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As I approach my senior years, I find myself wondering: what will I be like in 20 years? Will I be a person that others ignore for the flock of younger more appealing people? Will my life matter? Will I be rejected or will I enjoy a sense of belonging? And so today, this lonely goose is teaching me a valuable lesson: treat everyone with love and compassion, never abandoning a human being for what they might be lacking. And to notice why I am drawn to some people and not to others. And to continually open my heart to all of mankind, offering acceptance and connection, hospitality and community.
Continue reading The Lonely Goose
Our thoughts, emotions and bodily sensations change moment to moment. Our breath, though, is constantly here – available to us, while we are alive. What if breathing in and out became a blessing? What if being alive was enough? In the song “I’m Alive” by Kenny Chesney (joined by Dave Mathews), we are invited to embrace breathing as a blessing; and being alive as a gift. The message is simple yet profound: choosing to dwell in gratitude and aliveness rather than in regret and disappointment. I invite you to take a listen and ask yourself: what would it take for breathing in and out to be a blessing in my life and for today to be enough?
Continue reading Being Alive
Today I want to share an article with you entitled: “Don’t Fall into the Self-Esteem Trap: Try a Little Self-Kindness” by Kristin Neff, PhD. Dr. Neff is the author of Self-Compassion and co-founder of the eight week Mindful Self-Compassion Training Program. In her article she speaks to the angst that many of us experience in modern life: No matter how hard we try, no matter
Continue reading Self-Compassion: The True Way to Self-Esteem
Happy New Year everyone! January is celebrated in many countries as a time to say goodbye to the “old” and welcome the “new” into our lives. It is a month for setting a list of well-intentioned goals for the upcoming year. As I ponder the whole concept of New Year’s resolutions and how easily the most determined of us fall down and come short of
Continue reading A Single Word Can Be a Powerful Thing
Mindfulness Meditation is the practice of cultivating awareness. It is the choice to take a few minutes to a longer period of time in silence, observing the mind along with sensations and emotions. In meditation we notice what is present, without changing anything. It could be said that mindfulness meditation is “being” rather than “doing”.
Continue reading Mindfulness Meditation: What It Is and What It Isn’t
Traditionally, the work of the heart begins and ends with forgiveness. To heal, we must forgive. To live mindfully, we must forgive. But first, we need a clear and wise understanding of forgiveness. Once that is accomplished, we become more able to forgive both others and ourselves.Forgiveness is a letting go of past pain and betrayal – releasing the burden of hate that we carry. Forgiveness honors the heart’s greatest dignity and purity. When we are lost, it brings us back to our center and to our ability and our choice to love. With forgiveness, we become unwilling to wish harm on another, no matter the circumstance. When we forgive, we free ourselves from the past and its grasp and hold on our heart. Even in the worst experience, our heart can be free.
Continue reading The Heart & Soul of Forgiveness
Our culture has indoctrinated most of us, particularly women, to believe media-defined thinness and beauty will bring happiness, bliss and self-love. Unfortunately, this is not true.
Continue reading My Journey of Healing with Mindfulness Meditation
Our culture is one of “automatic pilot”: in today’s world, we mindlessly head for a future that is not here yet or often propel ourselves back to a past that has already occurred. The problem with this style of living is not that the future or the past is undesirable to think about but in doing so…in spending time longing for a certain future or grieving over a past that we can’t change…we are robbing ourselves of the ability to be fully present in the only moment any of us will ever have: this moment.
Continue reading Living Mindfully
Mindfulness has its roots in ancient eastern philosophy, and is based on the premise that our attachment to feeling happy and our aversion to feeling badly in some way are the cause of much of our discomfort and misery. Much of the time, when things are difficult, we take up compulsive or avoidant behaviors in an attempt to make ourselves feel better.
Continue reading How to Combat Anxiety
itting in an outdoor cafe reveling in the beauty of warm summer day…I am aware of something deeper in me…something wanting expression. It is about the magic of summer and the child in me that comes alive as the temperature climbs above 80 degrees. Have any of you been there? Have you felt yourself come alive as the temperature becomes warm and life takes on an ease and a charm that only happens when the season is summer?
