Posts
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.
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.
What To Do When You’ve Quit Your Creative Pursuit(s) Too Many Times
Oct 01, 2018
This is the quote I turn to when I want to write again but hesitate knowing all too well how often I’ve given it up. Or when I’m lacking creative inspiration because my muse hasn’t come around in a while. I remind myself why my endless attempts to start writing again matter. Because it’s way too easy to give up. To find something else to do.
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.
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.
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.
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?
Surrendering the Quest for Life Purpose
Dec 13, 2016
For most of my life, I was chasing my life purpose, with a capital P, hoping I would find it somewhere, anywhere. When it didn’t make an appearance in my hometown, I moved. When it didn’t show up in my undergraduate college, I went back for my graduate degree. When that led to one dead-end job after another, I thought surely it will surface in the self-help books I was reading along the way.
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.
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?
Keep Chasing Your Muse
Nov 07, 2016
Creativity happens in the pause between these two moments: feeling sorry for yourself and feeling proud of what you’ve made. And these alternate pretty regularly in the cycle of a creative’s life. Take the 37 minutes prior to me starting this post. They were filled with self-pity, confusion, tears, frustration, and fear of never measuring up.
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.
A Mindset Shift that Transformed My Life
Oct 24, 2016
It was only the second week into the year-long women’s bible study. We were going to study Job. I had been looking forward to it for a while. It was a new church and I didn’t know any of the women. I saw it as a fresh start, a leap of faith. But only two weeks in and I was ready to call it quits. I wasn’t “feeling” it nor the group I was in; I have my HSP-ness to thank for that.
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.
To All My Fellow HSPs: An Open Letter
Oct 10, 2016
If there is one thing I would want you to know for sure about yourself, it is that you are exquisitely made. There is a river inside of you that runs so deep, you will spend many years thinking it is a void that you need to fill with the things of this world. But my dear, it is actually a space created to collect and hold the pain of your fellow beings tenderly.
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.
An Experiment with Writer’s Block
Sep 21, 2016
This is what happens when nothing comes. Not one ounce of inspiration. Not one single idea to expand into a post. I’ve been sitting here staring at the blank screen for 31 full minutes, listening to the clock in my living room tick-tock away, taunting me. This is what it looks like to have nothing to say. Not. A. Single. Thing.
The Long Lost Art of Digging Deeper
Sep 19, 2016
Whatever happened to depth? To profundity? Where have all the deep people gone? Buried beneath all the superficiality I imagine. (Pun intended). I love the way Mr. Foster phrases the above quote. It is indeed a “desperate need” of our times. Perhaps it’s the introvert in me that feels this way.
On Writing: Filling the Empty Spaces
Sep 12, 2016
There is a reason most writers love coffee shops. It is the perfect place to people watch. And by nature, us writers are people watchers, observers, gazers. We are hoarders of subtlety and nuance. Of movement and emotion. Much of what shows up in our writing we have taken from our environment, from direct experience.
The Myth of Motivation
Sep 05, 2016
I must confess, motivation and I have not been getting along lately. I am finding myself more often griping about her. She does not understand me, you see. And I have a feeling she has been duping us all along. To quote Jamie Varon — “You don’t need more motivation or inspiration to create the life you want.” I agree. We can have plenty of both and it will still never be enough.