Category: Self-help/Encouragement
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Cappuccino Chaos: A Laughter-Filled Brewing Blunder
I started the day with gusto, but my energy was starting to wane. 86 coffees hadn’t sustained me through my morning, so I decided to kick it up a notch. I was going to make my first cappuccino. All on my own. My husband had made the last 300 or so, and it had looked…
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Bloggers are Big, Fat Whiners
The statement caught me off guard. I was among a group of strangers, a common phenomenon with my everlasting love of workshops. Whether in writing, spiritual direction, dreamwork, leadership group, photography circle, spiritual retreats, DOK, or you name it, I love workshops. Our group was given the theme of rebirth and renewal and how we…
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Discovering Magic in the Everyday: Elevating Routine Activities to Moments of Wonder
“The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common.” Ralph Waldo Emerson The Art of Paying Attention We were running late. My then three-year-old son was jumping and hopping around the driveway as I worked to wrangle the infant car seat with his sister in place. He started pulling at my…
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Redefining Progress: How Trying Something New Is a Step Forward, Regardless of the Outcome
“Progress” is often narrowly defined as the achievement of specific outcomes. Unfortunately, if we are only concerned about success, we miss much that progress has to teach us. With my spiritual director training, I try to keep myself open to new ideas, views, travels, experiences, prayers, etc. However, with these new experiences, I have also…
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Elevate Your Year: The Power of a Theme Word for 2024
“365 new days. 365 new chances.” Unknown Welcome to a fresh perspective on setting intentions for the year ahead. Discover the transformative potential of selecting a theme or focus word to guide and inspire your journey through 2024. Years ago, I attended a retreat and the instructor passed around a basket with slips of paper.…
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Coping with the Unpredictable: Strategies for Embracing Life’s Uncertainties
“The more often we see the things around us — even the beautiful and wonderful things — the more they become invisible to us. That is why we often take for granted the beauty of this world: the flowers, the trees, the birds, the clouds — even those we love. Because we see things so…
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How to Turn Regret into a Great Source of Inspiration
“Regrets only apply when we don’t learn from a situation.” Catherine Pulsifer Unbidding, a memory came to me yesterday evening. As I was getting ready for bed, I started thinking of my college years. One of my English professors mentioned an opportunity to be an exchange student for a semester. One of the pamphlets advertised…
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Why Meditation Should be a Ritual for a Healthy Lifestyle (Part 2)
“For people looking to nurture a contemplative way of life, James Finley counsels ‘Find your contemplative practice and practice it.’” Richard Rohr What do we search for in life? What do we desire? Health? Wealth? Peace? So often, we reach out to all the external places and positions to make us happy. We seek wealth…
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Why Meditation Should be a Ritual for a Healthy Lifestyle (Part 1)
“You have a treasure within you that is infinitely greater than anything the world can offer.” -Eckhart Tolle Last week I mentioned several types of meditations. People reached out to me asking what some of these meditations were or how to do them. Meditation in its simplest form is simply a way of calming our…
