Posts tagged with “wisdom”
The Life-Changing Benefits of Two-Minute Meditations
āSmile, breathe, and go slowly.ā ~Thich Nhat Hanh
I felt everything, from my lower back pain flaring up to tightness in my jaw where I clinch and carry my stress. With my eyes still closed, I rolled my shoulders and repositioned the pillow under my butt. Five minutes had passed, and I had no idea how I would ever make it to forty.
I opened my left eye to see if anyone around me was fidgeting as well and saw rows of people sitting in perfect, cross-legged lotus position with straight necks and relaxed jaws next to me.
Our teacher, …
Living with Depression and Anxiety: How to Lessen the Pain
āI am bent, but not broken. I am scarred, but not disfigured. I am sad, but not hopeless. I am tired, but not powerless. I am angry, but not bitter. I am depressed, but not giving up.ā ~Unknown
Depression and anxiety. Two words we hear often, but unless we have actually lived with them, we cannot come close to understanding the tremendous impact they can have on one’s quality of life.
Depression and anxiety can make people feel as if they are worthless and better off dead. What a horrible plague. But it is 100% possible to tame these two …
6 Ways Meditation Improves Your Life
āLetting go gives us freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness. If, in our hearts, we still cling to anythingāanger, anxiety, or possessionsāwe cannot be free.ā ~Thich Nhat Hanh
Back in 2001, I was a freshman in college, and my saving grace from anxiety was a yoga class. More specifically, it was the most glorious of poses we call savasana that kept me sane.
For those unfamiliar, savasanaāor corpse poseāis a pose of surrender and noticing thoughts and sensations without judgment, much like meditation. (Itās the pose that looks like everyone is just lying around napping.)
Back then, …
When You Feel Tired of Hoping and Trying, Rememberā¦
āWhat happens when people open their hearts? They get better.āĀ ~Haruki Murakami
What do you do when just canāt do it anymore? When the pain is too much? The discouragement is too much? The hoping and trying are too much?
Itās not that you havenāt tried. Youāve been brave. Youāve been persistent. Youāve been soldiering on through hurt that other people donāt understand.
Itās that youāre feeling broken from the trying.
Thatās how I felt when my husband died of stomach cancer. There were two healing realizations that changed not only the path that I was on, but …
How to Stop Feeling Consumed by Your Fear of Being Alone
āPain makes you stronger. Fear makes you braver. Heartbreak makes you wiser.ā ~Unknown
You wake up and check your phone expecting a āgood morningā text, but thereās nothing there. Going through your day, everything feels quieter and thereās a gaping hole inside of you that nothing seems to fill. No matter what you do, you canāt seem to shake that relentless ache for the one person who consumes your mind.
Itās an emptiness that makes you feel lost and scared.
Thereās nothing quite like a breakup to spark fears of being alone. Itās like a wave of dread that hits …
Why I’m Grateful for Accidents, Pain, and Loss
āIf you have nothing to be grateful for, check your pulse.ā ~Unknown
I couldnāt feel my legs.
There wasnāt any pain, just this odd āsamenessā of non-sensation.
My body was frozen as I turned my eyes downward to scan down my nineteen-year-old body. Below my knees, my legs were splayed out in a very peculiar way. I was halfway underneath my car, pinned down to the dirt and gravel of the road by the back right tire.
The tire had caught my long, curly hair and the puffy left sleeve of my new white peasant blouse, miraculously missing my face.…
Why Positive Thinking Drained Me (and How Iāve Found Peace)
āGlimpses of love and joy or brief moments of deep peace are possible whenever a gap occurs in the stream of thought.ā ~Eckhart Tolle
Eleven years ago I read a book that was life changing for me. It taught me something I never considered during the previous twenty-nine yearsāthat I could change my thoughts.
The book was Loving What Is, by Byron Katie. It set me forth on a journey that included dozens of books that communicated the same thing: We think the same thoughts all day long, over and over, and many of them are negative, filled with …
The Truth About Body-Positive Activists on Social Media
āThe most difficult times for many of us are the ones we give ourselves.āĀ ~Pema Chodron
Iām on my phone, posting a photo of myself on Instagram. Itās a vulnerable shotāIām holding my bare belly.
I type in the caption āAccepting my body isnāt easy, but itās worth it.ā
I mean this, but I also have voices in my head telling me to delete the picture because Iām gross, not good enough, and a phony.
I get half a dozen comments supporting me, mostly emoji hearts. One comment reads, āI wish I had your confidence.ā I feel weird …
Though I run this site, it is not mine. It's ours. It's not about me. It's about us. Your stories and your wisdom are just as meaningful as mine.
Why Iām Done Fishing for āLikesā on Social Media
āThere is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.ā ~Ernest Hemingway
Recently I was invited to listen to a recorded presentation about humility, and it literally rocked my world.
As I listened intently, the words ācomplete and wholeā popped into my head. And then came the light bulb moment: āYes!ā I thought. āWhen one feels whole and complete, theyāre more humble.ā
As the presenter talked about the ālook at meā culture of selfies and social media I felt my toes begin to curl and my stomach tighten.
āOh …