Religious

“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. […]

“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

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” ~Frederick Douglass In an eighteen-month window, I had a landslide of firsts that I would not wish on my worst enemy. I ended my first long-term relationship with someone I deeply cared for but did not love. She had borderline personality disorder, and I was not

“I learned that courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” ~Nelson Mandela A few years ago, I attended what most people with social anxiety would call a nightmare event—a wedding. Although I was

“Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become.” ~Steve Jobs I was a sensitive child growing up, and I felt everything deeply. Unfortunately, my childhood home was dominated by chronic tension, fear, and anger—not an ideal environment for anyone, let alone a perceptive and

“Rather than being your thoughts and emotions, be the awareness behind them.” ~Eckhart Tolle When I first started practicing Zen (or presence), I used to believe I could become completely thoughtless. Making my bed, no-thought. Washing my hands, no-thought. Walking around, no-thought. Imagine the spiritual experience! But it wasn’t like what I thought it would

“I would argue that nothing gives life more purpose than the realization that every moment of consciousness is a precious and fragile gift.” ~Steven Pinker He was splayed out in the middle of the road. The paramedics had yet to arrive. That was the scene on our way to meet some friends. Over dinner, they

“If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete.” ~Jack Kornfield It seemed like the natural thing to do. A middle-aged man had dropped his keys near me. I jumped up, hopped over, picked the keys up, and gave them back to him. Not so unusual, except I had a badly twisted ankle after

“Just when the caterpillar thought her life was over, she became a butterfly.” ~Unknown Change is constant, from small changes like trying a new hobby to big changes like making a drastic career move. Even though change is all around us, it can feel scary. While change could lead you to something great, there are

“Beneath every behavior there is a feeling. And beneath each feeling is a need. And when we meet that need, rather than focus on the behavior, we begin to deal with the cause, not the symptom.” ~Ashleigh Warner Do you ever wonder what creates anxiety and why so many people are anxious? Anxiety doesn’t just