“You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop.” —Rumi The last days of the year felt like the right time to let go. I stood in my backyard with twenty-five years of journals—thick notebooks filled with prayers, confessions, and late-night spirals—ready to release them to the flames. I wasn’t being dramatic….
“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.” ~Lao Tzu For many years, I was deeply involved in spiritual communities—satsangs, meditation centers, ashrams, and groups focused on positivity, service, and personal growth. These places gave me comfort, community, and a sense of purpose. But they also shaped something inside me that I didn’t…
“To live without arriving is to learn how to stay.” ~attributed to the Buddha For most of my life, I assumed that arriving was the point. Like many people, I believed adulthood would eventually deliver a clear role, a measure of security, and a sense of belonging I could point to and say, This is it. This is who…
“Sometimes the person you love the most is the one who teaches you the hardest lesson about yourself.” ~Unknown I once thought that being in a relationship meant sacrificing parts of myself for the sake of “love.” I stayed when I should have left. I forgave when I hadn’t healed. I silenced myself when I needed to speak. I gave…
“Only say good words to your child. Even if it looks like they’re not listening, if you repeat those kind words a hundred or a thousand times, they will eventually become the child’s own thoughts.” ~My grandmother When I think about my childhood, the first word that comes to mind is “night.” The nights were always the hardest. My…
“The wound is where the light enters you.” ~Rumi “I can’t do anything right. There’s something wrong with me.” My daughter said these words quietly, almost as if she didn’t want me to hear them. But I did. And the moment I did, something in my chest cracked open. I knew that feeling. I’d carried it my entire childhood….
“Protest any labels that turn people into things. Words are important. If you want to care for something, you call it a ‘flower’; if you want to kill something, you call it a ‘weed.’” ~Don Coyhis Losing my brother to a substance use disorder taught me things I never wanted to learn. Things nobody prepares you for. Things that…
Would you say you’re a healthy eater? If not, is this a goal for you? For years, people thought of me as healthy because I rarely ate meat or desserts. But it was more that I was desperate to stay thin, and I consumed tons of processed food and sugary candy because I could eat them without gaining weight….
It was close to midnight the first time it really hit me. I was sitting alone at my kitchen table, still in work clothes, phone in hand. I’d come straight home after a long day of back-to-back meetings, staff conversations, and one decision I’d been avoiding for weeks—a call that would affect someone’s role, their income, and their sense…
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” ~Viktor E. Frankl I stood in my kitchen, staring at the leftover red velvet cake from my birthday party the night before. It was beautiful: layers of deep red with cream cheese…