Continue reading The Joys of Summer
We hear a lot these days about well-being, becoming who we truly are and realizing our wholeness. While this may sound compelling (“Sure, why not? I’m in!”), how exactly do we begin? Where do we start? And what is the first step? First, I believe we are all whole and complete human beings just as we are. We lack nothing and we are not in need of “fixing”. From a holistic standpoint, we have everything we need to live life as whole and complete human beings. Secondly, to be well in body, mind, heart and spirit, it is not a matter of needing to acquire something from the “outside”. Rather it is a matter of letting go – of releasing ourselves from the prison of culturally imposed limiting beliefs, fabrications and fear in order to live a life of authenticity and freedom. This article is intended to be a way to “check-in”: to inquire into our own well-being and notice what we discover when we ask ourselves the following questions.
Continue reading Well-Being Check-in
Have you ever considered turning off the distractions for ten days? I mean, no talking, no books, no TV or music, no phone or Internet – no outside “noise” whatsoever – instead, committing to silence for ten days. If that sounds too daunting, read on to see why you might want to embrace the power of silence, if even for only a few minutes each day…
Continue reading The Power of Silence
As I sat in the cool evening breeze looking out over the lagoon, I looked back on what I had learned that day. The lessons were simple and sacred and they are: Appreciate the blessing of a smile – and always return one. Value friendship highly – nurture and nourish those you care for. Never forget the importance of family – laugh and hug often. Enjoy the simple pleasures in life – they are everywhere. Always give more than you take – bless others with generosity and graciousness.
Continue reading Simple Happiness
GUEST POST BY OLIVIA, AGE 10
By now, most of us have heard about the benefits of being grateful and living a life of gratitude. Articles and books have been written on gratefulness and how it can change our lives. I am a believer in choosing to be grateful and in reminding myself, daily, of all the blessings my life holds. Yet how easy it
Continue reading How to be Grateful
What if each of us made a commitment to release our grip on negative self-concepts and look at the events in our lives as just that: events? Sometimes wine glasses break. Blaming ourselves and feeling shame gets us nowhere. In fact, feeling shame can be a dangerous emotion as we often project it onto others, not wanting to experience the discomfort of this harmful feeling. Could this be a worthwhile endeavor – to catch shame before it has a chance to become part of our self- description? Before we actually believe we are shameful human beings?
Continue reading Staring Down Shame
As I think about the New Year approaching, ten tips for healthy thinking and living come to mind. Please feel free to add your own to this list in the comments! And may merriment and delight – and peace in the New Year – be your companions and your experience.
Continue reading Ten Healing Thoughts for the New Year
“I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These are your greatest treasures. Compassionate toward yourself, you reconcile all beings in the world.” ~ Lao-Tzu
Bound for home. After greeting my seating companion for the flight, I turned on my computer to catch up on work. Upon opening “Documents” – there it was: my digital diary – my words telling the story of
Continue reading Try a Little Tenderness
The key to a guilt-free holiday is to set realistic goals with awareness. Implement these 10 survival tips to navigate the holidays – and enjoy plenty of happiness and cheer along the way. And remember, if you do overindulge, allow guilt feelings to pass on by. Guilt only weakens your resolve to maintain healthy habits, adds suffering to your experience and spoils the fun of holiday celebrations.
Continue reading Seize the Season! 10 Tips for Surviving the Holiday Festivities
While the satisfaction of completing a task or achieving a goal of some sort is healthy and normal, the constant drive to be doing something can become unhealthy and lead to physical and mental symptoms of distress and compromised health. Busyness can become a thief: robbing us of serenity, unstructured time and creativity. We can easily become slaves to this master.
Continue reading Too Much to Do
When we live graciously, we honor all of life, living from trust strength, openness and an inner knowing that everything can be a vehicle for learning and is, in some way, a gift. Practicing gratitude is really a decision to give up all belief in lack. The miracle of gratitude is that it changes your perception, it changes your brain and it changes your experience of the world. Gratitude is a training in vision that helps you recognize what is already here for you. Gratitude energizes you. Gratitude opens you up. Gratitude makes you attractive. The more you practice gratitude, the more abundant you will feel.
Continue reading Gratitude: Living a Gracious Life
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