A Provocative Take on How to Be after the Election
Listen to me. My entire body of work has been built on darkness: in the panic, in the desperation, in the pain.
My work asks a single question: When the world seems to give you plenty of reasons to stay down, what does it take to rise?
Those of us who study the neuroscience of resilience understand that being resilient is not so much hard as it is counterintuitive. It requires a new way of looking at things.
Really think about what I am going to say here. Feel free to evaluate me, my credentials and experience with emotion, stress and power. Then, as you read what I write, contrast it with everything else you read these days. You be the judge.
You are in charge.
Begin by evaluating for yourself: Does any of this stuff I've been consuming--that I've been shoving in my body--give me an ounce of clarity on how to make things better?
Or do all these 'news' articles, 'expert opinions,' and 'thought leaders' only fan the flames of chaos, anxiety and confusion?
Is *anyone* winning when the answer always requires more hypervigilance and tension?
Your brain is the most extraordinary machine on the planet. Breakthroughs and miracles happen all the time. But not while you are shoving your own face deeper in the very things making you sick.
Here this, please: The brain sees what it predicts.
Your brain is self-reinforcing. If you say there is misery, you will see more and more misery. We have copious amounts of scientific data to substantiate this.
The error you make is concluding you are just an observer of a miserable reality you can't touch.
DOES YOUR BRAIN NOT CREATE? Do you not all day long, every single day, have ideas about things and then create them in the material world?
Your brain does not observe reality; your brain creates it.It is the path of weakness—the booby prize—to listen to a bunch of people panicking and then panic along with them.
Right now, a remarkable act of courage and transformation is to claim the energy of your emotion and attention and direct it powerfully. Stop letting other people hijack your own nervous system.
Decide to be sovereign.
Refuse to panic with them.
Ignore all things dressed up as 'new' news that are only the same, emotionally incontinent storylines that offer not a single solution.
Understand the difference between processing your emotions and drowning in them.
Look specifically for people who speak a language of resilience, peace and power and give your energy here.
Above all, claim deeply your own authority. Right now, lots of people are talking about leadership. Thank God, you get to decide which type you are going to be.
I wrote Energy Rising precisely to show you how to meet moments like these with emotional power.
If you know people who need a new perspective rooted in the neuroscience of human potential, please share this post. The era of emotional power is upon us—and it belongs to us all.
If you have questions, let me know. Happy to help answer them.