What constitutes trauma or adversity? Essentially anything that causes physical or psychological pain or injury. This includes personal illness or injury, witnessing the same in someone else, natural disasters, enduring abuse, the death of someone close to us, job loss, addiction, financial problems, relationship difficulties, and incarceration. The range and magnitude of trauma is vast. […]

When we think about the term “acceptance”, many people believe that this means either condoning a situation or behavior. Not so. Acceptance is not an excuse to be passive, to give up our rights in a matter, or resign ourselves to continued abuse. Quite the opposite. Acceptance is actually a proactive stance. Radical Acceptance, one […]

How do you think your life would change if you had absolute faith that some all-loving and all-wise being could and was managing all of your problems? You’d probably feel a lot less stressed, for starters. You might sleep better at night, be more energized during the day, and be less distracted and thus better […]

Studies have demonstrated again and again that maintaining a formal, daily meditation practice benefits our bodies, minds, and souls in many ways. Reduced anxiety, depression, and compulsiveness, greater serenity, deeper sleep, and enhanced immunity to disease are some of the perks of consistent meditation. However, if you don’t feel you have the time, desire, or […]

How do you usually respond when life just isn’t going the way you want it to? Maybe your spouse forgot your birthday, you got a flat tire on that day when you simply have to get to an important meeting, or you received a scary health diagnosis. What to do? Yes, you could yell at […]

Often when the idea of self-compassion is introduced to people, they become uncomfortable. When questioned, they express concern that if they offer themselves self-compassion, they’ll give themselves permission to continue with the same behaviors and attitudes. This misconception needs to be dispelled. Self-compassion does not mean condoning. In fact, self-compassion entails accepting responsibility for our […]

Sometimes there’s just no way around it — we’re uncomfortable. Having the capacity to feel deeply means that we’ll have moments of excitement, joy, love, laughter, peace… and also boredom, sadness, anger, tears, and anxiety. However, it’s often through our judgment of our distressing emotions that we end up having more of them. For instance, […]