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We Are Allowed to Age: Why I Don’t Care That I Look Old
“When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you.” ~African Proverb
It is just past ten in the morning on a Tuesday.
My wet boardshorts and blue tank top are drying at lightning speed in the sweltering South Indian sun.
I am feeling alive and exhilarated after my surf session in the surreal blue, bathtub-warm Arabian Sea.
Surfing waves consistently has been my goal for the past two years, and I’m doing it. Which is pretty awesome considering that I never thought I would surf again.
The trauma and fear from a surfing accident ten years ago, …
How I Healed from Childhood Trauma and Stopped Sabotaging My Happiness
“We can all make powerful choices. We can all take back control by not blaming chance, fate, or anyone else for our outcome. It’s within our ability to cause everything to change. Rather than letting past hurtful experiences sap our energy and sabotage our success, we can use them to fuel positive, constructive change.” ~Darren Hardy
I parked my car and began to walk toward the mall while covering my puffy eyes with black sunglasses. I was fresh out of a session with my therapist, where I had hit a breaking point. We both came to the conclusion that I …
How to Get Comfortable Being Alone and Get the Most Out of Solitude
“The act of sitting down is an act of revolution. By sitting down, you stop that state of being: losing yourself, not being yourself. And when you sit down, you connect to yourself. And you don’t need an iPhone or a computer to do that. You just need to sit down mindfully and breathe in mindfully.” ~Thich Nhat Hanh
The day my ex-wife moved out was also the day when our dog moved out and when I was laid off from my bankrupt ex-company. It felt like everything around me had suddenly died. Many of our common friends and loved …
How I Found Peace and Self-Love After a Toxic Relationship
“Bravery is leaving a toxic relationship and knowing that you deserve better.” ~Unknown
When my marriage ended, it left a huge void that I desperately needed to fill, and quickly.
Along with my divorce came the unbearable feelings of rejection and being unlovable. To avoid these feelings, fill the void, and distract myself, I turned to dating. And it turns out, it was much too soon.
What seemed like a harmless distraction soon became what I needed to feel wanted and loved. This was a way to avoid doing the harder work of learning to love myself instead of needing …
Does It All Feel Too Hard? Tiny Buddha’s Inner Strength Journal Can Help
Do you ever feel like calling into the day? And I don’t just mean work. I mean everything. I mean turning it all off for a while. Freezing the full gamut of this messy human experience—the regrets, the fears, the adulting, the drama. The constant onslaught of anxiety-inducing news and personal problems to face.
When everyone needs you and everything worries you and nothing helps you feel better, it’s tempting to disconnect. To numb out, shut down, or give up.
But we can’t, at least not for long. And really, that’s not what we want. Or at least, that’s not …
Why Many of Us Chase Big Dreams and End Up Feeling Dissatisfied
“A dream written down with a date becomes a GOAL. A goal broken down into steps becomes a PLAN. A plan backed by ACTION makes your dreams come true.” ~Greg Reid
We all have dreams, some of them really big. And if we are serious about achieving these dreams, the next logical step is to set a goal, make a plan, and start taking action.
But we are missing out on one very important step in the dream-creating journey.
This step is one that has taken me, personally, two decades to come to realize. And my first clue came from …
30 Self-Care Tips: How to Avoid Sickness, Burnout, and Exhaustion
“Remember, you are your own best investment. Invest in yourself and your lifestyle. Quality of life is a key component in finding joy and maintaining self-confidence.” ~Akiroq Brost
Do you ever sacrifice your own well-being to take care of others? If this sounds like you, chances are you are doing more harm than good.
Think about when you get on an airplane. What’s the first thing they tell you?
“In case of a loss of cabin pressure, please put your own oxygen mask on first and then assist your children or other passengers.”
They tell you this because if …
How a Dance Class Brought Me Back to Life When I Was at My Lowest
“When it’s time for something new, you will feel it. You will feel a desire to let go, to shed layers, to move, to re-create. You will know because there will be subtle shifts all around you. You will release the old because you are really clearing the path for what’s ahead. Trust the process.” ~Brianna Wiest
I landed myself in the ER three days short of my twenty-fifth birthday, due to a mental health crisis.
It was January, always a difficult month for me. The holiday season tends to be stressful, and I’d recently visited my parents back home, …
The Childhood Wounds We All Carry and How to Heal Our Pain
“As traumatized children, we always dreamed that someone would come and save us. We never dreamed that it would, in fact, be ourselves as adults.” ~Alice Little
Like most people, I used to run away from my pain.
I did it in lots of different and creative ways.
I would starve myself and only focus on what I could and couldn’t eat based on calories.
I would make bad choices for myself and then struggle with the consequences, not realizing that I had made any choice at all. It all just seemed like bad luck. Really bad luck.
Or I …
How I Turned My Disability into Desirability with a Simple Perspective Change
“Stop thinking in terms of limitations and start thinking in terms of possibilities.” ~Terry Josephson
I was affected by the deadly poliovirus when I was six months old. Most people infected with it die. Even today, there is no cure for it. I miraculously survived, but lost my ability to walk.
During the first twenty years of my life, I evolved through crawling on the floor, lifting my leg with my hands, wearing prosthetics, using canes, and finally learning to walk, painfully, with crutches. As I grew up, I experienced post-polio syndrome, which weakened the other parts of my body.…
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