I recently painted a deck on my house. I enjoy painting, a meditation in being present that doesn’t require much thought but lots of attention. Your hands may get dirty but your mind will stay clean. With just a few planks left to color I noticed I was almost out of paint...
Complaining draws attention away from all the good things that unfold. It's as if complaint puts a mask over our sight: too busy identifying what is wrong, all the things that are right march on by. While there are so many motivations behind complaining...
What if the things you hate most about your current situation are your greatest blessings in disguise? What if everything that’s ever unfolded in your entire life has been the precisely necessary thing to bring you to this mysteriously perfect moment? If that...
Be yourself. Just be yourself. Well, maybe this is not so easy. Does the thought of being yourself, speaking your truth, and expressing your passion stir feelings of confusion or frustration? Does it bring up fear or anger? Were there times in your life when...
In her wonderful book, The Wealthy Spirit, Chellie Campbell describes how, when she was a girl, her mother taught her to play “The Glad Game.” “The Glad Game” is another name for a Gratitude List and helps you focus on what’s right in your world today, instead of what’s wrong...
Whatever pain someone was experiencing, Charmaine had gone through it, and much more. With so much compassion she would talk about the power of forgiveness and the risk to bring healing to any emotional pain.
Daily dedication and a willingness to heal our past will automatically move us forward on the spiral path of transformation. When we let go of old, outworn patterns that no longer serve us, we can energetically free up space in our psyches so that learning from the future becomes not only possible but the most...
Many of us find it hard to forgive. Yet, what if we had to forgive the killer of our son, or wife, daughter, husband... Would we be able to forgive in that situation? Would we want them to be sentenced to life imprisonment with no chance of parole?
Self-criticism takes the form of blaming yourself (It’s all my fault), labeling yourself (I can’t believe how stupid I am), hating yourself (I can’t stand myself at times), doubting yourself... What is self-criticism good for?
Wayne Dyer pointed out that when you squeeze an orange you get orange juice. What comes out when you are squeezed is never the fault of the squeezer. It is only the explicit expression of what was already implicit within your mind.
There is a nearly universal form of perfectionism hard-wired into human nature. It is the belief that we are “falling short” of what we should be. It is the habit of feeling somewhat disappointed in ourselves. Here's how we can move past this...
These coming years will be unique within humanity’s living memory in that our history will witness the transition from the final era of a now fading world paradigm to a new, upgraded one. Many people have long suspected the coming of such an interval — a phase shift...
Everyone has experienced an event that they’re sure was terrible. Then, when you think about it ten years later, you realize that if that hadn’t happened, you wouldn’t be here right now enjoying life. So how could that have been...
In the tradition of making a list for Santa, InnerSelf has decided to make a list of what it wants for Christmas and the New Year. We are writing our list, and yes, we've been good! Very good! Happily, our list includes a lot of things that don't cost a thing... Of course, in this scenario, Santa will be played by our readers.
The more clearly we can see that it’s impossible to reach a place of rest by rushing to get there, the sooner we’ll arrive at the true solutions that allow us to relax, slow down, and realize the relaxed pace of an inwardly liberated life.
Gratitude is not a magic trick, yet it can make a half-empty glass appear half full. It can transform difficult moments because it has a way of making the littlest things more significant and meaningful.
Gratitude or appreciation is an intentional focus on the positive, on what you already perceive as good. When you appreciate someone, you are focusing on her source-like qualities. Anything else that you seem to see, anything that you perceive as un-source-like in any way, is ultimately only...
A young Japanese man named Shui was riding on a crowded train when a belligerent drunk made his way through the train car and began to rough up passengers. Shui had studied martial arts for many years, yet never before had he been forced into a public confrontation. Shui felt his blood begin to boil, and...
Once in a while, a person will have a defining moment -- an experience -- a bit of wisdom or inspiration that pops into their heads and hearts and changes their lives. I had one of those moments recently on the Rogue River in Oregon. It helped to change in a very positive way my relationship with Barry, my beloved of 46 years.
Are you worrying about how something important to you will turn out? I know the answer. You’ve got to believe me. I see so many people stuck, confused, or fearful about what will come next. Eventually they somehow handle their issues, and the universe gives them a hand with the details...
"Do you really think the world is going to end?” she asked. I was stunned. She couldn’t have known that, in a recent e-mail to a friend, I confessed how strange it was that suddenly all sorts of individuals I was encountering in my everyday life were bringing up the subject of apocalypse. I’d joked that...
Americans are losing faith in establishment politics. Bernie Sanders argues that...
September 2026 begins at a powerful turning point as eclipse season winds down and...
Letting go of the past doesn’t mean forgetting what happened. It means releasing the...
When love begins to unravel, do you walk away or pick up the thread? “Thread By...
What if winning didn’t require someone else to lose? “Winners Together” imagines a world...
Every morning is another chance to choose what stays with us and what we finally leave...
How much of yesterday are you still carrying today?
In a world of swipes, matches, texts and disappearing conversations, sometimes the most...
A chatbot told someone it loved them, and that person felt genuinely comforted. That...
Accepting oneself is crucial for navigating change without fear. This article explores...
Despite advancements in technology and education leading to higher IQ scores in...
The New Moon is birthed in Virgo on September 11 (Sept. 10 in US time zones)—a lunation...
Exploring the relationship between light and darkness reveals profound insights into...