Awesome Doreen! Whether you follow through with all of them, or one of them, as long as it gets you closer to speaking your truth, the closer you come to discovering who you are, and not hiding from yourself.

Namaste, Saiisha

I have the opposite problem, where I’m a bit too outspoken about my feelings, and let me tell you – “they” don’t like that either! But I pick and choose the situations I want to respond to.

We can’t change “them”, but we can change ourselves, right? And if you’re feeling like they don’t respect you, could it be possible that you don’t respect yourself enough? I think you’ll notice that when you start respecting yourself, that they will too.

So have you tried this – when you want to say something in response to someone, what happens when you actually say it? Can you try it? Maybe with a simple scenario? Another way would be to send an email to them later explaining how you felt, but obviously not all relationships / acquaintances have email communications with you, so you might have to pick one to practice with.

If you can’t even think of facing them with your feelings, maybe try standing in front of a mirror and practice saying out loud what you feel. Or journal about it.

The main thing is to express who you are! If you’re interested in Chakras, it sounds like your throat chakra may be blocked. If you’re interested, I could talk more about it. If not, I won’t 🙂

Dear heartinheart,
It’s so sad reading the story of your life spiraling out of control. Especially since you remember yourself as a strong, independent individual. So you know that you can get back to that person – the person who you really are.

Is it possible that you’re hanging out with the wrong set of friends? Would it be possible to change your friends? Changing your friendships may be a step in the right direction for you, if being alone is causing depression.

There’s a Socrates quote I love – “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” Can you start letting go of your old story, and start looking toward who you want to become? Rather than repeating the story of who you were, can you start picturing who you’d like to be?

Once you can see yourself in your mind’s vision of who you can be – keep that vision as your goal, and take steps toward that vision each day. You can do it – even small steps every day in the right direction will push you into a forward momentum sooner than you might think. The hardest thing is to get started – so don’t overthink it – just get started!

Hi Nicole,
Yes, I have! Although I don’t know what your exact painful situation you’re trying to leave was, I certainly can relate to that sense of urgency you mentioned. For me, I started making a note of the things, people, places, activities that bring me joy and feel positive; and also the things, people, places and activities that drain my energy levels. And from then on, it was a series of decisions – to do more and more and more of what brings me joy; and letting go of everything that drains my energy levels.

By focusing on the joy, and letting go of everything else that didn’t work, I was able to create a life and a living. It took me several years, but I love every minute of it. For me, it was a calling of my soul, and I believe it’s our responsibility to honor and follow that calling. If you’re interested in the Nest in the Forest I’ve created for myself, feel free to go to the link on my profile when you click on my picture 🙂

Much luck with your journey!!

Hi Karla – what you’re doing is living life. Life is a roller coaster – believe it or not, it’s not meant to be “happy”, but to learn life lessons through our experiences. Every experience creates emotions, thoughts, energy within you. And they’re always there with you in some form – either energy, or beliefs, or circumstances.

Does that mean you’ll always have to carry your past? Yes and No – completely depends on you! Acknowledge your past (as you’ve done here as you related to your story), Understand that it has an impact on you, but after that, if you can use those experiences to create a different story, different future, a positive direction, then you won’t be burdened by your past always.

Here’s an experiment, if you want to try it: Continue writing your story beyond what you wrote above. Write about your present, as well as a future. Write it as if you were writing your story when you’re 100 years old. How do you think you lived your life? What do you think you did with your past experiences? How did you get past it? Did you go to school and become a doctor? Did you use your profession to help others? Are you a good example for your children? What kind of legacy did you leave?

This is a quote I love from Socrates:
“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.”

I hope this helps… Good Luck!
Namaste, Saiisha

Hi Henry – is it possible that you haven’t formed your own beliefs yet? It may help you to first think about who you are, at the bottom of it all. Once you’re firm in your own beliefs, you won’t worry that much about who you support, which religion you belong to. You won’t even really care about pleasing anyone – you don’t have to speak against them either. You’ll just be more secure in who you are.

I’d suggest you compose your own core philosophy of life. Here’s one way to do it: http://www.nestintheforest.com/core-philosophy/

Hi Karla, just adding my 2 cents here…
Life’s ups and downs are very normal. You will have highs and you will have lows. When they’re balanced is when you probably feel peaceful. Here’s the trick: not to be worried that the lows are coming, and not to get sky-high when the highs come, but to be able to react in a balanced way no matter what comes. That’s what we learn as we evolve spiritually – to not react to life’s extremes, but to take them in stride.

See if you can look forward to your next lows so you can practice balancing 🙂
(That type of a person is called a Sthithaprajna in Sanskrit – http://www.nestintheforest.com/sthithaprajna/)

Life is about learning. You might as well try to enjoy it while you’re at it!