quick sparks

Does today count?

Does today need a certain quality, a certain worthwhileness, before it really counts? You know the days that count. When you trekked the windy miles to that mountain peak. When you started that job you’d been studying for and searching for since you were 20. When you cheers’d a glass of … Continue reading “Does today count?”

It is okay to be you

Remember that it is okay to be you. Take breaks regularly from making judgments about yourself. It’s exhausting. And you’re probably wrong about yourself half the time anyway. You are loved. Who you should be isn’t loved. You are. You are enough.

Hang in there.

If you’re depressed and you stay depressed, you’ll look back at the end of your life and have good memories and bad memories. If you’re broke and you stay broke, you’ll look back at the end of your life and have good memories and bad memories. If you’re lonely and you … Continue reading “Hang in there.”

The problem with growing up

I feel compelled to be grown up all the way. But the problem is I get really happy every time I look down and see my blue sneakers with their yellow-green laces.

Showing up

I know it’s not quite what you imagined. But can you do some good with it anyway?

Before you break down

You hit a wall, so you start doing “self-care.” Quiet time, journaling, fresh air, running, couch time, cookies, lots of bed, therapy, warm baths, PTO days, sharing your sadness with a friend. . . . It becomes a top priority in your schedule because it has to, because you’re breaking down. … Continue reading “Before you break down”

Hiding

Sometimes the things you’re afraid to let people see because you think they’ll judge you end up being the very things they really love about you.

namaste

What if every time you spoke to someone, you first stopped to remind yourself that the person you’re about to speak to is a human, just like you? With feelings, with needs, with scars, with longings, with heart . . . And that to be human is a miracle. Sometimes a … Continue reading “namaste”

Be epic.

Sometimes I try to live really safe. To keep a lid on the version of me I’d really like to be. Afraid of what people will think. I worry a lot that if I let the world see my “awesome,” they won’t think it’s awesome, and somehow that will ruin my … Continue reading “Be epic.”

Free yourself from “good at”

What if you free yourself from the need to get “good at” something? The world is full of adventure–singing, making a story, rock-climbing, poetry, cooking, improv, skiing, paddle-boarding, reading confusing scientific studies, decorating a home, building a thing, volunteering, yoga, drawing, meditating, learning a language, hiking, trying Ethiopian food, spending a … Continue reading “Free yourself from “good at””

Be the curly chip

Tortilla chips are made in a factory. Factories make things Just-Right. On a conveyor belt, the sheet of dough is cut by triangle-shaped molds, each mold identically sized and shaped, so that each chip will come out identical: Just-Right. Somewhere along the way, the chips fall in a fryer. A few … Continue reading “Be the curly chip”

Real People

Every person is a real person. Meaning they’ve got the inspiring, smiley parts and the sad, scary parts. The person you’re really close to, the person you’ve never met, and even the person you really look up to as a sort of superhuman. And even yourself. It’s good to just think … Continue reading “Real People”

Trying to be happy

When you try really hard to be happy . . . does it work? What happens when you stop thinking about it?

You ARE you

A while ago I wrote a short and simple blog post called “It’s okay to be you.” I wonder if adding another way of thinking about it could help: You just ARE you. Period. Whether it’s okay or not (and it is), you are you. If you are an anxious you, … Continue reading “You ARE you”

Not Saying It

It feels like it will hurt LESS to NOT say what we want, than to SAY what we want and not get it. But that’s just not true. NOT saying it hurts WORST. To never express it, to smother yourself, to give up without a chance. That is the loneliest and … Continue reading “Not Saying It”

Sidewalk

Nobody actually says–or at least nobody actually gets to say–that just because you’re a “grown up” now, you have to stick to the sidewalk. Hop up on the wall, if it’s calling your name, and teeter your way along in the sky above the sidewalk for a while. Or abandon the sidewalk … Continue reading “Sidewalk”

We need you

What is waiting inside of you that the world needs? What love is waiting to be expressed? What music is waiting to be felt? What words are waiting to be heard? What art is waiting to move people? What stories are waiting to be told? What would be the harm in … Continue reading “We need you”

Dare to connect

There are lots and lots of people in the world. And all of them want friends. Everybody wants the really good kind of friends–the kind that support. The kind you can be real around. The kind that smile and hug and laugh. The kind you can call when you need. You’re … Continue reading “Dare to connect”

Your disappearing place

Where is your disappearing place? What place makes you remember your freedom, your self, your own breath? Where can you truly feel “away from it all” for a soul-filling minute?

that negative voice

Every day, you can hear that voice: You can’t. You’re a fraud. You’re bad at. Nobody likes. You’re not brave enough. You’ll never. And every day, you can choose to let that voice be what it is–just a voice. Every day, you can acknowledge that negative voice you hear, and then choose … Continue reading “that negative voice”

Walk Slowly

What a beautiful day outside! A lot of our daily mental and emotional auto-pilot has to do with trying to fit in. Silly, but it’s true, and we don’t stop to think about it much. And it means when you live in a country where everybody is out of time, in … Continue reading “Walk Slowly”