“When we show up for our kids in moments when no one showed up for us, we’re not just healing them. We’re healing ourselves.” ~Dr. Becky Kenedy I wasn’t taught to pause and breathe when I was overwhelmed. I was taught to push through. To be a “good girl.” To smile when something inside me…
“Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.” ~William Bruce Cameron My gardener and I were talking the other day—his English broken, my Spanish worse—but we found a way to connect. He told me about his eight-year-old son, a bright, joyful kid who loves baseball. The boy wants…
“You don’t have to force the flow—sometimes your only job is to soften and let go.” ~Unknown For most of my life, I was obsessed with getting everything right. Planning. Controlling. Anticipating every outcome so I wouldn’t be caught off guard. I saw life as a kind of puzzle: if I just made the right…
“Living in the moment is learning how to live between the big moments. It is learning how to make the most of the in-betweens and having the audacity to make those moments just as exciting.” ~Morgan Harper Nichols There’s a peculiar grief that doesn’t often get named. It lives in the moments when you’re neither…
“It’s okay to let go of those who couldn’t love you. Those who didn’t know how to. Those who failed to even try. It’s okay to outgrow them, because that means you filled the empty space in you with self-love instead. You’re outgrowing them because you’re growing into you. And that’s more than okay; that’s…
“Until you make peace with who you are, you will never be content with what you have.” ~Doris Mortman For most of my life, I believed my worth was tied to how well I could perform. If I looked successful, kept people happy, worked harder than anyone else, and stayed quiet about my pain, maybe—just…
“If you are willing to look at another person’s behavior toward you as a reflection of their relationship with themselves rather than a statement about your value as a person, then you will, over time, cease to react at all.” ~Yogi Bhajan Several years ago, I hiked into the remote forestlands of Bukidnon, a mountainous…
The first time I got my heart broken—really, painfully broken—I remember feeling too ashamed to ask for support. I didn’t talk about it with anyone because, at the time, there weren’t many people I trusted with such a raw and tender part of myself. I cried a lot, so people around me knew something had…
“Success isn’t about what you do; it’s about who you are. Just existing—waking up, breathing, being present—is enough.” ~Unknown On my third trip to the emergency room, I lay in a hospital bed, ten weeks pregnant and nine kilograms lighter. I had just vomited for the forty-seventh time that day. My body felt empty, but…
“To love someone deeply is to learn the art of holding on and letting go—sometimes at the very same time.” ~Unknown Nothing has softened me—or challenged me—like caring for my ninety-six-year-old mother as she slowly withdraws from the world. I thought I was strong, but this is a different kind of strength—one rooted in surrender,…
