The thirteenth century poet Rumi put it beautifully when he said this: “Sorrow prepares you for joy. It violently sweeps everything out of your house, so that new joy can find space to enter. It shakes the yellow leaves from the bough of your heart, so that fresh, green leaves can grow in their place. It pulls up the rotten roots, so that new roots hidden beneath have room to grow. Whatever sorrow shakes from your heart, far better things will take their place.”
Paradoxically, the adversity or struggles we feel buried by are often the very conditions we need for growth. The premise of the Empowerment Paradox is not that we have to endure hardship, nor that we should seek to attract a life free of it, but that we become our best self – purpose driven, strong, compassionate and wise when we learn to embrace the duality of joy and pain as essential ingredients in a fruitful life. Acquiring the seven vital virtues taught in the book can equip anyone with the necessary inner tools to move confidently towards a balanced and fulfilled existence. Not in spite of adversity, but because of it.
Have you noticed that many people feel blown about by the winds of adversity becoming directionless and feeling out of control? They become victims of fate and circumstance. But others, though fewer in number, learn how to face their stressors directly, learning from them and integrating those lessons into their lives in ways that unlock hidden lessons for greater benefit. They become changed for the better. Transformed. They become a new creature endowed with deeper meaning, power and purpose. The Empowerment Paradox teaches people how to experience this transformation, and enjoy rich and meaningful growth when they are planted in the soil of adversity.
Download the Intro & First Chapter of The Empowerment Paradox
Download the Intro & First Chapter of The Empowerment Paradox
“We’re given advantages for growth through our disadvantages in life. We’re given joy when we cease to pursue it. We’re shaped by our response to the circumstances given to us, but not defined by the struggle itself. To that end, we can and must accept the role that suffering plays in our lives, while keeping our eyes fixed on the discovery of meaning and the joy of purpose.”
3
Key learning from the book
#1
When we cling to the Victorian notion of childhood innocence as taught to us through novels, movies, and fantasy, we absorb the message that life isn’t hard until adulthood (think Peter Pan!). This can ill equip us for life. By accepting the duality of joy and suffering, we can not only be better prepared, but also retain a justified optimism for better things to come when things get hard. Struggle doesn’t have to rob us of hope. It can offer valuable experience and a more authentic confidence and strength if we know how to respond to it.
#2
When we effectively estimate the quality of our suffering, and begin to respond favorably to it as something of high value, our response to it begins to shift. We then learn that it is our response, not the conditions we find ourselves in, that defines us. The seven virtues empower us to respond with strength and wisdom.
#3
On the other side of barren seasons, cleansing fires and slow, quiet growth lies the harvest of empowerment. The fruit of a higher version of ourselves - a person transformed by the seven virtues, rooted in lessons of adversity and thriving in joy. We can learn how to dream more, hope more, love more, and become more. This book shows you how.