We are so good at lying to ourselves we don’t even know we’re doing it. The lies are as subtle as they are profound: I don’t deserve to be happy, suffering is my lot I’m not meant to be hugely successful Fading into the background is easier than developing my talents It’s better to be [...]

I’m pleased to bring you a guest post from Henri Junttila from the Wake Up Cloud. Henri writes about “life hacks for conscious people,” easy-to-absorb suggestions for clearing the obstacles from the life you truly want to live. In this article, he discusses the false promise of perfection. Having just touched on the subject myself [...]

Perhaps this is not the most profound subject for this series, but it’s close to my heart this week. I’m one of those lucky parents of school-age children who gets to share the carpool burden. It’s a double-edged sword, however; for the hours of driving saved, I get the company of two 15-year-olds (one boy, [...]

Angela Artemis of Powered by Intuition was kind enough to invite me to guest write an article for her. Check out How to Save Yourself from Emotional Drowning, and the rest of her wonderful blog.

One of the worst enemies of serenity is beating ourselves up for our mistakes. Even though we’re taught that “everyone is human and makes mistakes,” many of us do not believe it. Instead, we have bought into the illusion of perfection, in which we can only be happy if we meet standards that remain forever [...]

I’ve been anxious most of my life. That means I have rarely felt at ease inside my own skin. On a regular basis, the people, things, and circumstances in my life have triggered my emotions, distracted me from my focus, or made me uneasy. As a result, I formed one goal that trumped every other. [...]

If you want to change, you’ve got to be willing to try something new. Most of us have some resistance to change, and that’s natural. It’s human nature to make and keep habits, which often serve us well. Where would we be without our morning get-ready-for-the-day routine, our work ethic, our commitment to brushing our [...]

Have you ever been in a great mood and then gone out with a friend who was down in the dumps, and by the end of the evening, felt pretty miserable yourself? It’s a fairly typical response – we have empathy and want to help the other person feel better, but the more we try [...]

o·pen-mind·ed –adjective 1. having or showing a mind receptive to new ideas or arguments. —Random House Dictionary When we’re young, we’re wide open to learning about the world and able to imagine almost infinite possibilities before us. The older we get, usually the more “set in our ways” we become. Apparently, this shift in open-mindedness [...]

This one is tough. How do you know if you have humility? Why is it important? Last question first: humility is crucial for self-growth because it puts the ego aside. Ego gets in our way by believing it’s perfect already (perfectly wonderful or perfectly awful, take your pick) and by resisting change. Humility is the [...]