MotivationHatch

I might be just a little biased, but I find this site very soothing. It’s my literal home on the web—built humbly in 2009 with more enthusiasm than expertise and the shoddy wiring (read: early missteps) to prove it. But it’s not just the grounding tree on top, the calming Buddha logo, or the bright illustrations that fill me…

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“If you want to conquer the anxiety of life, live in the moment, live in the breath.” ~Amit Ray I don’t remember the moment I decided I wanted to live again. I just remember the breath that made it possible. Three weeks earlier, I had been lying in a hospital bed, my liver failing at the age of thirty-six…

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“The wound is the place where the Light enters you.” ~Rumi I’ve spent most of my adult life helping people heal. I’m a podiatrist, a foot and ankle surgeon, and I’ve seen pain in many forms. Torn ligaments. Crushed bones. Wounds that just won’t close. But if I’m being honest, the deepest wounds I’ve encountered weren’t the ones I…

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“When an old person dies, a library burns to the ground.” ~African Proverb For most of my life, I thought aging was about bodies slowing down—hair turning white, memory fading, steps getting shorter. But caring for my ninety-six-year-old mother has changed that. I now see something deeper and more painful: the slow erasure of wisdom in a culture that prizes…

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“We don’t inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.” ~Native American Proverb For years, I blamed my parents for my anxiety, my defensiveness, and my need to be right. Then I learned they inherited the same patterns from their parents. And theirs before them. This wasn’t about blame. It was about breaking a cycle…

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“We can’t receive from others what they were never taught to give.” ~Unknown When I was younger, I believed that love meant being understood. I thought my parents would be there for me, emotionally and mentally. But love, I’ve learned, isn’t always expressed in the ways we need, and not everyone has the tools to give what they never…

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“It’s all right if you can’t remember. Our subconscious is spectacularly agile. Sometimes it knows when to take us away, as a kind of protection.” ~Kathleen Glasgow  A couple of weeks ago, I found myself crying in the park. It was supposed to be just a typical summer day. I was enjoying my usual stroll with my dog, Boni….

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I’ve never believed that change should be reserved for special days, but the New Year tends to carry a sense of promise. It often brings a surge of clarity, motivation, and hope that maybe things really could be different. And then, as January moves along, that initial energy fades. Responsibilities pile up. Our bandwidth shrinks. And before we know…

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“Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.” ~Stephen R. Covey I used to think running a barbershop was all about haircuts, schedules, and keeping clients happy. I measured success by the number of chairs filled, how quickly we moved through the day, and whether everything ran smoothly. Efficiency felt…

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“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.” ~John Lubbock For years, I thought exhaustion was a sign I lived fully and did my best that day. I…

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