“Comparison is the death of joy.” ~Mark Twain One of the best pieces of advice I ever received was to keep my eyes on my own paper. Which was basically just a suggestion to stop looking outside myself for constant validation and to start doing the hard work of figuring out who I was and who I wanted to become …
Sometimes Growth Feels Gross (or, Today’s Full Moon and the Discomfort of Changing Your Story)
“May we remind ourselves that growth doesn’t need to feel good to be good for us in the long run.” ~Chani Nicholas THIS. Whether or not you’re into astrology and tracking the cycles of the moon, this message from the infinitely wise and talented Chani Nicholas on this day of the full moon is so on point I couldn’t not …
When a Fry is Just a Fry (or, Please Don’t Attach Meaning to Everything)
“Half of what I say is meaningless; but I say it so that the other half may reach you.” ~Kahlil Gibran, Sand and Foam Last week, I was having lunch with my boyfriend when he jokingly began to “read” our fries as a way to tell my future. It was hilarious, yes, but it also made me think about how eager …
Let’s Stop Pathologizing Anxiety, Shall We?
“Our task must be to free ourselves… by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.” ~ Albert Einstein Is anxiety always pathological? I think not. As someone with a previous history of panic attacks that seemed to arise out of nowhere, I can say that I am very familiar …
I Don’t Know Either
We’re all searching for some sort of certainty except that certainty isn’t something that exists in most cases. Even in science, something is true only until it isn’t. Take last week, for example, when two major discoveries were made about how the body functions. The first demonstrated that the cerebellum — a large structure located at the back of …
You Don’t Have to Be Certain to Be Helpful
I’ve decided that being a relatively content human is often about learning how to hold two contradictory truths in your brain at the same time without imploding. What do I mean by this? Well, let’s start with an example — namely, me. Because I am a total contradiction in so many ways. I am largely a science-y, show me the …
New Body, Old Programming: Why It’s Ok to Love Your Body Regardless of Your Size
“If you have the ability to love, love yourself first.” ~Charles Bukowski Earlier this week, a few hours after waking up, I made the rare (in my case) decision to jump on the scale in my bathroom and find out what I weighed on that particular day. Why? I seriously have no idea. Curiosity, I suppose. It had been over a …
On Breaking Out of the Arbitrary Success Box
“Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” ~Winston Churchill Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about identity. About how we define ourselves. About how we define success. About how we determine our worth in a world that sees our value as individuals through the lens of some seriously questionable criteria. And a shockingly soulless list of …
Make Your Joy Non-Negotiable
“Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” ~Desmond Tutu To say that I have been feeling a general lack of hope or positivity or joy over the past few weeks would be to greatly underrepresent how awful I have actually felt much of the time. Because …
We’re All in this Together
I have been relatively quiet in this space over the past couple of weeks, not wanting to allow what’s happening politically to dominate my website, as my overall goal here is to provide (hopefully) useful insights on how to live a healthier and more fulfilled life. The truth is, however, that what’s happening politically in our country right now has …