Power People

Welcome to Day 5 of the Stop Holding Yourself Back Challenge with Justin Michael Williams. In today's session, we will focus on the Power People in our life. Who is a power person? Someone who makes you feel good and inspires your growth. It's important we have this energy around us After our breathwork & visualization ritual, Justin will invite you for a moment of self-inquiry. This will help you to identify your power people and nurture your connection with them.

Transcript

Welcome to day five of our journey together.

Can you believe it that we're already this far?

I want to start today because you've made it this far and now I feel that we're getting closer in some way.

I want to tell you a story that is really important to my heart that deals with today's teaching,

Which is all about power people and the people who really support us and love us and being able to pull them closer and honor them in a way.

So I want to tell you a quick story about my grandmother and my grandmother was so close to me.

She was always in my corner rooting for me and standing for me and cheering for me.

And I talk about her so much in my book.

And if you've ever seen me do a presentation or a speech,

You've definitely heard about my Bacca because that's what we called her in our family,

Bacca.

And so several years ago,

About a decade ago,

My grandmother got diagnosed with stage four cancer and the doctors told her she only had a couple months to live and I apologize if this story is triggering talking about cancer for some of you,

But I know you'll come out inspired on the other side.

And so when we got this news,

My grandmother was 67 years old,

Which I consider very young and seemingly healthy.

And so I flew home to Northern California where I'm from.

I was living in LA to be with her and I walked in the door and my grandmother asked me a question that literally changed the trajectory of my entire life.

She looked at me and she said,

Justin,

If you were in my shoes and you knew you were gonna die in two months,

What would you do?

And I look at her and I'm thinking,

What are you talking about?

Like,

I'm not dying.

I mean,

I guess we're all dying,

But hopefully I'm dying slower than you.

And she said,

Get quiet,

Get still and listen.

And what she really said was,

And don't you dare open your lips until you're ready to tell me the truth.

And so I could tell she was really serious and I closed my eyes and I put my hands over my heart and she asked it again.

She said,

If you were in my shoes and you knew you were gonna die in two months,

What would you?

And without even skipping a second,

I just blurted out with tears,

Rushing,

That I would quit everything that I was doing in my life and I would record an album.

I would do music.

And my grandmother looks at me and she goes,

I know,

Baby,

I know.

And the thing is,

I had always wanted to do music ever since I was a little boy,

But I let all the kids who teased me and bullied me at school about being different,

About being gay,

Make me think I sucked at everything and I stopped myself.

I let growing up in an underprivileged environment and neighborhood make me think that I had to give up my dream to do something more practical and something realistic.

And I think we all have these things.

We all have these dreams in our life that we think are not possible for us,

For whatever reason,

Because we got teased when we were younger,

Because we grew up poor,

Because we grew up with some sort of trauma,

Or because we think it's not realistic or not practical,

Or because we're too fat or too old or too ugly or too gay or not good enough,

Or we waited too long,

Or we should have done it before we had kids,

Or all these ideas that we tell ourselves in our own minds,

And sometimes that society tells us.

Is this resonating at all?

And so when my grandmother asked me this question,

It woke this thing up inside of me that I thought was gone.

And I was so grateful for her,

Because even though her passing was such a challenge for me in my life,

It gave me one of my greatest gifts.

And so it is always my mission to spread a little bit of Bacca's love out around the world.

And Bacca was my power person.

And so this was really important to me,

Because it's important that we all have power people in our lives.

And if you're worried and thinking,

I don't have anybody,

I don't think,

Don't worry,

I got you in this practice.

I gotta tell you the end of that story.

So many of you know,

I teach meditation,

I have a book on meditation and all these things,

But I also am a musician.

I was nominated for a Grammy this year,

Which is really exciting.

And I'm telling you this not to brag,

But because if it wasn't for my grandmother waking this up in me,

I would have never thought that this life that I'm living of touring and putting out an album that's on Spotify and iTunes and everywhere and traveling and touring all over the world and now nominated for a Grammy,

I never would have thought that this level of success was possible for me.

I thought it was for someone else.

And I know that you have that dream inside of you too,

That sometimes feels impossible.

And today we're gonna take another step towards waking that up.

Yes,

You can.

So let's dive into our practice together.

Go ahead and find a comfortable way to sit,

Place your hands over the center of your chest,

Take a deep full breath in and a deep breath out.

When you're ready,

I invite you to allow your eyes to shut.

Now,

As we dig into this power practice together,

We are going to explore the idea of a power person.

And I want you to listen to me very closely as we go through this practice because sometimes a power person isn't even somebody in your life yet.

It's somebody who you need to meet or somebody who you just know on the periphery that you need to invite in a little bit closer.

So just allow your mind to expand beyond your immediate circle if you need to as we dive into this practice.

Let's start with the very first breath practice we did together,

Which is the three count breath.

Inhaling for three,

Holding for three,

And exhaling for three.

Let's do it together.

Start by just taking a deep breath in and a breath out to align us.

And now with me to the count of three,

Inhale for one,

Two,

Three,

Hold for one,

Two,

Three,

Exhale one,

Two,

Three.

