Relaxation

“If we can share our story with someone who responds with empathy and understanding, shame can’t survive.” ~Brené Brown The embarrassment you feel upon realizing you don’t actually have what it takes to make a success of yourself. The shame of knowing you spent years training to do one thing and then you bailed right

“At any moment, you have a choice, that either leads you closer to your spirit or further away from it.” ~Thich Nhat Hanh When I was a kid, I wanted to be an Olympic figure skater. Or an artist for Disney. Or maybe a musician. I wanted to be a songwriter and choreographer. I made

“Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside of us while we live.” ~Norman Cousins On September 23, 2015, Loukas Angelo was walking to his after-school strength and conditioning class just a few hundred yards from Archbishop Mitty High School. He was approaching the outdoor basketball courts when

“Ironically enough, when you make peace with the fact that the purpose of life is not happiness, but rather experience and growth, happiness comes as a natural byproduct. When you are not seeking it as the objective, it will find its way to you.” ~Unknown I have always enjoyed helping others. Ever since I can

“Boundaries define us. They define what is me and what is not me. A boundary shows me where i end and someone else begins, leading me to a sense of ownership. Knowing what I am to own and take responsibility for gives me freedom.” ~Henry Cloud Late last night, I once again found myself unable

“In some ways suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning.” ~Viktor Frankl When life goes sideways, it can be hard to take one more breath, let alone find meaning. Trust me. I know. In the same year, I had breast cancer, chemo, radiation, and a divorce I didn’t want. There’s

“There is no place so awake and alive as the edge of becoming.” ~Sue Monk Kidd From a small café overlooking the boat harbor in Seward, Alaska, I looked out the window at the enormous mountain peak of Mount Alice that protruded from the earth behind rows of tour boats, sailboats, and a cruise ship

“Don’t equate your self-worth with how well you do in life.  You aren’t what you do. If you are what you do, then when you don’t…you aren’t.” ~Wayne Dyer As you crawl into bed, thump your pillow to make the perfect little cave for your head to rest in, pull the covers up tight under

“The truth is that there is no such thing as a negative emotion. Emotions only become ‘bad’ and have a negative effect on us when they are suppressed, denied, or unexpressed.” ~Colin Tipping Emotions are constantly and powerfully guiding our lives, even when we are not aware of them, even when we do not feel

“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start from where you are and change the end.” ~C.S. Lewis  It was a dark January day in 2008 when my auntie called with the news “He did it.” I felt so confused. “Did he try? Or did he succeed?” I asked as my

“When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.” ~Rumi As I stood on the doorstep of that rehab facility, I felt completely empty except for the overwhelming weight of anxiety and shame. In that moment, I wondered what all the normal people were doing today. How did

“If you don’t love yourself, you’ll always be looking for someone else to fill the void inside you, but no one will ever be able to do it.” ~Lori Deschene This year I have fallen in and out of love. Not once, not twice, but three times. Firstly, I fell deeply into being held, being

“Create a life that feels good on the inside, not one that just looks good on the outside.” ~ Unknown Since childhood I have been a high achiever. As a kid I was a perfectionist, driven to succeed, to be the best at what I did. I wanted to do well so that both my

“Keep all special thoughts and memories for lifetimes to come. Share these keepsakes with others to inspire hope and build from the past, which can bridge to the future.” ~Mattie Stepanek I stood over a pile of my son’s t-shirts, scissors in hand, my breath ragged. I reached for a plain, dark blue one that

“Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we’re supposed to be and embracing who we are.” ~Brené Brown Have you ever just wanted to relax, let go, and let yourself be? Why is this so challenging for so many? Why don’t we just live naturally and allow our authenticity to

“As rain falls equally on the just and the unjust, do not burden your heart with judgments but rain your kindness equally on all.”  ~Buddha Our burdens come in many forms. They are our relationships, our responsibilities, and our pasts that haunt us from beneath our consciousness. They weigh us down and prevent us from

“Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know.” ~Pema Chadron The hardest part of hearing the words, “I’m sorry, but you have cancer” at the age of thirty was knowing I had to tell my mother and my husband. Why? Not because I was afraid of their reaction, although

“When you stop chasing the wrong things, you give the right things a chance to catch you.” ~Unknown I might be addicted to feeling good. I’m no stranger to pleasure, and I want what I want unapologetically. But there’s a conflict that arises when one of the things I want is distracting me from having

“The time to relax is when you don’t have time for it.” ~Sydney J. Harris No matter what airline you fly, there are safety instructions at the start of every flight that the flight crew goes over with everyone on the plane. The important ones are also listed out on a card or brochure located

“Thoughts fuel emotions. If you don’t like what you’re feeling, step back and examine what you’re thinking. Pain is inevitable, but you’ll suffer a lot less if you disengage from your thoughts.” ~Lori Deschene The warm droplets from the shower are bouncing off my skin. I could be relishing in the warmth. I could be

Do you ever feel like you’re not doing even a fraction of what you could be doing with your life? I’m guessing we’ve all felt like that since the start of the pandemic. But did you feel like that before—like you have gifts to share and passions to explore, but you just don’t know how,

“Letting go doesn’t mean giving up, but rather accepting that there are things that cannot be.” ~Unknown You two are family. Maybe you grew up with them and were by their side for a huge chunk of their life. There was a lot of laughing, crying, and sharing. Some fighting too. You know how their

“Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.” ~C.S. Lewis I was talking to a mentor of mine several months ago, and they cut me off midsentence and said, “Zach, it sounds like you’re trying to be extraordinary. How about you just work at being ordinary?” I paused then promptly broke into tears. Yep.

“Practice the pause. Pause before judging. Pause before assuming. Pause before accusing. Pause whenever you’re about to react harshly and you’ll avoid doing and saying things you’ll later regret.” ~Lori Deschene Ever feel like you are living a life of chaos? Are you feeling overwhelmed and frustrated over these crazy past two years? When difficult things

“I used to dislike being sensitive. I thought it made me weak. But take away that single trait, and you take away the very essence of who I am.” ~Caitlin Japa “You’re making people uncomfortable,” my mother would say. “Stop being so sensitive,” she would then quip. I have always been sensitive for as long

“The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.” ~William Arthur Ward I live in the windiest city in the world—Wellington, New Zealand. Perched between the North and South Island, this colorful little city gets hammered by wind. The winds from the south bring cold, and the winds

“Lean into the discomfort of the work.” ~ Brené Brown Anxiety was the core of my existence for decades. When I look back at my life over that time, what comes to mind first is the constant tension in my chest, a knotted stomach, and a lump in my throat. From the outside, my life

“Our relationships are a reflection of the relationship we have with ourselves.” ~Iyanla Vanzant Looking back at my life I see that all of my romantic relationships up until now suffered because I didn’t recognize or value my sensitivity. For much of my life I thought there was something wrong with me. I was too

“Forgiveness is giving up the hope that the past could have been any different.” ~Oprah Winfrey When I was a little girl, I made many wishes. At first, I believed all of my wishes would come true, just like in the fairy tales my mother read to me before bed. However, slowly but surely, life changed

“I will not say: do not weep; for not all tears are an evil.” ~J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King Grief creeps up on you when you least expect it. It reminds you of the person you have lost when you’re out for coffee with friends, watching people hug their loved ones goodbye at the airport,