Posts tagged with “wisdom”

How to Stop Sweating the Small Stuff and Let Go of Your Grudges
“Let today be the day you stop being haunted by the ghost of yesterday. Holding a grudge and harboring anger/resentment is poison to the soul.” ~Steve Maraboli
You are tired of it, aren’t you?
You find yourself arguing again. You feel anger rising up in you.
You realize there’s no use in trying to explain your position and decide to stop the conversation.
But the topic still buzzes in your head…
This used to define my marriage.
The first few years of my marriage were constant arguing. After each argument my mind would run over and over the things he …

How Releasing Expectations Takes the Pressure Off Relationships
“When you learn to accept instead of expect, you’ll have fewer disappointments.” ~Unknown
A few months back, I was having drinks with a friend from university for the first time in a while. I sat across from her, smiling and laughing, almost in awe that we were here—here, not as in at this particular restaurant patio, but here, as in, in this moment that felt so free and so light, unbound by who we used to be.
During our first couple years of university, we were best friends, always hanging out, living together, supporting each other, swapping secrets, and creating …

The Fascinating Reason We Fear Rejection and the Key to Acceptance
“Our job in this lifetime is not to shape ourselves into some ideal we ought to be, but to find out who we already are and become it.” ~Steven Pressfield
“We need to talk to you.”
I looked up from my book. The other thirteen girls in my class had assembled around me.
Part of me was annoyed that they interrupted Indiana Jones’s latest adventure. But another part couldn’t shake the feeling that I was facing the sixth grade execution squad. My heart began to beat faster, my shoulders tensed, and sickening fear spread through my body.
“We don’t like …

Unreasonable Boss? 8 Ways to Honor Yourself in a Toxic Workplace
“Good bosses care about getting important things done. Exceptional bosses care about their people.” ~Jeff Haden
“I’ll need you to log your work down to the minute on this spreadsheet,” she said pointing to my computer where an elaborate timesheet was swallowing up my entire screen.
I looked up at her, confused—nope, more like utterly stunned. Was she for real? My body seemed to know before my mind that I’d just entered some sort of workplace twilight zone.
I had a sinking feeling in my gut, and it was sounding some sort of alarm deep in my chest, making my …

How to Calm Your Mind Without Sitting to Meditate
“Our way to practice is one step at a time, one breath at a time.” ~Shunryu Suzuki
Sitting meditation has always been challenging for me; practicing mindfulness, even harder.
As a self-confessed worrywart who has contended with constant ruminations, flashbacks, and nightmares for most of my life (more on this later), all prior attempts at being fully present and not thinking merely served as reminders of how little control I had over my mind. Then I took up hiking and stumbled upon a form of meditation that literally transformed my life.
Initially, just being out in nature on scenic trails …

Lost Everything? 8 Tips to Help You Get Back on Your Feet
“Tough times never last, but tough people do.” ~Robert H. Schuller
About two years ago, I was working in a professional career that I had been building for nearly twenty years.
I had been at my company for thirteen years, and had been generally commended and given positive reviews and regular bonuses and raises for most of that time.
I had just left a terrible and traumatic relationship, and due to two years of criticism, gaslighting, and conflict, was experiencing severe depression. I was on medication that made it hard for me to focus and which gave me anxiety …

Why Surrendering to Life is the Key to Positive Change
“Surrender to what is. Say ‘yes’ to life and see how life suddenly starts working for you rather than against you.” ~Eckhart Tolle
“Surrender” in current colloquial language equals failure. According to the Oxford Dictionary, without an object, surrender means to “stop resisting to an enemy or opponent and submit to their authority.” With an object, it gets even worse: “Give up or hand over (a person, right, or possession), typically on compulsion or demand.”
How then can surrender be the key to joy?
At age thirty, I was defeated by life. Down for the count. But, I did …