When I was growing up, my parents never spoke to me about what I “deserved.” They spoke to me a lot about what was “expected.” They were very clear about that. They expected me to be tough, hard-working, well-read, and smart. They expected me to help others, especially those struggling on the margins. They sent …
Tag: happiness
Don’t Forget to Appreciate How Far You’ve Come
“Remember how far you’ve come, not how far you have to go. You are not where you want to be, but neither are you where you used to be.” ~Rick Warren We’re always talking about how we should live in the now and “be present.” We shame ourselves for looking back at the past or into …
The Art of Nurturing Self-Talk: How to Tell Yourself What You Need to Hear
“You will never speak to anyone more than you speak to yourself in your head. Be kind to yourself.” ~Unknown Talking to ourselves in a nurturing way can be a challenge if we rarely heard nurturing words in the early formative years of our lives. In fact, if we were often criticized or neglected, we …
How I Healed My Strained Relationship with My Mother
“Give without remembering. Receive without forgetting.” ~Unknown It was Sunday, April 12, 2015. I had just finished my grocery shopping and was about to leave the parking lot when I noticed a call from my dad. I called him back so we could talk for a few minutes. He said, “Troy died.” I thought of …
You Aren’t Stuck in Life: Commit to Change and Get Started
“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” ~Mark Twain We all have big dreams, big goals, and big ideas on what we think our life should look like, or how we think life will end up. Some of us meticulously plan out our lives, envisioning and letting ourselves daydream as we think about all …
The Power of Waiting (When You Don’t Know What to Do)
“Waiting is not mere empty hoping. It has the inner certainty of reaching the goal.” ~I Ching Waiting has a bad rap in modern Western society. It’s not surprising that I had to look to an ancient Chinese text (the I Ching) in order to find a suitable quote to begin this article. We don’t …
Forget What Other People Expect and Do What’s Right for You
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.“ – Steve Jobs When we come to this world, we know nothing. We are all products of the societies that raised us and shaped our belief system with things labeled good or bad, right or wrong, normal or abnormal. I was raised in an …
How I’ve Learned to Fully Appreciate the Little Time I Have on Earth
“Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.” ~Normal Cousins Recently, my grandfather passed away. His departure was difficult for me but it has also left me with something I’ll keep for the rest of my life—an unlikely lesson about life and gratitude. I …
Where My Social Awkwardness Came From and How I’m Getting Past It
“We cultivate love when we allow our most vulnerable and powerful selves to be deeply seen and known…” – Brene Brown I’ve recently become increasingly aware of my social awkwardness. In fact, my awareness of it sharpened quite suddenly one day as I was innocently talking to a colleague about work-related matters. When I managed …
Why Your Flaws Are Actually Your Strengths
You’re reading Why Your Flaws Are Actually Your Strengths, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles. Your flaws are actually your strengths Take a moment to think about what makes you unique. What’s that one thing that makes you …