The Power of Words

I woke up this morning with the word POWER rolling around in my mind. POWER. POWER. POWER... 

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Power and her friends - like empower, empowerment, powerful, girl power - were like quarters spinning into one of those fancy funnel wishing well things that elicit donations from my charming children every time we stumble upon one at a zoo, museum, or shopping mall. 

There used to be this awesome billboard here in Nashville, I believe it was for a bank. It had a black background with white writing that said, "emPOWERment" and the word POWER was in red. I LOVED that sign. Seriously, my heart soared every single time I pulled through that curve into downtown. The word power and all that flows from it have always held for me...an almost magnetic attraction. 

In the last couple of years, I've awakened to the magic of language... not just ours but all the words that people on this planet use to communicate. It's stunning really, something I took for granted for many years. Often, when I'm writing I stop to research if the word that I've chosen actually means the thing I'm trying to say. Dictionary.com offers dozens of definitions for the word power, here are a few of my favorites:

• ability to do or act; capability of doing or accomplishing something.
• great or marked ability to do or act; strength; might; force.
• a deity; divinity: the heavenly powers.
• an order of angels.
• work done or energy transferred per unit of time.

Synonyms include capacity and energy, and it recommend that we "See strength"... indeed. Of course, antonyms help too: incapacity and weakness. Yes, I want to be the opposite of that. POWER is my, forgive me, power word. I was once a profoundly powerless woman and now... 

I am power. 

What about you? What's your word? I am...