I Like Laughter: Video from an Inspiring Comedian
Most comedians try to get laughs, but Michael Jr.’s goal is to give them. Watch and ask yourself: how can you be the punchline?
Every Imperfect Person Has Something to Teach Us
“My experience is that the teachers we need most are the people we’re living with right now.” ~Byron Katie
I have always been of the opinion that the people around us are our teachers.
Specifically, I have always seen what I perceive to be negative traits in others as opportunities to develop patience or kindness toward them. I see it as a struggle they are going through, and if I can be patient or kind, then that helps them. It also teaches me how to embody those qualities even when I don’t feel like it.
If a colleague, friend, or …
Do You Think You Need to Be Perfect to Be Accepted?
“What you resist, persists.” ~C.G. Jung
There it is: Perfection, Eureka!—the holy grail of achievement, like an elusive mirage in the middle of a desert or that pesky little pot of gold we are always hunting for at the end of the rainbow, purring with all of its possibilities, protection, and promise.
Yet, despite its charm and the value we tend to assign to the trait, as well as on those who possess it, perfectionism ultimately leads to the same destination. In striving for perfection, we may soon find ourselves disappointed, dissatisfied, and even sometimes, knee-deep in suffering and denial, …
When YOU Disappear Your Masterpiece Appears
“Happiness is absorption.” ~T.E. Lawrence
During my years in university, there was a cook that I remember to this day. He worked in the university grill. He was well known amongst the students and staff. For his happiness.
Whether it was 6AM or 6PM, whether it was weekday or weekend, sunshine or hail, he greeted everyone with a boisterous “Good morning. How are you this morning?”
There might have been forty people in the breakfast line and he would greet every single one the same way. Many, including myself, would often wonder how it was that a man could be …
How to Realize Your Dream When You’ve Gotten Off Track
“Come, even if you have broken your vow one thousand times, come, yet again, come, come.” ~Rumi
I read these words on a plaque in the middle of climbing a small mountain, in the middle of northern Spain, in the middle of a hot summer, at the end of my thirty-third year.
My eyes filled with tears and even as I brushed them away, adjusted my pack, and continued climbing up the mountain, the words echoed in my mind
I was walking the Camino de Santiago, a 500-mile pilgrimage route that runs across the north of Spain. I’d started my …
Stop Striving for Happiness and Start Practicing It Now
“Happiness is the absence of striving for happiness.” ~Chuang Tzu
It all started when one of my boys asked me if I was happy, and of course I answered yes.
Why wouldn’t I be happy? I have a handsome and kind husband, two boys of which I am very proud, I had a successful business, I had a house I loved, I was surrounded by friends, I was a sought after speaker in my community, and blah blah blah.
Then my son asked why I didn’t have fun anymore. I began defending my happiness to him, explaining all the reasons …
Treat Depression Without Medication: Interview with Jonathan Robinson and Book Giveaway
Update: The winners for this giveaway have been chosen. They are: Marsha Law and Talya Price.
I experienced my first bout of depression at twelve years old, and by seventeen I so frequently felt despondent that my boyfriend questioned if I could go one day without crying. I could not.
My life became a series of self-destructive habits, from binging and purging, to drinking, to cutting myself—the first two to numb my feelings, and the last to feel something, a pain of my own choosing, which somehow felt like relief.
In my senior year of high school, I was …
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 …
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