What? Someone doesn’t like me? ME? I’m so nice, I’m so sweet, I wouldn’t hurt a soul, everyone on earth should like meeeee! How can I survive in this world knowing someone does not like me?! Sounds a bit silly, but this is how many of us really think. I used to have a huge [...]

Loneliness is entirely a matter of perception. It is not defined by the other people around us. I’ve felt deeply alone when in a conversation with a very close friend or family member who is focused on me. And I’ve felt connected and completely satisfied with the universe when hiking by myself in the middle [...]

Personal change is not for wimps. It is often a slow and arduous process spread across years. Think about an athlete practicing for years to go to the Olympics; a soldier training for combat; mountaineers preparing for and climbing Mt. Everest. These efforts will never lead to success without one key ingredient: determination. When things [...]

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 [...]

The second and third of the 10 essential traits of personal change are: The desire to feel better A belief that feeling better is possible Many people in the Moment of Clarity series point to these characteristics – they want to feel better and they realize it’s possible. Robin Easton knows something is wrong but [...]

This week, I asked Gail Brenner to share a moment of clarity with us. Gail is author of the blog, A Flourishing Life, where she delights in offering practical wisdom for untangling self-defeating habits and realizing happiness. Gail’s story reveals a high level of acceptance in life. Yes, she has suffered the pains of the [...]

The Moment of Clarity series has confirmed something for me: none of us can predict or force our moment of clarity. In most cases, it is an act of grace. It may not appear in the garb of an angel, but it is, at least in the stories we’ve read so far, entirely out of [...]