When Your Family Doesn’t Support Your Dreams
“How do I practice self care and pursue dreams with a family that say they support you until it is inconvenient for them? (Leaving my family is not an option.)” Wow, what a great listener question! What do we do when the people closest to us don’t support our dreams? If you’ve ever wrestled with that issue, then click here to watch the new, 11:56 minute video. …
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From Ugly Cry To Deeper Why (Vulnerable Video)
Ever have one of those days when you feel like a total failure at life? Ever get so down and discouraged that you’re tempted to give up on your goals and dreams? Me too. But fortunately, that’s not the end of the story. …
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Do You Risk Reaching Out?
Have you ever received an invitation that made your heart say YES before your mind could even catch up? Ever had such a strong gut feeling that you needed to be at this exact place, doing this exact thing? That’s how I felt when I was asked to give the keynote speech at this year’s Heart of L’Arche Fundraising Breakfast in Arlington, Virginia on April 25, 2018. Titled, “Risk Reaching Out,” this talk was part of a program that helped raise over $135,000 to support the L’Arche Greater Washington DC community. L’Arche is a worldwide nonprofit that creates homes where...
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The Story You’re Not Telling: You Need to Read with Laura Parrott Perry (Plus a Love Warrior Book Giveaway!)
Do you have a shame story that you’re afraid to tell? Do you have a secret narrative that’s running the show of your day-to-day life? If so, you are not the only one. Let me tell you a story about a time when an untold shame story hijacked my day a few years ago. It started with a bunch of ripe avocados on our kitchen counter one morning. …
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From Distraction to Connection: You Need to Read with Rachel Macy Stafford (Plus an Only Love Today Book Giveaway!)
How do you resist the addictive pull of phone notifications to be present to the people around you? How do you shift from distraction to connection? How do you find the courage to be yourself when your judgmental inner voice tells you that you have to be perfect? How do you make peace with your past mistakes and enjoy your life here and now? Welcome to the second edition of our new video interview series, You Need to Read. Today, we’re discussing these powerful questions with author and speaker Rachel Macy Stafford! …
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Feel the (False) Guilt and Do It Anyway.
You know what’s difficult? Questioning the ‘should dictator’ in your head. Standing up for yourself and your needs. Deciding not to let false guilt boss you around. If you dare to do these things, then you’re my hero. Seriously. It’s hard to be “selfish” enough for your own good. I’m quoting my own judgmental inner voice here. Whenever I consider making positive changes on my own behalf, she screeches, “But isn’t that SELFISH?!” …
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It is OK to Choose the Heart of Gold Instead.
Tis the season for a slew of blog posts about the importance of slowing down and savoring. It’s that time of year when writers feel compelled to publish essays on what really matters. Don’t get me wrong; I love these posts. I’ll link to my current favorites throughout this essay. But it’s easy to read beautiful, elegant sentences and then revert to my usual habits. So this Advent, I’ve clarified what I don’t want: I don’t want to lose sight of beauty. I don’t want to be a moving target, to look up after New Year’s and wonder, incredulously, Where...
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For the Ones Who Make Us Smile as the Plane Goes Down
To this day, I’m not sure how close that plane was to crashing. Suffice to say, I certainly believed we weren’t going to make it … but an unsung hero helped me to stay calm. I’m no stranger to flying; in the past 6 weeks alone, I’ve boarded 11 flights for speaking engagements. Ordinary turbulence is no big deal. Yet I’ve never experienced anything like what happened on that flight. I was 15, flying home from Italy with my parents, brother, and best friends. We’d traveled abroad for a church gathering, and after a week of eating gelato and saying...
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Spend It Offering Light: Week 2 & Giveaway
Our current series, “Spend It Offering Light” (#OfferLight) continues today with a beautiful story from writer and autism parent Liane Kupferberg Carter and a giveaway too! In fact, from here on out, each post in the series will include a giveaway. First time reading? Learn the story behind our series here. “Spend It Offering Light” features real people turning their fears into something that helps others, into light. Please welcome Liane Kupferberg Carter! …
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When is it OK to Put Aside Productivity and Go Hands Free?
Once upon a December afternoon, I decided to bake cookies for a party. I could have skipped it; in fact, I nearly talked myself out of it. Baking is not the most efficient use of my time. Nevertheless, I put aside productivity because it felt like Christmas, like celebration. Choosing Christmas doesn’t come naturally to me. You see, the church I grew up in didn’t believe in celebrating Christmas, supposedly because it was a pagan holiday and a consumerist frenzy. Looking back, though, I wonder if perhaps the church leaders weren’t really afraid of materialism or paganism. I wonder if...
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