"Social connectivity does more for your health than quitting smoking." ~ Dr. Kate Hendricks Thomas BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front) We all want to be resilient. (Right???) Resilience is built by cultivating: Self-Care Spiritual Practices Social Support Therefore, we suffer when we don’t do the following: Invest in healthy habits for ourselves Cultivate spiritual practices [...]
“Pass your wisdom on; not your suffering.” ~ Dr. Caroline Myss, PhD Dr. Caroline Myss, a wise teacher who has been going about this whole life-advice thing a heck of a lot longer than I have says that “choice terrifies people.” I’d agree with that (and I’m including myself in that agreement). I think part [...]
Remember when I pondered liminal space and how helpful, albeit uncomfortable, it can be at times? How it’s necessary to honor the space between not yet and no longer? From mental health research to yogic teachings, we know that being able to operate in this liminal space is a sign of health and maturity, [...]
“Without exception, spirituality – the belief in connection, a power greater than self, and the interconnections grounded in love and compassion – emerged as a component of resilience.” ~Brené Brown Personal stories and research alike provide rich evidence for faith, spirituality, or some sort of practice of that type to be of supreme importance... [...]
"Be still and know that I am God." ~Psalm 46:10 I can't take credit for the idea of utilizing this particular scripture as a meditation. In fact, I heard an example of it in a church sermon a year or so ago. I've always loved this verse. It reappears in my friends' work, my own, [...]
"Most great people have attained their greatest success just one step beyond their greatest failure." ~Napolean Hill This morning I had the grand illusion of taking Eloise to someone else’s yoga class for the first time. The illusion part comes in where I thought it would be a seamless endeavor. ;) I suppose I [...]
I sat – slouched a bit – in a plastic chair with metal arms. We were in a room in a semi-destroyed building that US troops now used as office space for various units in Al Asad, Iraq. It was cold. (Yes, it gets cold in Iraq). I had a brownish green polar fleece mock [...]
Wrestling with it is good. Tension is necessary. If we believe there is value in the conflict (often perceived as “darkness” when we’re in it), be it internal or external, it not only is bearable, the struggle will have meaning. We are meaning-making beings after all. And my goodness, doesn’t this show [...]
Et Lux in tenebris lucet ~ and the light shineth in the darkness ~ Explore (aka: challenge, struggle, face obstacles, experience discomfort and resistance, etc) more; seek immediate gratification (aka: pleasure, boredom, lack of lasting satisfaction when getting something easily and immediately without any investment in the process, etc). A maxim I’m hearing a [...]
Tonight in my regular Monday yoga class, I shared some excerpts from Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning to set the tone. I did so because I often find myself saying to my classes that one of the things I most appreciate about yoga is that it’s a place where we get to choose, [...]
