“We are not given a good life or a bad life. We are given a life. It is up to us to make it good or bad.” Anonymous Every life begins as a blank space, filled with possibility. There is something miraculous about realizing that each new day places a fresh canvas before us. Yesterday may have left some marks. There may be colors we wish we had never chosen, lines we would like to erase, and places where the picture did not turn out anything like we imagined. Yet today, the b

"The best gift you can give is a hug: one size fits all and no one ever minds if you return it." ~ Marge Piercy What is it about a hug that can make things seem right again? There is something almost magical about wrapping our arms around another human being. No words are necessary. No explanations have to be offered. For those few moments, two people simply connect heart to heart. A hug says, I see you. I am here. You are loved. We often think of communication as somethi

“Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.” – William Shakespeare What a wonderful ideal, right? If we humans truly understood the power behind this simple recipe, perhaps we would exist in a world of harmony. It sounds simple enough. But how many times have I followed a recipe exactly and the meal or cake did not turn out as expected? I can have all the right ingredients, measure everything carefully, follow every instruction, and still something goes awry. Maybe I took it

"Life does not have to be perfect to be wonderful." — Annette Funicello Perspective, perspective, perspective. Life can be anything we choose to make of it, yet so many times we postpone our happiness while waiting for conditions to be “right.” We tell ourselves, I’ll be happy when this problem is resolved. I’ll relax when I have more money. I’ll enjoy life when I have more time. I’ll feel peaceful when everything settles down. And then something else happens. There is al

"What if the thing you're scared of is the very thing that sets you free?" — Unknown Life isn’t always easy. Money doesn’t grow on trees that we can just go out and pick like apples. Challenges are everywhere. Opposites or contrast is real and something to contend with. All of these statements are facts. We live in a factual world where two plus two does equal four. Or does it? Does it have to? Can we change that if we desire? Many people live their lives just accepting thi

“Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced .”-Soren Kierkegaard How much of our lives do we spend trying to fix ourselves? We convince ourselves that when we become more successful, more spiritual, more patient, more loving, or more accomplished, then we will finally be enough. We search for the next book, the next class, the next healing, believing that somewhere just beyond our reach is the version of ourselves that deserves happiness. But what

“I may not be a millionaire in my bank account, but I’m a millionaire when it comes to doing what I enjoy.” – 2001 Canada’s Walk of Fame Inductee Walter Ostanek When most people think about wealth, they immediately picture money. We are taught from a young age that success is measured by the size of our paycheck, the house we own, or the car we drive. Yet some of the happiest people in the world possess very little materially, while some who have accumulated vast fortunes s

“For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson When we give in to anger, we are robbing ourselves of the opportunity to allow peace to win. Anger is a natural human emotion. It can alert us that something feels unfair, that a boundary has been crossed, or that a wound within us is asking to be healed. The problem isn't that we become angry. The problem comes when we choose to stay there. Emerson's quote is a beautiful reminder

“It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.” —Aristotle We cannot see light itself; we only see the sources of light and what the light reveals. Think about that for a moment. We see the sun. We see the flame of a candle. We see the stars sparkling against the night sky. We see the glow of a lamp illuminating a room. Yet light itself becomes known to us through its interaction with the world around us. Perhaps spiritual light works much the same w

"The information you consume each day is the soil from which your future thoughts grow." — James Clear We pay a great deal of attention to what we put into our physical bodies. We read labels, consider ingredients, talk about nutrition, and try to make choices that will give us energy and help our bodies function at their best. Yet how often do we give that same consideration to what we are feeding our minds? What you read, watch, listen to, and engage with every day become