Love and Acceptance
3 Ways to Help Someone Who’s Recovering from Trauma
“Feeling safe in someone’s energy is a different kind of intimacy. That feeling of peace and protection is really underrated.” ~Vanessa Klas
I’m now fourteen months into my recovery from complex post-traumatic stress syndrome (c-PTSD aka complex trauma). I’d been in therapy for a number of years before I was diagnosed. I’d been struggling with interpersonal relationships and suffered from severe anxiety and depression, although you wouldn’t have guessed it from looking at me.
There are so many misconceptions about trauma, and before my diagnosis in 2020 I wasn’t very trauma aware.
I was your typical millennial thirty-something woman, …
How to Reclaim Your Joy After the Pandemic: 3 Things That Helped Me
DISCLAIMER: Though vaccines have allowed many of us to return to more normal activities, the pandemic isn’t over, and it’s still crucial that we all follow the evolving CDC guidelines to keep both ourselves and others safe.
“Perfect happiness is a beautiful sunset, the giggle of a grandchild, the first snowfall. It’s the little things that make happy moments, not the grand events. Joy comes in sips, not gulps.” ~Sharon Draper
It was a rainy, late Sunday afternoon. The sun was already going down, and it was getting dark outside.
“How are you?”
“Oh, good. Nothing special. It’s quiet,” my …
The Lies We Tell Ourselves About Our Worth and How I’ve Let Them Go
“You either walk inside your story and own it or you stand outside and hustle for your worthiness.” Brene Brown
I was shaking and sweating with fear as I stood in front of my graduate professor for the final test of the semester. I was twenty-two years old at the time and felt like a fish out of water in my graduate program. I dreamed of being a professor, studying, and writing, but deep down I thought, “I’m not smart enough. I don’t fit in here. No one likes me.”
When my religion professor announced that the final wasn’t a …
How the Deathbed Meditation Can Bring You Clarity, Purpose, and Joy
“Death may be the greatest of all human blessings.” ~Socrates
There’s a lot of beauty and value in positive, light-and-love approaches to mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being.
But I challenge you to go a little deeper and to face something we’re all going to experience eventually:
I know this may sound macabre, bizarre, or downright unappealing. But hear me out!
There is a certain power and beauty in consciously visualizing and meditating on one’s death.
What could be more awakening and more revealing than putting your current self into the perspective of your dying self—into your last few …
Free Thich Nhat Hanh Audio Series: Living Without Stress or Fear
When you think of the teachers who’ve had the greatest impact on your life, who comes to mind?
For me, it’s the calm, the humble, the patient—the people who not only imparted useful life lessons but also embodied their message with their grace and equanimity. People I was fortunate enough to know personally, like my grandmother, and others I never met that brought me clarity and peace from afar, like the inimitable Thich Nhat Hanh.
Thay, as his students called him, was a Vietnamese Zen monk, author, poet, peacemaker, and founder of the “engaged Buddhism” movement—the act of leveraging our …
How Befriending My Anxiety and Depression Helped Ease My Pain
“‘What should I do?’ I asked myself. ‘Spend another two miserable years like this? Or should I truly welcome my panic?’ I decided to really let go of wanting to block, get rid of, or fight it. I would finally learn how to live with it, and to use it as support for my meditation and awareness. I welcomed it for real. What began to happen was that the panic was suspended in awareness. On the surface level was panic, but beneath it was awareness, holding it. This is because the vital first step to breaking the cycle of the …
How I’m Honoring My Values Even Though I Have Conflicting Priorities
“No matter what kind of stuff you tell the world, or tell yourself, your actions reveal your real values. Your actions show you what you actually want.” ~Derek Sivers
I need to be a productivity rockstar if I stand a chance of accomplishing everything important to me.
There’s a book I want to write, a course I want to create, and a chance to work with an award-winning author that has given me endless projects I want to pursue.
These are exciting, but they’re creating a ton of anxiety in my life.
Why?
Because they’re at odds with being the …
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