Relaxation

“Never feel sorry for choosing yourself.” ~Unknown I was eleven years old, possibly twelve, the day I first discovered my mother’s betrayal. I assume she didn’t hear me when I walked in the door after school. The distant voices in the finished basement room of our home drew me in. My mother’s voice was soft

Most of us can be way too hard on ourselves, when life is already hard enough. We spend our days taking an inventory of all the ways we’re falling short, tell ourselves we’re not good enough, and even question our basic goodness, as if there’s something wrong with us at our core. I know I’ve

“A friend is someone who gives you total freedom to be yourself.” ~Jim Morrison When I left my full-time position at an ad agency and ventured out on my own, I had a clear goal in mind—to connect with likeminded people who align with my highest good. As far as how I was going to

“I really want to, but I can’t because [add semi-valid reason here].” That’s a template sentence to let yourself off the hook. It’s not copyrighted, so feel free to use it any time you want to let go of your dreams and not feel bad about it. Honestly, it hurts me every time I hear

“We only live once, Snoopy.” ~Charlie Brown “Wrong. We only die once. We live every day.” ~Snoopy I am an anxious person. I haven’t always been though. When I had my first child, fourteen years ago, it was the week after my father died. My son was born and went right to the NICU where

“You do not rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems.” ~James Clear If you pull up any popular motivational video today, you’ll probably hear things like “Set big goals!” and “Aim high and don’t stop until you get there!” After watching a video like this, you may

“Your value doesn’t decrease based on someone’s inability to see your worth.” ~Unknown In my early twenties, I was a food and beverage manager at a nice hotel in Portland, Maine. About a month after I started working there, they hired our department director, a man twice my age whom I would report to. At

“The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” ~Pablo Picasso I was fifty-two when I found my purpose. I wasn’t even looking. It literally just smacked me upside the head. That’s a funny thing about life. It throws things your way, and you either grab

“Your inner critic is simply a part of you that needs more self-love.” ~Amy Leigh Mercee We all have that critical and judgmental inner voice that tells us we’re not good enough, smart enough, pretty enough, etc. It tells us we don’t do anything right. It calls us stupid. It compares us to other people

“Stop shoulding on yourself.” ~Albert Ellis I was buried under a pile of shoulds for the first thirty-two years of my life. Some of those shoulds were put on me by the adults in my life, some were heaped on because I am a middle child, but most were self-imposed thanks to cultural and peer influence.

“As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.” ~Maya Angelou Growing up in Africa, I was told that the virtue and worth of a woman lies in her ability to take care of everyone around her; that a woman was considered good

“You don’t have to rebuild a relationship with everyone you’ve forgiven.” ~Unknown It’s natural, when you’re hurting and lonely, to want to reach out to people you’ve been close to in the past. Especially if there’s unfinished business with someone. And especially given the added isolation that comes with a global pandemic. Whether or not

“Shame derives its power from being unspeakable.” ~ Brené Brown I felt like a hypocrite. I would tell my nutrition clients to eat a salad with vegetables, then I’d go home and scarf down an entire pizza. After guilt and shame set in, I would purge and throw it up. I think I became a

Let me ask you this: Do things usually go to plan in your life? Or do you often find yourself adapting to a tornado of changes you didn’t choose or think to expect? That’s how I’ve felt recently, as I’ve been dealing with placenta previa at the end of my “geriatric” pregnancy, which required my

“Some people are in such utter darkness that they will burn you just to see a light. Try not to take it personally.” ~Kamand Kojouri The saying goes that money makes the world go round, but of course that’s not true. It’s our relationships. How we relate to other people and how they relate to

“I hope you find love, but more importantly, I hope you’re strong enough to walk away from what love isn’t.” ~Tiffany Tomiko When I was in my early thirties, I briefly dated someone right after my divorce. It was one of those fast and furious things that had no label and left me wondering if

Hi friends! I’m excited to let you know about the MindBody Therapy Summit, a FREE online event, presented by the Embody Lab, that’s coming up next week. In this inspiring 5-day summit, running from June 2nd through June 6th, you’ll hear from some of the most impactful healers, teachers, and researchers at the intersection of wellness,

“Do not let the roles you play in life make you forget who you are.” ~Roy T. Bennett Wherever I go and meet new people, they ask me, “What do you do?” I love talking about what I do because I love what I do, but It’s not what I’ve always done, and it certainly

“No person is your friend who demands your silence or denies your right to grow.” ~Alice Walker When I was a child and in my early teenage years, I was a free bird. I laughed easily, loved life, never worried, and dreamed big. I thought the best of others, the glass was always full. I

“I’d go back to my younger self and, ‘Lighten up. Take it easy. Relax. Don’t be so anxious about everything. Try not to have today stolen from you by anxiety about yesterday or tomorrow.’” ~Bill Nighy I believe there is great power in looking back at our past to learn from our experiences, mistakes, and

“Don’t force yourself to fit where you don’t belong.” ~Unknown When I was young, I was a real daddy’s girl. He was so proud of me and took me everywhere with him. When my parents got divorced and my dad moved away to start a new life with a new family, I didn’t understand why

“Each of us has an inner compass. This is an instinct that points us toward health. It warns us when we are on dangerous ground, and it tells us when something is safe and good for us.” ~Julia Cameron After I broke up with Mr. Wonderful, I found out that he was a predator. When

“I decided that the single most subversive, revolutionary thing I could do was to show up for my life and not be ashamed.” ~Anne Lamott I remember one particular clear, cold winter morning as I returned home from a walk. I suddenly realized that I had missed the whole experience. The blue, clear sky. The lake

“We eventually learn that emotional closure is our own action.” ~David Deida When my last relationship ended, I didn’t really understand why. After eight years together and still feeling love for each other, my partner walked away saying he didn’t feel able to commit. He didn’t want to work on the relationship because he felt

 “Our intention creates our reality.” ~Wayne Dyer What if you only had one thing you needed to accomplish today? One over-arching objective that encapsulates the multiple items on your to-do list or the meetings on your calendar? One word that you set in the morning and carry throughout the day to stay in focus and

“I do not fix problems. I fix my thinking. Then problems fix themselves.” ~Louise Hay Here’s my secret: In order to fully heal over a decade of debilitating digestive disorders, I had to stop trying to heal. Instead, I had to do nothing. What, do nothing? Yes, that’s exactly right—I had to let go of

“Making a big life change is scary, but you know what’s even scarier? Regret.” ~Zig Ziglar Fifteen years ago, I made one of the biggest changes in my life. It was something I had wanted to do for so long but had never found the right time, right plan, or courage to do. You see,

“Don’t try to understand everything, because sometimes it’s not meant to be understood, but accepted.” ~Unknown As a child, I never had the opportunity to develop a sense of self. I had a father who was a drug addict. A mother who was abused by my father. And later, we had my mom’s possessive and

“And here you are, living despite it all.” ~Rupi Kaur “I surrender!” I said this mantra out loud as my life was spiraling out of control. I had spent a summer in college as a camp counselor separated from my fiancé. He sent me no letters and did not keep in touch. Still, I held

“There is a huge amount of freedom that comes when you take nothing personally.” ~Don Miguel Ruiz Oh man, if I had a dollar for every time I took something personally… I’d be rich by now. When I quit my corporate job in Paris and took a year off traveling people would often ask me,