Posts tagged with “Peace”

How to Make Your Cruel Inner Voice Work for You, Not Against You
“We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves happy and strong. The amount of work is the same.” ~Carlos Castaneda
I’ve always had issues with food, but in the past five years this struggle became a full-blown eating disorder.
I remember the first time I thought I was too big, in fourth grade. Now I know that I wasn’t too big. Maybe I hadn’t outgrown my baby fat yet, but I wasnât overweight. Still, all the other girls at my school were smaller than me.
There was one day when a pediatrician came to our school for a …

The Technology of Joy: Tools for Happiness (Interview & Book Giveaway)
Update – The winners for this giveaway are:
- D. Arturo Gutierrez
- Preston Cox
- Kathleen Han
If youâre anything like me, you may think that technology can be both a blessing and a curse.
Sometimes I lament that we now live in a world where tiny screens often hinder real-world engagement, and social media can create pressure to entertain an audience our peers by sensationalizing our everyday lives.
But then I remember that technology is just a tool, and its affects depend on how we use it. Sure, technology can create distance and exacerbate the struggle to be authentic, but it …

How to Feel Your Feelings and What That Will Do for Your Life (Everything!)
âYou care so much you feel as though you will bleed to death with the pain of it.â ~JK Rowling
Sometimes the last thing we want to do is feel our feelings. Because feeling can hurt.
Feeling can make you cry in the laundromat.
Feeling can make your face unattractively red in the frozen food aisle.
Feeling can make you think this whole being human racket is not the best way to spend your time.
If youâve been stuffing your feelings back into your rib cage whenever they try to break for the light, this is especially true. I know, …

Clear Your Emotional Clutter and Open Up to Joy (Interview and Giveaway)
UPDATE – The winners for this giveaway are:
- C
- Lori Pacheco
When I was in my early twenties, I spent three months in a residential treatment center in a last-ditch effort to heal from depression and bulimia. Among many different treatment modalities, I participated in an experiential therapy that involved a ropes course and other adventure activities.
One day, along with a dozen other frail women, I strapped a backpack full of tennis balls on my back and climbed to the top of a rock wall. It was hard enough to walk on some days; getting to the top with …

How to End Your Stress and Live a Life of Peace and Balance
“To experience peace does not mean that your life is always blissful. It means that you are capable of tapping into a blissful state of mind amidst the normal chaos of a hectic life.” ~Jill Botte Taylor
I used to be a stress bunny. Something was always driving me to want to do betterâto be more, to have more, to compete and win at everything.
I thrived on pushing myself, thinking achievement was a great thing.
I was also restless. I always had to be going somewhereâdoing somethingânever sitting still. I was bored, frustrated, and trying to find happiness …

Who Says We Have To Be Happy All the Time?
âDevelop a mind that is vast like the water, where experiences both pleasant and unpleasant can appear and disappear without conflict, struggle, or harm. Rest in a mind like vast water.â ~Buddha
When I think about having to be happy all of the time, I feel a certain kind of pressure. Sure, itâs different now then it was. But that doesnât mean there arenât cycles when I question everything.
Sometimes I can catch myself thinking that everything would magically fall into place if I had all the success I want in my career, the happily-ever-after relationship without any issues, or …

4 Tips for Managing Stress from a Combat Veteran
âBuddha was asked, âWhat have you gained from meditation?â He replied, âNothing.â ‘However,’ Buddha said, âlet me tell you what I lost: anger, anxiety, depression, insecurity, fear of old age, and death.ââ
âI never get stressed.â
I used to say and think this all the time when I saw someone freaking out about an upcoming test, a bad grade, relationship problems, or a boss or coworker.
I had a false sense of being âcarefreeâ because I wouldnât get stressed over the trivial things that most people did.
I was a âbattle hardenedâ soldier recently back from a deployment in Afghanistan. …

How to Make Peace with the Past and Stop Being a Victim
âNever allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no oneâs definition of your life; define yourself.â ~Harvey Fienstein
Do you usually feel as if everything bad that can happen will happen, and it will happen to you?
You must be the unluckiest person on the face of the planet. Opportunities never work out. Doors that should open close in your face. Friends let you down. Bosses donât see your value. There seems to be a universal conspiracy to keep you stuck right where you are now.
You feel like your life is always going to be like this.…

Ego vs. Spirit
Source: Positive Outlooks

What Anxiety Can Do to Your Body & How to Calm Your Mind
âOur bodies communicate to us clearly and specifically, if we are willing to listen.â ~Shakti Gawain
I woke up screamingânot just any scream, but a blood-curdling sound that could have woken the dead.
My throat was searing with pain, and my pajamas were stuck to me from being so damp. After a minute or two, my heartbeat slowed and I lay back down, still shaking. It wasnât a nightmare; I couldnât even remember what I had dreamt.
This behavior sounds weird, but it was not an infrequent episode in our house. The week prior Iâd woken up in the bathtub.…

10 Powerful Practices to Take Good Care of Yourself
âYou donât pass or fail at being a person, dear.â ~Neil Gaiman
I discovered my spiritual path early. As a teenager I would read my motherâs self-help books. I spent most of my twenties actively pursuing self-development by studying, attending workshops, and going on retreats all over the world.
At the time, I thought I was searching for happiness and inner peace. I see now that I bought into a rigid idea of what a âspiritual personâ was and tried to live up to that.
My inner world was not happy or peaceful. The way I treated myself was far …

Open-Minded People
Source: The Mind Unleashed

Why Itâs Okay to âFailâ at Meditation 90% of the Time
âGiving up is the only sure way to fail.â ~Gena Showalter
So you want to meditate.
You canât help but notice the benefits touted everywhere: clearer mind, more focus, better sleep, better health and happiness. Whatâs not to want?
But then you try it out. And dang, itâs not easy.
When you sit down on that cushion or chair, your previously normal human brain has turned into a crazy swirl of thoughts.
Did you have this many thoughts before? Isnât this meditation thing supposed to be about clearing your mind and getting focused?
The next thought that comes to …

10 to Zen
Source: Buddha Heart