Holiday Love Challenge #12: Give a Compliment to a Stranger
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Holiday Love Challenge #11: Create Positive Energy
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Fitting In Is Overrated: Embrace Your Uniqueness to Find Meaning in Life
“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Have you ever felt different—like you don’t fit in at all?
Do certain things captivate other people but leave you struggling to find meaning?
What about the big picture? Maybe you feel you chose the wrong career, or you wonder if you were born into the right family—no one else seems to think the way you do.
Feeling different can be unsettling in a world that values sameness. You can derail your confidence and your progress by demeaning …
Choosing Inspiration Over Intimidation: How the Unknown Can Empower You
“When you become comfortable with uncertainty, infinite possibilities open up in your life.” ~Eckhart Tolle
Lately, I have been reflecting a lot on what I was like when I was a kid.
Back then, what I didn’t know seemed magical. It gave me room to imagine, to fill in the blanks with my own creative inspiration, and to live with a sense of wonder and awe.
I loved fantasizing and daydreaming and imagining what magical situation might be brewing in my life.
As children, curiosity was a natural and automatic part of us, and what we didn’t know didn’t scare …
Holiday Love Challenge #10: Give Yourself Some Credit
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Holiday Love Challenge #9: Empathy Melts Irritation
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Why We Should Accept Our Foes and Adversaries
“Happiness can exist only in acceptance.” ~George Orwell
Reading the above title, you may be thinking, “Why should I accept people who are trying to harm or cause me trouble? They are the last people I would want to accept!” I know I used to feel that way.
It’s clearly unnerving to think about accepting those that we feel are toxic, and even more challenging to do so.
However, when I look back, I now realize that I suffered unnecessarily from my refusal to accept such people, both in terms of greater personal anguish and poorer results.
This became …
Relinquishing Control of Others: 5 Ways It Serves You
“Selfishness is not living your life as you wish to live it. Selfishness is wanting others to live their lives as you wish them to.” ~Oscar Wilde
My mother is a huge control freak. I am told she got it from my grandmother, who basically ran everyone’s life.
Regardless, growing up, I noticed that she really struggled with relinquishing control of what we were all doing with our lives.
It was partly out of love because she just wanted what was best for us, and partly because she feels a sense of panic when she doesn’t know what’s going to …
Holiday Love Challenge #8: An Exercise to Minimize Judgments
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Grieving a Loss That Feels Like a Death
“Grief is like the ocean; it comes on waves ebbing and flowing. Sometimes the water is calm, and sometimes it is overwhelming. All we can do is learn to swim.” ~Vicki Harrison
Most grief books are written to help you mourn the death of a loved one and learn how to deal with their absence in this world.
Death is probably the most challenging thing a human can face. It breaks us down. It brings us to our knees. Some people are so significant in our lives that the mere thought of living without them feels incredibly overwhelming and incapacitating.…
Life Goes on After Loss: Tiny Steps To Work Through Grief
“I realized, it is not the time that heals, but what we do within that time that creates positive change.” ~Diane Dettman
Two weeks ago I found out that a friend passed away. He died eight days after my birthday at the age of twenty-six, and that fact has been hard to swallow, as I didn’t know that my time of celebration would also be a time of grief.
The details surrounding my friend’s death are unknown; all I know is that it happened suddenly, and it was a huge shock to me and other friends that knew him. …
4 Ways to Deal With Criticism So It Doesn’t Get You Down
“The final proof of greatness lies in being able to endure criticism without resentment.” ~Elbert Hubbard
Are you afraid of receiving criticism?
Even if it’s minor or well-meaning, criticism can feel like a punch in the gut.
And if you let it, criticism can leave you feeling down and resentful for days or weeks after.
As the music director at my church, I occasionally receive negative feedback from members of the community.
After services one Sunday, a congregant came up to offer some critique of my music selections. At first it felt like a full-on attack. I didn’t even have …
When You Want to Judge, Be Curious Instead
“Curiosity will conquer fear more than bravery ever will.” ~James Stephens
Earlier this year I wrote a pretty honest and open article about how I was trying to be less judgmental.
As with anything new, there’s a learning curve. Letting go of judgments hasn’t become a natural and automatic part of my life quite yet, but a skill I’ve recently learned that’s making a huge, huge difference can be summed up in one word: curiosity.
Let me explain: I recently finished Brené Brown’s newest book Rising Strong. It’s all about getting up after a hard emotional fall, and what …
Holiday Love Challenge #7: Donate a Toy
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Dealing with Toxic Relationships and Finding Emotional Freedom
“We would do ourselves a tremendous favor by letting go of the people who poison our spirit.” ~Unknown
My husband and I both have living grandparents. My daughter has met the grandparents on my husband’s side, but she hasn’t met mine. Some think I’m cruel for not taking her to meet my grandmother because I had an excellent relationship with my great grandparents.
Some ask why I haven’t contacted her in the two years since my only child was born. I could give a long drawn-out response and try to explain why I gave up on a relationship with my …
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