How to become antifragile
“Our central task in life is to unmask the hidden possibilities within our challenges and limitations.”
- Brooke Sprowl
As Wayne Dyer said,
In part, it means keeping the child inside of us alive even as we take on increasing responsibilities and face the inevitable losses and pain of adulthood.
To keep this child alive requires us to remain open-hearted even as the world breaks our heart again and again.
It is a practice of softening in the face of the inevitable harshness of life, allowing our grief to heal us, our pain to teach us, and our creativity to nourish us and transmute our suffering into something beautiful, transforming us in the process.
“When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”
Consequently, when the things you look at change, it also changes the way you look at things. This is a self-reinforcing feedback loop that can diverge into both virtuous and vicious cycles.
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Tulum, Mexico - April 10-15
The reflection principle
When our lives are spiraling in a negative direction and our character is properly honed, we use our pain and struggles as feedback, offering the precise lessons we need to re-enter more empowered and transcendent ways of being.
I call this, “the Reflection Principle.”
The Reflection Principle states that everything we face in the outer world reflects something within us. When viewing the world through this lens, our greatest difficulties in life can become our greatest teachers, beckoning us into new ways of being.
When we are meaningfully engaged in the ongoing process of character refinement, we begin to benefit from our difficulties rather than suffer. Not only do we become more robust and resilient in this process, we become what Nassim Taleb calls “antifragile.”
As Taleb says in the introduction to his book, Antifragile:
“Some things benefit from shocks; they thrive and grow when exposed to volatility, randomness, disorder, and stressors…Antifragility is beyond resilience or robustness. The resilient resists shocks and stays the same; the antifragile gets better.”
Becoming antifragile relies on a willingness to meaningfully engage in the iterative and ongoing process of character refinement by viewing our lives through the lens of the Reflection Principle: seeing how each problem we face holds a lesson that serves our expansion.
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This is a lifelong process in which we remain steadfastly committed to continuously realigning our lives so that they are increasingly reflective of our deepest values, highest possibilities, and unique expression: our integrity.
As we deepen integrity in every domain of our lives, that’s when the magic happens.
Antifragility is one of the emergent properties of integrity. But there are many more.
According to my psychospiritual model, Emergence Theory, integrity across different domains of life stacks in such a way that gradually draws us into awakened consciousness.
In my experience, when we bring each of the major areas of our lives––self, relational, missional, and behavioral––into deep integrity, we begin to experience the world in radically new ways.
The power of emergence theory
We experience a more empowered and transcendent way of relating to and viewing our circumstances. We begin to have a sense of orchestration, seeing how every seeming difficulty in our lives is ultimately in service of our transformation.
We become antifragile. And our consciousness wakes up.
The premise of Emergence Theory is that this transcendent way of being in the world is the natural and inevitable outcome of bringing every domain of our lives into deep integrity, balance, and wholeness.
That’s why integrity and awakening are inextricably linked.
The principles of Emergence Theory help us usher in a new kind of awareness, unlocking creative, spiritual, and transformative energy that reinvigorates us to carry out our unique mission in the world. Emergence Theory offers a roadmap of these principles.
Reclaiming Soulful Living Retreat
Reclaiming Soulful Living:
Cultivating Awe, Beauty, and Present Moment Awareness
Tulum, Mexico - April 10-15
LEARN MORE Transformational retreat
Through our Reclaiming Soulful Living retreat in Tulum, Mexico we will work toward cultivating awe, beauty, and present moment awareness. Living soulfully is a practice of softening in the face of the inevitable harshness of life, allowing our grief to heal us, our pain to teach us, and our creativity to nourish us and transmute our heartache into something beautiful, transforming us in the process.
This requires the preservation of our own vulnerability by cultivating awe, creating beauty, and practicing present moment awareness while recognizing the holy in our daily lives, our interconnectedness with all things, and the god within us, others, and the living world.
This stunning retreat is located in a gorgeous natural reserve biosphere where the lush jungle meets the white sand coastline, where we’ll be floating in mangroves, waving hello to manatees, and swimming in the turquoise waters of cenotes (underwater caves).
If you feel called to awaken your sense of awe, presence, and connection with your soul, please learn more our transformational experience.
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Brooke Sprowl is an industry-leading expert and author in psychology, spirituality, and self-transformation. Her insights have featured in dozens of media outlets such as Huffington Post, Business Insider, Cosmopolitan Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, Spectrum One News, Mind Body Green, YourTango, and many more.
As the founder and CEO of My LA Therapy, she leads a team of 15 dedicated therapists and wellness professionals. Brooke has been a featured speaker at prominent universities and venues such as UCLA School of Public Affairs, USC, Loyola Marymount University, the Mark Taper Auditorium, and Highways Performance Gallery, to name a few.
With a Master’s degree in Clinical Social Welfare with a Mental Health Specialization from UCLA, a Bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience from USC, and certifications in peak performance and flow science from the Flow Research Collective, Brooke has helped hundreds of prominent leaders and CEO’s overcome anxiety, relationship difficulties, and trauma and reclaim a sense of purpose, vitality, and spiritual connection.
With 15 years of experience in personal development and self-transformation as a therapist and coach, she has pioneered dozens of original concepts and frameworks to guide people in overcoming mental health challenges and awakening spiritually.
Brooke is the host of the podcast, Waking Up with Brooke Sprowl. She is passionate about writing, neuroscience, philosophy, integrity, poetry, spirituality, creativity, effective altruism, personal and collective healing, and curating luxury, transformational retreat experiences for high-achievers seeking spiritual connection.
