A haibun — Dewdrop kisses leaf Raindrop stitches cloud to earth Passersby rush on A few nights ago, I was reading TJ KIune’s book The House in the Cerulean Sea, and I came across this quote that stopped me cold: “Why is it that I must always worry about tomorrows?” This is me…

How to find joy when everything feels joyless — This is a tough time of year for many of us. The so-called happiest season can also be the loneliest, especially when life is hard, resources are scarce, and loss is a constant companion. Dark, gloomy, cold days compound the feeling that our world is a barren wasteland. No magic…

“You’re human. Get over it.” — I beat myself up — a lot. The other day, I was berating myself for something. Maybe I had made a mistake, or I might have forgotten something important. It doesn’t matter what I had done, the self-judgement was in: I was a dumb-ass. A moron. So stuuuu-pid….On and on…

Have you ever spent a day in the bed not wanting to get up and face the world? Or a feeling of remorse that everything in the universe is conspiring against us and that nothing is ever going to get better in our lives? We all have been broken sometimes…

How to calm down quickly without shoving something in your mouth — Most of us know what a pacifier is — that fake nipple that babies suck on to keep them quiet and content. It’s comforting. Aren’t there days when you wish you had a pacifier to suck on? Sure, you do. We all need comfort in our lives, especially when things…

Sometimes the truth hurts. And the truth is you know why you’re not in shape. The truth illuminates the lies we tell ourselves. Lies like it’s someone else’s fault, it’s out of our control, it’s not a good time. …

A collection of thoughts and inspiration — It’s pretty hard to remain hopeful these days. It can seem as if the world has gone mad — violence, cruelty, and inhumanity are everywhere and not just in Ukraine. The United States, once a beacon of personal freedom and security, is waging a war on women, immigrants, LGBTQ, and…

Especially when you’re thirsting for payback — It’s hard not to notice the rising tide of resentment and acts of vengeance in the news and on social media. Even trivial things are setting off people’s triggers — sometimes literally to devastating, monstrous results. Yesterday in one of my FB groups, the trolls ganged up on someone who…

Expert advice for taking away its sting — How do you feel when someone starts a sentence with the word, “you”? Do you immediately raise your shields and prepare for something you don’t want to hear? Does the word trigger a warning siren in your head that drowns all reason? …

A while back I was writing about how you create your environment, and I was writing about the downsides of complaining — aka ranting, and how it isn’t actually good for your health. And since the world seems to be a lot more health conscious these days, I thought, well…

Expert advice for banishing self-doubt. — Most of us at some time have doubted ourselves. Maybe it was a decision we were faced with, a challenge in our life or work, or an inability to take a risk. It’s human nature to pause and wonder: Can I do this? What if I fail or make a…

First aid when you’re feeling down on yourself — I tend to spiral down into negative thinking, and once I give into it, it’s hard for me to climb out. I don’t think I’m alone. We have a built-in brain mechanism that is wired to notice potential dangers, so we can recognize and respond to them. While most of…

All the spices of life, leave one out, and the soup isn’t as good — Many of us are grieving losses. Loved ones, jobs, income, relationships, and more. We mourn some losses for a while and then move on as the pain softens and dulls. Other losses are so deep, so intense, that the wound left behind never completely heals. …

Not the pharmaceutical kind — If you are following the news or social media, you know that violence, upheaval, and oppression are rampant. I live in the United States, and we’re being overrun by hypocritical, right-wing, evangelical Christians who care more about a 4-week old fetus than schoolchildren massacred by gun-toting monsters. (End rant.) Here…

An exercise to aid in letting go. — You have your mother-in-law over for dinner. As she’s leaving, she makes a subtle, ever so passive aggressive comment about the quality of the dinner you served. And you get so pissed you want to wring her neck. Then she’s gone. Out the door. Out of sight. But five minutes…

My authentic self gets in trouble. — A while back, one of the most popular bloggers of all time emailed me asking for a favor. I did the favor. He wrote back thanking me and praising my writing. Then things got a little weird. He offered me advice, saying something along the lines of, “Anyone can blog…

What to do when your emotions do the talking. — Have you ever spoken in anger and immediately wished that you could take it back? Have you ever inserted foot-in-mouth — just blurted out something that embarrassed you and someone else? Everyone has known the embarrassment of saying something that they wished they could take back. When we speak without…

What happens to your brain and body when you don’t get enough sleep? — Normally, I’m a good sleeper. I retire around the same time each night, fall asleep right away and stay asleep until morning. But not last night. I did fall asleep right away, but woke up 3 hours later, wide awake and alert. Then I drifted off and awoke every hour…

Narrowing your focus is the antidote to worry — Worrying about tomorrow today can kill any happiness or peace today. Let’s think about that. Can we fix what happens tomorrow today? No, but we can prepare for it. So, we worry, right? Sure we do. We play a neverending game of, “What if” that we can never win. …