A Beautiful Life Is Not a Perfect Life
Phone Down, Eyes Up: How to Really See the People We Love
“The most precious gift we can offer anyone is our attention.” ~Thich Nhat Hanh
Judy was three the first time I missed it. She had spent a solid ten minutes stacking every couch cushion on our living room floor in Vancouver, building what she clearly considered an Olympic-grade landing pad. She climbed up on the couch, stretched her arms out wide, and gave me that look. You know the one. The look kids give you right before they do something that makes your heart jump into your throat.
“Baba, watch!” she yelled.
My phone was in my hand. It was …
What My Body Taught Me: 13 Surgeries, One Coma, Countless Powerful Lessons
“Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.” ~Khalil Gibran
I was born with spina bifida. When I was ten years old, doctors told me I might not walk again after a surgery that would change my life.
I don’t remember every word they said, but I remember the feeling, the air shifting in the room, the adults speaking carefully, the quiet that followed.
Paralysis was a possibility.
By that point, my body already knew hospital ceilings well. I had been through multiple surgeries before I fully understood what surgery meant. …
What’s Really Happening When Your Thoughts Spiral at Night
“The anxiety is not the enemy. It is the messenger. The mistake is killing the messenger instead of reading the letter.” ~Unknown
It’s 3 a.m. I’m lying in the dark, planning my own funeral.
Not because anything is wrong. My family is safe. There is no emergency. But my brain has decided, with complete confidence, that the headache I had this afternoon is something fatal. I am already thinking about who will come. Who will cry. Who will move on faster than I’d like.
An hour earlier, the same brain decided my career was ending. I have a presentation tomorrow—and …
5 Quotes for Hard Times (and a Free Ebook)
Sometimes everything feels like too much, and it’s hard to use all the valuable lessons you’ve learned when life requires you to use them all at once. It’s also easy to feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of what you’re facing and alone with all your struggles.
I’ve felt this way on and off for the past year and a half, as I’ve been dealing with significant stressors in nearly every area of my life. Since I know many of you are in a similar place, I’m offering my Guide to Overcoming Hard Times for free, along with 18 other digital …
The Pressure to Dream Big and the Beauty of Wanting Less
“What if I accept that all I really want is a small, slow, simple life? A beautiful, quiet, gentle life. I think it is enough.” ~Krista O’Reilly-Davi-Digui
Why do we feel such pressure to dream big? I think it starts in childhood when parents, teachers, and other adults start asking the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
One of the many problems with this question is its premise. In the classroom, at church, at youth camp, and at home, you are not alone, and you’re able to hear, understand, and internalize how others might answer …
Though I run this site, it is not mine. It's ours. It's not about me. It's about us. Your stories and your wisdom are just as meaningful as mine. 