Posts tagged with “wisdom”
Letting Go of the Guilt That Keeps You Chained to the Past
âLetting go gives us freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness. If, in our heart, we still cling to anythingâanger, guilt, or possessionsâwe cannot be free.â ~Thich Nhat Hanh
One night after my nine-year-old son had just gone to bed, he asked me if I would lay with him, as he was scared. I was getting ready for a busy week and was tired, so I replied, âNo, youâre fine. Go to sleep.â
When he died the following afternoon after being hit by a car, I remembered what heâd asked me. The guilt that followed me from that …
4 Steps to Process Your Emotions So They Don’t Zap Your Energy
âYour emotions are the slaves to your thoughts, and you are the slave to your emotions.â ~Elizabeth Gilbert
I felt zapped. Depleted. Drained. Out of gas. And I wasnât sure why.
- Enough sleep? Check.
- Enough exercise? Check.
- Enough nutritious food and vitamins? Check.
- Health check-ups and tests up to date? Check and check.
- Reasonable schedule? Check.
I thought I felt this way because Iâd recently had surgery to remove a sizeable tumor.
But that had gone smoothly, and I was fully recovered and back to my regular schedule.
However, there was one thing that I noticed since the surgery: I …
Peeling Back the Mask: Reconnect With Your Authentic Self
âYou cannot find yourself by going into the past. You can find yourself by coming into the present.â ~Eckhart Tolle          Â
It was 3PM on a Wednesday and I had nothing to do. An empty schedule with limitless potential.Â
I was miles from home in the freezing fog of San Francisco. The bustle of traffic reminded me of my hectic life back home, but I wasnât bothered. I had nowhere to be and nobody to answer to, just like the day before and the next day. I was free.
I brought my favorite travel companion along with me to aid …
Live Your Life for You: 5 Benefits of Embracing Who You Really Are
âLive your life for you, not for anyone else. Donât let the fear of being judged, rejected or disliked stop you from being yourself.â ~Sonya Parker
I have struggled with my different-ness since I was young. I grew up trying to change the things that made me different in order to fit in. At home, my parents were doing their best to raise three young children, which I can imagine wouldâve been very hard.
I can still remember the first time I asked myself, âWhat is wrong with me?â I loved to take my time and …
Stop Aiming for Perfection: Can You Let Good Enough Be Good Enough?
âGood enough is the new perfect.â ~Becky Beaupre Gillespie
The music started. Pachelbelâs Canon in D on harp and flute. I was supposed to enter the room near the end of the piece.
I knew there were fourteen sets of four measures each, but in my nervous state I quickly lost track. I picked a random moment in the music that I thought might be near the end (surely Iâd been waiting forever already), opened the door, and walked in.
Then: BAM!
The door startled me by suddenly slamming shut behind me. Oops⊠That was not supposed to happen.
Thus …
How to Receive Gratefully Instead of Rejecting Kindness
âGiving is virtuous, but so is accepting gifts gratefully.â ~Doe Zantamata
Iâve learned that how well you receive determines how happy you are.
When I was committed to loving myself more, I started to be more aware of how I treated myself. What opened up for me was that I did not know how to receive.
That was one of the things I had to learn in order to really care for myself.
Receiving Capabilities Jammed
There were times when I would squirm and be all awkward when I was given extra attention.
There would be times when I’d feel …
Why Letting Ourselves Feel Bad Is the Key to Feeling Better
âThe more you hide your feelings, the more they show. The more you deny your feelings, the more they grow.â ~Unknown
For as long as I can remember, I have been on a quest to heal myself. From a very young age I can remember feeling different from my peers. I was always painfully shy and paralyzed with insecurity and fear, which left me in a constant state of self-criticism.
Hardships in my young life, including the suicide of my father, left me with the belief that life was just hard.
Unfortunately, I also thought that it wasnât supposed to …
Letting Go of the Lies That Make Us Feel Bad About Ourselves
âGenuine forgiveness does not deny anger but faces it head-on.â ~Alice Duer Miller
The man who I thought was my soul mate walked out on me fourteen years ago. He immediately remarried a lovely, beautiful woman who was everything I was not.
I am desperate to fall in love. Iâm thirty-eight. I want a baby. I want a relationship. I feel alone.
A year ago, I fell unexpectedly in love with my photographer. Yes, star-struck romantics, it was just like the movies. Shy, awkward woman gets pictures taken for her brand-building website, and she is completely unraveled by his boyish …
3 Keys to Feeling Happy, No Matter What Happens
âLook at what youâve got and make the best of it. It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.â ~Proverb.
The year 2013 was the happiest of my life.
Not because it was the most perfect or problem free year. In reality it was as messy, sad, and as difficult as any previous year.
In October I looked at the last correspondence between my biological father and me for the first time since his suicide years before. I felt as devastated as the day he died. Healing is a much longer journey than Iâd imagined.
Around …
Being True to Ourselves and Forgetting What Other People Think
âLive your life for you not for anyone else. Donât let the fear of being judged, rejected or disliked stop you from being yourself.â ~Sonya Parker
The day that I realized that I was trapped inside of my life was an ordinary day. I woke up, dressed myself, drove to work, and applied makeup to my assigned actors and actresses. It was a groundhog day filled with my usual routine as an entertainment makeup artist.
I settled into my chair on set and watched as the director directed and the cameramen captured the scenes on tape.
The vibration from my …
How Pain from the Past Can Be a Gift in the Present
âWhen something bad happens you have three choices. You can let it define you, let it destroy you, or you can let it strengthen you.â ~Unknown
Don’t hate your past. No matter what it contained or what it did to you, the past shapes who you are, not just for the things you felt damaged you but for the lessons you can take from it.
I love working with the people I call the world shakers. Theyâre the people who want to make a difference in the world so that they leave it in a slightly better way than they …
How to Really Live Instead of Merely Existing
âDeath is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.â ~Norman Cousins
âCome here and take Dora out to get some milk.â
With those simple words, I knew my fatherâs time was short. Not a man to ask for help, I knew that milk was just an excuse to get me to come to his side.
My father was a gruff, angry, bitter man who had sealed himself off from nearly everyone. I spoke with him at 7:00 am every Saturday morning for fifteen years. In those conversations he complained about …
How to Wake up Every Morning on Top of The World
“You get peace of mind not by thinking about it or imagining it, but by quietening and relaxing the restless mind.” ~Remez Sasson
Whatâs the first thought that goes through your head when you wake up in the morning? Is it deliberate, or is it the default âOh shi#$, itâs 6:00!”?
If thatâs how you start your day, then itâs likely your day will be filled with anxiety and stress. Itâs not exactly the most productive mechanism for getting things done.
Questions are quite powerful if used in the right way.
25 Ways to Be Good for Someone Else
“Don’t wait for people to be friendly. Show them how.” ~Unknown
When I was a teenager, right around the time I knew everything, my mother used to tell me I only remembered the bad things.
When I told stories about my family, they didnât revolve around family beach trips, barbecues, and vacations; they focused on painful memories and all the ways I felt my childhood had damaged me.
The same applied to friends and milestones in my life. I chronically remembered and rehashed the worst experiences.
In fact, straight through college I followed up every introductory handshake with a dramatic …
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