Most Black Sheep Become Self-Healers


“Mindfulness isn’t difficult. We just need to remember to do it.” ~Sharon Salzberg
As a Brit, I do what we British people do best: drink tea. Lots of it.
I’ve drunk a cup of tea every morning since I was a chubby-faced teenager.
I used to think tea was the best thing ever, that friendly little cup of brew that’s always there for you, reminding you to take a moment to chill. But it turns out that mindfully drinking a cup of tea is so much better. Not only does it make me enjoy my tea more, it has utterly …

“I wish for a world where everyone understands that discomfort is the price of legendary. And fear is just growth coming to get you.” ~Robin S. Sharma
For years, I felt like the most incredible dancer. Whenever I heard music, no matter where I was, I would start moving, at first slowly and then, as the music started to infuse my soul, with increasing abandon. In that moment, I was filled with passion, and I completely let go. It was me and the music—no-one and nothing else. I was in another world.
When I danced in front of …

“It’s so much darker when a light goes out than it would have been if it had never shone.” ~John Steinbeck
When you lose someone close to you, there are a plethora of duties you must first complete.
When my boyfriend passed away from cancer at the age of twenty-nine, I was just twenty-three. We lived together in a claustrophobic, studio apartment in lower Manhattan. I recall many people telling me to physically move from the apartment, as that’s where he passed away, but moving in Manhattan is never an ideal situation to be in, especially when you are traumatized.…

“I have written eleven books, but each time I think, ‘Uh oh, they’re going to find out now. I’ve run a game on everybody and they’re going to find me out.’” ~ Maya Angelou
Any minute now they would find out.
I scanned the large conference room. The twenty-six project team members around the table discussed data analysis. Their voices were muffled by the thick fog of my anxiety.
My own throat tried to choke me, and my chest refused to expand. Sweat trickled down my side.
Breathe, just breathe. It’s going to be okay.
My eyes met my …

“Quiet the voice telling you to do more and be more, and trust that in this moment, who you are, where you are at, and what you are doing is enough. You will get to where you need to be in your own time. Until then, breathe. Breathe and be patient with yourself and your process. You are doing the best you can to cope and survive amid your struggles, and that’s all you can ask of yourself. It’s enough. You are enough.” ~Daniell Koepke
I feel a bit like Frodo Baggins. I’m on this tireless, seemingly never-ending journey just …

“If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete.” ~Buddha
Just the other day, I had one of those moments with my husband, and not the kind of moment they write about in romance novels.
The world has been so different these last several months, and so many are feeling the effects of months of struggle, uncertainty, frustration, and limitations.
I consider myself to be someone who works to see the positive, finds the silver living in situations, and believes in the best of people, and that things can and will always get better. But lately, that has …

“Cut yourself some slack. You’re doing better than you think.” ~Unknown
Your stomach is tied up in knots.
Another crisis has arrived, and everyone is looking to you to have the answers, to be the leader. You can’t blame them either because you think you should have all the answers. But you just don’t.
Though you look calm on the outside, inside you’re a tangle of nerves and anxiety, terrified someone will expose you as the fraud you feel you are.
In the past, you’ve been able to pull a rabbit out of a hat to save the day, …

“People grow when they are loved well. If you want to help others heal, love them without an agenda.” ~Mike McHargue
I learned some of my biggest life lessons in grade 5.
I was an average student leaning to below average in my early elementary years. I came home with a steady flow of B’s, C’s and the occasional E’s in second language subjects. I was told that I wasn’t applying myself and, as every report card I ever brought home clearly stated, I talked too much.
At least that was the narrative as I came to understand it.
I …