Inspiration
Empowering stories and advice from our friends to keep you on the pathway to success.
- How to Feel Safe When Panic Feels Dangerous
“Anxiety isn’t you. It’s something moving through you. It can leave out of the same door it came in.” ~James Clear Years ago, I had a panic attack while driving across a bridge, and I thought I might die that day. Suddenly my heart started pounding. My breath became shallow and tight. My […]
- How I Lost Myself in a Controlling Friendship and...
“The most common form of despair is not being who you are.” ~Søren Kierkegaard I didn’t lose her all at once. I lost myself first—slowly, quietly, in the way that only happens when someone you trust makes you doubt everything you think and feel. She was magnetic when I met her. Warm, […]
- How Being the Strong One in My Family Became a...
“The world breaks everyone, and afterward, many are strong at the broken places.” ~Ernest Hemingway My grandmother had just died. My sister and I had come from the room where her body still lay, and we were standing in the elevator in silence when the doors slid closed. My sister looked at me […]
- How to Overcome Ultra-Independence and Receive...
“Ultra-independence is a coping mechanism we develop when we’ve learned it’s not safe to trust love or when we are terrified to lose ourselves in another. We aren’t meant to go it alone. We are wounded in relationship and we heal in relationship.” ~Rising Woman Do you feel like you have […]
- The Powerful Insight That Helped Me Worry Less...
“Surrender is not about giving up. It is about letting go of the illusion of control.” ~Judith Orloff Watching my mother lose her memory while I was losing mine felt like a cruel preview of my future—until I learned that stress, not genetics, was writing my story. It was 3:47 a.m.—again. […]
- Breaking Free from Self-Consciousness and...
“Shame is the intensely painful feeling or experience of believing that we are flawed and therefore unworthy of love and belonging.” ~Brené Brown I used to call myself a “beetroot.” It was a label of defectiveness that my inner critic screamed at me every time I felt the heat rising in my […]
- To the Wounded Parent Who Wants to Do Everything...
“The greatest gift you can give your children is your own healing.” ~Dr. Shefali Tsabary Am I doing too much or not enough? Am I screwing my child up? Am I being too hard on my child? Am I being too soft? Am I spending enough time with my child? Do I help too much? Should I help more? Is my […]
- Why I Gossiped and What I Now Do Instead
“Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss people.” ~Eleanor Roosevelt I stopped gossiping when life humbled me. I didn’t realize at the time, but what I thought was just innocent girl talk with my friends was really a way to escape my own shame and insecurity. I had this quiet, […]
- What Happens When the Strong Friend Finally Asks...
“We don’t build trust by offering help. We build trust by asking for it.” ~Simon Sinek I have always been the strong sister, partner, and friend. I didn’t make a conscious decision one day to be the strong one and stuck to it. It became who it was from a very young age, being the firstborn […]
- What Happened to My Body When I Suppressed My...
“Our bodies communicate to us clearly and specifically, if we are willing to listen.” ~Shakti Gawain As a child, I was never taught to regulate my emotions. I learned instead to override them—pushing through stress, swallowing tears, and even hiding a cast at dinner, afraid that showing what […]
- 20 Regrets in Life You Don’t Want to Have 20...
“If only…” Those two words paired together create one of the saddest phrases in the English language. Today is my late grandfather’s birthday. He was a great man and he would have been 101. So I want to acknowledge him right now by re-sharing a bittersweet story with you — a story that […]
- 3 Daily Habits that Keep Holding 96 Percent of Us...
If it keeps you busy but will hold you back someday, it’s a distraction. Don’t settle. There’s a big difference between empty fatigue and gratifying exhaustion. Life is too short not to focus more on what matters most. And life is definitely too short for habits and routines that keep you […]
- 3 Wake-Up Calls for Those Days When You’re...
“Do not ruin today with mourning tomorrow.” Ever feel a little overwhelmed? Or really overwhelmed? This quick read is for YOU… Once upon a time there was a man who had been lost in the desert for three whole days without water. Just as he was about to collapse, he saw what appeared to be
- 1 Effective Step We All Take Too Late in Life
Too often we overestimate the significance of one big defining moment and underestimate the value of making a little progress every day. You’re probably familiar with what’s known as the Serenity Prayer. It goes like this: God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the […]
- 20 Notes to Self We Should All Memorize Today...
