Empoword Community

I had lunch with my accountant yesterday. I love having lunch with my accountant. By nature and profession, he is practical and level-headed. He is also engaging and interesting, and a heck of a lot of fun.

Knowing I am a student and advocate of personal growth and transformation, my accountant began by telling me about a series of classes he is taking that have changed his life. (Phew. The “Yes, it is possible for you to spend less, Stephanie” discussion was coming at the end of the meal, or maybe it could be avoided all together.)

“What’s changed?” I asked. Everything. My accountant reported being happier and less stressed, a stronger, more effective leader at work, a better spouse at home. More content and at ease with himself.

Wow. Who couldn’t use some of that?! Next I asked, “What is the gist of what you have been learning?”

He said, “You are who you say you are.”

I made him repeat it. Not once, three times. It was one of those a-ha moments. Keep in mind, I have been studying transformational process for decades. I have a master’s degree in Human Development. I founded a company built on the philosophy that if you see a word and think that word you can actually become the word. Yet, this simple phrase caught my attention.

How many times a day do we say we are something negative? How many times a day do we hear someone or something – directly or indirectly, subtly and not so subtly – tell us we are not enough or “less than?” How many of us believe: You are who THEY say you are?

Of course, his comment reminded me of Empoword. Our products exist to help remind you of the affirming, positive things you are and can choose to be: strong, brave, real, beautiful. Our products exist to help quiet the external voices and messages that try and tell you who you are or who you should be.

You get to decide. If you choose the negative or unflattering, so it will be. If you choose, the favorable and affirming, so it will.

Case and point. As lunch ended, despite my best to efforts to argue to the contrary, my accountant did remind me I could always spend less. Was he suggesting I was financially irresponsible? No, not at all. But I could hear that if I chose. I could contract and be afraid and feel out of control.

You are who you say you are. I am a person who is thoughtful about my finances. It is all about how YOU choose to see it, think about it, and manifest it in the world.

I am also lucky. I love having lunch with my accountant.

- Stephanie Ross
Empoword Co-Founder and CEO (Chief Empowerment Officer)