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5 Tips to Accept Your Weaknesses: The First Step Toward Growth

By in Blog, change & challenges, Featured

“Growth begins when we begin to accept our weaknesses.” ~Jean Vanier

I went out with my mom this Sunday, a beautiful, sunny, fall day in San Francisco. As we sat on a bench looking out over the bay and ate our vegetarian spring rolls, she reminded me of an incident that happened when I was a teenager when she and I had traveled to the Grand Canyon.

In a nutshell, I had gotten irate over a family that was feeding the ground squirrels French fries right next to a sign that said “Don’t Feed the Squirrels.” I went up to …

Baby Steps: A Simple Guide to Doing Something New

By in Blog, change & challenges, Featured, meaning & passion, work fulfillment

“It is better to take many small steps in the right direction than to make a great leap forward only to stumble backward.” ~Proverb

Two years ago, after hearing Gretchen Rubin of The Happiness Project, talk about setting up one’s own blog, I went home and did just that. It had been something I had thought of doing, one day, when I would get over my “fear” of technology and decide I can do this.

Her talk made it sound so easy that I sat down and went for it. And I did it; I set up my own …

Navigating Loss: Dealing with the Pain and Letting Go

By in Blog, change & challenges, Featured, letting go

“It isn’t what happens to us that causes us to suffer; it’s what we say to ourselves about what happens.” ~Pema Chodron

I remember when I first read the pathology report on my patient, Mr. Jackson (name changed), my stomach flip-flopped. “Adenocarncinoma of the pancreas,” it said.

A week later, a CT scan revealed the cancer had already spread to his liver. Two months after that, following six rounds of chemotherapy, around-the-clock morphine for pain, a deep vein thrombosis, and pneumococcal pneumonia, he was dead.

His wife called me to tell me he’d died at home. I told her how …

9 Ways to Cope When Bad Things Happen

By in Blog, change & challenges, Featured, letting go

Light Rain

“We all have problems. The way we solve them is what makes us different.” ~Unknown

Have you ever experienced times when you go through just one bad thing after another? When it seems like the world is out to get you? When things go wrong no matter what you do?

You are not alone. Bad things happen to all of us too, including me. I experienced a small set back recently which I want to share with you.

Not too long ago, I was working on my upcoming eBook. It was my #1 priority project at that time and I …

On Making Positive Choices for a Happy, Empowered Life

By in Blog, change & challenges, Featured, happiness & fun

“Life is a choice.” ~Unknown

I’ve recently realized that life is a never-ending stream of choices, even when you think you don’t have many options.

Some look insignificant on their own but somehow manage to contribute to a massive whole. Others can feel overwhelming, and you don’t always realize when you make them what the consequences will be—how they’ll shape your life story.

The biggest decision I’ve made in the past six months is to return to university and complete the MA Creative Writing course I began two years ago. It’s almost a choice I never made—a life I never …

Tiny Wisdom: On Choosing

By in Challenges, Change, Courage, Possibilities, Quotes

“There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist, or accept responsibility for changing them.” ~Denis Waitley

Sometimes complaining, stressing, analyzing, and fantasizing can seem proactive, but they don’t actually change anything. Visualizing or planning may help you take action, but nothing changes unless you actually do.

Today if you feel aggravated with your circumstances ask yourself these questions: Am I willing to do something to change them? And if not, what can I do to enjoy today instead of dwelling and letting it slip away?

Photo by joiseyshowaa

Tiny Wisdom: On Envy

By in Challenges, Fear, Possibilities, Quotes

“You can’t be envious and happy at the same time.” ~Frank Tyger

When you’re fixated on everything someone else has that you lack, it’s near impossible to notice and appreciate everything that’s working in your favor. There’s always something, even if you’re not where you’d like to be professionally, romantically, socially, or personally.

You’ll get there–that doesn’t change that now is a perfect time to be happy.

Envy is a disease of resentful dissatisfaction. Gratitude is not only the antidote–it’s also a choice to accept and enjoy your world as it is.

Photo by D Sharon Pruitt

Be Happier with Your Life: 6 Ways to Let Jealousy Guide You

By in Blog, change & challenges, Featured, happiness & fun, meaning & passion

“Jealousy is the art of counting someone else’s blessings instead of your own.” ~Unknown

My friend Kayla and I ran a student organization together at our graduate school. One day, we were sitting at the local café, talking about plans for the organization. Kayla had an idea for a major creative project she would drive and lead.

The idea was fabulous, and I didn’t like it. I didn’t like the idea of her doing this fabulous thing, though I couldn’t quite put my finger on why. Over our coffees, I shared this concern and that. It wasn’t in line with …

Tiny Wisdom: On Being You

By in Courage, Happiness, Quotes, Strength

“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.” -E.E. Cummings

It can be difficult to be true to yourself if you have no idea who you are.

So often we identify with who we’ve been in the past, holding onto bad memories and assuming they have to define us. Or we think about who we should be—things we want to have, how to we want to be perceived, and how we want to be remembered.

We attach to things and people, as if they are a part of us, and then feel disjointed when someone leaves …

A Simple Guide to Being Yourself Instead of People Pleasing

By in Blog, Featured, happiness & fun

Backyard Buddha

To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself. ~Thich Nhat Hanh

Many people I talk with feel that they have no joy in their life. They feel obligated to do so many things that they don’t have time for themselves and the things they really want to do.

As a result, they feel drained, anxious, and resentful. With so many outside forces competing for their time, energy, and financial resources, is it really any wonder they feel this way?

