I’ve learned that self-care is pretty much nonnegotiable if I want to be nonmiserable, but lately I’ve been scraping by with the bare minimum. So it was pretty cool when the latest Wholly Shift session resulted in a concrete list of tasks I can complete each morning and night in service of my well-being and continued […]
You don’t have to earn a thing.
Right now, already, you are everything. There is nothing you need. Sure, there is plenty to dream of and hope for and work toward, and thank goodness for that. Oh, goodness. Goodness is everywhere, and more is on the way. If you let it, goodness—love—will show you its secrets, carry you in its kindness, sweep […]
In case you didn’t already know
I like to feel good. Stress, typically, does not feel good. Sure, sometimes it’s exhilarating—the thrill of rushing toward a deadline, the zing of taking a risk. But I don’t need a lot to get my fill, and lately I’ve had too much. The other night I did yoga at home, and that helped, for […]
Love is greater than terror.
“Terrorists are jerks.” That’s the subject line of an email a very dear friend sent me last weekend. She went on to let me know that some terrorists had opened fire at a shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya, and that a very dear friend of hers was there when the gunfire began and was currently […]
Show up and breathe. That’s it.
My mean mind has been trying hard to score points on the soccer field of my sanity, so thank goodness for my goalie: my conscience, my breath, my calm. My mean mind can be a jerk—it wants me to feel bad because I haven’t blogged lately, because I’ve been resistant to writing in general, because […]
Airport patience is a special patience.
I’m still sitting in the airport and I’m not annoyed. If that’s not evidence of spiritual growth, I don’t know what is. I followed all the rules today: I packed my luggage light and careful, I allowed for plenty of transit time, and I arrived at my gate an hour before takeoff. But nothing I […]
A healing state of mind
I have a hard time doing nothing. Just in the time it took to type that sentence, my body created (and killed) millions of cells, and that’s only a fraction of the action occurring inside me all the time. No wonder I struggle to sit still. But stillness is what I need, and since I’m […]
Today is special. Will you feel it?
Every day is special, of course, but today in particular, because the planets are lined up in a very rare and powerful formation that, in turn, gives us a rare and powerful opportunity to set intentions and manifest peace. You don’t have to buy into the astrological implications of this phenomena in order to take […]
Br(e)aking back to basics
I told myself I would take off the month of July. Ever since January I’ve been goinggoinggoing, and I am ready to be still. Or, if not actually ready, at least aware that it’s time. In the last five months I’ve taken an 8-week grammar course, a 6-week yoga course, a 10-week writing course, 5 […]
Dance like the whole world is watching
“You need to work on your shyness.” That’s what a middle-aged gentleman called out to my friend Laura Hames Franklin as she twirled down an aisle of Uniqlo’s 5th Avenue flagship store, playfully interacting with mannequins and brandishing packaged tank tops like pom-poms. The man was joking, but as I hovered nearby, I took his […]
Temptation, trying, failing, trying
Sugar is not my friend. I know this, I know this, I KNOW THIS, and if I have any doubts whatsoever, I need only touch my tender, itchy skin. And yet this afternoon I ate a cannoli, half a Napoleon, something that looked like a ball of meringue but was crunchy amaretto instead, two coconut […]
It’s already okay
I had a whole elaborate blog post planned. I was prepared to tell you all about my latest bout with insecurity, and how I was hoping to overcome it quickly. (I was on a deadline.) So to start, I tracked down an image that contained the message “you are enough,” and I composed the title […]
Shifting through the mud
“I give myself permission to walk through the mud.” That was the first of (approximately) one trillion insights offered to me during tonight’s Wholly Shift session, and it immediately resonated. I would rather not get dirty. I take pride in keeping clean. However, dirty is part of the deal when I choose to grow and […]
Wholly Shift!
Of all the impressive people who impacted my life last weekend at Nathalie Lussier’s Off the Charts event, the person who rocked my world the most was Laura Hames Franklin. I’ve been learning about about personal growth and healing for years, and I’ve gotten excited about many methods and modalities. I feel fortunate to be […]
Off the Charts Empowered
“All I have to do is show up.” That’s what I told myself in advance of Nathalie Lussier’s Off the Charts Live, a weekend conference I’d paid money to attend yet wanted to skip. I thought I had no business being there, mainly because, well, I don’t have a business. At least, that’s what it felt […]
I am willing to feel great!
“This too shall pass” is one of my favorite phrases, because I’ve found it to be very, very true. In good times and bad (and everything between), remembering impermanence helps me appreciate, or at least tolerate, the present. But what if I could always feel okay? For that matter, what if I could always feel […]
Bravely blossoming
The onset of NYC spring feels like the epitome of ambivalence. Day after day I wonder: heavy coat or light jacket, boots or flats, umbrella or not? But it’s more than just my outerwear that fluctuates. My attitude seems unsure as well, a familiar toggle between safe and brave that feels accentuated by the chill […]
Carrying with care
“You can put that box down,” my high school boyfriend once told me. We’d been driving for a while, and had a while left to travel, and the whole time I’d been gripping a cardboard box full of…CDs? Books? The contents weren’t particularly important, but having their weight on my lap was comfortable. I am […]
Patience in snowtime
I was unprepared for snow. The weather app on my phone predicted chilly sunshine all day, and since I wasn’t expecting to work late, I didn’t check the evening forecast. So the snow was a surprise. It didn’t seem bad as I exited the subway and went to get groceries, but by the time I […]
I’m so scared
I try so hard to be brave. My comfort zone feels like a distant home, a place I love to visit but where I no longer live. And a lot of the time that feels fine. I am excited about where I’m headed. I’m SO excited. But I’m also scared. And not confessing the fear […]