When the Toxic Person is Your Kid There is no secret recipe for raising perfect kids. There are countless influences in the world and not all of them are positive. A parent can not control everything a child hears, sees, and experiences. Sometimes, despite our best efforts, kids can fall into drugs, a bad crowd, disrespect, and a refusal to listen. Parents are not robots, and it’s normal to get…
Whenever you feel like the world is bad, whenever people are cruel, or whenever you’re just really fed up with people, I want you to look deeper at this problem than ever before. I want you to get to the core of this rot until you realize its source and its true nature. Look until understanding arises instead of frustration and shock. What you will find is that it is…
Sometimes in our lives we can feel like there is nobody there to care about us. Other times, the people who are supposed to care about us are trying to take advantage of us. So what can we do when we just need a hug, when we need the love and support of the outside world, and when we find ourselves lost in loneliness. Here are two essential things that…
Just the other day, I had a ton of work to do and my mind went, “Ugh, work.” Immediately, my head slumped down, my shoulders slouched, and heavy emotions started to come over me.Thank goodness I noticed that thought. Because I was paying attention, I witnessed the thought and emotions, observed my resistance to the workload, and I saw how the resistance was causing me stress, not the work. I was…
It is Mental Health Awareness Month, and this year let’s remember that true mental health is not just the absence of illness. It is the presence of Mental Wealth, which comes from tapping into the infinite abundance of joy and peace within. At times we may feel like we are in a bliss deficit, but there is a surplus inside every single one of us. Yes, it may be covered up…
A few years ago I moved to a new neighborhood in New York. I didn’t know anyone in the area, but I was excited to explore and make new friends. One day on a walk, I ran into a dear old friend who I used to be very close with and found out he was practically my next door neighbor! We made plans to have dinner later that week and…
It’s like we’ve all been wearing super high-definition virtual reality headsets with surround sound and smellavision all our lives. It’s easy to forget the awe and wonder that lies just beneath the surface. Our brains are physical objects designed to recreate the physical world. But the more we practice, the more we listen to our heart and intuition, and the more tuned we will be to our own inner peace…
If you’re like me, you’ve heard people say things like, “For me, swimming laps is my meditation.” Or, “Making art is meditation for me.” Or, “Going for walks is my meditation time.” I get it. When I used to act or perform comedy, I felt the same way. Going skiing, shooting a bow and arrow at a target, working out, and rock climbing. They all were times when I cleared…
We hear the phrase, "Observe your thoughts," but how do we do that? What does it mean? Aren't we always observing our thoughts? And what the heck are thoughts?! Normally, we don't watch our thoughts, we think our thoughts. And we think, "I am the thinker." In spirituality, we dig down deeper. We recognize thought patterns and we observe how the mind really works. We discover the nature of thoughts…
Only when we are not living completely authentically, and only when we misidentify with our mind-made versions of ourselves, can we wish to reinvent ourselves. The real question is, "How can I live more in line with my inner nature?" We all know the experience where we are so in our head, planning and plotting what to say or how to act, that we become insecure. When we become insecure,…
“I thought my biggest fear was growing old and dying in prison. In truth, my biggest fear was growing old and not knowing myself.”
- Rick Smith, Albama inmate
A newsletter not just for your mental health but also for your spiritual health.
