We’re living in a time of extremes and we need to embrace those extremes and adapt, says Gregg Braden. The New York Times bestselling author will share how to thrive in today’s rapidly changing world at the Association for Research and Enlightenment Southwest Region Spring Retreat, March 14 and 15, in Palestine, Texas. At the conference, Braden will expand on ideas presented in his new book, The Turning Point: Creating Resilience in a Time of Extremes.

His unique perspective combines nearly 30 years exploring the wisdom of ancient cultures, as well as training as a scientist. Before his career as an author of such books as The God Code, The Divine Matrix, The Spontaneous Healing of Belief and Fractal Time, Braden worked for Fortune 500 companies on solutions in times of crisis.

In the 1970s, he was employed as a computer geologist for Phillips Petroleum during the energy crisis. Then, during the final years of the Cold War, he worked as a senior computer systems designer with Martin Marietta Defense Systems. In 1991, he became the first technical operations manager for Cisco Systems.

According to Braden, other cultures have faced crises in the past, but a number of scenarios are converging currently. The three key extremes we face now are climate change, failing economies worldwide and the end of the oil age. “The world of the past is disappearing, and no one told us,” says Braden. “We’re waiting for things to get back to normal.”

Instead of clinging to a past that will not return, he says we need to embrace a “new normal.” At the conference, Braden will be sharing the fundamentals of personal and community resilience that he says are necessary to thrive. He proposes a new way of thinking about jobs, resources and money and adds that one of the principle roadblocks holding us back is the idea of separation, which science has perpetuated. “We’ve been steeped in the idea that we’re separated from our bodies, that nature is modeled on struggle and competition,” he says. “The best science has overturned that thinking with peer-reviewed facts.”

Braden asserts new research is showing that our thoughts, emotions and beliefs affect our bodies, altering the way we view illness. Also, scientists are finding out that survival in nature requires mutual aid, toppling the notion of competition as the prevailing influence of outcomes. “We need to shift from a paradigm of separateness to a paradigm of cooperation and unity,” he says.

While we frequently hear about tipping points these days regarding the environment and the economy, he believes we still have a chance to ward off catastrophe. “The good news is that we already have the solutions to the big problems that are converging in our lifetime,” says Braden “All that stands between us and the new world where energy comes from clean, abundant sources and is accessible to every member of our global family; where clean, healthy food is plentiful and accessible to every mouth on the planet; and where every human has the basic necessities to live a healthy, meaningful life is the thinking that makes room in our lives for what already exists in the world.”

For more information, visit aresouthwest.org and GreggBraden.com.