Category: Happiness and other emotion

Truth is Simple; Thought is Complex

This week’s article was written by Terry Rubenstein at the Innate Health Center in London. I love Terry’s emails, and I thought this one on simplicity was particularly share-worthy. The truth in things is always simple. When anything is appearing complex to us, we’re simply seeing it that way in that moment, from the current

Why You Want to Make Choices, not Decisions

I once heard that the Latin root of the word decide is to kill, or cut off. As in to kill or cut off all other options. That’s how it often goes, isn’t it? We decide, and that’s it. A stake is firmly planted, blinders are on, case is closed.Once a decision is made, we’re no

To Speed Up or To Slow Down?

I once heard that humans are the only living creatures that speed up when we’re lost. All other animals in nature slow down. Non-human animals instinctively stop and regain their bearings if they aren’t sure where they are or where they are going. They slow way down, letting their mind settle and allowing clarity—and perhaps

Getting in Front of the Pull

The image to the right is my new favorite way of thinking about how the machine-that-is your-brain will lead you through life, if you let it. Your brain is brilliant. It’s capable of incredible feats of intellect, memory, and logic. It keeps your body humming along and it has successfully kept you alive long enough

What does Inside-Out Really mean, Anyway?

At first glance, it looks like the world around us determines how we feel. It looks like: Your cat runs away = you feel sad. If your cat hadn’t run away = you’d feel better.And that’s probably true about the cat. I mean, it’s not true for everyone, always, across the board. But in general, when

How my Mind Tried to Drag me Back into a Funk — and How I Didn’t Go

I recently had a pretty “off” few days. There was a lot going on around me that I was taking on internally; replaying, rehashing, batting around in my mind.After what felt like a long funk, there was a moment in the car with the kids one morning when it lifted.The steady stream of thoughts that had

How we Create Problems for Ourselves (and How to Stop)

“If you think you’re enlightened, go spend a week with your family.” ~Ram Dass I just returned from a four-day trip with my family. It was my own family of four (my husband and two kids), plus my mom, my two sisters, and my brother-in-law.It was great. We get along well and have fun together.And, it

You Get What You Get (and don’t throw a fit)

A couple years ago Willow came home from preschool repeating something her teacher had said in class.“You get what you get, and don’t throw a fit.”Maybe you’ve heard this before. I hadn’t, and I instantly loved it. Not only because it put a stop to a lot of “it’s not fair” arguments (it really did!),

I Don’t Always Know What’s Best for My Daughter. Or Myself.

Willow started kindergarten last week. All summer, I listened as the moms in the neighborhood talked about the teachers at our local elementary school. Many of those moms are teachers themselves and all of them have children in the school already, so they had a lot of context I didn’t have.Which means I didn’t listen too

Do You Know That You Are The Source of 100% Your Own Feelings And Experiences?

**This article was originally published here in October 2014**Imagine that you wrote yourself a really mean letter, detailing all of your flaws and faults. You put the letter in the mail, addressed to yourself. A couple days later, it arrives in your mailbox.You read the letter. While it probably doesn’t feel good—it might bring back the