“Don’t be afraid to go out on a limb. That’s where the fruit is.” ~H. Jackson Browne
When I close my eyes and ponder the dreams that I have, the hopes and wishes that I cradle in my heart, I wonder what has prevented me from reaching for and achieving them. … Read More
“Peace of mind is not the absence of conflict from life, but the ability to cope with it.” ~Unknown
Like many people, I lived my life for a lot of years failing to understand inner peace is a choice. I am not sure what I thought. Perhaps I didn’t believe anyone could feel a lasting peace inside.… Read More
“We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make our world.” ~Buddha
Your life is much like a radio.
If you’re in control of it, then you can actually tune in and make sense. Then you can set your dial on the talk-back radio show, listen to that, and learn some things, or you can set your dial onto music and have an enjoyable time.… Read More
“Fear: False Evidence Appearing Real.” ~Neale Donald Walsch
In a moment of despair—moments I find have been increasing this year—I turned to this site for a little comfort. After reading a couple articles, seeing that I wasn’t alone in what I was feeling, I still couldn’t help but remain terrified of the next part of my life.… Read More
“Count your joys instead of your woes. Count your friends instead of your foes.” ~Irish Proverb
I’ve always believed that happiness is a choice. I thought that I was the only one who could truly make me happy.
That was before my life disintegrated before my very own eyes.
My husband and I built a business together.… Read More
“With ‘I’ eliminated, this is Nirvana, here and now.” ~ Buddha
I remember when I started learning Spanish in college. I wanted to visit Spain. I had grand ideas about a romantic voyage. And yes, I had a foreign language credit to fill.
If you know the Spanish language at all, you know that the Spanish construction for pleasure is the reverse of our English language.… Read More
“You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.” ~Friedrich Nietzsche
I was raised in a home where a very common phrase was, “There’s a right way and a wrong way.”
The right way was the way my parents wanted things done.… Read More
“If you count all your assets, you always show a profit.” ~Robert Quillen
This weekend someone broke into my apartment and stole everything of significant monetary value that I owned.
They stole my jewelry box, with pieces I got from my boyfriend, his mother, and my sister, after she’d gone through a break-up and wanted to unload a vast collection from her past.… Read More
“The light at the end of the tunnel is not an illusion. The tunnel is.” ~Unknown
A dream: I am in a woman’s prison. The cells and halls are dark and dirty. The prison looks like a damp dungeon. Inside the cells are women dressed in rags along with their children.… Read More
“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.” ~Albert Einstein
There I was in January, on the floor, physically and emotionally. From the outside, I probably looked like every one else attending yoga class off Robertson Blvd. that Sunday morning, but to me, on the inside, especially within my heart, I was in shambles.… Read More
“Some people think it’s holding that makes one strong. Sometimes it’s letting go.” ~Unknown
I will never forget the moment my marriage ended.
My husband and I had fought the night before, about many of the same things we’d been fighting about for the entirety of our four-month marriage.
He was dissatisfied with our sex life and my lack of respect for him.… Read More
“What I am is good enough if only I would only be it openly.” ~Carl Rogers
From the time my grandmother gave me a copy of Little Women when I was five years old, I knew I wanted to be a writer and create books like that one.
As I grew up, I devoured books left and right, working my way up from The Babysitters’ Club Little Sister to 1984.… Read More
“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.” ~Nelson Mandela
My dog, Elvis, is a sweetheart and a scaredy cat. When our vet found him, he was roaming free with a wire collar embedded in his neck and a raging case of mange. It took her thirty minutes to chase him down and three months to nurse him back to health.… Read More
“Smile, breathe, and go slowly.” ~Thich Nhat Hanh
One morning I woke up and noticed a few, strange red bumps on my arms—bug bites, I thought.
Then, the next day, more bumps. Within one full week, my skin went from being clear and tan to being covered with red, scaly, teardrop spots all over my body, including my face.… Read More
“Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth.” ~Pema Chodron
By the end of 2011, I was trying my hardest not to see it: burnout.
I’d been going full steam ahead since I turned my part-time business into a full-time vocational mission, back in 2009. When people remarked that I was doing a lot, I would wave away their comments and say facetiously, “Well, you know—I’m a Sagittarius with three planets in Virgo.”
Part of the reason I didn’t want to really look at what was going on was that 2011 had been a banner year.… Read More
“Sometimes questions are more important than answers.” ~Nancy Willard
My twenties and thirties were an endless quest for “The Answer.” As if there were only one.
The one answer that would change everything. Make everything right. Make me happy.
I searched high and low for answers. I’d read the latest book, hoping it held the key.… Read More
“Curiosity is one of the great secrets of happiness.” ~Bryant H. McGil
I don’t think I’d be alive if it weren’t for my curiosity.
Is that a dramatized statement? Maybe.
For me, curiosity has brought a curious kind of “fun” and “enchantment” to an otherwise bleak, painful, and seemingly hopeless period in my life.… Read More
“Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth.” ~Pema Chodron
Though there are many events outside of our control, we do have the power to change our own lives. So what’s stopping us?
In a word: fear.
Fear is a great survival instinct. It helped our ancestors survive the rigors of daily life.… Read More
“A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow.” ~Proverb
My name is Katie and I am an over-planner. I spend way too much time laying out meticulous plans as if they were exquisite bejeweled gowns. I spread them across beautiful handmade notebooks, trim them with pink and green headings and sub-headings, and step back to admire them when I’m done.… Read More
“Why worry about things you can’t control when you can keep yourself busy controlling the things that depend on you?” ~Unknown
Relationships end; everyone knows that. The tough part is actually dealing with suffering, accepting, letting go, moving on, and processing a whole lot of other feelings at the same time.… Read More
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