All Of The Things | 13

Empowering ourselves through life’s complexities is possible. It’s not easy, it’s not usually quick, and it’s not without its hardships, but…. it is…possible.

What if you embraced the mindset that feeling empowered, every day, is possible?

How would that make you feel?

I’ve been reading, listening, and watching all of the work around Brene Brown’s Atlas Of The Heart, and in doing so, I learned we truly don’t always have the right words to identify how we are feeling. Naming our emotions is key to unlocking who we are as individuals. When we know who we are at our core, only then can we truly, deeply, connect with others.

That said, it’s important for me to recognize that we all experience different complexities. And there is no way I will be able to relate to the complexities that some of you have and will experience. This is not a place of comparison or a time for judgment. This is a place for us to open up about who we are, what makes our hearts beat, and what inspires us to get out of bed and keep going every morning.

We know there are challenges right around the corner ready to either bring us down, or empower us, and really, the choice is ours. No one is excused from life’s complexities.

Before you keep reading, take a moment to close your eyes, put your hands on your heart and take three deep breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth.

Connecting to our breath allows our mind to slow down and bring us to the present moment. In Harvard psychologist Amy Cuddy’s best-selling book, Presence, she writes, “Presence?emerges when we feel personally powerful, which allows us to be acutely attuned to our most sincere selves.”

Think about that for a moment. How would you feel if you were attuned to your ‘most sincere self?’ Maybe you already are, and that is a true blessing, you’ve done mindful work to get yourself to that place. Keep living in your presence, in your truth and being an example for others. If this is a new concept, you’re exactly where you are meant to be, keep being curious, and searching within.

Being present is where we will find our ability to EMPOWER ourselves. When we are in the thick of tough stuff that life throws our way, everything can feel heavy and down right not-doable. Yet, I’m going to offer 5 ways we can empower ourselves through life’s complexities.

Acknowledge

Acknowledge what you are experiencing. When an issue arises, call it out verbally or process it with a trusted person in your life. Lean into your relationships, you weren’t meant to process alone. Name what you are experiencing in the moment and write it down for even more power.

Feel

Feel it. Embrace it. Sit in it. Breath through it. Allowing ourselves time to truly feel the hardship, the hurt, the frustration, confusion, etc. that the complexities of life bring, will uncover clarity, solutions and eventually the ability to move in and through. We have the opportunity to expand when we embrace.

Choose

Choose what to do next. You’ve acknowledged what you’re experiencing, you’ve felt it deeply and now the choice is yours. Do you stay in the storm or do you start navigating your way to more subtle waters? Expand your comfort zone with your choices. Finding out what’s on the other side of discomfort can be transforming. You’ve survived 100% of your bad days, which means you are here and you have the opportunity to choose. ??

Identify

Since you’re still reading this, I’m going to trust we are aligned in the approach of empowering ourselves, which means you are open to mindfulness. Identify what behaviors you need to implement. Check in with your energy. Are your actions giving you energy or are they depleting you?

Envision

What’s possible for you? What’s on the other side of this complexity? While your presence is going to guide you through the complexity, having a vision for what is possible in the future is going to inspire you and energize you to keep moving forward. As you envision what’s possible, become an observer of what you are experiencing.

I know first-hand how it feels to observe life. After years of deep work, I formed the ability to observe; observe my actions, my thoughts, my emotions, my daily behaviors and my interaction with others. This has been done through meditation, consistency in my behaviors, researching, learning, asking questions, choosing again when thoughts don’t serve me, and so many more ways. It’s an ongoing learning process, that is always evolving.

As you journey forward and let the complexities of life flow in and through you, your energy will be renewed. Your mind, body and spirit will connect to support you in experiencing more than you ever thought possible. You will be, EMPOWERED in and through all of the things.

Sending positive energy and clarity as empower yourself through the complexities of life.

With Gratitude,

Chelsea