How to Feel Empowered Instead of Hopeless

We’re back for Season 6 of Hello Universe! 🎉

We kick off this season with a listener question so many are asking: 

 ”Every time I open the news, I feel like I'm hit with another wave of heartbreak. Part of me wants to stay awake and engaged, but another part of me just feels so tired. But then I turn away to preserve my sense of self and protect joy, and I feel guilty and maybe irresponsible. How do you hold hope in a moment that feels so dark? How do I find the balance in a moment like this?”

Highlights

• The “not enough monster” that latches onto everything—including activism.
• Joy as resistance, and the radical practice of letting yourself feel good even when the world is on fire.
• “Tend to your part of the garden”—why committing to your thread matters more than chasing all of them.
• The difference between helplessness (grief that opens) and despair (grief that shuts down).
• Why living in possibility is vulnerable work—and how to practice it every day.
• Eva’s blunt question: “Are we evolving or regressing?” and the nuanced answers that follow.
• The paradox of progress: letting go of the myth of linear evolution while still choosing trust.
• Kyley on unworthiness as the invisible wall between us and love—and why believing we deserve better is collective sacred work.
• The radical agency of choosing happiness, and why blame is a seductive detour away from accountability.

This episode is a balm for anyone who has felt the whiplash of living in a world of abundance and devastation at once. If you’ve ever wrestled with guilt for feeling joy, or wondered if your thread really matters, we made this one for you.

A Gentle & Fierce Path Forward: A Workbook for Staying Present, Committed and Resourced in Times of Crisis
https://portal.kyleycaldwell.com/gentle-fierce-workbook

Eva
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