Karilyn Owens
The Discernment Process

Discernment is a tool in our spiritual arsenal – one of the Holy Spirit gifts to us. It guides us to the will of God, which is to say the best possible outcome for us.

The Discernment Process
open heart, love
Karilyn Owens
Word of the Year: Blossom

This year I choose blossom as my Word because it represents my intention to grow from the roots I planted as a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5) and build back what was broken through the vehicle of relationship.

Word of the Year: Blossom
Karilyn Owens
The Power of Decisions

It was the morning of the most important interview of my career; with emotions running haywire and hormones adding a dizzying effect, I decided that I just couldn't go to my interview that afternoon. The fear shouted so loudly that I couldn't hear the voice of wisdom that knew to show up despite the very big feelings. This was my dream job, after all!

The Power of Decisions
Karilyn Owens
Drop the Baggage

God recently revealed to me that I am holding onto the weight of my past. By holding onto my past, I’m not only carrying around a weight I was never meant to carry, but I am blocking the blessings of God’s plan for me in the future. So today I ask you: What weight are you carrying that is hindering your upward momentum?

Drop the Baggage
Karilyn Owens
10 Ways to Manage Depression

Covid-19 caught nearly all of us by surprise, leaving us ripped of our routines, schedules and normal circumstances — everything we typically rely on for stability and consistency. If we weren’t already prone to or struggling with depression, COVID-19 certainly stirred up prime circumstances for depression to show up (many of us without any prior experience with mental illness or the coping skills to deal with it in healthy ways).

10 Ways to Manage Depression

resilience

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Keys to a Resilient Heart

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keys to a resilient heart

The blessings of the past 10 days (and year) have put me in an unshakable state of gratitude. If you ask anyone close to me, they’d tell you how lost and unlike myself I felt this time last year. And I’d agree with them. I was constantly sick, working a job I hated, and in an unhealthy relationship (months away from our wedding). By January, I was unemployed, heartbroken and left to pick up the pieces.  I have my loyal family and friends to thank for helping me wake up to my own life and not only cherish it, but grow into the resilient person I am today (even if I didn’t always believe in myself). Life has a funny way of working out. Sometimes you have to head down the absolute wrong path to learn what the right one is. I learned to laugh and cry and brave my way through this year. And I have incredibly strong influences who continue to touch my heart deeply.

I am blessed to say I am the happiest I have ever been, not because I have a perfect life or the perfect relationship; my life is far from perfect and I am happily single. The reason for this is I make the best of everything.

If you don’t love the person you are or who you’re becoming, change your perspective because it will change your life. Choose to become the best version of yourself.

Develop a Resilient Spirit

I found practicing gratitude goes a long way; so does resiliency. I had the privilege of stumbling upon Cheryl Richardson's podcast on resiliency featuring Dr. Joan Borysenko. I discovered you must adopt the ability to adjust your sails while realistically approaching necessary changes.

Dr. Borysenko refers to this attitude as faith: the willingness to be present to reality moment by moment as it evolves. My personal perspective encompasses a strong faith in a higher power (knowing if I take each step, I’ll be guided to where I need to be). But this mentality only works if you take initiative to move forward based on what you can realistically achieve today.

Aside from realism and faith, Joan’s keys to resiliency are:

  • the ability to be creative/improvisational (the capacity to make something out of nothing)
  • a sense of humor
  • forgiveness
  • gratitude

These gifts all have one major component in common (and not just because they were my combined saving grace). The keys to resiliency keep you grounded in the present rather than prisoner to your past mistakes, regret or heartbreak.

Dr. Borysenko goes on to share the last key to the equation in the wake of change: to keep the best kind of company you have—people who believe in your potential while refusing to let you forget why you’re walking this new path.

And possibly more key than this is creating a new network that supports where you’re going. These fresh souls will only know the you that you are working to become, and they will reinforce the blessings of charting your new course. Developing a "soul tribe" is vital for fostering your best self.

We cannot control the outcome of certain situations in life, but we are given the opportunity to choose how we react; we can either succumb to our failures and shortcomings or rise with a resilient spirit to create a life we can proudly embrace.

I hope you choose faith, but most of all, I pray your open heart leads you to the most magical of places.

To listen to the entire Podcast with Dr. Borysenko on "Developing Resiliency During Change," download it on iTunes.