Let’s cut to the chase today. What you ultimately do in life comes out of who you believe you are. You have to practice believing in yourself and ignoring the naysayers. Because while you may not be able to control the impolite things some people say and do, or the unfair things that sometimes […]
- 4 Hard Life Lessons We All Learn by Letting...
If somebody is working on themselves and changing for the better, it’s unnecessary to keep bringing up their past. People can change and grow. You know that’s true. But have you given yourself a fair chance to change and grow, too? Have you loosened your grip on what’s behind you, so you can […]
- 7 Good Things that Happen in Life When You Let Go...
When you try to control too much, you enjoy too little. This morning I met up with an old friend, someone whom I care about deeply but have internally struggled with for years because I’ve always been worried about her health. I want to help her heal, because I feel I’m losing her. I want
- 10 Social Habits We Should All Quit Before Our...
There’s something to be said for slow and steady progress, but there’s also something to be said for decisive and sweeping action. When it comes to negative social habits, there’s no time like today to quit cold turkey. Of course that’s a lot easier said than done, but with practice we can […]
- 10 Self-Limiting Beliefs that Keep Holding the...
One of the strongest signs of your growth is realizing you’re no longer holding on to the beliefs that once used to limit you. I received a thank you email recently from a longtime reader and coaching client named Kevin (I’m writing about him today with permission). He said the work Marc and I […]
- 3 Tiny Morning Habits that Will Greatly Change...
A good morning, and thus a good day, aren’t experiences that magically happen — they are created consciously. Most of us are distracted from the get-go every morning. Trivial activities like checking social media, watching TV, and worrying about things we can’t control often set the tone of […]
- 3 Thinking Traps that Often Drain 97 Percent of...
The essence of a strong mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks. As human beings we often make the same underlying errors over and over again. For example, deep down we know it’s wise to take it one step at a time, to maintain positive daily habits, and to seek
- 4 Daily Habits that Keep Holding the Best of Us...
You ultimately become what you habitually do. If your daily habits aren’t moving you forward, they’re holding you back. Here are four prevalent examples of the latter that often drain the best of us of our true potential, and some strategies for turning things around if you’re currently stuck […]
- 10 Wake-Up Calls We Often Receive Too Late in Life
There’s a big difference between empty fatigue and gratifying exhaustion. Life is too short not to focus more on what matters most. Before you know it you will be asking, “How did it get so late so soon?” Perhaps you can already relate. So take time to reflect. Take time to realize what you […]
- 6 Effective Daily Habits That’ll Change the...
“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” – Annie Dillard Are you willing to spend a little time every day like most people won’t, so you can spend the better part of your life like most people can’t? Think about that question for a moment. Let it sink in.
- 40 Quotes for Letting Go and Coping with Things...
The goal each and every day of your life is to gradually grow stronger on the inside, so that less and less on the outside can affect your inner wellness without your conscious permission. Truth be told, how you cope with unexpected problems and frustrations can easily be the difference between […]
- 10 Life Choices You Will Regret in 10 Years (and...
In the end, more than anything else, we regret the little things we wish we’d done differently. “If only…” Those two words paired together create one of the saddest phrases in the English language. Here are ten life choices that ultimately lead to that phrase of regret, and how to avoid […]
- 10 Things We All Wait Way Too Long to Do for...
Opportunities are like sunrises, if we wait too long we miss them. Too often we waste our time waiting for the ideal path to appear. But it never does of course. Because we forget that paths are made by walking, not waiting. Let this be your wake-up call today! If you always sit around until
- 12 Notes to Self We Should All Memorize Today...
As we all look forward to the next step in our lives, I know many of us are yearning for a simpler and selective range of life experiences — the happy days, the normal times, the settings and experiences that make us feel more comfortable. And yet, the full range of our reality often brings
- 7 Little Things You Should Insist on Doing for...
You can’t lift a thousand pounds all at once, yet you can easily lift one pound a thousand times. Little repeated efforts will get you there. I have witnessed people reinventing themselves at all ages — 48-year-olds starting families, 57-year-olds graduating from college for the first time, […]
- 5 Habits of Happiness 90 Years of Wisdom Taught Me
“You only live once, but if you do it right once is enough.” — Mae West Twenty years ago, I was lucky enough to witness the humble, elegant, peaceful passing of my 89-year-old grandfather. As I sat quietly in his hospice room alongside my grandma and other family members, his nurse smiled […]
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