Find Your Middle Ground

Tag: emotional intelligence

  • Counterbalance the Chaos: 4 Precious Practices

    Counterbalance the Chaos: 4 Precious Practices

    I have written before about how to find balance after being triggered, and now there is a need to bring this awareness into our daily lives! We find ourselves living in chaotic times of uncertainty, change and fear for the well being of others and ourselves. The information is coming at us so quickly, and…

  • Don’t Struggle Against Your Feelings

    Don’t Struggle Against Your Feelings

    Inspiring words for those experiencing some stormy waves right now. “Just as the depth and stillness of the ocean lie hidden beneath the stormy waves on its surface, so the power of your essential nature lies concealed behind all of your turbulent feelings. Struggling against your feelings only keeps you tossing around on the stormy…

  • First Step to Forgiveness

    First Step to Forgiveness

    So many of life’s experiences challenge us and give us the opportunity to learn and grow – especially in our relationships with others and getting to know our authentic selves. As we grow in awareness, we take responsibility for all our experiences and our feelings. With patience and practice we stop blaming others and learn…

  • Find Balance After Being Triggered – 6 tools to use

    This is a re-blog of a post that I found helpful to come back to. As we continue through these difficult times, more and more stress and distress will impact us all. Over the next few weeks, I will share practical posts to help us navigate the lows of life. May we all find our…

  • Follow the Conflict

    “We feel conflict.  The conflict we feel is not a problem. It is a messenger. We do not need help; we need only understand that there is no choice in life but to follow the conflict where it takes us. If we are prepared to go there, we may discover the actuality of self and…

  • Be Present to Negative Emotions

    Go ahead and embrace the importance of negative emotion. Your emotions and the way you feel is your guidance system and it is telling you everything you need to know. If you feel negative emotion, then you are either resisting how things are in the present moment, resisting something that was in the past, or…

  • Find Balance After Being Triggered – 6 tools to use

    Its part of our human nature to become annoyed and angry when we feel threatened or things don’t go our way. Irritation and frustration seem to go hand in hand with the fast paced demands of life today. We humans also have a “fight or flight” response when we feel threatened. It helped our ancestors…

  • * Inspiration – conflict

    “We feel conflict. The conflict we feel is not a problem. It is a messenger. We do not need help; we need only understand that there is no choice in life but to follow the conflict where it takes us. If we are prepared to go there, we may discover the actuality of self and…

  • * Choose your Thinking and Change your Life

      “Hatred cannot coexist with loving-kindness, and dissipates if supplanted with thoughts based on loving-kindness.” ~ The Buddha Modern research concurs. We cannot be relaxed and stressed at the same time … or grateful and resentful …  or forgiving and vengeful. When we bring awareness to the present moment we can’t be regretting the past, or…

  • * Why our Brains Aren’t Tuned into the Good

    I listened to an interview with Danial Goleman the other day. He is a neuro psychologist and is known for identifying the elements of Emotional Intelligence (EQ): Awareness of our emotions, mastery of our emotions, awareness of other’s emotions and empathy, our ability to build relationships. He was talking about the different parts of our…

  • * First Step to Forgiveness

    So many of life’s experiences challenge us and give us the opportunity to learn and grow – especially in relationship to others and getting to know our authentic selves. As we grow in awareness, we take responsibility for all our experiences and our feelings. With patience and practice we stop blaming others and learn to…

  • * Making Friends with our Emotions

    I am grateful to work with clients who want to find their middle ground. A big part of this is becoming aware of what gets in the way and making friends with our emotions.  This poem by Chade Meng Tan is taken from his book Search Inside Yourself. It is inspired by Rumi’s The Guest…

  • * Pondering – accepting what is

    I woke up this morning pondering how it is so hard to accept what is. Our brains say – yes I get it. We may even bring it into mindful awareness every day through meditation or yoga. We think we have it handled, and then … out of the blue we find ourselves getting impatient,…

  • * Being Graceful When Triggered

    Originally posted on Find Your Middle Ground: I can recall so clearly what happens when I am triggered. It still surprises me when I am, but I also know that it will pass when I let myself feel what’s going on. I used to think that being graceful was putting on a brave face and…

  • Tips for Handling the Highs and Lows of Life

    I came across this list in a training manual for helping people manage their stress. I’m not sure who the originator is, but I would like to acknowledge Dr Laura Belsten and the Institute for Social + Emotional Intelligence for sharing it. Good stuff 🙂 Accept that some days you’re the pigeon, and some days…

  • * Your Breath is How you Live your Life

    Do you know how are you breathing right now? Take a moment and simply notice your breath. Perhaps place your hand on your navel and the other above your heart.  Notice the movement as you inhale and exhale. We breathe in and we breathe out. And for the most part we take it completely for…