Posts: Self-Improvement

brown wooden cabinet with mirror

Blossoming Beyond Our Crutches

Tending to our Achilles heels and overcoming fears

May 07, 2023

I watch her as she struggles to wrap the overstuffed burrito, smiling awkwardly. She motions for her coworker to come to her rescue. I’m guessing she’s new, hasn’t gotten the hang of the wrapping part yet. I’m sure it takes a while. This one looks impossible to me, personally, no matter how much training you’ve had, based on the amount of the ingredients. It’s not rocket science.

Growth Self-Improvement Fear Change Battles

graffiti of a woman’s face on brick wall

A Closer Look at Anger

What emotions have to teach us

Feb 15, 2021

Let’s talk about anger. It’s not an emotion I’m fond of, or can easily express. Rather, it’s one I try my darndest to suppress. Truth be told, it terrifies me. Anytime it wants to surface, I close the lid, reel it back in. Often, I just transform it into sadness. Aren’t they just two sides of the same coin?

Emotions Self-Awareness Self-Improvement Life Lessons

flower buds blooming

The Barriers to Our Blooming

Lifting the weights that crush us

Jan 01, 2021

January 1st. It carries so much weight — both positively and negatively. It contains so much hope, and yet so much angst. Realistically, it’s just another day. But ideally, it can become so much more. A fresh start, a second chance, a new path forward, a do-over. We place so much expectation on this innocent day to deliver. We give it so much power. And so little room for error.

Motivation Life Lessons Inspiration Goals Self-Improvement

two lighted pink and white candlesticks

You’re Not That Special

Why this thought can liberate you

Feb 26, 2019

This is the thought I have in the Uber ride home from a workshop I attended out of curiosity. It came out of nowhere, seemingly, and yet, it felt like the missing puzzle piece I was struggling to find for so long. It was one of those rare thoughts you have once in a blue moon that hits you like a brick, penetrating to the core of something you’ve been struggling with and haven’t been able to find the answer to.

Life Lessons Personal Growth Self-Improvement Self-Awareness

three wise monkeys

The Hidden Gifts of Our Dispositions

And their potential for our personal growth

Feb 12, 2019

Prone to melancholy. That’s how the pastor described the personality type #4 that I most relate to on the Enneagram. It’s a new sermon series the church started in which they teach on this ancient and insightful tool for self-awareness. My personality type — the “Individualist” — is sensitive, introspective, and self-aware, among other things.

Personal Development Personal Growth Life Lessons Self-Improvement Self-Awareness

person holding calendar

Dear 2019, This Is What I Ask of You

A letter of intention and appeal

Jan 01, 2019

Hello 2019. Hope you are doing well. I am deeply grateful to see you and begin our journey together. 2018 was a year I was ready to say goodbye to, though it had its beautiful moments and was full of many blessings. So here we are, meeting each other for the very first time. We have so much to learn from each other.

Dreams Resolutions Goals Self-Improvement

woman behind bars outside

Exploring Our Buttons

Considering a different perspective on button-pushers

Oct 09, 2018

Been thinking a lot about buttons lately. Not the kind on clothes, the kind in us that get pushed. I started listening to this podcast called “Break Up With Your BS” (genius title btw), and on this particular episode (#3) the two hosts were discussing this topic of having our buttons pushed.

Self-Improvement Personal Growth Spirituality

water ripple

The One Thing (among others) that Makes Us Uniquely Human

Sep 24, 2018

What sets us humans apart from other species? Scholars from numerous and diverse fields have attempted to answer this question. The ability to plan for the future, many might say. Developing meaning out of nothing, still others will say. I think something that seems to be fundamentally human is the desire for and work toward personal growth.

Personal Development Personal Growth Self-Awareness Change Self-Improvement

wooden bridge

It Takes What It Takes

Thoughts on change

Mar 13, 2018

There is no other way around it. Change. Is. Hard. Perhaps the most trying change of all is attempting to change something about ourselves — a character trait, a habit, a pattern, old beliefs and behaviors that no longer serve us. Why even bother? Because staying the same, a same that no longer feels good, is so much more painful.

Life Lessons Change Self-Improvement Personal Development Personal Growth

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

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

girl holding hands out in front of face

How to Hide Your Light from the World

Sep 26, 2016

First, believe the lies. All of them. The ones that make you feel small, very small, and insignificant. You know? The “you are not enough” lies and all their different variations. Don’t just accept them, ingrain them into your identity. Make them part of who you are. That is the first step.

Self-Improvement Life Lessons Personal Growth Wisdom