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Posts tagged with “wisdom”
5 Valid Reasons to Be a Quitter
“You have to learn to get up from the table when love is no longer being served.” ~Nina Simone
In my short life, I have left many jobs or situations. Some might call this “quitting.” Why has quitting gotten a bad rap?
Spiritual teachers and wise people often advise letting go of situations that are no longer right for you. It doesn’t seem like we’ve gotten this message. I don’t think quitting is such a bad word.
I quit my job just recently. And I feel great. Other things that I have chosen to leave: multiple jobs, a few …
How to Stick with New Habits When It’s Hard
“Your net worth to the world is usually determined by what remains after your bad habits are subtracted from your good ones.” ~Benjamin Franklin
You probably agree with that statement.
But, for you (and everyone else) the problem is that good habits are hard to form and bad habits are easy to keep.
It is certainly true for me. Like most of us, I meant to start exercising for about six years after I started my career.
But it never happened. I’d do it for two or three weeks here and there, but nothing that ever stuck.
Then, all of …
If You’re Scared to Share Yourself and Your Gifts
“True happiness involves the full use of one’s power and talents.” ~John W. Gardner
If you’re afraid…
…to launch your project,
to share your voice,
to sing in front of someone,
to dance in public,
to write a book,
to show who you really are to the world,
to ask someone out,
to tell someone you love them,
to try something new,
of what other people will think of you…
if you’re afraid of any of these things or more, I have three simple words for you:
Do it anyway.
Do it anyway! Isn’t that liberating? Come on, isn’t it …
5 Questions to Ask Yourself When You’re Feeling Stuck
“Remember, you can’t reach what’s in front of you until you let go of what’s behind you.” ~Unknown
After recently relocating from the UK to Central America, I found it hard to focus my energy and attention again. The upheaval had been all consuming and I was now in a new environment with new routines, new challenges, and a new way of life to adjust to.
I had so much I wanted to do, and I didn’t know which area of life to focus on first. The stuckness I felt affected several different areas …
Shedding Layers of Pain and Learning to Love Our Bodies
“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love & affection.” ~Buddha
I cried when I watched the YouTube clip of Amy Pence-Brown standing in a bikini in a crowded marketplace in Idaho.
In the clip Amy asks people to write on her body. Her arms are wide open, she has a blindfold on, she has curves and cellulite, and she is completely vulnerable.
Why did she do it? Because she wanted to say: Here’s my body, complete and real. You can choose to accept me or reject me, but here’s my body. I want to …
Finding Love Now Without Searching for It
“Even in the loneliest moments I have been there for myself.” ~Sanober Khan
My life coach once suggested I give myself the love I needed, which saddened me profoundly. Was that not supposed to be the job of “the love of my life,” whom I would find one day? In fact, I had not met anyone who completely gave up on the idea of finding love, no matter how long they had been single.
Why though?
I myself was happily single for years and yet deep down, there was still that expectation of finding love one day.
Recollecting my moments …
Your Kindness Could Help Someone Find Hope in the Darkness
“Remember there’s no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end.” ~Scott Adams
I was ten years old and growing up in a home that I can only describe as hellish. Among other things, our father forced us to stand against the wall for long periods of time until we shook from exhaustion. On one such day, he sent me to McDonald’s to buy him a cup of coffee.
I was happy to get out of the house and escape my punishment momentarily. As I headed to McDonald’s, I wondered what …
7 Small Changes that Can Increase Your Happiness Overnight
“Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions.” ~Dalai Lama
I used to be constantly depressed.
After dropping out of college, I worked three jobs a day to help make ends meet. At the same time, my classmates were graduating from college and getting much higher paying, cushier jobs.
I lived in a tiny apartment that had cockroach problems. I constantly complained and could not find the motivation to do anything. I thought about giving up. It was only when I started making these small changes that I started to feel happier.
1. Embrace religion and/or spirituality.
…
You’re More Valuable Than You Think
“Your value doesn’t decrease based on someone’s inability to see your worth.” ~Unknown
On a summer night in Hicksville, Long Island, I swung the bat and drove a double down the left-field line. I broke up the pitcher’s no-hitter, and he was one of the best pitchers in the league. I felt completely at home. I was myself.
On another summer night in Vergennes, Vermont, I stumbled back to the fence tracking down a fly ball. I speared at it with my glove, then watched it bounce off of my hand and go over the fence for a grand-slam home …
5 Reasons We All Deserve Forgiveness
“To forgive is somehow associated with saying that it is all right, that we accept the evil deed. But this is not forgiveness. Forgiveness means that you fill yourself with love and you radiate that love outward and refuse to hang onto the venom or hatred that was engendered by the behaviors that caused the wounds.” ~Wayne Dyer
When we have been deeply hurt or betrayed by a friend, loved one, or even an acquaintance, it can be incredibly difficult to let it go and forgive them. Some acts seem almost unforgivable, but really not much is.
My belief …
How to Stop Pushing and Stressing About Your Goals
“You must learn to let go. Release the stress. You were never in control anyway.” ~Steve Maraboli
I’ve encountered many people who live by the belief that in order to be successful, one must “go out and make things happen.” I used to feel the same until I realized that we don’t actually have control over most aspects of our lives.
We can attempt to make things happen, but doing so doesn’t guarantee anything—it only develops yearning, which leads to suffering.
Take my recent job search, for example. I spent nine months looking for a job. I applied …
10 Ways to Seize the Day and Achieve Greater Work-Life Balance
“Seize the day, trusting little in the future.” ~Horace
Don’t you hate it when you think of the perfect comeback to someone’s comment way too late? One that really sticks out for me happened a couple years ago.
I was midway through a cross-Canada speaking tour, sharing about my journey with cancer and what it taught me about work-life balance and embracing life’s simple pleasures.
After giving my talk to a Rotary Club in Alberta, one of the audience members approached me.
“You know what balance is?” he gruffly demanded, jabbing a finger at me. “Working hard the first half …
How Non-Attachment Can Benefit Your Relationship
“You only lose what you cling to.” ~Buddha
I remember one of my first mindfulness classes that pertained to impermanence. I went home in a bit of a slump.
Nothing is permanent; everything ends; “This too shall pass.” It was quite a shock to the system.
After getting over what, on a surface level, seemed to be incredibly dire, I realized that this could be incredibly liberating.
Enter the principle of non-attachment, a notion that has the potential to aid in the evolving nature of day-to-day life.
Rather than clinging to things—relationships, jobs, material goods—hoping that they will last forever, …
Breaking the Pattern of Painful, Unhealthy Relationships
“Do you want to meet the love of your life? Look in the mirror.” ~Byron Katie
As I was listening to other women talking in my support group for battered women, I had a life changing moment.
I caught a glimpse of myself and where I was at in life. It was a defining moment that turned around how I felt about myself and changed the cycle of my relationship with men.
“I played a role in my abusive marriage; my ex-husband was treating me how I was treating myself.”
His anger and how he showed it belonged to him; …
How to Stop Feeling Like You’re Not Good Enough
“Shame is the most powerful, master emotion. It’s the fear that we’re not good enough.” ~Brene Brown
I’ve always had a temper for as long as I can remember. It would show up at the most innocuous times—when playing a board game with my family, at the dinner table, or sometimes right in the middle of a shopping mall.
At the time I had no idea why I would get so frustrated, so red-in-the-face with pure rage and an intense feeling of absolute helplessness. Even more puzzling was the triggers to these episodes.
Usually it involved losing at something as …
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