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Posts tagged with “feelings”

Embodied Presence: Find Freedom from Your Thoughts and Emotions

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ā€œTo be alive is to totally and openly participate in the simplicity and elegance of here and now.ā€ ~Donald Altman

Embodied presence probably sounds superfluous. How else would we be present but in the body? If we leave our bodies, then we are by definition deceased. No longer present.

The simplicity of this embodied presence idea belies its depth though. The issue isnā€™t that Iā€™m ever literally disembodied, but that Iā€™m often unaware of my body-mind connection to the point that Iā€™m not sufficiently mindful of the moment.

I know Iā€™m not unique for this. We all do this. …

7 Steps to Prevent Getting Stuck in an Emotion

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ā€œLife is a process of becoming. A combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death.ā€ ~Anais Nin

I bought an ice cream cake for my family to thank them for giving me the time and space to write the first draft of my novel. My husband took photos. I selected my favorite shot as the wallpaper on my computer to remind me of this milestone.

I was happy and joyous for a week. The second week I fell into …

How to Deal with Uncomfortable Feelings & Create Positive Ones

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“Hope is the feeling that the feeling you have isn’t permanent.” ~Jean Kerr

For most of my life, I was a fugitive from my feelings.

Psychologists suggest that we are driven by two connected motivations: to feel pleasure and avoid pain. Most of us devote more energy to the latter than the former.

Instead of being proactive and making choices for our happiness, we react to things that happen in our lives and fight or flee to minimize our pain.

Instead of deciding to end an unhealthy relationship and open up to a better one, we may stay and either …

Finding Peace: Take Power Away from Your Thoughts and Emotions

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ā€œSlow down and everything you are chasing will come around and catch you.ā€ ~John De Paola

My almost three year old, Willow, is obsessed with playing doctor.

She lies on the couch, hands down at her sides. She hands me a small flashlight and a toy frying pan (which Iā€™m told to pretend is a stethoscope) and orders, ā€œCheck me out, Doctor Mommy!ā€

She methodically points out every scratch, scrape, bruise, and freckle on her body. She tells me how much snot she feels in her nose and how many times she coughed, sneezed, and hiccupped that day so that …

Embracing Our Darkness: We Donā€™t Always Have to Be Happy

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ā€œIt is better to be whole than to be good.ā€ ~John Middleton Murray

Discouragement is usually an unwelcome guest. Every time it comes knocking on my door, I try to shoo it away or sweep it under the rug.

In fact, many of us want nothing more than for happiness to be our constant state of being, and have a hard time forgiving ourselves when we falter.

It happens: We can get immersed in the thick of discouragement for days, feeling mopey, downtrodden, physically, mentally, and emotionally ā€œburnt outā€ and all in all ā€œnot ourselves.ā€

When I am …

Finding Positive Ways to Express Difficult Emotions

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ā€œNever apologize for showing feelings. When you do so, you apologize for the truth.ā€ ~Benjamin Disraeli

Each day, month, or year I want to be something different when I grow up. At some point I want to open up a smoothie truck with a best friend, I want to teach yoga to cancer patients, and I want to travel to Australia and become a bartender just to support myself.

But more so than what I want (or think I want) to be, I know what I am. I am a wife, a sister, a friend, an Egyptian, a listener, …

Emotional Blind Spots: On Feeling Uncomfortable Feelings

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ā€œFeelings or emotions are the universal language and are to be honored. They are the authentic expression of who you are at your deepest place.ā€ ~Judith Wright

On March 12th of 2006 I faced an important decision: life or death? From my perspective, death seemed reasonable, logical, and easy. Life on the other hand was difficult and full of disappointment.

That was the day I realized I had no idea how to be happy or live with my true self. All I knew and felt in my soul was aloneness; an emotional black hole that consumed me.

Being Emotional

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4 Steps to Address How You Really Feel

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“Let yourself be open and life will be easier. A spoon of salt in a glass of water makes the water undrinkable. A spoon of salt in a lake is almost unnoticed.” ~ Buddha

I am a very emotional person. I suspect I feel things about ten times more intensely than the average person.

When I’m sad, I’mĀ reallyĀ sad. When I’m stressed, I’mĀ reallyĀ stressed. When I’m nervous, I’mĀ reallyĀ nervous.

Some people would call it being dramatic. I simply call it a genuine aspect of my personality.

Iā€™ve noticed that I have this awful habit of masking …

What It Means to Really Take Care of Yourself

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ā€œBe gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars. In the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul.ā€ ~Max Ehrmann

Last year I realized that I lived twenty-eight years without knowing what it really means to love and take care of myself.

In 2010, I took some wonderful, worldly tripsā€”Costa Rica, Bangkok, Taipeiā€”trekking and exploring.

My husband and I bought a second home. I fully engaged myself in the improvements and the creativity of decorating a fresh canvas.

I ran several races, including a half-marathon, and finished well. …

Finding Strengths in Weaknesses

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“Our strength grows out of our weaknesses.ā€ ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

After writing my last post for Tiny Buddha, 5 Steps to Accept your Weaknesses, I had an intense few days involving an extremely spiritually and emotionally significant relationship that has recently ended, or at least ended in one form.

I found myself sobbing so uncontrollably in my kitchen that I was choking. Each day, there seemed to be another upwelling of grief. When I saw that my beloved ex-partner was potentially interested in someone else, that grief broke through with renewed intensity. These feelings are all normal and to …

4 Tips to Get in Touch with Your Feelings Instead of Burying Them

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“Hope is the feeling that the feeling you have isn’t permanent.” ~Jean Kerr

Iā€™ve just given up smoking. Again. Itā€™s a bad habit that I canā€™t seem to shake because Iā€™m likely to relapse when Iā€™m stressed.

I try to rationalize my destructive behaviorā€”I donā€™t smoke heavily, I donā€™t smoke that much since I stick to rolling tobacco which makes thinner cigarettes, itā€™s fifteen minutes to myself where nobody will question why Iā€™m taking time to do and think about nothing.

No matter how much I justify my bad habit, I canā€™t deny that Iā€™m dependent on a bad thing …