Tag: mental health
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Book #32- Reflections on “Raising Hare”
Book #32 Raising Hare By Chloe Dalton Wild Animals This is a charming story of a successful career woman who moves back into her parents’ house during the pandemic and begins to raise a baby hare that is found alone nearby. I found myself getting really attached to the hare’s journey. Her story reminded me… Read more
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How Our Parents Shape Our View of God (And How to Rebuild Your Own)
“Problems with (emotionally immature) parents may have affected your impression of God and your trust in religion. Kids often form their image of God based on their parents…” – Lindsay C. Gibson, Disentangling From Emotionally Immature People Our View of Religion is Affected By Our Parents In her book Disentangling From Emotionally Immature People, psychologist Lindsay C.… Read more
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The Authentic Path to Forgiveness
“Forgiveness isn’t something you can will yourself to do. It’s a state of mind that comes to you when it’s good and ready. Pressure to forgive puts an unfair burden on a process that can take a lifetime and may never be completed.” – Lindsay C. Gibson, Disentangling From Emotionally Immature People What Love, Trust, &… Read more
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Understanding Values: Why They Don’t Always Mean the Same Thing to Everyone
Comparing Your Values to Others In her book Disentangling From Emotionally Immature People, psychologist Lindsay C. Gibson suggests a simple yet eye-opening exercise: compare your values to that of the emotionally immature person in your life. Doing so might explain why the relationship feels strained or misaligned. I would like to do this, but in a… Read more
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How To Grow Your Original Voice in 5 Steps
The Evolution of My Writing & Creativity At the beginning of my Reading & Blogging Challenge, I lamented how clunky my thoughts and words were. They felt like hardened toothpaste struggling to leave the tube. Recently, I posted my 118th blog post of the year. This one was about the book Disentangling From Emotionally Immature People by Lindsay… Read more
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Book #31- Reflections on “Disentangling from Emotionally Immature People”
Book #31 Disentangling from Emotionally Immature People By Lindsay C. Gibson, PsyD Disentangling Disentangling isn’t a clean break. It’s slow, deliberate work that often takes years. I have been thinking a lot about that word lately- disentangling– as I take small, steady steps toward healthier relationships and a life that feels like my own. Both the… Read more
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The Hardest Part of Any Goal? The Middle
Midway Discouragement in a 52-Book Reading Challenge This year, I am reading 52 books and documenting how my life improves because of it. I have read 30/52 books so far, which means I am about 60% through this challenge. While this Reading Challenge has been an incredible success, I’ve been slipping into moments of discouragement… Read more
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Feeling Helpless Toward Technology & Human Behavior
Feeling Helpless In the book The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh, the protagonist laments about standing alone while having to “hold back the tide”. By saying this, she is referring to a few different things. In this mythological retelling, she sacrifices herself to the Sea God who has been ravishing her village. So… Read more
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Can Love & Trust Be Forced?
“You claim the gods should love and care for humans. I disagree. I don’t think love can be bought or earned or even prayed for. It must be freely given.” – Axie Oh, The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea Can Love Be Forced? Axie Oh put into words something that has humbled me in adulthood.… Read more
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The Beauty Around Me: What I Noticed When I Finally Looked Up
Noticing the Beauty Around Me I am trying to be a happier person these days- more appreciative and less pessimistic. So I am intentionally putting effort into noticing the beauty of the world around me. A few days ago, I was at the park. I was by myself and laid down a blanket under the… Read more
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Learning to Rest: Slowing Down in a Productivity-Obsessed World
Relearning Rest How many hours of the day are you at ease? Not just not working– but at peace. Calm. Present. Happy to stay in that moment, without a sense of frenzy or urgency. I am never like that. Well, when I am, it is so shocking that I notice it right away. Being at ease… Read more
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What I Gained When I Gave Up News, Social Media, and Sugar Before Bed
The Rules That Helped Me Heal After a painful trip to the emergency room for gastritis and reading Rest is Resistance by Tricia Hersey, I have been looking to reshape my life. I gave myself a few new rules, each designed to manage stress: The Impact of These Practical & Emotional Rules The worst part is these… Read more
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Book #28- Reflections on “Rest is Resistance”
Book #28 Rest is Resistance By Tricia Hersey When Life Forces You to Slow Down A recent stress-induced trip to the emergency room made me question my relationship with productivity, as did the previous book in my reading challenge. That is how I found Rest is Resistance by Tricia Hersey. My body was making it clear that… Read more
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Book #27- Reflections on “Meet Me in the Margins”
Book #27 Meet Me in the Margins By Melissa Ferguson A Seemingly Light Read- With Hidden Depths Books like this can seem uncomplicated; simplistic escapism in book form. It is probably a much healthier form of escapism compared to some other forms, though. I tend to relax as I listen to the inner thoughts of… Read more
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Failure Vs. Mistakes
Did You Make a Mistake or Fail? What if failure wasn’t a sign that you did the wrong thing? Maybe you were doing something incredibly right. Will Gompertz makes an important distinction in his book Think Like an Artist: the difference between failure and mistakes. He explains that a mistake happens when you are wrong. It… Read more
