Family Isn’t Always Blood
How Dealing with Our Emotions Can Help us Heal Chronic Pain
“The part can never be well unless the whole is well.” ~Plato
Our bodies are clever. They constantly send us messages that something isn’t right. It’s our job to tune in, listen, and act on these messages.
That headache, tight shoulders, and backache are all trying to tell us something. But sometimes the physical symptoms we experience are actually tied up in a deeper emotional pain that needs to be dealt with first.
How do I know this? It was a message I needed to learn, one that I now teach to others.
Six years ago my life fell apart…
When Mindfulness Hurts: Feeling Is the Key to Healing
“You start watching your breath and all your problems are solved. It is not like that at all. You are working with the heart of your experiences, learning to turn towards them, and that is difficult and can be uncomfortable.” ~Ed Halliwell
Can mindfulness be bad for you?
I had been expecting it: Once you become a regular at it, mindfulness permeates all aspects of your life.
I only sit in meditation for twenty minutes daily (and a full hour on Sundays), but I carry its effects with me the rest of the time, elevated levels of awareness and all.…
4 Relationship Traps to Avoid & Other Ways to Keep Your Love Strong
“Love does not obey our expectations; it obeys our intentions.” ~Lloyd Strom
When I started dating, I did a terrible job of it.
I fell in love at the turn of a unique smile and fell out of it with the first sign of a stubborn bad habit. Despite that, I was a serial monogamist. I didn’t know how to develop the mental fortitude one needed to end things when they were ready to be ended, so I let them crawl on.
Teenage emotions are hard. Adult ones are hard, too.
Three years, four years, three and a half …
How to Feel Good Enough (When You Feel Anything But)
“There are plenty of difficult obstacles in your path. Don’t allow yourself to become one of them.” ~Ralph Marston
I recently had a personal conversation with someone who was describing some struggles they were experiencing. In passing, they mentioned “It’s okay for you, you’ve fought your battles” and went on to talk about how I’m married, I’m working in a career I love, and I’m “successful.”
Listening to them, I could feel my heart breaking, partly for them: I know what it’s like to compare my insides to someone else’s outsides and find myself severely wanting.
But I …
How to Stop Believing Negative Things About Yourself
“If you accept a limiting belief, then it will become truth for you.” ~Louise Hay
Have you ever felt like you weren’t living up to your potential? That chasing your ultimate dream is a waste of time because you’ll never accomplish it? You’re certainly not alone. I know the feeling, and quite frankly, it’s awful.
Recently, I had occasion to visit a cemetery for military members and their families. I saw tombstones over 100 years old. Some of the people lived long lives, while many did not have the privilege of growing old.
As I walked, I couldn’t help but …
5 Ways I’ve Lived Life More Fully Since My Cancer Scare
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” ~Albert Einstein
A few months ago, I had my first mammogram. I have two first cousins who died of breast cancer very young, as well as an aunt that recently passed away from the disease, so I started my mammograms a bit earlier than most.
This mammogram was quite routine, except that a few days later they asked me to come back for another one, as well as an ultrasound. This second visit was …
10 Lessons My Mother’s Death Taught Me About Healing and Happiness
“Grief, when it comes, is nothing like we expect it to be.” ~Joan Didion
This spring marked ten years since I lost my mother. One ordinary Thursday, she didn’t show up to work, and my family spent a blur of days frantically hanging missing person fliers, driving all over New England, and hoping against reason for a happy outcome.
My mother was prone to frequent mood swings, but she also talked to my two older brothers and me multiple times a day, and going off the grid was completely out of character. How does someone just vanish? And why?…
5 Reasons to Embrace Alone Time & Take Yourself on an Artist Date
“It is only in solitude that I ever find my own core.” ~Anne Morrow Lindbergh
When was the last time you took yourself on a date?
Not just you and a friend, or you and your partner, or you and your kid(s). Just you, yourself, and you.
I’m not talking about staying home with a good book, or taking a bubble bath (though I’m a huge fan of bubble baths), or watching a movie by yourself on your couch.
I’m talking about venturing into the world alone to do something fun and outside of your ordinary routine—something that supplies fresh …
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