The Other Side of The Power – Claude Steiner

The Other Side of Power-is based on the belief that it is possible to be powerful without abusing power; to be happy and alive and at the same time fair, considerate and cooperative. In this book I will offer practical ideas and guidelines to achieving that sort of power in the world. 

From book :

 ”Power is in everything, omnipresent, locked in every cell, every molecule and atom. It naturally radiates from all matter. We are powerless only because we curtail and disbelieve in ourselves and each other”. 

There is power and pleasure, hidden from our view by power greed. There is strength without abuse. There is power in cooperation with other people when we grow powerful together. There is power in love, passion, communication, intelligence and spirituality. None of these take power away from others and they can only develop in cooperation with others

I don’t want to treat any person, living thing, or portion of the Earth as my exclusive property, to be used at will for my selfish purposes. I want the power of give and take when I put in as much as I take in every situation. I want the power of close loving friends and family. I want to be fair, considerate, and neighborly. I want the powerful feeling of being guided by my conscience in my actions. I want to grow old and crusty and be respected for my life and deeds. I want to be appreciated by my co-workers, neighbors and business competitors. I want to be fully alive to my powers and to the portion of the earth I inhabit. I want all of those powerful things without abusing power, and I want you to have the same. And not just you, but all of us who inhabit this planet.

Emotional Literacy – Claude Steiner

  Emotional literacy—intelligence with a heart—can be learned through the practice of specific transactional exercises that target the awareness of emotion in ourselves and others, the capacities to love others and ourselves while developing honesty and the ability to take  responsibility for our actions. This is what this book will teach you, no more and no less.

The point of this book goes beyond workplace maturity or schoolyard aggression. Emotional literacy is a source of personal power indispensable for success in today’s world. The following five essential, thoroughly time-tested assertions must be understood to appreciate this work’s scope:

  1.      Emotional literacy is love-centered emotional intelligence.

2.      Loving (oneself and others) and being loved (by oneself and others) are the essential conditions of emotional literacy.

3.      The capacities of loving and accepting love, lost to most people, can be recovered and taught with five precise, simple, transactional exercises.

4.      In addition to improving loving skills, emotional literacy training involves three further skills of increasing difficulty; each one is supported by a further set of transactional exercises.

5.      These skills are:

a. Speaking about our emotions and what causes them,

b. Developing our empathic intuition capacity, and

c. Apologizing for the damage caused by our emotional mistakes.

  Practice of these specific transactional exercises in personal relationships at home with friends and at work with others, will, over time, produce increased emotional literacy.

  With  these exercises you can become a more loving person, a person who feels love toward people and is able to love passionately in a sustained way—a person who is able to be affectionate with friends and friendly with others. You will be better able to recognize, express, and control your emotions; you will realize when you are angry or joyful, ashamed or hopeful, and you will understand how to make your feelings known in a productive manner. You will become more empathic and will recognize the emotional states of others and respond to them compassionately. You will be able to take responsibility for the emotional damage caused by your mistakes and apologize for them effectively. Instead of undermining and defeating you, your emotions will empower you and enrich your life and the lives of those around you.