A Great Attitude Becomes a Great Life
4 Things You Need to Know to Have a Strong, Healthy Relationship
“To love is nothing. To be loved is something. But to love and be loved, that’s everything.“ ~T. Tolis
Relationships are not always easy. If you lack the tools to engage properly with a partner and cannot show up in a healthy way, you will find your relationship is ten times harder and most likely prone to failure.
I wish I had known these things when I first started dating, as it would have made my life much easier.
If you want to have a healthy relationship, you must know the following:
1. How to communicate effectively
My …
How to Stop Neglecting and Abusing Your Inner Child
“Hold the hand of the child that lives in your soul. For this child, nothing is impossible.” ~Paulo Coelho
You’re probably an abusive parent. Even if you don’t have children.
In each of us lives an inner child. This child isn’t just a sub-layer of our personality; it’s arguably the real us, the deepest aspect of ourselves.
Like many people, I’ve been aware of the inner child idea for some time. I thought of the concept mostly as another way of explaining our personal sensitivities or the childish behavior we all are capable of at times. But it’s not …
One Simple Way to Be a Good Friend (A Lesson from My Childhood Dog)
“To be rich in friends is to be poor in nothing.” ~Lilian Whiting
For eleven years of my life, I was graced by the presence of an extraordinary dog. Her name was Jenny, and she was a black lab and springer mix with a hyper personality and an almost absurd passion for the joy of being alive.
She was a gift to our family from a close family friend, and she was by far the most life-changing gift we ever received.
While there are many stories I could share about her, there is one story in particular that stands …
The One Purpose We All Share in Life
“We are each gifted in a unique and important way. It is our privilege and our adventure to discover our own special light.” ~ Mary Dunbar
I sat staring at myself in the mirror.
And for the first time in a long while, I cried.
All I could think about was having to get up the next morning and force myself through another day. Force myself to put on a smile and pretend to be happy. Force myself to act like everything was moving in the right direction.
I’d been putting on this façade …
It’s Okay to Cry
“We need never be ashamed of our tears.” ~Charles Dickens
We have all cried, all of us, some more than others.
But today I am not here to divide us by the liters of tears we have shed.
Today I want to unite us because we are all the same.
We all feel sad, stressed, overwhelmed, scared, and frustrated at times.
Any stay-at-home parent would understand my frustration, my misery, and my overwhelmed days.
It has eaten me up on the inside. I have been staying at home for the past seven years, looking after my kids, with no face-to-face …
Why We Shouldn’t Rush or Feel Guilty About Emotional Pain
“He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.” ~Friedrich Nietzsche
In July 2012, a conversation changed my life.
Prior to this, I had been struggling to right myself after a difficult loss. Several months had passed, yet I continued to revisit the same sad, angry place again and again. I believed the presence of these difficult emotions meant I was “doing it all wrong.”
I thought, if I could figure out why these feelings were so persistent, I could make them vanish altogether. To assist in the quest, I enlisted the help of …
5 Myths About Setting Boundaries That Steal Your Joy and Lead to Resentment
“Compassionate people ask for what they need. They say no when they need to, and when they say yes, they mean it. They’re compassionate because their boundaries keep them out of resentment.” ~Brené Brown
Do you find yourself saying yes when you’d rather say no? Are you inexplicably exhausted all the time? Do you often experience anger, bitterness, or resentment toward yourself or others?
I did too for a long time.
I’m a recovering people pleaser. For as long as I can remember, I desired to keep everyone around me happy. I was also very fearful of …
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