Again,

Inhale one,

Two,

Three,

Hold for one,

Two,

Three,

Exhale one,

Two,

Three.

Last time,

Inhale deeply,

One,

Two,

Three,

Hold for one,

Two,

Three,

Exhale one.

And now just breathe normally.

And call into your mind this future version of yourself that we've been cultivating over these last few days together.

And the vision can change or it can be the same,

Or you can let it evolve to whatever shows up for you right now.

But see a future version of yourself and scan around yourself in this vision and see yourself living the life of your dreams,

Taking whatever area of your life that you've chosen to the next level.

Scan around and notice,

Are you indoor or outdoor in the vision?

Notice if there's anybody there with you or if you're alone.

And notice what's happening in this vision that indicates that you are living the life of your dreams.

Let it feel and be real for you.

And now as you imagine this future version of yourself,

I want you to ask the future you this question,

Who do I need to invite closer into my life to get to this vision?

And just see what arises.

Maybe there's somebody in your life on the periphery who could be a mentor or a supporter or a workout buddy or accountability partner.

Just trust what arises for now without worrying about what you're gonna do with it.

Just trust what comes up.

And then go ahead,

Take a deep breath in and a deep breath out.

And call into your mind,

Your vision and imagine your power person being with you in your vision.

Just imagine them there with you.

And then repeat these words with me.

I am ready.

I am worthy.

I am powerful.

I deserve this life.

I am ready.

I am worthy.

I am powerful.

I deserve this life.

Last time.

I am ready.

Mean it.

I am worthy.

I am powerful.

I deserve this life.

And go ahead and take a deep breath in and a deep breath out.

When you're ready,

I invite you to open your eyes.

So I want you to think about now and write down first of all for yourself who your power person is.

And one of the funnest things that you can do right now that will just bring some joy to someone's life is if your power person is somebody who you already know and who you're already close to or who you already have their phone number or their email address or you're friends with them on social media,

Then just send them a quick message thanking them.

They're probably not gonna know what a power person is but just thank them and say,

I just wanna say thank you so much for the way that you show up in my life.

And I want us to be closer or I wanna invite you in closer.

I hope we can see each other soon.

This is the first step.

And the truth is,

Is sometimes we have to bring someone into our life that causes us to get a little vulnerable sometimes and get out of our comfort zone a little bit.

What I recommend is if you feel like you're reaching out to somebody and you're like,

I don't know what to say even though I wanna welcome this person closer is just tell them about the practice that you did today and what came up for you.

And even though you might feel a little nervous or a little bashful,

Imagine how good it would feel if someone told you,

You were their power person.

This is about you taking accountability for your life and starting to surround yourself with at least one person who can support you and see you as you move forward toward your vision.

This is how we stop holding ourselves back because when we feel like we don't have the energy or we feel tired or we forget the power of who we are,

This person will be there to remind you just like my baka was and still is really,

I believe.

All right,

I love you all so much.

It is such an honor and a great journey to practice together.

Please share who your power person is in the comments.

I would love to see that.

And I will see you in our next practice,

Which is a really special one called,

You Are Enough.

I can't wait to practice with you there.

Bye for now.

Reviews

Thank you Justin! Brenda Villa is one of my cherished Power Peeple 🌹

Touched my heart and turned on the light to follow my path.
My power people are right in front of me. Thank you for encouraging me to allow them in! 🙏❤️

You are fabulous, TY for sharing your story about your grandmother, it moved me, and gave me inspiration to seek out a power person.

It made me think more about how I want my life to be.

Thank you so much 💟 my power person in this audio was Mel Robbins 😅🌟

Thanks this meditation helps my son get to sleep 😴

I really appreciate and enjoy your practices. Thank you for being such a positive force. 🙏

I was totally not expecting the person who immediately popped into my head to show up during this session. I’ve only met them in person once but they’ve been on my mind and I’ve been hesitant to reach out to them. This was confirmation that it’s time because I deserve a power person in my corner. ♥️

I enjoyed this meditation! I'm almost all the way through this series. I need to create a new, better, more powerful life for myself. I'm ready to take the first steps towards that future self you had us envision. I'm still struggling with the path because I can't see it clearly but I know who my Power Person is who is already helping me along the way ❤️ thank you Justin!

My power person is my boyfriend. He encourage me and power my self into turn mu dreams true. He helps me to see that I am enought and I can go on.

Thank you. My power people are my friends Artur and Marcin. All the best to all of you!

Justin has just been absolutlely amazing . This has truly helped and inspired me

Awesome and very powerful practice. Thank you so much🙏❣️😍

Great to have clarity on who my power person is not who I expected... Thanks 🙏

His meditation are phenomenal and have made a huge impact on my life!

Inspirational. I will have to re do, knowing what is coming because at the moment I just can't answer the first question.

I love your music! I really love set me free. I believe I have held my self hostage. You are very powerful. I see your grandmother around you. She is your biggest cheerleader. Thank you so much for all you do!

Awesome!

Thank you for the beautiful meditation

Power person. Thank you so much for this reminder.