Tag Archives: self care
For a few years now, I have watched in horror as my country implodes through a self-inflicted massacre. Doomscrolling on Twitter hasn’t helped. If you’re really interested in watching my brain unspool in real time, it’s all still there. Twitter is a way that I process things. As a way to stave off the negativity, positive-thinking clichés cascade through my head. I use them as mental pitons to stabilize my thoughts as they spiral downward. Stabilize they must, because at…..
How many of you are good at giving compliments? How many of you are good at graciously accepting them? If you’re like most people, it’s easier for you to give a compliment than it is to receive one. Know this: when you minimize or refuse to accept a compliment, you are insulting the giver and telling yourself that you are not worthy. Am I being harsh? Nope. As a writer, I love words. I love how words convey meaning, mood…..
I have news for you perfectionists out there: You’re going to fail. You’re going to disappoint someone. You’re going to get something all wrong. …And you’re going to learn and move on. At these “failure junctions” in your life, you will lose friends. Your network will change. It is supposed to. Through the learning of your lesson, your polarity will change, and you will fall out of alignment with some of your friends (maybe even family). This changing polarity will…..
Take a look at the people you’ve chosen to surround yourself with—are there people from your childhood who no longer align with your goals or beliefs? Do you spend time with work colleagues who stifle your spirit? Is your circle of friends supportive and encouraging? There’s an extremely effective sorting statement you can apply to your relationships that will begin to shift the energy of the individuals in your orbit: “If someone is not nourishing you, they are draining you.”…..
One day, I was taking a pizza out of the oven and caught my forearm on the inside of the door. I flinched and drew my arm away from the hot metal, but the damage was already done: within minutes, an angry weal had formed where my arm had touched the oven. I immediately took steps to clean and treat the wound and went on with my day. A few days later while I was brushing my teeth, I noticed…..
The following blog post is an excerpt from my book, Circuit Train Your Brain, in honor of National Chocolate Day. Fernando Pessoa was on to something. Scientifically proven to elevate your mood, chocolate is a fantastic treat that boosts your brain power and may protect your heart health. I am not talking about milk chocolate or white chocolate (which, as any pedant—like me—can tell you, technically isn’t chocolate). While I will have a square of milk chocolate occasionally, the true…..
Even if you are not particularly religious or attend a church, you are probably familiar with the scripture, ‘seek and ye shall find.’ What if you don’t know what you seek? Would you recognize the answer? From early childhood, I have been driven by the need to know the mysteries of the universe. Dogmatic conversations of a definitive truth aside, my specific religious teachings from childhood left me with the assumption that upon death, one would be privy to the…..
“How much longer will you go on letting your energy sleep? How much longer are you going to stay oblivious of the immensity of yourself?” — Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh The significance of this quote and its meaning really hit me between the eyes when I first read it. There are a couple of societal programming factors that contribute to my specific reaction: First of all, I was raised to feel as if “tooting my own horn” was boastful. Delivering results,…..
How do you express love? Emotions about love and partnerships (or absence of them) occupy the thought clouds of most people for much of our time. After most of us have spent over an entire year spent either alone or in a pandemic bubble limited to very few people, those thoughts can bounce around your head to the point of distortion. It can be difficult to sift out what’s real and which thoughts are skewed through the lens of a…..
Today is National Pumpkin Seed Day! In honor of this autumn treat, I thought I’d share a story and recipe about my days as a nonprofit founder. When I moved to Chicago, one of the first things I did was to alter my diet to a more plant-based variety. There were many reasons for my decision: • Vegetables and grains were less expensive than meat. As a founder who didn’t receive a salary for the nonprofit I established, cost was…..