Stop Rushing When You Wake
The Most Helpful Thing Someone Did During My Panic Attack
“Better than a thousand useless words is one useful word, upon hearing which one attains peace.” ~Buddha, Dhammapada
Did he just cut the side of my head open? Am I bleeding out everywhere? Is there blood rushing down my face and onto the floor?
It was the middle of my standard biweekly haircut when my mind suddenly began to spiral.
I felt a slight sting on the side of my head, and my anxiety took over, using its vivid imagination to pivot to the worst-case scenario.
Moments before, my barber and I were laughing about Disneyland. Seconds later, I was …
The Day I Realized Love Couldn’t Save Someone
“When it comes down to it, that’s what life is all about: showing up for the people you love, again and again, until you can’t show up anymore.” ~Rebecca Walker
The first time my dad admitted he was scared, I felt something shift inside me.
Not uncomfortable. Not worried. Scared.
He had recently been diagnosed with Stage IV colorectal cancer, and we were standing together when he quietly asked, “Is this what takes me out?”
I wish I could tell you I responded with wisdom or grace. Instead, I did what many people do when confronted with something they cannot …
How I Learned to Be More Present Without Meditating
“The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it.” ~Thich Nhat Hanh
A few years ago, I moved to a new country with two children under two.
The idea had felt exciting at first—a fresh start, a new place, a life by the sea. But excitement fades quickly when you realize you don’t know a single person. No friends to call. No family nearby. No one to sit with you on a hard day and just listen.
I wasn’t prepared for that kind of loneliness. The deep, quiet kind that creeps in
Healing Is Happening Even When You Can’t See It
“One never notices what has been done; one can only see what remains to be done.” ~Marie Curie
I almost didn’t go to my cousin’s wedding.
Not because I didn’t want to celebrate her. I did. But the thought of walking into a room full of people who knew the version of me from two years ago felt unbearable.
They knew that version well.
The one who cried in bathroom stalls at family gatherings. Who smiled through dinners while silently replaying an argument from three days earlier. Who drank a little too much at Christmas because it was easier than …
The Best Thing to Say to Someone Who Won’t Try to Understand You
“True love is born from understanding.” ~Buddha
I believe one of our strongest desires in life is to feel understood.
We want to know that people see our good intentions and not only get where we’re coming from but get us.
We want to know they see us. They recognize the thoughts, feelings, and struggles that underlie our choices, and they not only empathize but maybe even relate. And maybe they’d do the same thing if they were in our shoes.
Maybe, if they’d been where we’ve been, if they’d seen what we’ve seen, they’d stand right where we …
Sometimes Love Needs to Move
“It may be that when we no longer know what to do, we have come to our real work, and when we no longer know which way to go, we have begun our real journey.” ~Wendell Berry
I was watching television one night when something on the screen made me set everything aside and go still. It was a scene where the main character, a man who loved his daughter dearly, couldn’t change what was happening to her. So, he went out into the wilderness as a kind of prayer.
I put the remote down and didn’t pick it back …
