Empoword Community

When I was 16 I almost died.

My appendix had perforated. It had been leaking slowly for months before near fatal complications brought the problem to everyone’s attention. At the risk of boring my readers with the details of my hospitalization, let’s fast-forward to five days post-op, three days post-ICU. It was fast approaching the day I would need a new IV. Starting my first IV had been a disastrous (and painful) experience that I had no intention of repeating. But something wonderful happened. When it came time to replace the IV, I was well enough to discontinue intravenous fluids. My recovery progressed rapidly and I went home weeks ahead of schedule.

Was it coincidence or had my positive attitude and visualization made a difference? No one taught me to visualize or encouraged me to think positively. I just did it. At 16, I had a nagging hunch this somehow had impacted my recovery. Today, I know I did. That profound teenage experience sowed the seeds that would later sprout into Empoword.

Nine years ago, when my mother was dying of ovarian cancer, she turned to me for help with “alternative” healing resources. She had heard about a naturopath. Would I go with her?

The doctor, a very knowledgeable woman, spent over two hours with us. She gave my mother over 35 different supplements and herbal remedies to take. Most, I am confident, would have had some benefit. The catch was my mother had never taken a vitamin in her life. Suddenly she was supposed to take 35 different pills and concoctions throughout the day? It was just too much to contemplate, too much change, too much of something new and foreign and uncomfortable.

I brought my mom home, she crawled into bed, overwhelmed, confused and scared. She never took a single supplement the doctor recommended. Ovarian cancer took her life three months later.

It wasn’t until several years later, when I was in graduate school, studying holistic wellness and the science behind the mind-body connection that I realized what happened. My mother needed to feel like she was still in control of her life. Cancer was diminishing this vibrant, capable woman daily and she just wanted to feel powerful again. She wanted – she needed – to feel empowered.

To this day, I am convinced that if the naturopath had given my mother just one herbal remedy, it would have had more of an impact than all 35 combined. That one pill would have had exponential healing power: it would not only have had some measure of biochemical efficacy, it would also have fortified my mother’s attitude and supplemented her spirit. And as I learned at 16, when we actively are engaged in any healing process, we feel better, which often means we get better.

My graduate work wove together a unique course of study in holistic wellness. I explored the inner workings and science behind the mind-body connection. I delved into the use of imagery in healing. I also trained in various coaching and counseling techniques.

As I progressed in school, looking for new and better ways to help people manage their overall health and wellness, something became clear. For better or worse, people want a quick fix – a magic bullet, even if that magic bullet is an “alternative” remedy. If it’s quick and easy, it almost always feels like the right answer. Problem is “magic bullets” don’t always work. In fact drugs are only effective a fraction of the time. I knew from experience and research, that one of the most powerful “bullets” is free and readily available: our mind, our thoughts, our attitude. But using this “drug” takes work and commitment and consistency. Let’s face it, how many self-help books get read and forgotten? How many new exercise regimes get started and then fade? How long can you maintain a positive attitude in the face of adversity without considerable support?

My idea was simple. It had to be. Use a single word – a mantra – to remind you of your goals and dreams. Put that word where it will get seen a lot so it becomes a gentle, yet consistent, source of reinforcement and inspiration throughout the day.

So where would that mantra get seen often? On stuff that we use regularly as we move through our day: the bathroom mirror, the car window, our computers, the coffee mugs and water bottles on our desks, the clothes we wear.

And so Empoword was born. We would put one-word mantras on tee shirts, water bottles, mugs, window clings and more. The words would be there for support when your best friend or coach or therapist couldn’t. And they would keep working long after the jolt from a motivational seminar or an inspiration book faded.

Now all I needed was a business partner….

Stephanie Ross, MA is the co-founder and co-CEO of Empoword. She is a certified MARI practitioner and maintains a private counseling practice, Intuitive Health Management, in St. Paul, MN where she lives with her twin daughters, Emily and Heather.

To read more about Empoword, click here.