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Book #25- Reflections on “The Fellowship of the Ring”
Book #25 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring By J.R.R. Tolkien Enjoying My Favorite Childhood Book This was one of my favorite books growing up so I thought it would be nice to pull it off the shelf and dust it off, especially now that I am recovering from not feeling… Read more
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A Prescription of Chirping Birds
An Unexpected ER Visit A few nights ago, I had to take a little trip to the emergency room. I was vomiting profusely and in a lot of pain. The good news is that it wasn’t anything life threatening; only gastritis (an irritation of the stomach lining). While I was back home recovering, I fell… Read more
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How Images Shape Us: From Paintings to Deepfakes
Our Emotional Relationship to Technology I am constantly trying to assess and reassess my emotional relationship to technology. Looking at our emotional relationship to technology, I believe, will be a lot like us assessing our emotional relationship to art. This is just the next manifestation of it. I think “our emotional relation to images” will… Read more
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I Know You Better Than You Know Yourself
Do Others Know Me Best? During my year of self-improvement, I am reassessing the relationships in my life. In doing so, I have noticed a certain kind of person who says statements along the lines of: “I know you better than you know yourself”. I never really thought about how violating this phrase is. I… Read more
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Who Has the Right to Tell a Story?
The Ethics of Telling Your Story Online I recently told my sister about my blog. She had been mildly curious over what I was doing each day when I went to the library to read or write blog posts; so I told her about it. It was a bit awkward since some of the things… Read more
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Book #23- Reflections on “The Highly Sensitive Person’s Guide to Dealing with Toxic People”
Book #23 The Highly Sensitive Person’s Guide to Dealing with Toxic People By Shahida Arabi, MA I can feel my blood pressure go down when I read books like this. It feels like a sane voice in my life. Toxic people thrive in toxic systems so there are often very few people to turn to… Read more
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Finding Balance: Reading, Reflection, and Self-Care
Learning to Celebrate My Wins and Appreciate Success I am just about halfway through my year-long challenge of reading 52 books. When reading so many books (and writing several blog posts about each), the pace needs to be quick. But I need to allow myself space for reflection as well. I know reading these books… Read more
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Learning to Accept Myself: A Journey From Self-Rejection to Self-Compassion
I Rejected Myself First I think the reason this blog is so healthy for me is that it is allowing me to catch up to my own thoughts. I often grumble internally about being unappreciated at work or in my relationships, but the first person to reject my value was me. I was constantly holding… Read more
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Book #22- Reflections on “Rejection Proof”
Book #22 Rejection Proof By Jia Jiang Second Guessing Yourself My social anxiety could never handle doing a rejection experiment like this. I thought briefly about doing some sort of rejection therapy as part of this Reading Challenge, but I know myself well enough. For now, I just have to live vicariously through Jiang who,… Read more
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Leaving Busyness Behind to Find Peace in Nature
I Am Playing a Dangerous But Lovely Game As I write this, I am in the middle of the woods. I am only about a mile or two from the nearest building but that seems perilously far because it has been raining on and off and I am out here with all of my devices… Read more
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Book #21- Reflections on “UnBroken: The Trauma Response Is Never Wrong”
Book #21 Unbroken: The Trauma Response Is Never Wrong By MaryCatherine McDonald, PhD The Importance of Positive Mentors I lost a lot of my mentors over the past decade. Some of this came simply from life’s progression. I moved on from sports so I no longer have coaches. I finished my master’s and left my… Read more
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Two Kinds of “Love”: Exploring Toxic vs. True Love
I think I just figured it out: the two kinds of “love” that I have experienced. Before, if a person told me they love me I sometimes wouldn’t feel it. I know they meant it but it was like their love would get lost in some maze on its way to my heart. I had… Read more
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9 Differences Between Toxic and Healthy Relationships
As many of you know by now, I have struggled with toxic relationships in the past. I had poor boundaries, which had been encouraged for my whole life. I was taught not to question things and just work hard. Now, I am moving toward healthier communities and the difference is striking. Healthy relationships have a… Read more
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Book #20- Reflections on “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck”
Book #20 The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck By Mark Manson Good Recommendation, Ms. Funnily enough, this book was recommended to me by a very spiritual, church-loving senior citizen. That intrigued me. If the language wasn’t enough to scare her off, then maybe there is something to it. Even after getting just a… Read more
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Excessive Test-Taking Creates Academic People Pleasers
How Schools Train, not Teach Students My theory is that the current method of test-taking and applying for universities trains students to be educational and workplace people pleasers. They try to do what the teacher, university, or their boss wants, in order to be “successful”. To be fair, from all my years of education I… Read more