Religious

“We need solitude, because when we’re alone, we’re free from obligations, we don’t need to put on a show, and we can hear our own thoughts.” ~Tamim Ansary I walk along a country path feeling peaceful and free. I wander at my own pace, sometimes briskly and other times pausing to take in the view. […]

“The way of love is not a subtle argument. The door there is devastation. Birds make great sky-circles of their freedom. How do they learn it? They fall, and falling, they are given wings.” ~Rumi You can create your dream life from devastation. I speak from first-hand experience. On Thanksgiving Day, my husband knelt before

“Sending love to everyone who’s doing their best to heal from things they don’t discuss.” ~Unknown When I was twelve years old, I planned on taking my own life. I had a plan, I had the means, and I thought about it every single day for months. No one was aware—not my family, not my

“You have been criticizing yourself for years and it hasn’t worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens.” ~Louise Hay Since I was a little girl, I believed there was something fundamentally wrong with me. So I was always trying to find a way to fix myself and be worthy. To feel good enough.

“How you revise, rethink, and rewrite your personal narrative as things change, lurch, or go wrong in your life matters a great deal.”  ~Bruce Feiler It’s happened to all of us. Just when life is going smoothly, a big, scary event comes along that threatens to ruin everything. A frightening diagnosis, a relationship breakup, the

“You can only understand people if you feel them in yourself.” ~John Steinbeck In the early stages of my relationships, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what the other person was thinking. Hours of pondering whether they liked me, over-analyzing every text message, and worrying that every fight meant it was

“When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.” ~Willie Nelson You know you’re not living the life of your dreams when you’re doing mundane things like brushing your teeth, doing laundry, getting dressed, or preparing a meal, and your constant thoughts are “Oh, we need more toothpaste or laundry detergent, but we

“You don’t have to rebuild a relationship with everyone you have forgiven.” ~Unknown “Forgive” and “forcefully” are not two words I have ever joined together before. My idea of forgiveness involved kind and gentle meekness. Goodness. Altruism. Compassion. But never forcefulness. Well, not until I waded through the choppy waters of forgiveness after I had

“Being cut off from our own natural self-compassion is one of the greatest impairments we can suffer.” ~Gabor Mate It was late at night, and I couldn’t sleep. I could almost hear the thudding of fear that was exploding in my chest. I tried to identify the singular cause of the fear, but it didn’t

“Allow yourself to be proud of yourself and all the progress you’ve made. Especially the progress no one else can see.” ~Unknown I watched my then-four-month-old daughter wiggle around on the floor on her belly, arms flailed out to the side in her pink-footed pajamas, giggling hysterically. Her brother, four years old at the time,