Nature
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response.” ~Viktor Frankl For years, I thought something was wrong with me. No matter what I was doing—sitting in a meeting, walking the dog, or watching TV—my brain was busy debating food. Should I eat? Shouldn’t I? I could …
What Finally Helped Me Break Free from Constant Food Noise Read More »
“The paradox of trauma is that it has both the power to destroy and the power to transform and resurrect.” ~Peter Levine I was sitting in the conference room at work with the CEO and my abusive male boss. The same boss who had been love-bombing and manipulating me since I started nine months earlier, …
Work Is Not Family: A Lesson I Never Wanted but Need to Share Read More »
“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson Ever since I was about four years old, I knew I was different from the other kids. I was always on the outside looking in. As I approach middle age, I’ve never shaken …
“Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.” ~Dr. Seuss The notification pops up on my phone: “Jason, we made a new memory reel for you.” I pause whatever I’m doing, probably something stressful involving deadlines or dishes, and feel that familiar flutter of excitement. What chapter of …
“There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.” ~Leonard Cohen When depression comes, I feel it like a prowler gliding through my body. My chest tightens, my head fills with dark whispers, and even the day feels like night. The prowler has no face, no clear shape, but its presence is …
The Prowler in My Mind: Learning to Live with Depression Read More »
“When it hurts to move on, just remember the pain you felt hanging on.” ~Unknown There was a time when I thought my heart would never heal. I’d been lied to, betrayed, and broken by a man I thought I loved. A man who turned out to be nothing more than a beautifully packaged nightmare. If …
Why Narcissistic Abuse Doesn’t Define You and How I Found the Love I Deserve Read More »
“Love yourself first and everything else falls into line.” ~Lucille Ball The first time I experienced burnout, I was twenty-six. I was at the height of my career in London, doing it all, and yet I somehow found myself back at my parents’ house, sobbing in my mom’s car, after signing myself off from work, …
3 Surprising Causes of Burnout That Most People Miss Read More »
“Come back to yourself. Return to the voice of your body. Trust that much.” ~Geneen Roth I may be showing my age, but here goes… It has come to my attention that I’m like a paddle ball. To anyone born in the 21st century: for context, before handheld devices ruled the world, kids entertained themselves …
Be Like a Paddle Ball: How to Bounce Back to Yourself Read More »
“True self-love is not about becoming someone better; it’s about softening into the truth of who you already are.” ~Yung Pueblo One morning, I sat at my kitchen table with my journal open, a cup of green tea steaming beside me, and a stack of self-help books spread out like an emergency toolkit. The sunlight …
When You’re Tired of Fixing Yourself: How to Stop Treating Healing Like a Full-Time Job Read More »
“The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen… they must be felt with the heart.” ~Helen Keller I didn’t want to admit it—not to myself, not to anyone. But I am slowly going blind. That truth is difficult to write, harder still to live. I’m seventy years old. I’ve survived war zones, illness, …