Self Empowerment in Action

The whole world is in fear, economic crisis. The scientific world is in controversy with many politicians. Nobody really knows what is going on and how to deal with it. The consequences are huge. A worldwide economic crisis leads to poverty consciousness, disease and deaths, not only/necessarily due to the virus, but also due to weakened immune systems, and hospitals not operating as usual. What can you do?

This is a series of coaching tips to experiment with in order to create a strong and stable mindset and to meet the challenges in life that you don’t have direct control over such as the worldwide situation due to Covid-19.
These new habits are helping individuals to stay mentally and emotionally strong, calm and focused no matter what. They won’t change your financial situation immediately, nor change the Governmental restrictions during the worldwide state of crisis. However, they can change the way you deal with a situation: to stay clear, balanced, make wise decisions and have a positive impact on others.
I dis–covered these things during times of major crisis (see below) by continuously observing my mind, emotions and habits. These things are nothing new. If the way I communicate resonates with you, this may help you to apply these tips, knowing that when you practice something many times you create a new habit and your default reaction can change from fear or anger to calmness and clarity and keep you healthy.

What simple things can do for you

My intention is to contribute to the mission of the Early Birds Club, an organization teaching how to become balanced, stable and purposeful even during challenging times, driven by values such as kindness, compassion and unconditional love not bound to race, financial status or religion. Humans are healthy, resilient and purposeful by nature and it is a question of not getting out of balance, or trapped in limiting habitual reactions but practicing those resilience habits to be able to apply them in any situation.

Create a powerful habit

Tips can be helpful. Tips can be really powerful once you make them a habit in your daily life. If you want to maintain resilience, go ahead and contemplate, practice and experiment right away! Those 10 little things are strengthening your “resilience muscle”, so you have it, when you need it most.

Tip No 1

Appreciate the small stuff

This is a 5 minute exercise that can experimented with 1×5 minutes or 5×1 minutes. You can’t fail on this: all it takes is shifting attention and focus to something positive right here, right now. Anywhere. When you notice your mind is stuck in fearful thinking, that might be a great moment to give it a go!

Shift attention right here, right now

Even in the most difficult situation, you can find a small thing in your life right here, right now, that is positive: a plant, the rain, the air to breathe, a smile or your own potential to gift a smile to a stranger. Your thinking mind might say “nothing changes when I do that”, but I observed something does change: the way you vibrate is different when you focus on something positive.

The way you vibrate

Focusing on something positive right here and now keeps us from getting lost in negativity. And that’s it. That’s all. The exercise does not replace your responsibility to act appropriately. You can simply stay balanced, strong and focused!

Many talk about gratitude and affirmations. Memorizing and reciting somebody else’s lines is easy. Feeling what you say is not necessarily easy. When we say something without feeling it, the energy is moving into different directions. Appreciating the small stuff is about consciously keeping heart and mind open in order to detect, notice and appreciate the things around you in daily life that are positive. Instead of drinking (alcohol) to forget, we focus to remember. Instead of talking about what goes we suppose is wrong, we stay centered. You can shifting focus from what you judge as bad to what you recognize as positive in such a way that you may notice on a sensation of expansion in the heart: felt gratitude versus empty recited words. And that sensation is what fuels your power to stay balanced.

Count your blessings

What are you grateful about right now?

What does it take for you to invest 5 minutes a day to simply focus on something that you appreciate as positive, nurturing or helpful? You can exercise each time you have a cup of tea or water, when you walk to the car or bus, when you wake up or before you go to sleep! It doesn’t cost any more effort, just focus, maybe good will and a loving attitude towards yourself.

Here is an example:
Right now I can witness a beautiful landscape as I write this article. I feel rich.
To my left is a plant. You might see its beauty right away, but if you look closer, you can witness the magic behind it: it hardly needs any water, keeps staying green, strong and resistant. I am amazed and feel connected to this magic that I am part of.

If you find it difficult to discover small stuff around you, that you can appreciate, don’t hesitate to share. We are all here in the same planet, happy to assist each other to sharpen our tools.

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My story for those who like stories

I had the privilege to grow up in a middle class family in Germany. Good manners, discipline and respect were important values there. I find they are real virtues, if kept in balance: Applied without real kindness, compassion and love those values can be empty and manipulative.

In 2000 I experienced a persistent state of negativity within myself. I just couldn’t stop thinking about my work duties as a managing director since a long time and was lacking meaning. I felt alone in the marriage and guilty for not being with the children most of the day. I didn’t have the tools I have today. During the week I would be in the office or visit clients, on many weekends I would organize seminars and take the kids along.

I had created a no-win situation in the mind. I left the marriage, the job, the money and the “security”. The same year I was diagnosed with Stage IV malign melanoma. I believe my immune system was low from all the stress that I had created. Now that was a different story: it was no longer about doing the right thing and making good decisions. It was about living or dying. I don’t wish anybody this kind of a learning lesson.

What did I learn?

I realized that I had not appreciated my own life! I had taken the gift of life for granted, full of heavy expectations, duties, hard on myself without saying “No” or “Stop”, without personal boundaries. And that was without COVID-19. The thinking patterns I had unconsciously taken on did not allow a life at ease. My mind was setup to detect possible reasons in every day’s life to justify not feeling good about myself, never good enough, unconsciously. I learned that it is common that we have unconscious patterns running inside of us, programs that we took on somehow during childhood or otherwise. Those patterns can be cleansed and transformed, so we can live our true nature. That became my job.

Focus on the positive side of the story

Everything changed in 2000. I studied Coaching, NLP, presentation, mediation, communication and learned personal development tools with the idea in mind to help myself. Then an epiphany appeared and I became a “Walking Coach”. Soon after, my first client showed up out of the blue. During a trip volunteering for a children’s foster home I bumped into my Yoga Guru in India and learned about yogic lifestyle. Ever since I promote connecting with nature and coach people to change inner patterns and live a healthy lifestyle. I know that there is a power within me, a power that I am part of, that gives me free will how to respond to any situation.

Appreciate the small stuff

5 minutes a day can make the difference in your ability to keep focusing on what is truly important to you and how you want to show up in this world, no matter what.

You can do that too! It’s simple, more fun and effective.

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