Posts: Life

weighing scale photo in a shop

Saving Us from Madness

Harmonizing our need for change and routine

Jan 30, 2024

Wake up, eat breakfast, go to work, take a lunch break, finish work, eat dinner, work out, shower, go to sleep. Sprinkle in chores, cleaning, and running errands every other day. We all have our own versions of daily routines. And let’s be honest, they don’t change all that much. There are those rare special-occasion days, or those tragic-news days, or the travel days, but everything in-between is fairly ordinary.

Change Reflections Habits Life Happiness

lit white candle in a room

Way, Way Grander Than Myself

Thoughts on life’s impermanence and leaving an impact

Feb 18, 2023

It was my first shiva gathering. Thursday night, 9 pm my time, on Zoom. I had no idea what to expect. A traditional ritual of Judaism, it is a mourning period for close relatives and friends where they come by and bring food, comfort the mourner, discuss the loss, and share memories.

Spirituality Life Reflections Perspective Time

sculpture of two children inside two adults

A Cocoon for Crafting Wings

The balancing act of nurturing our child and adult selves

Feb 10, 2023

My husband and I went light shopping over the weekend. We were wanting to replace all of our hallway ceiling lights as well as the chandelier that came with the house we purchased a little over a year ago. We walked around the store, taking in the large selection, craning our necks and pointing to ones we liked and ones that were a bit too contemporary for our taste.

Psychology Self-Care Life Growth

two young girls hugging while walking side by side

The Unseen Battles We Fight

And other audacious measures of being human

Mar 26, 2019

What battle are you currently fighting that no one sees? I often have a version of this thought when walking around and someone passes me by. I’m curious about the struggles that person is going through. The troubles that keep them up at night. So much of our battles are hidden from others and go unseen, sometimes even from those closest to us.

Life Kindness Humanity Compassion

round white compass on a window sill

Looking for Meaning Everywhere

Thoughts on our search for meaning

Jan 29, 2019

My dad turned 73 this week. As a birthday gift, I sent him Victor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning. He’s a reader so I figured he’d enjoy this. It’s a haunting read, but hopeful. The book is Frankl’s memoir of his experience in the Nazi concentration camps, where his parents, brother, and pregnant wife perished.

Life Meaning Psychology Existentialism

cupped hands holding a flower

What It Means to Live Our “Best Life”

Jan 09, 2019

The thing they don’t tell you about “living your best life” is that it takes time to get there. And that it has to be YOUR best life, not a cookie-cutter version of someone else’s. We live in a time of “comparison fatigue,” the mental and emotional exhaustion that comes from constantly comparing ourselves — our stuff, our home, our bodies, our achievements, our travels — with those of others.

Life Personal Development Personal Growth Resolutions Goals

green and blue clothespin hanging

This Too Is Life

Oct 29, 2017

We spent most of the crisp fall day in a downtown of a neighboring city, my husband and I, walking around the shops and restaurants, finding unique treasures in boutiques. The leaves on the ground around us just slightly losing their golden maroon color. The people walking by, pleasantly in a Sunday mood. We took selfies in front of an old brick wall.

Life Lessons Life Marriage Happiness

analog clock with four sides

Musings on the New Year

Jan 10, 2017

Of course I wanted this post to be extra special, meticulously polished, and deeply interesting. After all, it’s the first post of 2017. But I’m working on letting go of perfection. Such pressure a new year brings — a redo, a fresh start, a chance to begin again, or begin at all. Could it be that we humans invented the concept of time — days, months, years — because we needed a motivation to start over?

Resolutions Life Inspiration Self-Improvement Change

black dog sitting in a baby swing at playground

Finding the Good in the Ugly of Life

Dec 05, 2016

"It would be an ugly life. But it would be punctuated with great bursts of exaltation. Which, as Gabe would say, is mostly like life, for anyone.” These were lines in a novel I just finished called The Breakdown Lane by Jacquelyn Mitchard. The book, to be honest, wasn’t my favorite but I felt compelled to finish it, devoted bookworm as I am.

Happiness Inspiration Life Perspective Beauty

two wooden figurines hugging

How Are You?

Nov 14, 2016

No really, how are you? How are you right now, in this precious moment? Not on the surface, not in the ‘asking-the-cashier-at-checkout’ sort of way. But deep down, underneath the layers we pile on to keep ourselves safe and protected from the grievances of the world. How is the deepest part of you feeling?

Life Feelings Christianity Inspiration

woman standing on top of rock near a lake

When Your Comfort Zone Becomes Your Dead Zone

Nov 01, 2016

I want so badly to tell you a more interesting story, but for now, all I have is the one of a girl who is terrified to step outside her comfort zone and yet at the same time, is desperately longing to. See, I know a thing or two about comfort zones. Actually I know too much. More than I’d like to admit.

Life Self-Improvement Fear Self-Awareness

table with mugs and four chairs on a rainy day

The Season of In-between

Oct 17, 2016

It is gloomy outside my window on this rainy afternoon. I open the blinds a little bit more to let the gray light in. Everything in the parking lot outside is soaked and dewy. What I’ve always loved about the rain is its cleansing effect — how it removes the accumulating dust and grime of the summer months. And then there’s the calm.

Life Seasons Nostalgia Time