Posts tagged with “wisdom”
Why I Now Love That I’m Different After Hating It for Years
“Only recently have I realized that being different is not something you want to hide or squelch or suppress.” ~Amy Gerstler
I grew up during the traditional times of the sixties and seventies. Dad went out to work and earned the family income, while Mom worked at home raising their children. We were a family of seven. My brother was the first-born and he was followed by four sisters. I was the middle child.
I did not quite know where I belonged. I oscillated between my older two and younger two siblings, feeling like the third wheel no matter where …
How I Finally Healed When I Stopped Believing a Diagnosis of Incurable
“The quieter you become, the more you are able to hear.” ~Rumi
The quarantine has felt oddly familiar. That’s because I spent thirteen years largely homebound with a mysterious, viral-like illness. It even started with a cold on a flight back from Asia in 2005.
My nose was an open faucet, and my head felt like the cumulus clouds outside my window. When I returned to San Diego, I was so weak and exhausted, I could hardly get out of bed. My brain and body were on fire.
I couldn’t focus or recall names of coworkers. Although I’d previously been …
7 Reasons I Was Scared to Take up Space and How I Boosted My Confidence
“You are allowed to take up space. Own who you are and what you want for yourself. Stop downplaying the things you care about, the hopes you have.” ~Bianca Sparacino
I deserve to take up more space. Plain and simple. By taking the space I deserve, I further build the confidence I need to live a rich life that resonates with who I truly am.
Over the past several years, I’ve had to navigate a new life after hard breakups, difficult career transitions, and moving back home. I’ve had to face the feeling that I’m not doing enough. …
How I Reclaimed My Life When I Felt Numb and Unhappy
“All appears to change when we change.” ~Henri-Frédéric Amiel
The biggest life-changing moment in my life would have looked unremarkable to an outsider looking in.
I was at a point in my life (my late twenties) where everything seemed to look good on paper. I had a great job, I was living in downtown Seattle, and I enjoyed the live music scene. Aside from not being in a relationship, I thought I had “arrived.”
The only problem was, I was miserable, and I barely acknowledged it. A part of me knew that I wasn’t happy, but I tried to …
How Embracing Your Sensitivity Can Benefit Your Relationship
“Today I want you to think about all that you are instead of all that you are not.” ~Unknown
If you are a sensitive person like me, you may think being sensitive is problematic. Especially when it comes to love and relationships.
Maybe you’ve been called “too sensitive” by your partner or a parent. Maybe you feel overly emotional or have strong reactions to things or take things personally that don’t bother your partner, or you are easily irritated or get cranky all too often, or you feel the urge to be alone a lot more than you …
How I Live My Life Purpose Without Doing Anything Big
“You know how every once in a while you do something and the little voice inside says, ‘There. That’s it. That’s why you’re here’ …and you get a warm glow in your heart because you know it’s true? Do more of that.” ~Jacob Nordby
Mornings running the busy roads with the echo of what this one or that one said, lying in my bed in the middle of sunlit days staring at a bamboo plant on my dresser, seasonal jobs, getting all dressed up for waste-of-time employment fairs, scribbling in my notebook when my spirit demanded I fight back—at the …
The Surprising Strategy I Used to Stop Bingeing (and Why It Worked)
“Sometimes the thing you’re most afraid of doing, is the very thing that will set you free.” ~Robert Tew
I recovered from binge eating and bulimia by giving myself permission to binge. Sounds crazy, doesn’t it?
My decades-long weight and food war started in my teens, immediately after reading my first diet book, about Atkins, to be exact. I spent the following two decades trying to lose weight (only to keep gaining) and struggling with food.
By my early thirties, I’d finally managed to lose weight, but it hadn’t end the war, it had just started a new one. The …
How to Get Through Your Darkest Days: Lessons from Addiction and Loss
“You are never stronger…than when you land on the other side of despair.” ~Zadie Smith
In the last years of my twenties, my life completely fell apart.
I’d moved to Hollywood to become an actor, but after a few years in Tinsel Town things weren’t panning out the way I hoped. My crippling anxiety kept me from going on auditions, extreme insecurity led to binge eating nearly every night, and an inability to truly be myself translated to a flock of fair-weather friends.
As the decade wound to a close, I stumbled upon the final deadly ingredient in my toxic …
Conscious Escapism: The Benefits of a Spiritual Cheat Day
“The road to excess leads to the palace of wisdom… You never know what is enough until you know what is more than enough.” ~William Blake
Many people discover spirituality through suffering. I found the path due to years of depression, anxiety, and psychosis. Part of the awakening process is identifying behaviors, traits, habits, or thoughts that don’t serve you. As your behavior changes, so does your diet. Not just what you eat, but everything you consume, including what you listen to, watch, read, and pay attention to.
Orthorexia is the term given to an unhealthy focus on …
The Joy and Power of Realizing I Am More Than My Job
“Authenticity is a collection of choices that we have to make every day. It’s about the choice to show up and be real. The choice to be honest. The choice to let our true selves be seen.” ~Brené Brown
“What do you want to be when you grow up?”
“It’s so nice to meet you. What do you do?”
These are the questions we are asked our entire life. When we’re children, everyone always asks about the future. They excitedly ask, “What will you do?” The subtext of this questions is:
“How will you be productive in society? How will …
Though I run this site, it is not mine. It's ours. It's not about me. It's about us. Your stories and your wisdom are just as meaningful as mine. 