Pre-Menstrual Moods Teach Surrender as a Skill
It catches me in my chest. My hand reaches for my lungs as though I’m short of breath. I pause. Air pulls deep into my belly through my nose and releases with a great sigh. My attention draws to the density surrounding my heart. There’s a heaviness moving outward and...
Tame the Body, Quiet the Mind, Soothe the Nervous System
The overhead exam light pierced into every corner of the room. The patient in his yellow gown sat at the edge of the bed. A tall, slender family member stood at the couch. When we entered the room he came directly at me with violence in his voice, “What is your name?...
The Unexpected Adventure of the Rocky Overlook
There it was. Right beneath the towering pine. Plenty of room for my tent, my chair, my person, my soul. I kicked the pine cones away, one by one at first, but that took longer than expected. So I decided to gather three, four, or more in my hands at once. They...
Finding My Pace: Moving at the Speed of Soul
My flight landed at DFW airport without fanfare. I watched black asphalt creep by as we journeyed to our gate. I sat in my seat to wait my turn to de-plane. The rush of the city surrounded me. I vehemently pushed it away as though doing so would render me eternally...
A Foundational Lesson of Personal Growth
For years, I’ve been on a path of personal growth. I can’t help it. I love to try new things. You might say I’m a personal growth junkie, although I really don’t like that latter word. We lovingly call it “#goalofgrowth.” I love to pursue things that grow me for...
The Void Between Seasons
I’ve gone months now waking up and feeling present and available for life. I’ve been fully embracing all the goodness, all the growth, all the love. I’ve been square in the middle of rhythm within my peak season of spring. A season that brings me immense joy and fills...
From Such Great Depths
When I was eighteen I started dating a sweet and generous young man. One night we were driving back to our apartment after having dinner with his parents. As we sped down the highway, I stared out the passenger window into the dark, cold night. Layers upon layers of...
Saturday Morning Journal Entry
This morning I’m sitting in my bed as the sun streams in through the windows. The field outside rests in green lusciousness. My plants inside soak up the rays like weary, thirsty travelers. Rupert, my corgi, takes up the right corner of my bed, snoring from time to...
Ahhhhhhh!!! Social Media
Maybe you have the same feelings I do about social media: love and hate. I love getting to stay connected with my friends who live in other states and countries. I love seeing photos of the children in my family. I love supporting friends and family through...
Awaiting Understanding Amidst These Luscious Borders
As these words fall between the four borders of this one single white digital page (a word document at the time of this writing), I know this to be a canvas. A place for my soul to express itself. What comes from me each week varies widely in depth and breadth....
Middle Way Meanderer: Body, Hierarchy, Attachment
My finger lingers tapped at the center of my chest. My eyes are closed and a small grin swims across my face. I can feel the pulse of my being with each beat of my heart. I come here to this centralized point to gather myself. I sense the rhythm of my breath, the...
One Element to Make Changes Last
When you make changes in your life, how do you fare? Is it easy to show up every morning for your new meditation practice? Do you gracefully roll out of bed and into your running shoes? Are you able to find the right amount of time each day to write your first book or...
Pause for a Multi-body Check-in
Let’s do a little body check-in. How are you today? Where are you today? What’s present for you? Are these questions too vague? Let’s answer them in a different way then. If you want to play along, then take a moment to quiet yourself wherever you are. Locate yourself...
A Compassionate Practice for Loneliness
I’ve been given the gift of an evening alone. I haven’t had an evening alone in at least two weeks, if not longer. I catch myself wondering what I’ll do with myself. Weird feelings surface like fear and an almost lonely-like feeling. I spent all last summer alone....
How to Handle Feelings in a Healthy Way
I wasn't up for writing a whole brand new piece this week. I opted to grab one from the archive of articles written for Care2, who I used to write for regularly when they had their blog open. Please excuse any tone or vibe differences. It was written a few years ago....
5 Ways to Be Your Truest Self
Ok, so the cliche goes… Just stay true to yourself. I get it. Not a very original thought. And often an elusive concept. What exactly does it mean? How does one “stay true” to themselves? Despite being an overused phrased, there’s immense power tucked into this kernel...
The Sacred Craft of Affirmations
Last May I wrote a piece about affirmations. I felt really excited about it because I’d come so far in my learning about affirmations. I felt I was really ready to share what I knew. I spent several days working on this piece. I wrote thousands of words as I worked...
How to Have a Happier Premenstrual Phase
I met with my sister the other day to catch up, connect, and spend time together. It had been many weeks since we’d seen or talked with each other. It was so good to hear what she’d been up to and how she’d been doing. After she shared about what was going on for her,...
The Best Way to Heal Your Relationship with Nature
It’s springtime. As I say that I feel a giddy excitement well up inside my chest and explode onto my cheeks in a big grin. Happiness warms my belly. And joy flows from my eyes. I can smell the fresh rain, the perfume of the trees, and the minerality of wet dirt. I can...
The Magic of Decluttering Your Living Space
When I moved into my new (but temporary) home last October I quickly shuffled everything into its place. I took pictures of my bookshelves pre-move and did my best to replicate them in their post-move locations even though I’d taken some decorations from the shelves...
Leaning InTo New Cycles
Last Saturday I sent out a special email honoring and acknowledging the new moon. I felt excited and inspired to share my short musings about the moon. (If you missed it, then check it out here.) This email felt important to me for a few reasons. First of all, I’ve...
What Does It Mean to Be Powerful?
Power. It’s a force intertwined with many different beliefs and perspectives. Is it good? Is it bad? What if it’s neither? While it’s easy to believe power is only negative, the reality is that power is inherently neutral. It’s what we choose to do with power once...
Somewhere Between Discomfort and Joy
It’s amazing how in the span of a year so much can change. At this time last year, I was separating from my partner, the pandemic kicked into gear, and all of life came to a grinding halt. I felt the energy of spring stronger than ever. I honored my creative urges,...
The Cycles and Seasons of My Human Soul
As I look ahead, I can see the raindrops clogging the pores of the screens that cover the lower half of my windows. There are low-lying gray clouds kissing the rooftops at the backside of the farmer’s field. Puddles of water skip across the land. It’s not officially...
Winter’s Call to Awareness
My tires crunch over icy mounds of dirty white snow as I turn left into my neighborhood. Piles of the crunchy stuff give way to a flat shiny surface. A half-mile of ice and snow stretches out before me. Perched on either side are homes nestled into swaths of mostly...
Seven Mental Health Tips to Get Through February
February can be one of the coldest months of the year. And even though the days are slowly getting longer, it still feels dark, dreary, and hard to manage. You may feel excessively lethargic and apathetic this time of year, which doesn’t help you achieve your New Year...
Rearrange the Furniture to Change Your Mind
As I sit here in my black, tattered computer chair at my chestnut desk, I can’t help but think about the impact of my living space on my psyche. While my current arrangement, me sitting in a chair at a desk, doesn’t sound strange, if you saw me you would certainly...
Take a Break
Time to take a break. Not every week needs to be filled with words. This week I don't have many words to share. I've been writing once a week since July. It's now January, and I've stuck to my commitment with great honor and integrity. Writing and posting once a week...
How I Feel Upon Waking
Do you ever notice how you feel when you first decide to wake up? Before your eyes are even open and you’ve lifted yourself out of bed do you feel anything or does it take a moment? What’s present for you as you roll from the comfort of your bed and into your morning...
Deep Listening
Today I wake and pause. Somethings here. It’s drawing my ear in towards my center. It’s making light, almost imperceptible whispers. It’s been here. When it arrived I’m not sure. But it rests gently at the edges of my chest between my shoulders in the realm of my...