You can’t calm the storm. What you can do is calm yourself, and the storm will gradually pass. Over the past decade, there’s a way of being I’ve gradually been cultivating in myself — I’ve been taming my tendency to get riled up and argue with people when their behavior doesn’t match my expectations. As human beings we all have an idea in our heads about how things are supposed to be, and sadly this is what often messes us up the most. We get frustrated when things don’t play out the way we expect them to, and when people don’t behave like they’re “supposed” to. We expect our family to act ..read more

The truth does not cease to exist when it’s forgotten. You know how you can hear or read something several times in various ways before it finally sinks in? The truths listed below fall firmly into that category — timeless lessons that many of us probably learned years ago, and have been reminded of ever since, yet for whatever reason we tend to forget in the heat of the moment. This, my friends, is my attempt at helping all of us, myself included, “get it” and “remember it” once and for all… 1. Life is relatively short and nothing is guaranteed. We know deep down that life is short, and th ..read more

The goal each and every day is to gradually grow stronger on the inside, so that less and less on the outside can affect your inner wellness without your conscious permission. Truth be told, how you cope with unexpected problems and frustrations can easily be the difference between living a good life and living an unhealthy one. If you choose unhealthy coping mechanisms like avoidance or denial, for example, you can quickly turn a tough situation into a tragic one. And sadly, this is a common mistake many people make. When you find yourself facing a disheartening reality, your first reaction ..read more

Opportunities are like sunrises — if we wait too long, we miss them. Too often we waste our time waiting for the ideal path to appear. But it never does of course. Because we forget that paths are made by walking, not waiting. Let this be your wake-up call today! If we always sit around until we feel 100 percent ready for the journey, we will likely be sitting around for the rest of our lives. Most of the time we just have to get up and go for it. And no, we shouldn’t feel any more confident before we take the next step. Taking the next step is what gradually builds our confidence. Now is t ..read more

“In elementary school my parents told me it didn’t matter what I did when I grew up, so long as it made me happy. ‘Happiness is the whole point of life,’ my father said. ‘But it doesn’t always come easy. Your mother loves to help people in need, so she became a psychiatric nurse. I love reading, writing and poetry, so I became an English teacher. We both find happiness in the hard work we do each day.’ A few years later when I was in junior high, my sixth-grade homeroom teacher put me in detention for ‘being difficult.’ She went around the classroom and asked each student what they wanted to ..read more

Worry gives small things a big shadow. Some people wait all day for 5pm, all week for Friday, all year for the holidays, all their lives for happiness. Don’t be one of them. Don’t wait until your life is almost over to realize how good it has been. The secret to happiness and peace on the average day is letting each moment be what it is, instead of what you think it should be, and then making the very best of it — less worry and more presence every step of the way. So go ahead and sing out loud in the car with the windows down, and dance in your (more ..read more

If it keeps you busy but will hold you back someday, it’s a distraction. There’s a big difference between empty fatigue and gratifying exhaustion. Life is too short not to focus more on what matters most. And life is definitely too short for habits and routines that keep you stuck in a cycle of feeling like you’re a day late and a dollar short. So today, let’s discuss three incredibly common patterns of behavior that keep the majority of us (myself included for several years) stuck in that cycle, day after day. 1. We keep trying to overcome the odds in an unsupportive environment. No matter ..read more

Oftentimes we don’t even realize we’re blocking our own present blessings by holding on so tightly. Letting go is not giving up. Letting go is surrendering any needless attachments to particular outcomes and situations. Surrender means showing up in your life with the intention to be your best, and to do the best you know how, without expecting life to be ideal. Have goals, have dreams, take purposeful action, and build solid relationships, but detach from what life must look like every step of the way. The energy of someone aspiring to create something wonderful this year, teamed with a he ..read more

It’s not what you say to everyone else that determines your life; it’s what you whisper to yourself that has the greatest power. The best lessons we learn in life are the lessons we learn over and over again. The human mind needs lots of reminders — lots of practice — to operate effectively. For example, deep down we know it’s OK to… Say “no” Speak up Tell the truth Believe differently Change our mind Prioritize our needs Learn from our mistakes Embrace our imperfections Forgive and seek forgiveness Begin again, with grace and gratitude Yet, we often (more ..read more

“In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” As you age you will learn to value your time, genuine relationships, meaningful work, and peace of mind, much more. Little else will matter. Deep down you know that already, right? Yet on most days, just like the majority of us, you are distracted by so many others things. You give your time to lots of meaningless time-wasters. You take your important relationships for granted. You get to work skeptically with inner resistance. And you let everyday stress get the best of you… Why? Because you’re human, an ..read more