Purpose is important. When we have a purpose, we feel like our life is meaningful, that we matter, and that we contribute something good to the world. Nevertheless, it can sometimes feel a little tricky to find our purpose. We don't necessarily receive a lot of instruction in life on how to find it, and… Continue reading How to Find Your Purpose
Dear Friend, If you feel sad today, you are loved. If you feel happy today, you are loved. If you feel angry today, you are loved. If you feel joyful today, you are loved. If you feel hopeful today, you are loved. If you feel hopeless today, you are loved. If you feel connected today,… Continue reading All Your Feelings are Permitted: A Brief Encouragement
Human beings need purpose. We need to feel like we have something special that we share with the world. Given this need, it is understandable why we suffer painful feelings when we think we aren’t good at anything. For example, we may feel discouraged or depressed when we feel like we don’t have special any… Continue reading When We Feel Purposeless and Like We aren’t Good at Anything: Avoiding “Static Thinking”
The purpose of my blog is to help people practice kindness, compassion, and respect to live more resilient lives.[1] One of the ways we show ourselves kindness, compassion, and respect is by developing practices that help us cope with painful emotions. Sometimes painful emotions are severe enough that we need to seek help from a… Continue reading Five Things You Can Do When You Get Stuck in Painful Emotions
We all have those days in which we don't feel good enough. If you are feeling that way today, I sympathize with you. I feel that way, too, sometimes. Sometimes we feel like we have a list like this hanging over our head. One of the things that causes us to feel this way is… Continue reading When You Feel Like You’re Not Good Enough: Avoiding Special People Thinking
Sometimes we reflect on our life, and we don’t like who we are. We look at other people who seem to have the perfect life, and we desperately want to be them. Have you ever felt like this? If you are like most people, you probably have. I know I have. This feeling is often… Continue reading Seven Things You Can Do When You Don’t Like Who You are and Want to Be Better or Someone Else
One of the most loving and powerful things we can do for ourselves is develop consistent contemplative practices. The phrase contemplative practice may sounds religious or mystical to you. And it can be both of these things, but don't worry. Even if you are not religious and do not practice any faith, contemplative practices are… Continue reading Contemplative Practices: What they are; Why They are for Everyone; and How they Help Us
I found my friend Ali's blog The Mindful Gardener over a year ago, and I am so glad I did. Ali is clearly passionate about gardening, and her posts are a feast both for the eye--as she shares her beautiful nature photography--and for the soul--as she includes such gentle wisdom, humor, and kindness in all her… Continue reading Gardening as Self-Love: A Guest Post by Ali from The Mindful Gardener
I firmly believe that the world needs more of you, not less of you. The world also needs more of me, not less of me. To explain what I mean, I would like to describe two ways of looking at people. The first view is the Winner-Loser View. This view of people suggests that people… Continue reading Two Views of Human Beings: And Why the Views Matter
Last May, I realized I was having problems with shallow, erratic breathing and that it was causing a lot of anxiety[1], low energy, and other problems. I began a simple breathing practice to help some of these issues. It has brought a lot of beautiful changes in my life like increased energy, the ability to… Continue reading Month Ten and Eleven of Beautiful Breathing: Dealing with Our Shadow Side
