The Bigger Picture: The idea of having elections is an excellent one. It is an opportunity for a people to express their thinking and be active in the formation of leadership and, therefore, the driving principles of their community.
In reality, however, most people don't feel empowered enough to participate. We feel frustrated, disappointed and insignificant. Yet, it remains a fact that this process does confer on us the power to choose who leads us and the direction we might take.
Government policy influences every aspect of our lives: the type of jobs we have access to, where we can live and so how long and how we will travel, the cost of food, the leisure activities available, who our neighbours might be, how much money we get, what happens if we are sick, what makes us sick, whether the healing system empowers or disempowers us. The list goes on.
It is naive to think government policy doesn't have an impact on our quality of life and, therefore, on our levels of health, stress and happiness.
On the surface it looks as though we participate in the governing of our State only once every four-five years and then have no control over events thereafter.
In truth, however, public opinion and campaigns can and do change political minds at any time outside of election.
Our public representatives constantly look for our approval in what they do, because they want to maintain favour the next time around. Our voice does matter. We just don't feel it does so we can't imagine how we might claim it.
Furthermore, it takes energy and vigilance to make sure we are not led sheepishly but hold parties accountable. These are resources to which few of us have access.
Most of us feel out of control in our lives. We have little time to cook our own meals and nurture our physical and mental health, let alone get involved with the operations of the wider world.
Most of us take the stance that we elected the politicians to look after these issues for us - after all, they are being paid (and a lot more than most of us) to apply their time and effort to the task.
However, not only does this attitude leave us with little power, it's also inaccurate.
We are their employers - their board of management, if you will. We are the only people to whom they are accountable. It's our job to keep them in check, but it is one few of us do or feel able to do.
The problem is that most of us are not managers - neither in our training nor in our thinking.
We are not used to being the employers of anyone. And so we lack the confidence and mindset to feel responsible for a situation and to insist on accountability.
Furthermore, the world of politics is a disappointing place, and few of us have the resources to deal with disappointment. It's disappointing to cast your vote and not have your candidate elected.
It's disappointing to watch another candidate elected whose direction is different from the one you wanted. It's disappointing when the person you wanted to be elected is and then doesn't do as they promised.
It's disempowering to feel things didn't get better when you did everything you could.
In the absence of healing disappointment, our common response is to avoid or withdraw. As a result, over time, fewer and fewer of us stay involved with the process. Furthermore, our disappointments are handed down through generations.
When our families and histories don't teach us to move through them, we repeat the patterns of the past.
Politics runs in families. An example here is civil war politics. The Irish civil war tore apart individuals, families and communities. The pain has not healed. We can barely face it. And so, we repeat those hurts in our voting patterns today.
We get to lead our own lives. At some point, children need to grow up and take the future in new directions from the past. This is growth. This is evolution and development. It is our job to build on the experiences and lessons of our history, not repeat them.
And so we get to be proud for making new choices and pioneering directions that make sense for our people now, even if they might not have been appropriate to or understood in the past.
It is important to vote. The act of doing so is empowering, regardless of the outcome.
It is true, it takes an effort. To make a considered choice, we must prioritise some time to noticing what is happening around us and assessing our own thinking on the situation.
While it may seem like a luxury given all we have to deal with, it's not.
Part of the process of becoming fully empowered is earning your living, nurturing your relationships, bringing joy and fun into your days, positively challenging yourself, and being active in the world around us.
These are the elements that develop personal power, and so these are what create for you a life of meaning and happiness.
ssinha@irish-times.ie
Shalini Sinha provides life coaching and the Bowen technique.