"You are very powerful, provided you know how powerful you are." ~ Yogi Bhajan Most of my life I felt that life was happening to everyone else and I just had to watch. Another's parents came to see their graduation and celebrated with them. I went home alone. Other people went to their own university degree. I didn't even bother…
I often wish I had found meditation much earlier in life. Like in high school, where I once burst a stress ball by pressing it excessively, shot small beans or pearls or whatever filled the ball in all directions around my overloaded desk. Or in college, when the triad of my depression, anxiety, and bulimia felt like the foundation of…
"You cannot be both fearful and grateful at the same time." ~ Tony Robbins It can be difficult to get into a state of gratitude in a time of turmoil and fear. But now we have to exercise grace more than ever. The practice of gratitude can lift us out of the heavy weight of our unsavory thoughts and feelings…
"The positive cannot exist without the negative." ~ Alan Watts My heart was empty. It had never felt so empty. Sometimes I felt a gap in my chest so that everything around me felt like half a whole. I felt like a piece of me had died. This summer I painted my nursery gray and carefully selected the color after…
"The real journey of discovery is not to look for new landscapes, but to have new eyes." ~ Marcel Proust I slept the first thirty-two years of my life. I was shaken awake when my daughter was born, unable to hold her own breath. I sat helplessly next to her in the intensive care unit every day for three months…
"Everything you ever wanted is a step outside your comfort zone." ~ Unknown We have all seen this or similar quotes. All the magic, growth and transformation seem to be happening there. Not everything that happens outside the comfort zone is magical. So when we hike and leave the safe shores, we also have to be realistic and be aware…
"The master failed more time than the apprentice ever tried." ~ Proverb There is no price for the last place. But that doesn't mean that it has no value at all. We are so obsessed with not meeting expectations that we can refuse to take risks. So many of us are risk averse. Paralyzed by fear of failure. It robs…
"Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we are and embracing who we are." ~ Brené Brown When I was fourteen, I vividly remember the first time I put my fingers in my throat and vomited. I remember feeling fat, ugly, unworthy and not good enough. I felt like I was out of control and…
"Sometimes even life is an act of courage." ~ Lucius Annaeus Seneca When I was twenty-four, my best friend suddenly died in a car accident. She was like a sister to me, so it plunged me into a deep depression. I have been struggling with depression since I was about fourteen, but it got a lot worse after she died.…
All I ever wanted is for someone to put their hand on my shoulder and say, "Everything will be fine." I could not tell anyone about my need – my longing – for this simple action or why it was so important to me. I prayed for that. This was something that could not be bought. In the deepest hours…