wellbeing — EMPOWERED TIMES BLOG

Creating a Haven in the Storm

Do you ever feel like life is an endless series of transition and recalibration? Like we barely make it through one holiday or event when we find ourselves in the midst of another demanding situation or challenging season. We catch our breath just in time for another wave to hit.

Our bodies have an inner autopilot (homeostasis) that restores balance in response to external stress. It automatically regulates our blood sugar, hormones, and heart rate. We don’t even have to think about it!

Mental or emotional harmony, is a more conscious process known as equanimity. It stabilizes us and helps us to weather the storms of life. Amid hectic schedules, successes, failures, celebrations, or crises, equanimity is our ability to return to our center.

Life is full of paradoxical experiences that intermingle and coexist. Broadening our perspective helps us to realize that everything belongs— struggle and ease, conflict and compassion, chaos and peace. Equanimity helps us remain receptive and flexible. It provides a foundation, a firm and fertile ground from which to grow. Beyond survival, resilience is what happens when we not only endure the storm but are changed by it. Equanimity anchors us. Resilience transforms us.

New Year Prospecting

It’s a New Year! Rather than attempting to make resolutions about what you will or won’t do, consider prospecting for something more significant and sustaining. Be someone who seeks out opportunity, explores possibilities, and gains perspective in your approach.

Step-by-step, this article will guide you through a valuable process of reflecting on the previous year, exploring your aspirations for the new year, and setting your intentions with specific action steps. Don’t rush this process. Take all month if you have to! The discoveries you’ll make along the way will be well worth your time, energy, and efforts.

Non spirat qui non aspirat.

(S/he who doesn’t aspire doesn’t breathe.)

Anger Part 3: Finding Your Release Valve

“I had a long fuse, but when it blew, watch out!” Erik explained. He was always a rule follower, well-behaved and compliant, but even as a kid, he struggled with his anger. His early strategy to suppress it became unsustainable as he grew older and experienced life's challenges.

We are taught to control it, conceal it, avoid it, deny it, deal with it. We are usually not taught to feel our anger, nor how expressing it effectively can be healthy for us. How do you express anger at your worst? How do you express anger at your best?

Learning to respond to anger effectively helps to harness this powerful emotion so that it doesn’t hijack you unexpectedly. Make your anger work for you rather than against you. Prioritize safety, then don’t be afraid to unleash the beast. Learn how to self-regulate, then experiment with how to express your anger.

Read more for ways to safely respond and express this powerful emotion…

Bringing Ancient Wisdom into Our Future

Ancient Greek thinkers and philosophers explored the quantitative versus qualitative juxtaposition of the human experience. They had two distinct words to describe time—chronos (clocks & calendars) and kairos (an immeasurable moment). They coined the term hedonia to refer to worldly pleasures, and eudaemonia to describe an internal connection to our sense of purpose.

We are entering a new chapter in history in which the study of ancient practices and expansive states of mind are not only respectable subjects, but are also associated with health and vitality. Concepts such as meditation and breathwork have become more commonplace in the corporate world. Psychedelic-assisted therapies and plant-based medicines have gained traction among reputable medical and research institutions. These modern trends, rooted in ancient tradition, focus on the benefits of expanded states of consciousness which invoke a sense of freedom and possibility.

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