Each week in my free newsletter community, I share a personal essay. Readers describe them as a dose of “realistic optimism” and “a hug and a cup of tea in newsletter form.”
At its heart, my writing is about authenticity and changing our inner voices from critical to compassionate. And who wouldn’t want that?
What would it feel like to collect evidence that the world can be a delightful place? In real time, collecting such evidence can help us witness and tune into moments of delight, to create little respites from the challenges of our lives and the world around us.
Read MoreMany of us seek approval, connection, or support from someone who consistently disappoints us.
Certainly, there are friends and family members who provide some or all of the above. And then there are those who, well, don’t. Yet we struggle to accept that they simply don’t have or aren’t able to give us what we need.
Rather than defaulting to these should-be-easy-but-feel-impossible queries, trying asking, “How are you in this moment?” or starting your own reply with, “In this moment…“
Read MoreThe uncertain, ever-changing landscape we inhabit makes it difficult to stay oriented. Even if the current change is a happy one, like COVID cases falling and restrictions lifting, it’s yet another way we have to adapt.
Read MoreY’all know I go hard on costumes, and Halloween season fills me with delight. This year, it’s also a time of dramatic juxtaposition.
Read MoreToday, my thinking is, “We can do hard things, and it’s easier together.”
Read MoreI find such grace in discovering new ways to learn and relearn, to retrain my brain and body to continue to accept and make meaning of exactly where I am today.
Read MoreI’m often a very…let’s say...engaged TV and movie watcher. With few exceptions, I find the glowing rectangles to be utterly immersive. It’s probably one of my more specific symptoms of being a highly sensitive person. (Shout out to any other HSPs reading this.)
Read MoreMoments of connection and delight tend to pass right by if we don't pay attention, especially if we don’t share them. Talking about the session with my friend, I started out agitated as hell, depleted, stuck in a loop of frustration. At the time, I’d describe my level of motivation as zero-adjacent...possibly negative? With my friend’s support, I shifted my perspective to finding joy infusions,
Read MoreEmbracing my inadequacy relieved me of the burden of ‘failing’ – I wasn’t failing; I was surviving an impossible circumstance..
Read MoreWhether a natural disaster, fussy baby, or work meeting (rudely scheduled in the middle of a work day!) prevented you from attending, I get it. This moment is a lot to navigate, and logistics can be hellish. I’m in your corner, my loves, and it’s not too late to join in!
Read MoreThese last few days, I’ve been thinking a lot about what I’m calling “non-toxic positivity.” Toxic positivity silences negative emotion. It forces ourselves and others to pretend to be happy or look only at the bright side. Eff. That. Non-toxic positivity honors the complexity and trauma of this moment while seeking out opportunities for joy and connection.
Read MoreA category 3 (maybe 4?) hurricane is set to make landfall in my beloved New Orleans this Sunday, on the 16 year anniversary of Katrina. Today, as I prepare to evacuate to Atlanta, I’m reminded of moments of pure joy amidst the grief of Katrina.
Read MoreI’m sharing my fears with you to acknowledge that even as someone who has built a business around personal vulnerability, I experience hesitation and sometimes intense anxiety about putting myself out there.
Read MoreI’ve long believed it’s perfectly healthy to experience a full range of emotions, but these days I experience all the feels amplified and accelerated. We’re stuck on the spin cycle, feeling a ridiculous range of emotions all in one day, except when we feel totally numb instead. Here’s what I know: moments of meaning, connection, and joy can help stabilize us.
Read MoreWhen I notice I’m getting impatient with myself and start to think, “We’ve been doing this for 18 months. I should be better at these decisions,” I try to remember: Yes, I’ve been in these situations and negotiations before. Yes, and…
Read MoreWhen friends and clients ask with excitement how I’m feeling as I launch my new brand, core values, and negotiation course, I tell them the truth:
“If you gave me a list of emotions, I’d circle them all.”
It’s been a wild ride!
Read MoreRecognizing that instinct to stay small and play it safe is going to be an ongoing practice (I notice my hands are sweating as I type). But, as I wrote in my journal, the trip and the resulting certainty felt like a clarifying – a brightening.
Read MoreWe can diffuse feelings far faster when we allow the emotions to flow, regardless of how trivial their origin might feel.
Read MoreWhen we experience our own failures, our tendency is to attribute it to something inherently wrong with us, rather than seeing failure as a frequent occurrence for almost everyone. Here’s what we can do about it.
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