Have you ever felt powerless? As though you are no longer in the driving seat and not really sure if you ever were? No need to answer; it's part of the human condition. We like to be in control—to know that the small plot of land we are in charge of, namely our own lives, are ours to groom, pull out weeds and plant seeds as we wish. But our neat little gardens rarely stay well manicured—before … [Read more...]
The Work of Grief: Making it Through the First Few Months
"If, as a culture, we don’t bear witness to grief, the burden of loss is placed entirely upon the bereaved, while the rest of us avert our eyes and wait for those in mourning to stop being sad, to let go, to move on, to cheer up. And if they don’t — if they have loved too deeply, if they do wake each morning thinking, I cannot continue to live — well, then we pathologize their pain; we call their … [Read more...]
Why Facing Your Biggest Fear Will Be Your Greatest Breakthrough
When my ex-husband and I separated a few years ago my biggest fear was loneliness. Push me out of a plane (parachute attached of course); dangle me from a 2,000 ft tall building (knock me out first), but please God don't let me be alone. It seems God is messing with me though, because here I am, facing my worst fear, the one I've spent a lifetime avoiding. Don't we always eventually come … [Read more...]
10 Ways To Ease Depression With Only Your Pen
"Ring the bells that still can ring. Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack, a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in." — Leonard Cohen. One of my struggles since childhood has been with depression. From as early as I can remember I wondered why my school friends found it so easy to just be a kid, while I could only seem to observe their laughter from the fringes, surrounded … [Read more...]
Need a New Perspective on Stress this Holiday Season?
For decades we've been told this one thing: stress makes you sick. How many times, when you've been knee-deep in tension, anxiety and all-around exhaustion, have you made it all worse by then adding the thought that if you don't get a hold of yourself you may wind up in your doctor's office, or worse still, the hospital? The possibility of making ourselves "stress sick" is really the last … [Read more...]