So what do we do? How can we remain …

Tiny Wisdom: On Ends & Beginnings

By in Courage, Happiness, Possibilities, Quotes

“Letting go isn’t the end of the world; it’s the beginning of a new life.” -Unknown

When you’ve loved every moment of an experience, it can feel like a death to watch it fade into yesterday.

When a relationship ends, it might feel like you’ll never love or smile again. When a job ends, you might think you’ll never feel fulfilled in your work again.

You will. Just like every experience is impermanent, every feeling eventually fades and morphs into something else. Happiness becomes sadness becomes happiness again.

If you’re willing to let go of yesterday and stay open to …

Letting Go and Moving On: Lessons from an Orange Tree

By in Blog, Featured, happiness & fun, letting go

“Don’t let today’s disappointments cast a shadow on tomorrow’s dreams.” ~Unknown

For the past few days, I have been thinking about my orange tree. Every year, we ignore it completely, and it generously gives us bounteous amounts of sweet oranges. It is so very forgiving of our utter lack of support.

Yet this year, the oranges are bitter; even the squirrels toss them away.

Right now, the tree has oranges on the branches and fresh new blooms all over it, as well. I guess we should pick the oranges to make room for the new, but it hasn’t been on …

10 Happiness Tips for Busy People: How to Reclaim Your Joy

By in Blog, Featured, happiness & fun, healthy habits, meaning & passion, work fulfillment

“Life is what happens while you are making other plans.” ~John Lennon

I am someone who enjoys doing a lot of different things, and yet I don’t always enjoy being busy. Sometimes when my schedule gets full, I feel almost as if I’ve lost a part of me.

Just like some people become codependent in relationships, I can be codependent with work. When it has my attention, everything else can easily fall to the wayside—my social life, my hobbies, you name it.

It’s all too easy to get caught up in a riptide of doing without ever evaluating what you’re …

How to Find Happiness through Purpose in 3 Natural Steps

By in Blog, Featured, happiness & fun, meaning & passion

“The person who lives life fully, glowing with life’s energy, is the person who lives a successful life.” ~Daisaku Ikeda

In everything we do, we seek happiness. Or at least what we think will bring happiness.

But this goal can often get us into trouble. It’s how you find yourself in a career that doesn’t represent you, consuming things lacking real value, and living a life that misses its impact on the world.

Most of the things we think create happiness don’t.

We get caught in a spiral and life suddenly becomes a race to be won instead of a …

Food is My Friend: 6 Tips for Mindful Eating

By in Blog, Featured, healthy habits

“Your body is precious. It is our vehicle for awakening. Treat it with care.” ~Buddha

Thank you for this food we are about to eat.

Many of us grew up with families who began each meal with a blessing. These prayers followed people from generation to generation like an affectionate family member showing up when everyone sat down at the dinner table.

These days, this honoring ritual is largely absent as we pick up food in a bag at a drive-through window, eat from cartons taken directly from the refrigerator without bothering to put the food on a plate or …

Tiny Wisdom: On Forgiving

By in Forgiveness, Peace, Quotes

Ocean and Sky

“To forgive is to set a prisoner free and realize that prisoner was you.” -Lewis B. Smedes

Nothing hurts more than resentment. When you sit around reliving painful stories, feeling angry and justified, it doesn’t right past wrongs. It doesn’t teach people how to treat you. It doesn’t in any way heal you.

All anger does is force you to relive a moment that’s come and gone. And all that dwelling can actually cause you emotional and physical disease—stress, anxiety, depression, high blood pressure, stomach ulcers, and even heart attack.

Every day we have a choice as to what we …

How to Forgive Someone When It’s Hard: 30 Tips to Let Go of Anger

By in Blog, change & challenges, Featured, happiness & fun, letting go

“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.” ~Mahatma Gandhi

Up until my early twenties, I carried around a lot of anger toward someone in my life. I’d been hurt by a person I trusted, and for a long time in my adolescence I wanted to hurt them back.

I lived in painful stories and in visions of what could have been if I hadn’t been wronged. I blamed someone else for the life I didn’t have, and felt vindicated in the soul-sucking resentment I carried around from day to day.

I realize it makes less …

Tiny Wisdom: On Being at Peace

By in Peace, Quotes

“When you find peace within yourself, you become the kind of person who can live at peace with others.” -Peace Pilgrim

We often think it’s the other way around—that if people around us were more peaceful, we’d be able to let go of many of our anxieties, fears, and struggles.

No one else causes our emotions. We are the ones deciding how to respond to the world we experience. We are the ones who choose what goes on in our heads and hearts. And we are the ones who decide whether we focus on all the obstacles to peace or …

5 Ways to Push Through Discomfort to Make Positive Change

By in Blog, Featured, healthy habits, letting go, meaning & passion, work fulfillment

“Don’t let today’s disappointments cast a shadow on tomorrow’s dreams.” ~Unknown

One of the most difficult parts of reaching your goals or making positive change is pushing through discomfort.

This is where a lot of people give up—when the process inspires all kinds of challenging feelings.

If you’ve quit your day job to pursue your passion and after six months you need to sell your car to keep going, a cubicle may appeal to your need for security.

If you’d like to get your masters degree but received rejection letters for the fall, your ego might tell you not to …

Feel. Focus. Flow.

By in Blog, Featured, healthy habits, letting go, mindfulness & peace

“This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival” ~Rumi

Not more than half an hour ago, I was, in a very typical fashion, struggling and getting frustrated trying to gather my thoughts for this post. I could even feel the tension in my shoulders clawing its way up to my neck (over a blog?).

Even as I took a shower, I was scrubbing the shampoo into my hair so hard because I was in a rush and had so many other thoughts whizzing round in my head! I was well and truly unconscious, going through the …