Noone can steal your power unless you let them. Bad things happen to all of us. We endure conflicts with family and friends. Those conflicts can get to us and make us miserable because most of us aren't comfortable with conflict. I know I can be all consumed by conflict in my life, but I also know I've spent many years making a choice to give my energy away to those people who engage in conflict with me. They don't ask for it, but when you let their anger or frustration enter into you, you choose to give your power away.

In those instances, it is best to make a new choice to stay calm. Human instinct is to return a raised voice with a higher voice and defend yourself against attack. When it's a battle of words, use your power to stay cool and calm instead of wasting all your energy and giving your power away to others.

Now that we are in the midst of the holidays, we are also in the middle of being in peak family conflict season. Families join, and things heat up. It's unfortunate, but its the way things are when we try to control one another. We can't make another person think or believe the way we do, but we can do some things to fight the pain you feel during this conflict.  Only an individual has the power to choose his or her own beliefs. The best thing to do is to accept that we are all different and want different things. When someone can't accept you want something different, it's best to say, "I'm sorry you feel that way. Please respect I want different things from you, and I will do the same for you." That likely won't change the way the other person thinks, but it will put you in a position of responding, not reacting, staying calm, and choosing to hold on to your power.

Hold on to your power because you can!