Description
In this course, Mark Matousek offers time-tested principles for remaining balanced and sane in times of extreme adversity, change and emerging opportunities.
Four 90-minute live webinars
Tuesdays & Thursdays, March 18-27 • 1 pm ET / 10 am PT
Overview of The Spiritual Power of Resilience
The journey we share now as human beings is one of profound self-discovery, unfolding
in an age of extraordinary change. We can sense the rumblings in the atmosphere. We
know that our familiar world is rapidly evaporating and each of us is wondering how best
to suit up for the years – and decades – ahead. Knowing the limits of your power and
self-control is one of the secrets to wisdom and maintaining well-being. Recognizing
your proper power proportion in the world, being truthful about what can be changed
and what can’t, and learning to turn the obstacles upside down, enables us to move
through dangerous times with more courage, grace, clarity, and not be undone by
external events. The best preparation for any time of great change is to know yourself;
more specifically, to know you can count on your inner resources as a guidance system.
In this four-part course, Mark Matousek offers time-tested principles for remaining
balanced and sane in times of extreme adversity, change and emerging opportunities.
Drawing on the wisdom of some of the most renowned writers throughout history,
including Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, Montaigne, and Emerson, he links this ancient
stream of practical philosophy to the challenges of our tumultuous times. Many of these
great teachers and leaders taught that spirit is tested in periods of apocalyptic
— apocalypse stems from the Greek for “reveal or uncover” — and that wakefulness
leads to transformation.
And this is an age of transformation – make no mistake about that. We can hardly keep
up with the shifting sand beneath our feet. We wake up to a new world every day. Our
greatest personal challenge today is to learn how to discern what is truth from the
onslaught of disinformation flowing through our lives each day. You may think you are
immune from the effects of the information overload that we contend with every day, but
you are not. None of us is. We are each facing the unprecedented challenge of learning
how to live in a human community that is changing faster than we could have imagined.
This class addresses the challenges that we are facing, offering participants guidance
on how to think of your life as its own power center in this universe.
The Spiritual Power of Resilience
How To Stay Sane in Crazy Times
Lesson Plan
Lesson One
Tuesday Mar 18
1 pm ET / 10 am PT
Recognize the Limits of Your Control
Nothing is more important to reducing suffering than finding your proper proportion in the universe. That means recognizing the limits of your control, acting when necessary and knowing when to take your hands off the wheel. Paradoxically, this makes you stronger in circumstances within your sphere of influence. Knowing how to direct your power in your life is a core life skill, especially today.
Lesson Two
Thursday Mar 20
1 pm ET / 10 am PT
Turn Your Obstacles Upside Down
Every problem contains its own solution. Many great teachers taught that ingenuity, turning the gravitas of hardship against itself, and optimizing seemingly negative circumstances through imagination, is key to our adaptive human genius. The capacity to shift perspective is our ace in the hole, giving us the ability to neutralize adversity by turning negatives toward the good. And the realization that we have more power than we ever thought possible is a life game-changer.
Lesson Three
Tuesday Mar 25
1 pm ET / 10 am PT
Love the Life You Have (Amor Fati)
Great teachers had a unique way of prompting gratitude. They called it “negative visualization,” the practice of remembering how circumstances can always be worse, being mindful of the mishaps, disappointments, accidents, and worse, you’re not experiencing at any given moment. This inversion becomes a reality check to the mind that too frequently forgets its own blessings.
Lesson Four
Thursday Mar 27
1 pm ET / 10 am PT
Memento Mori, Essential Practice
Impermanence is the great awakener, our primary teacher as mortal beings. The greatest teachers instruct us to remember death daily as a tonic against complacency and as fuel for spiritual awakening. We frequently comment during life disasters that indeed life is brief. There is wisdom in reflecting upon that truth. A medieval monk once wrote that “If the cardinal’s flight from bank to bank were less brief, it would also be less glorious.” Challenges, in other words, can be our source of profound inspiration. Remembering this truth can transform your life. In this final session, Mark sums up the principles of the course and gives you spiritual exercises for further empowerment.
About Mark Matousek
Mark Matousek is a bestselling author, teacher, and speaker whose work focuses on personal awakening and creative excellence through transformational writing and self-inquiry. He brings over three decades of experience as a memoirist, editor, interviewer, survivor, activist, and spiritual seeker to his penetrating and thought provoking work with students. His workshops, classes, and mentoring have inspired thousands of people around the world to reach their artistic and spiritual goals.
In his books and teaching, Mark guides you through an original process of self-examination called Writing To Awaken. This transformative method uses writing a tool for insight, innovation, and clarity of purpose. Mark teaches that, “When you tell the truth, your story changes. When your story changes, your life is transformed.” His work is accessible to non-writers as well as those with writing experience. Scientific studies reveal that expressive writing has remarkable physical and psychological benefits. Writing To Awaken is a powerful, uniquely direct path to revealing the wisdom already inside you.
Frequently Asked Questions
