Even though we are each unique individuals, there are common patterns and principles that apply to all of us as humans. This book is about understanding those patterns and the paradigms that hold them in place: why we feel the way we do and how we get things done and live life. Depending on how you approach it, life can be a total struggle or it can be an experience of ease and flow. The EASE System is a framework of four elemental components that must be well-managed to live an effective life: Energy, Awareness, Systems and Evolution. To understand human energy, you must also understand the TEAR Cycle (Thoughts->Emotions->Actions->Results) as well, because it is the key to how human energy flows. According to the psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in his bestselling book Flow, "People who learn to control inner experience will be able to determine the quality of their lives, which is as close as any of us can come to being happy." That would have been really nice to know before I spent 40 years struggling! Because of the struggles I experienced for so many years, I set out on a quest to understand why I felt the way I did and why my life experience was what it was - so I could change it. Bruce Lipton, Ph.D., a cell biologist who studies the link between mind and matter, describes it this way: "Knowledge is power and consequently, knowledge of self provides self-empowerment." A life of EASE is joyful and satisfying: one where well-being abounds, our physical bodies are sound and full of vitality, we are balanced, grounded, creative and engaged in satisfying relationships. It is certainly not perfect and is not always easy but truly is an existence where we can go beyond merely surviving to thriving. The information and ideas I share in this book are a distillation of some of what I have learned over many years of struggling, striving, learning, growing, implementing and evolving. Since I have learned about and practiced the principles I've shared here, my life has been completely renovated and gets better and better....and better. I can honestly say I love my life now and am eager for the future.
About the Author: Karen L. Kuykendall has a uniquely balanced blend of left and right brain thinking, combining the science of our physical world with the art of searching out and understanding the invisible world of our minds. Her left brain tendencies were developed during many years of corporate computer systems analysis and design. Her right brain tendencies have always been there, evidenced by interest and involvement in art and creativity. Karen's insatiable interest in personal development has grown out of two things: curiosity as to how systems work, particularly the system of thoughts and emotions; and a desperate need to unravel the hairball of a life she had created. Karen is an author, life coach and artist, engaging in various forms of self-expression, including traditional art, graphic design, photography, writing, and speaking. She obsessively researches personal development, including transformation, mind-body connection and human potential. She lives with her incredible husband, very old dog and ancient cat, working from her "little shed on the bluff" overlooking the plains of Northeast Oklahoma.