Tell me if this sounds familiar: You’re having an important conversation about something that really matters to you, with somebody who potentially matters even more than that.  There’s a disagreement, a misunderstanding, or otherwise some kind of a bump in the road, and you start to feel the anger swelling up in your body. Your […]

“Perhaps it will come, perhaps not; in the meantime it is not.” — Seneca Those are some wise words, Seneca.  Comforting, even.  But I still feel anxious. What are we actually supposed to do with those emotions when we can’t intellectualize them away?  The sensations of the body are not bumps in the road that […]

Everything in my body is telling me that I don’t want to do something. I can feel that my heart is beating faster. My muscles feel tight. I’m probably grinding my teeth, or biting my tongue, or about to be wishing I had bit my tongue. If I really put stock in how my body […]

If you’re looking for a way to improve your life, art can be a great answer. Unfortunately, art is one of those answers that raises a thousand other questions.  How do you feel worthy enough to deserve the materials you’re working with? How do you stay motivated to be artistic when the process gets difficult? […]

Depression is real. We all know somebody who experiences the fragile happiness and the endless fatigue of depression, but it is difficult to understand from the outside.  Even if we love that person very much. Even if we’ve experienced depression ourselves. Even if we suspect that we know what would make them feel better.  The […]

It’s October, and that means we’re emptying out the liquor cabinet and opening ourselves up to all the things we’ve been avoiding from November to September.  That’s right, it’s Sober October.  And you (my beloved reader) are curious about what your mind and body will feel like when they are unchanged and unchained. Even extremely […]

 When we live our lives behind a mask, we permit nobody else to know our authentic self. We forbid all who might criticize, compliment, like, love, or hate us from ever passing judgment by hiding behind a persona. This is, in moderation, healthy.  But it requires that we eventually take off the mask and act […]

We treat self-care like a banana peel that we can throw off the side of the highway because it will all sort itself out.  We tell ourselves that we will get back to ourselves eventually. When things calm down. When the kids are older. When work slows down. When our partner gets better. When there […]

It’s not enough to work hard.  Hard work will put money in your bank account and heavy wear on the cartilage in your knees, but it will not put food in your belly, warmth in your bed, nor sleep behind your eyes. You are a delicate animal with many needs that are difficult to manage. […]

When the mind experiences something, the body responds. Sometimes without the mind’s input or consent. When a doctor taps our knee with a reflex hammer, our leg kicks involuntarily. We don’t have to decide to move. Our nervous system receives information, processes it, and creates a physical response. Stress works in much the same way. […]