Healing & Growth
Facing Unavoidable Pain
We make meaning out of tragedy. But the tragedy is still tragic.
10 Levels of Wounding and How to Heal Them
Pain comes in many forms, and the key to healing is finding the right remedy for what you are experiencing. This post attempts to diagram all the kinds of psychological, emotional, and spiritual wounding I know of and the best remedies I have found for each.
Living With Death: Making Sense of Suicide
Emily, my partner, my love, took her own life on Wednesday, July 31st, 2013. Below my letter is Emily’s good-bye note. I’m writing
Limbic Templates: How to Change Deep Patterns
Our limbic system is our body’s emotional-relational system. Some places it shows up: when you feel awkward when you don’t like someone
The world can’t wait to meet you
Today I was given the exercise to write “Things I wish my Mom had said to me”, and then say them to
Who are you living for?
These days I’m working on untangling a core pattern that goes like this: My life has meaning only if I’m helping people.
Cultivating Self-Worth
It’s one of the jobs of a parent to instill a child with a sense of their own worth. This happens naturally
The Joy Manifesto
There are creations only you can bring into the world. There is a purpose for your life–one that nobody else can fulfill.
Lumping and Splitting – Learning from Dog Training
I just discovered these terms used in animal training. From the blog Eileen and Dogs: Splitting is to look for and reinforce small
Trigger Calming Magic
When you are triggered, your autonomic nervous system is reacting to messages from your brain that you are in danger. Our body’s
Working With Regret
Regret is one of the hardest emotions we can feel. It can be a relief to realize that regret is a secondary emotion, and by addressing the primary feelings regret can be released.
Cultivating Self-Discipline is Best Done Gently
Self-discipline is tricky. In the movies, there is always a big motivating factor, and then a montage of activity toward a goal,
Accepting Our Brokenness Helps Us Heal
Start where you are. It is enough.
Healing Hyper-vigilance and Learning Peace
Those who grow up in an environment that is not safe (whether physically or emotionally) develop a heightened sense of threat. They
Book Review: SHED Your Stuff, Change Your Life
Like her earlier book Organizing from the Inside Out, Julie Morgenstern takes an inner approach to working with clutter. Instead of tough-love
Handling Confusion and Uncertainty With Grace
To live with grace, we have to trust grace to show up for us if we let go.
Has Your Ego Co-Opted Your Growth Work?
As a self-proclaimed self-help junkie, I can attest that it can get confusing. Am I becoming happier or learning more ways to
Book Review: Comfort Queen’s Guide to Life
How to Defuse a Trigger
To actively defuse a trigger (instead of just letting it wear itself out), you must stay aware during the process that you
Cultivate Neutrality in the Face of Triggers
We all have triggers: situations that bring up old feelings that are out of proportion to the current experience. There are two
