This year, I’m committing to reading 52 books (one every week!) and I’d love it if you wanted to read along with me! This is part 1, which will take us through the first half of the year. I might trade something out at some point (I’ll adjust the schedule if that happens), but I […]
Category: Life, Emotions, Discoveries, Insights
2017 Year in Review
At the end of every year, I like to round up my favorite posts from the last 12 months. You know, in case you missed them the first time around. This 2017 year in review should also acknowledge the big changes in my actual year, not just my writing year. 2017 was pretty big. My […]
Managing Holiday Stress
Holiday stress is about as famous as the holidays themselves. Maybe I’ve been lucky (or maybe I’ve just been yoga-ed), but the holidays don’t freak me out too much. Now, I know I am quite fortunate in that I have a mellow family with only one passive-aggressive member, and since the rest of us all […]
How to Turn 35
I debated this month about how to turn 35 years old. It’s something that was bound to happen whether I made any decisions about it or not, but I wanted to have a deliberate birthday, not an accidental one. Not choosing is also a choice, after all. There are as many guidebooks for this as […]
The Practice of Gratitude
When was the last time you complained about something? Now, I’ve done my share of complaining. Not proud of that, but it’s a fact. Unfortunately, it didn’t do me or anyone else any good. Even science says complaining is exceptionally bad for your body and mind, and in many cases I can remember how it […]
Yoga, Materialism, and the Holidays
Materialism and the holidays get closely linked. As we get caught up in the season, we often get caught up in excess: too much food, too many gifts, too much money spent. We might start to feel guilty about having so much while others have little, or maybe guilty that we can’t provide more for […]
30 Days of Gratitude
With Halloween behind us, November starts the holiday season–or so say the stores. I saw all sorts of Christmas stuff on my November 1 grocery trip. But before Santa and the tree comes Thanksgiving and these 30 days of gratitude. Though it was far from my favorite holiday growing up (it put my birthday, which […]
Yoga and Fear
Happy Halloween! As we down the candy and think about all things scary (I’m still working up the courage to watch IT), it’s a good time to talk about yoga and fear. Yoga and fear seem almost opposite, but they come together in two ways: Yoga can help reduce anxiety. Sometimes, people don’t do yoga […]
Done is Better Than Perfect
As a kid, I proudly considered myself (and you probably would have considered me) a perfectionist. It wasn’t so much that I took ages to do projects in the name of getting it right, but I did take a lot of care to get it right. I sweated it out a little bit if it […]
The Benefit of the Doubt
Giving people the benefit of the doubt is one of my basic tenets for living. You might call it “look for the best in people” or “assume good intent.” It’s yoga in action. Someone is rude, someone cuts you off in traffic, someone takes the last cookie…I try to put myself in their shoes and […]