Better Than “How Was Your Day?” – Play High/Low
Have you ever frozen when someone asks how your day was? I’ve been there, and I know many people feel the same pressure. Whether it’s with loved ones or casual acquaintances, small talk about our day can feel awkward. To make it easier, I play a simple game called High/Low. Here’s how it works: How […]
Practice Being Pissed – How to Respond
Now that I admit, notice, name, and recognize my reactions to emotions like anger, fear, and annoyance, I can practice living with them. Before, I was practicing squashing them down. Now, I’m practicing playing and experimenting with them. It sounds funny to say that. How would a person practice feelings? Here’s how: When I’m in […]
Take These Feelings, PLEASE!
First, I admitted I had a rainbow of feelings—emotions that extend beyond sweet joy and happiness to include those associated with negativity like anger, hurt, and sadness. Then I worked on noticing and naming my emotions. The next question became: what do I do about them? In the past, expressing anger hasn’t always led to […]
What Are These Feelings?
How do I get from admitting I have feelings to knowing what they are and when I feel them? It took me a while to even admit I have a range of emotions. What can I do to identify and deal with them when they arise? One big tool I use is to write it […]
Admit You Have Feelings!
I used to believe that feeling ‘negative’ emotions was a sign of weakness. Anger, sadness, fear – these were emotions reserved for villains in movies, not for someone who aspired to be kind and positive. So, I pushed them down, buried them deep, convinced that a life without these dark emotions would be brighter. I […]
Through the Fear: Do it Anyway
When I had open-heart surgery at the age of 40 to remove a giant tumor from my chest, I was left with scars. One scar, in particular, runs vertically from the top to the bottom of my chest. At first, it was bright and red. I knew I could either feel embarrassed and cover it […]
Create Yourself
I talk to myself all day. Sometimes, I have full-blown conversations, asking myself questions and answering them. This is common. We talk to ourselves, sing to ourselves, and even yell at ourselves sometimes. Recently, I realized that I invented a “me” that helps me be more productive—the “me” I want to be. When I don’t […]
Make Everything Easier
Every now and then, I take my laptop to a coffee shop to get some work done. I’ve also taken it to parks, campgrounds, friends’ places, rooftops, and more. While I have a perfectly good table at home that even turns into a standing desk with the push of a button, changing my environment increases […]
Keeping the Habit
I’ve been practicing yoga every morning for years. It’s a short practice, just enough to “unfold” the night’s sleep. What helps me stick to this habit is remembering the impact of consistency. Skipping a single session might not make a noticeable difference, but repeated neglect can derail my progress entirely. If I miss one or […]
Self-Care: Bubble Baths and Bull
I’ve heard the term self-care more times in the past couple of years than in my whole life combined. But what does it mean? It’s a topic that seems very polarizing. Some people think self-care is for the selfish and weak. Others see it as a luxury… probably because we’ve been so conditioned to de-prioritize […]
