To Strengthen the Muscles of the Heart…
The Ripple Effect of Kindness, an Inspiring Video
Giving is always receiving, and kindness is contagious. What ripples can you make today?
How to Get Lasting Results: The 4 Laws of Permanent Change
“Sometimes, it’s the smallest decisions that change your life forever.” ~Keri Russell
Seven years ago I was that athletic, hyperactive person you could look at and admire.
I was madly in love with cardio, and I could easily work out twice a day, six days a week, without a single complaint, not to mention jogging at 6:00AM five days each week.
In college I went through lots of rough times, especially in my senior year. I was always stressed, I procrastinated a lot, and I couldn’t care less about working out, until one day I woke up and realized that …
Things Change When You Do (and Small Changes Add Up)
“Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise.” ~Victor Hugo
A year-and-a-half ago, I was diagnosed with a severe anxiety disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Every day, I felt like I was travelling through an endless tunnel. The only way I could fall asleep was by pretending that I was dying.
My life felt pointless. I felt like I was on the wrong path. The combination of my two mental illnesses made me feel like I was a prisoner in my own body, like I could not control my brain.
Since this point in time, a lot …
4 Things to Keep You Going When You’re Stressed at Work
“Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.” ~Charles Swindoll
I remember working at a job where I absolutely could not do anything right.
This was one of those jobs where it was extremely fast paced and you received 100 tons of work that must be completed by an unrealistic deadline. And here’s the kicker: your time at work was spent in meetings, all day. I’m talking about four to seven hours of your day. You get the picture.
So you may ask when I had time to do the work. Unfortunately, after …
Fear Is Inevitable but It Doesn’t Have to Paralyze Us
“Fear is inevitable, I have to accept that, but I cannot allow it to paralyze me.” ~Isabel Allende
I woke up with a knot at the pit of my stomach, yet again. For as long as I could remember, I carried this intangible lump inside me. It went with me everywhere.
I am fairly certain it woke up with me, and there was a small span of time when I was in the deepest of sleep when it took a break.
Terrified—that’s how I felt all the time. Muscles taut and butterflies in my stomach. I was a wreck, ready …
A Reason to Forgive Your Parents (And How to Soften Your Anger)
“If you cannot forgive and forget, pick one.” ~Robert Brault
I used to hate my parents.
I despised them. I blamed them for most of my issues.
I couldn’t do what I wanted to do in life because they would disapprove of it. I couldn’t be a cop or firefighter because those professions didn’t make enough money. I could only study a major that would be beneficial in getting me a job and not one that they thought was pointless, such as psychology or sociology.
I hated my dad for never being there when I was a child. I hated …
6 Mindful Ways to Calm Your Mind and Heal Your Heart
“We do not heal the past by dwelling there; we heal the past by living fully in the present.” –Marianne Williamson
As the last moments of my thirties are fading away, I’m preparing for the dawn of a new age, the age at which life is said to begin.
I’m like a butterfly preparing to break free from her chrysalis into the light, ready to spread her wings and feel what it is to be free—a freedom that has been born from six long months of deep introspection.
The catalyst for this journey of introspection was the breaking of my …
Life is a Gift: How to Enjoy It and Find Happiness After a Tragic Loss
“If we could see that everything, even tragedy, is a gift in disguise, we would then find the best way to nourish the soul.” ~Elizabeth Kubler Ross
Sometimes a tragedy can give new energy to life and bring awareness we have been living on autopilot.
I still remember the night like it was yesterday. It was late and my husband and I had just turned off the light when my phone rang. It was my aunt saying my dad pushed his life alert and was transported to the hospital.
I fumbled to find my clothes and hurried to the …
Keep Hope Alive: How To Help Someone Who’s Struggling
“He who has health has hope and he who has hope has everything.” ~Proverb
I write this today seemingly healthy.
My doctors say I’m healthy. I feel healthy. I look healthy. But over the last six months this was not the case.
In April of this year I was diagnosed with Stage 3 Melanoma. I am thirty-five years old. I am a wife and a mother to a four-year-old and six-year-old. I have my own business. I am busy. I did not have time for cancer.
But cancer had time for me.
I’ll never forget the day that I got …
Inspiring Video: Real Life Hero
Want to be a hero and make a difference in the world? It’s a lot easier to do than you think.
(Yes, this is a Thai insurance commercial–but one well worth watching!)
We Don’t Need to Change to Please Other People
“One of the most freeing things we learn in life is that we don’t have to like everyone, everyone doesn’t have to like us, and it’s perfectly OK.” ~Unknown
I am thankful from the bottom of my heart to that relative who dislikes me.
As Mother Teresa famously said, “Some people come in our life as blessings. Some come in your life as lessons.”
She came in my life as a lesson. The more she dislikes me, the more I love myself and appreciate those who love me.
This carefree attitude didn’t come overnight. I had to go through a …
4 Ways to Have More Affectionate, Loving Relationships
“Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.” ~Simone Weil
This morning I was busy French pressing coffee for my husband and me. Everything was going great; I was happily humming along, looking forward to starting my day. My lovely husband came up behind me and bear hugged me gently.
Now, I’ll admit that I don’t usually take this well when I’m in the middle of something. If I’m cooking (which I’m particularly serious about), I’ve been known to push him away and say something along the lines of “I’m cooking! Back!”
This is not sensitive or caring. It’s …
Don’t Let the Outside World Control Your Happiness
“On a deeper level you are already complete. When you realize that, there is a playful, joyous energy behind what you do.” ~Eckhart Tolle
We have this strange need or conditioning to not take responsibility for our own happiness. We expect it to come from an outside source.
It can happen, but it’s fleeting. True happiness has to come from within.
True happiness comes from a connection to our true being.
Years ago my family and I took our dog to obedience school, and the trainer told us, if we have more than one dog, to never let them share …
Why Joy Trumps Happiness (And 3 Ways to Coax It Into Your Life)
“Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.” ~Henri Nouwen
Once upon a time I was on a relentless hunt for happiness. I’d root around for it in romantic relationships, search for it in visits to exotic locales, and scour self-help sections of bookstores, hoping to run across a volume that, once and for all, would reveal its thorny secrets.
The books I read said happiness couldn’t be found outside of me, but I was always skeptical of that advice. I longed to believe that if I got what I …
Taking the Shame and Fear Out of Mistakes
“The greatest mistake you can make in life is continually fearing that you’ll make one.” ~Elbert Hubbard
There have been times in my life when I knew I was stuck, but instead of dealing with it I chose to backpedal to the “safest bet” for me at the time, whether it was the steady paycheck from a soul-crushing job or an abusive relationship.
Then, one day, I suddenly realized that I had spent precious years just going through the motions.
One reason I had gotten so stuck was because I had been trained from early childhood to avoid making …
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