current events — EMPOWERED TIMES BLOG

Choose Your Universe

What we believe and what we perceive are the most powerful indicators of our experience. Professional athletes visualize their performance before an important event. Entrepreneurs refuse to see failure as fatal.

"The most important decision we make is whether we believe we live in a friendly or hostile universe.” Though often misattributed to Albert Einstein, this quote offers a brilliant inquiry nonetheless.

Kind or cruel? Safe or threatening? Our perspective influences what we see, how we relate to others, and how we feel about ourselves. Research studies show our perception not only impacts our psychology, but can also alter our physiology. A placebo can be as potent as medicine at relieving pain and promoting healing and recovery.

We may be living in a time of significant division, uncertainty, and distress. Yet, extraordinary potential lies within each of us. Our mind has the capacity to shift our perspective and to actualize our aspirations.

Is the universe against you? Or is it conspiring in your favor? You have the power to choose.

Growing Through Calamity

The following article is written by Billie Greer—a public policy advisor, retired lobbyist, business leader, consultant, activist, feminist, and mentor to many (including me!)

Crises happen. In our world. In our nation. In our everyday lives. When we face a crisis, as most of us will, we feel overwhelmed. Powerless. Fear sets in.

Disaster or hope? The answer is determined, in large measure, by how one reacts to a crisis and manages that crisis. “Calamity 101” steals a page from the experiences of corporations and leaders who have successfully handled crises.

Consider these steps, when a crisis is upon you, to help deal with the situation and to gain some level of control over what is happening as you seek potential resolution of the issue at hand. You either advance or stay where you are, and the latter is not where you want to be. By taking action, you empower yourself and you will be stronger for it.

2020: The Year of the Breath

Lately, the breath has gotten a lot of press. 2020 seems to be the year of the breath, or perhaps more accurately, lack thereof. COVID-19, the global pandemic has affected millions of people across the world who have contracted the virus and struggled for breath. People have lost their lives, their loved ones, their livelihoods. In the midst of the virus crisis, we heard the haunting words, “I can’t breathe,” uttered by George Floyd as he was suffocated and publicly murdered under the knee of a white police officer. Our sense of physical and psychological safety has been severely compromised on a number of levels. The often overlooked luxury of breath has become the symbol of health, freedom, justice, and aliveness. As DJ D-Nice regularly reminded us this year, “Let it breathe.”

Cultivating WellnessErin MasonDecember 18, 2020adversity, current events, covid, freedom, health, breathe, breath, healing, justice, perspective, equity, racism, resilience, repair

Opening Our Eyes to Racism

The past few weeks, this country has witnessed a storm of violence and devastation, anger and pain, rage and fear, denial and defensiveness. The racism and injustice we continue to encounter in our society and within ourselves is a desperate call to us for change. Yet, many people struggle to know how to respond or what we can do that will actually make a difference.

We must be honest with ourselves. True introspection requires the capacity to observe, to acknowledge and accurately identify what is (and has been) happening, and to be keenly self-aware. Perhaps then, we might understand where to begin.

Tolerating Ambiguity ~ The New SuperPower

“Never. Rarely. Sometimes. Often. Always.”

We are in the throes of such an ambiguous moment in time right now. The variation in people’s responses are not as simple as state borders or political divides. This is a subjective experience, evoking contradictory emotions and ambiguous loss. We yearn for what we cannot have right now— the ability to move about freely in the world, celebrating rites of passage together, the simple pleasure of walking into a market without fear. In recognizing the diversity of our experiences and honoring our emotional responses, we embody the super power to tolerate ambiguity.

Finding Connection in Chaos

We are in this together. I see it written in sidewalk chalk and on handmade posters in front of homes and businesses throughout my neighborhood. We are confined to our homes in our respective corners of the planet, yet we are more interconnected, more interdependent, more united than ever as a human community. As citizens of the world, we have suddenly found ourselves facing a common struggle. If we pause to recognize we are experiencing a significant moment in history, we might ask ourselves, how do we want to make it matter? How can we see this strange and stressful time as an opportunity to make it mean something?

The Power is in Our Response

The Corona virus and its far reaching implications have had an impact on each of us. Our routines have been rocked, and we have had to modify our lives in the face of unexpected changes as schools, restaurants, events, gyms, and places of work shut down. These disruptions can be disconcerting, especially considering we still don’t yet understand the severity or how long this will last. However, within this challenge, as we navigate the unknown, we also encounter an opportunity. An opportunity to deliberately choose how we respond. An opportunity to emerge from this moment more united and resilient. In our response, we discover our power.

Healing with Gratitude

Witnessing the destruction of the California wildfires over the last couple of weeks has given me pause to reflect. Although we weren't directly impacted, several close friends and family members were evacuated, and some experienced considerable damage to their properties. My heart goes out to those who lost their homes. Being a relatively nostalgic and sentimental person, I couldn't imagine losing everything…

People and RelationshipsErin MasonNovember 17, 2018community, current events, family, gratitude, healing, perspective, relationships

Empowerment: Inside Out

Empowerment is a strong theme right now across the country. What does it mean and why is it so important? The prefix “em-“ is often used as a way to intensify the meaning of something. It indicates causing something to become, or happen to, itself. For example, if we are embodied, we are in our bodies, more aware of the sensations and experiences of our body…

Self-DiscoveryErin MasonOctober 26, 2017confidence, current events, empowerment, perseverance, resiliency, strength

The Powers of Storytelling

When I was a little girl, I was a storyteller, able to weave tales together like a master. I would try to convince others my stories were true, often because the stories felt so true for me. It was an imaginary world, and growing up in a home with one…

The Healing Potential of Fear

Navigating BalanceErin MasonNovember 17, 2016courage, current events, fear, perspective, resiliency

Pass the Politics, Please

Navigating Balance, People and RelationshipsErin MasonNovember 25, 2015balance, community, current events, perspective, relationships

Illuminating Darkness

Self-DiscoveryErin MasonJune 27, 2015current events, equality for all, forgiveness, healing

Real-ing in Hope

Navigating BalanceErin MasonJune 14, 2015current events, self-preservation

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