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Posts tagged with “Peace”

How to Feel Your Feelings and What That Will Do for Your Life (Everything!)

“You care so much you feel as though you will bleed to death with the pain of it.” ~JK Rowling

Sometimes the last thing we want to do is feel our feelings. Because feeling can hurt.

Feeling can make you cry in the laundromat.

Feeling can make your face unattractively red in the frozen food aisle.

Feeling can make you think this whole being human racket is not the best way to spend your time.

If you’ve been stuffing your feelings back into your rib cage whenever they try to break for the light, this is especially true. I know, …

Clear Your Emotional Clutter and Open Up to Joy (Interview and Giveaway)

UPDATE – The winners for this giveaway are:

  • C
  • Lori Pacheco

When I was in my early twenties, I spent three months in a residential treatment center in a last-ditch effort to heal from depression and bulimia. Among many different treatment modalities, I participated in an experiential therapy that involved a ropes course and other adventure activities.

One day, along with a dozen other frail women, I strapped a backpack full of tennis balls on my back and climbed to the top of a rock wall. It was hard enough to walk on some days; getting to the top with …

How to End Your Stress and Live a Life of Peace and Balance

“To experience peace does not mean that your life is always blissful. It means that you are capable of tapping into a blissful state of mind amidst the normal chaos of a hectic life.” ~Jill Botte Taylor

I used to be a stress bunny. Something was always driving me to want to do better—to be more, to have more, to compete and win at everything.

I thrived on pushing myself, thinking achievement was a great thing.

I was also restless. I always had to be going somewhere—doing something—never sitting still. I was bored, frustrated, and trying to find happiness …

Stop Holding Grudges

We Can Have Peace

Who Says We Have To Be Happy All the Time?

“Develop a mind that is vast like the water, where experiences both pleasant and unpleasant can appear and disappear without conflict, struggle, or harm. Rest in a mind like vast water.” ~Buddha

When I think about having to be happy all of the time, I feel a certain kind of pressure. Sure, it’s different now then it was. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t cycles when I question everything.

Sometimes I can catch myself thinking that everything would magically fall into place if I had all the success I want in my career, the happily-ever-after relationship without any issues, or …

4 Tips for Managing Stress from a Combat Veteran

“Buddha was asked, ‘What have you gained from meditation?’ He replied, ‘Nothing.’ ‘However,’ Buddha said, ‘let me tell you what I lost: anger, anxiety, depression, insecurity, fear of old age, and death.’”

“I never get stressed.”

I used to say and think this all the time when I saw someone freaking out about an upcoming test, a bad grade, relationship problems, or a boss or coworker.

I had a false sense of being “carefree” because I wouldn’t get stressed over the trivial things that most people did.

I was a “battle hardened” soldier recently back from a deployment in Afghanistan. …

When Inner Peace Begins

Source: Simple Reminders

How to Make Peace with the Past and Stop Being a Victim

“Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life; define yourself.” ~Harvey Fienstein

Do you usually feel as if everything bad that can happen will happen, and it will happen to you?

You must be the unluckiest person on the face of the planet. Opportunities never work out. Doors that should open close in your face. Friends let you down. Bosses don’t see your value. There seems to be a universal conspiracy to keep you stuck right where you are now.

You feel like your life is always going to be like this.…

Ego vs. Spirit

Source: Positive Outlooks

Meditation 101: 7 Steps for Beginners

Source: Buddha Groove

What Anxiety Can Do to Your Body & How to Calm Your Mind

“Our bodies communicate to us clearly and specifically, if we are willing to listen.” ~Shakti Gawain

I woke up screaming—not just any scream, but a blood-curdling sound that could have woken the dead.

My throat was searing with pain, and my pajamas were stuck to me from being so damp. After a minute or two, my heartbeat slowed and I lay back down, still shaking. It wasn’t a nightmare; I couldn’t even remember what I had dreamt.

This behavior sounds weird, but it was not an infrequent episode in our house. The week prior I’d woken up in the bathtub.…

10 Powerful Practices to Take Good Care of Yourself

“You don’t pass or fail at being a person, dear.” ~Neil Gaiman

I discovered my spiritual path early. As a teenager I would read my mother’s self-help books. I spent most of my twenties actively pursuing self-development by studying, attending workshops, and going on retreats all over the world.

At the time, I thought I was searching for happiness and inner peace. I see now that I bought into a rigid idea of what a ‘spiritual person’ was and tried to live up to that.

My inner world was not happy or peaceful. The way I treated myself was far

Open-Minded People

Source: The Mind Unleashed

Why It’s Okay to “Fail” at Meditation 90% of the Time

“Giving up is the only sure way to fail.” ~Gena Showalter

So you want to meditate.

You can’t help but notice the benefits touted everywhere: clearer mind, more focus, better sleep, better health and happiness. What’s not to want?

But then you try it out. And dang, it’s not easy.

When you sit down on that cushion or chair, your previously normal human brain has turned into a crazy swirl of thoughts.

Did you have this many thoughts before? Isn’t this meditation thing supposed to be about clearing your mind and getting focused?

The next thought that comes to …

10 to Zen

Source: Buddha Heart

Why Stress Is Good for You and How to Respond to It

“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” ~Viktor Frankl

These days we can’t seem to get away from stress. We all feel it, and we all hate it. Even my sister’s two dogs are on a special diet for their stress-induced digestive issues, and I’m pretty sure they hate stress too.

Recently it hit me: Our relationship with stress is dysfunctional. No wonder we’re stuck in an anxiety-ridden existence!

Stress is Love

Stress has gotten a bad rep, but it …

Inner Peace

Source: Lessons Taught by Life

Set Yourself Free: 5 Things You Gain When You Forgive

“When you hold resentment toward another, you are bound to that person or condition by an emotional link that is stronger than steel. Forgiveness is the only way to dissolve that link and get free.” ~Catherine Ponder

Somewhere in the middle of my freshman year of college, my best friend from high school broke up with me. Out of nowhere, she just stopped talking to me. I tried relentlessly to reconnect, but she stopped responding and never gave me an answer why.

For years it was the most painful heartbreak I had going in my life. It’s still what I …

How Using Your Hands Creatively Can Reduce Stress and Anxiety

“Making something, even imperfectly is empowering because it’s an expression of the self.” ~Alton & Carrie Barron MD

Do you ever suffer from stress or anxiety?

If so, you’ve probably tried to find relief, but finding something that works for you can be quite hard. We all react differently to different remedies, and what works for one person may not be the best remedy for you.

I used to suffer from stress and anxiety a lot. After trying lots of different remedies, I finally found relief in an activity I never considered would help.

I was locked into a life …