“The most powerful thing you can do right now is be patient while things are unfolding for you.” ~Idil Ahmed⠀ I still remember my last year of college vividly. I was frustrated and disheartened after my application to study abroad was rejected. I had been obsessed with exploring the world through academia, convinced that further study was the best way…
“Shadow work is the way to illumination. When we become aware of all that is buried within us, that which is lurking beneath the surface no longer has power over us.” ~Aletheia Luna For years, I believed healing was about transcending pain. I took the courses, read the books, learned every energy-healing technique I could find, and became a…
“If you are continually judging and criticizing yourself while trying to be kind to others, you are drawing artificial boundaries and distinctions that only lead to feelings of separation and isolation.” ~Kristin Neff I was lying on my couch again, Netflix playing in the background, when I heard my husband’s footsteps on the stairs. Instinctively, I reached for my…
Tell me, is your jaw clenched as you’re reading this? Are your shoulders hunched? Do you feel tension throughout your body that mirrors the constant buzz of stress within your mind? I suspect we all feel like this far more often than we may even realize because, for many of us, it’s the norm. We push ourselves through one…
“In a world where you can be anything, be kind.” ~Unknown “Girls are mean!” I nodded knowingly as my boss struggled to explain the difference between raising boys and girls. I couldn’t speak to raising boys, but I remembered all too well what it was like when my daughters were growing up. Girls traveled in packs, always with a…
“The real meditation is how you live your life.” ~Jon Kabat-Zinn I never saw myself as someone who would meditate. It wasn’t even on my radar until my wife suggested it while we were both working on our wellness. I chuckled. Like a lot of people, I assumed meditation meant sitting still, trying to clear my mind, whatever that…
“Shame is the intensely painful feeling or experience of believing that we are flawed and therefore unworthy of love, belonging, and connection.” ~Brené Brown, Atlas of the Heart This past year, I started the journey of investigating—maybe even befriending—“my” shame. I use quotes around the “my” because most of the shame is not mine; much of it is internalized…
“Rule your mind, or it will rule you.” ~Buddha I used to be trapped in a cycle of overthinking, replaying past mistakes, worrying about the future, and mentally holding onto every thought, just as I physically held onto old clothes, books, and my child’s outgrown toys. The fear of letting go—whether of physical items or persistent thoughts—felt overwhelming. But…
“You should be angry. You must not be bitter. Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. It doesn’t do anything to the object of its displeasure. So use that anger. You write it. You paint it. You dance it. You march it. You vote it. You do everything about it. You talk it. Never stop talking it.” ~Maya Angelou My…
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” ~Albert Einstein For a long time, I lived under the illusion that I was solving the problems standing between me and my desires. Whether it was love, success, or the kind of life I dreamed of, I believed I was taking the necessary steps…
