standards for a person’s physical beauty, we tend to overvalue the physical beauty of fruit and vegetables. In reality, we’re missing out on what really counts; that which can only be found on the inside. In the U.S. and other first-world countries we have ridiculously high and often completely irrational standards for what our food looks like.
This fickle and picky attitude is a lead cause of food waste, yet it is one of the easiest issues to solve. Because of these demands, farmers’ harvests are subjected to untenable standards and levels of scrutiny for what their product must look like, despite the fact that slightly less appealing produce, often with only minor blemishes or discoloration, will have the same exact nutritional value. Farmers must carefully weigh the cost and potential revenue that can be made from harvesting a crop, based on whether or not the produce will fit these absurdly high standards. They must take into consideration the labor for harvesting, energy for storing and refrigeration, and the cost of transportation once their product has finally been purchased.
If a crop is not going to cover those costs and turn a profit, farmers reject them as “walk-by” crops. Depending on market demands and weather conditions that year, walk-by’s can occur between 1-30% of the time. These factors in the past have led the price of certain crops to fluctuate so drastically that farmers have to essentially gamble on what will be their cash crop each year. According to one farmer, prices of broccoli have ranged from $6 per case one year, to $32 per case another year.
But there are other, more systemic difficulties in each step of the farmer’s process that are not immediately obvious to those unfamiliar with the industry. While there are plenty of farmers, with plenty of produce, there are a small group of buyers who continue to perpetuate the high standards of what produce must look like. These large corporations, which buy the majority of produce in the US, dictate the standard which farmers must attain, leading them to plant more than they normally would, subsequently leading to more wasted food. But those who cannot keep up with the increasingly high demands end up being muscled out by bigger farms or using GMOs and excessive pesticides to maintain that perfect appearance.
Reducing Food Waste and Expired Food
Another issue we struggle with is our labelling of products with “best-by,” “sell-by,” and “use-by.” These labels all have different meanings, and despite the common misconception that they have to do with the safe consumption of a food product, they actually have to do with a producer’s suggestion of when they will taste best. Sell-by is aimed at when retailers should ideally get the product off their shelves, but beyond that date the product is still good for about a third of its shelf life. Use-by and best-by are both guesses at when the product will remain at peak quality, but don’t necessarily mean the product is bad after that date. In fact, there are only a few products like deli meats and unpasteurized dairy products that are highly perishable and dangerous to consume immediately after the use-by date.
As it turns out, the majority of consumers can’t tell the difference between these labels, let alone the fact that they are, to a varying degree, guesses at when the food is likely to taste the best. One study found that less than half of all consumers can properly identify what the term sell-by means, while less than a quarter could identify what use-by means. At this point, 90 percent of us will throw away food once it has reached this date, adding up to $1,500 or more in the trash each year.
Not only does that food, which ends up in the trash, waste money, it also makes up 20 percent of our landfills. When this is compounded with the amount of energy and water spent on production, food waste accounts for nine percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. In the U.S. it accounts for a quarter of all freshwater use, tens of millions of acres of cropland, and 300 million barrels of oil each year; a large contributor to climate change, with one of the easiest fixes.
While there are some efforts being made by certain groups like the Consumer Goods Forum, there should be a broader mandate to label food in a clear and concise way, making it clear to consumers when their food is perfectly safe to eat. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that it’s within corporate interests for consumers to waste food and this is probably the reason that labels are so ambiguous in the first place. When companies can convince you that the perfectly good food in your fridge is unfit for consumption, this leads the consumer back to the store to buy more.
This has also led for some to call out corporations for practices like multi-buy offers, that can be deceitful and convince consumers to buy more than they need. Multi-buy offers, like those that offer a discounted price when you buy 2 or more, often sound like a bargain, but lead to wasted food and are sometimes more expensive than buying the product at its unit price. A study found that companies would often use “zig-zag” pricing to make a product seem like it was being sold at discount, when it was previously sold at an inflated price for only a couple days.
Ways to Reduce Food Waste
In Denmark, one woman has been credited with drastically reducing food waste throughout the entire country. Selina Juul was originally born in the Soviet Union making her accustomed to food shortages. After moving to Denmark, she became appalled by the country’s rampant waste of food and decided to make it her goal to implement a solution. She convinced a local grocery to practice policies like eliminating multi-buy offers and selling individual bananas rather than bunches, to sell the hundreds of pieces of fruit that were otherwise being thrown out.
Ironically, Juul targeted a grocery store called REMA 1000, a Norwegian chain that is known for its “no-frills” aesthetic, displaying produce on wooden pallets and crates and limiting its stock to 1000 items. The chain is particularly popular for its low prices and hundreds of locations. Garnering over 17 percent of all revenue from supermarkets in Scandinavia, it was inspired by the successful business model of the German supermarket chain, ALDI.
Over five years, Juul’s methods worked and she cut food waste by 25 percent throughout Denmark. She first inspired REMA 1000, creating a trend in the private sector, which subsequently led to policy changes at the public level. With enough support and demand her model could become a worldwide trend.
Another idea that Juul put into action was a food waste supermarket. In its first week, the store was donated 40 tons of food that would have otherwise been thrown away, selling it for half the price it could be found at a normal grocery store. The food waste market became so popular they had to open another, soon inspiring similar models in the UK and other countries.
But could something like this happen in the US? Unless there is a large movement to enact changes in legislation, it would be difficult to follow this model. Unlike in France, where laws have been passed that prohibit restaurants and markets from throwing out unsold food, the U.S. has stricter laws and picky consumers. But if we collectively demand a different model and use our purchasing power to change these business dynamics we could implement some similar practices and lower food waste. Doing so would save us all money, reduce the damage being done to the planet, and prevent people from going hungry. So, what are we waiting for?
