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Foggy Times…
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I read something interesting today. The author described a phase in her life filled with uncertainty and anxiety about the future—something we can all easily relate to. She described the experience as living in a thick fog—but not one that is frightening or unsettling. Rather, it was a fog that felt like a warm,…
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Procrastination: Why We Put Things Off and How to Get Things Done
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“Don’t leave for tomorrow what can be done today” And yet, why do we still procrastinate? Here I am, sitting down to write about procrastination when I should really be finishing my tax return… I’m a big fan of checklists— I write down everything I need to do and then dramatically cross it off…
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Don’t Take It Personally…
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“Don’t take it so personally…” Everything in life is personal… “Don’t take yourself too seriously.” “You’re the most important person in your life.” “Self-care is important.” “Don’t be so selfish.” So which is it? How do you navigate these contradictions? When you take things personally, you make yourself vulnerable and open to manipulation. You…
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Addiction and Dependency: The Hidden Cost of Losing Freedom
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We had a 17-year-old woman from Germany visit us recently. Let’s call her Joy. Joy had been looking forward to her stay with us. She wanted to come to the US and, in fact, had stopped running away and smoking weed for a few weeks to prove to her guardian that she was motivated.…
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My Values or: What Really Matters to Me in Life
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The question of what is important in life is actually quite easy to answer: it’s where I invest my time, energy, and money. To figure it out, I only need to look at my daily routines. But that’s where the problem starts. At the moment, getting out of bed is really tough. It’s cold…
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Living Like Joey: A Lesson in Joy, Simplicity, and Acceptance
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For all the uninitiated, here’s a quick introduction: Joey is a 4-year-old Shih Tzu. He is cross-eyed, has crooked teeth, bad breath, and even after a bath, he somehow still smells like horse manure. He gets haircuts more frequently than I do and his appointments cost twice as much as mine. After three years,…
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Do we let feelings define us?
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We’ve recently visited at a small meditation center in southeastern Missouri that is run by Buddhist monks. Every evening, there is a short lecture about meditation and something interesting was said today about how we deal with our feelings. One of the problems with emotions is that we allow them to define us: “I’m…
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Winter Blues: Finding Light in the Darkest Days
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We made it. From today on, the days will slowly get longer again. For me, the Winter Solstice is a special day because I seem to belong to the group of people who suffer from SAD—Seasonal Affective Disorder, or winter depression. The short days and the resulting lack of light cause the body to…