Empowerment is a learned skill

“In our culture, too often we define power as something you have or you don’t. We fail to understand it is not a fixed commodity that only certain people can attain. Power is our capacity to live authentically and get things done. We can all grab a slice of it.”
By Kari Fulmek

Lightning’s power isn’t felt until it connects with something or someone.

Neither is your personal power.

That is one of the reasons learning to become empowered through facilitated programs at Equine Connection is so effective.

To find your own empowerment in our program, you have to connect with both horses and other people.

I always knew the concept worked, but it is amazing now that scientific research is supporting this method of learning and growing.

We know that our program is not a piece of tape holding a person together; it is a process of real, lasting knowledge and empowerment that makes people whole and changes their life long term.

A five-year research study with the University of Calgary, University of Saskatoon and University of Regina led by Albert Wright studied methods of education extensively and concluded there was a need to change from the traditional classroom and lecture format to an educational alternative called the “participative method.”

That is how we teach, where we focus on the experiential process of learning rather than the mere transformation of information.

Experiential learning was termed the “natural way of learning.” It is a process in which the experience of the learner is reflected upon and from which new insights emerge.

When you learn through interacting with living beings like horses and human beings like your fellow class participants, it becomes very apparent that we are no different from another.

We all try to do amazing work and lead lives crowded with difficult times and spectacular moments. Sometimes we get knocked off balance and we feel powerless, that our life has spun out of control.

In times like that, we need to discover the power that is within us that allows us to resume control of our live and even have enough to spare to help empower others.

When my horse Charlie died from a fungal infection, I felt helpless to the winds of a cruel fate. I felt that I had fallen flat on my face so hard that I might not get up again.

If anyone had told me then that I could be empowered to rebuild and expand my business all over the world, I would never have believed them.

Being empowered doesn’t mean that it is easy to recover from the darkest days of your life, but it definitely picks you up and moves you onto the right road.

You can’t control bad things from happening to you. But you can control yourself, your responses and your future directions.

That is what being self-empowered accomplishes. You don’t ever have to feel like a leaf tossing in the wind again. You can regain control of your life and your direction.

Along the way, you can even hold out your hand and pick somebody else up.

Kari Fulmek is the author of “Two Weeks to Empowerment: How to take charge of your life and find your true purpose” and the founder and owner of Equine Connection – The Academy of Equine Assisted Learning Inc. She is a Certified Master EAL Instructor and a Certified EAL Facilitator. From her base near Calgary, AB in the foothills of Canada’s Rocky Mountains, she travels the globe to empower clients. To learn more about Kari, visit her website at: https://equineconnection.ca.