February, despite its chilly weather, is the season in which we take some time as a culture to celebrate love…but what about the love of self? Much of the time it feels like the hardest person to love is the one we live with every second of every day of our lives…ourselves. Below, two leading […]
(An excerpt from The Medicine Bag, a new book by bestselling author Don Jose Ruiz) Every spring my father, my brother, Miguel Jr., and I travel to Sedona, Arizona, for an annual event called the Gathering of the Shamans. Just a short distance from the Grand Canyon, the area that is now called […]
(An excerpt from Think Like a Publisher by Randy Davila) Writing a book will change you. As a matter of personal accomplishment, it is unparalleled. My friend and fellow author Jacob Nordby says, “Holding up your completed book to the world is a watershed moment in your life.” I couldn’t agree more. Creating a good […]
What’s the difference between a friend and a lover? Sex. The distinction is so simple, yet we often don’t consider all that it entails. Past lovers, whether they were with you for a night or for decades, leave impressions that can linger long after the relationship is over—and in many cases dramatically affect your […]
Stop thinking, and end your problems. -Lao Tzu, The Tao Te Ching (Stephen Mitchell translation) Who are we? Why are we here? Why do we suffer? Humans have grappled with these questions since time immemorial. Philosophers, spiritual leaders, scientists, and artists have all weighed in on them. In Western philosophy, the best answer to […]
(Excerpted from Your Spacious Self by Stephanie Bennett Vogt) No one would argue that most of us do too much or have more possessions than we need. Or both. With our lives swept up in a swirl of attachments, worry, and endless, mechanical “doing,” our minds become fuzzy on what stays and what goes, what […]
from The Wisdom of the Shamans by don Jose Ruiz In the Toltec tradition, we have a concept called silent knowledge, and cultivating your connection to it can help you find the truth within yourself. Silent knowledge is a knowing that is beyond the thinking/discerning mind. It is difficult to write or talk about, […]
Last year I wrote a blog called “To the daughter I never had” where I shared my experiences spending time with an ex-boyfriend's budding-into-teenager daughter (read that blog here). I received so many emails from women who were deeply touched by the writing and message of that blog and were so grateful to share […]
What is Big Freedom? The word freedom can mean many things: the ability to say what we want, to go where we want, and to be with whom we want. However, even with these important freedoms available, many of us still feel trapped by our own inner judgments, fears, and expectations. Instead of being our […]
Sometimes we can be our own worst enemies. Many of us speak to ourselves in hurtful ways, using words we wouldn’t dream of using with others. This relentless negative self-talk manifests itself in our daily lives, causing stress and harm to our inner selves, and ultimately to those around us. How we communicate with […]
