Open up an album or a box of family photos. Find old pictures of yourself (alone and/or with other people). A variety of photos. Not just the cutest ones. The ones that make your heart twinge when you look at them. The birthday party where I threw that tantrum. The hayride where everyone else is smiling and I’m glaring at …
I learned how to breathe five years ago. I mean, oxygen had been getting to my brain with regularity until then, thank G-d, but I wasn’t truly breathing. My supervisor at work pointed this out (awkward) and showed me how it’s really done. Here’s the thing: While most of us are able to b”H breathe on our own, many …
I took a workshop with Sara Yoheved Rigler and learned about the importance of charting progress when you’re working on changing a behavior. She taught a two-fold method: 1) chart what you’re doing in black and white, not just in your head 2) reward the body with something the body likes. She said, we come down here as a …
Because friends are the best!
I wrote the following on recognizing signs of emotional abuse in the workplace. This is my advice from one friend to another based on personal experience, but if any of this rings familiar, please talk to someone who is qualified to guide you in navigating your way out. First and foremost, always make sure you have a rav you …
So, no, this is not an easy thing to be doing in your twenties or beyond. The manager at my bank branch always asks me if I’m still living at home. “Actually, yes.” “Smart girl!” she says. “Stay there as long as you can.” And I’m like, “Thanks, Candace.” But seriously, there’s this tug-of-war. On the one hand, …
Before Succos, I bought Emunah with Love and Chicken Soup, the biography of Rebbetzin Henny Machlis a”h, by Sara Yoheved Rigler. I had flipped through it a few times at other people’s houses and was always inspired by whatever I read, so this 500+ page book was my reading material for Y”T. And full disclosure: I haven’t read the whole thing …
Remember how I said that I was skeptical about the validity of personality typing? Well, Myers-Briggs changed that for me, and now I’ve discovered something new: the Enneagram. Are you familiar with it? The Enneagram is a system that examines nine personality types, and their strengths and weaknesses, growth opportunities etc. I bought a copy of The Enneagram Made Easy …
Two mentors told me recently that one of the most powerful things a person can do is to forgive. When we were kids in school, as I recall, a big part of our Yom Kippur prep was asking our friends and teachers for mechila, and we were pretty frantic about doing it. As an adult, I think it can …
Sunday night is Rosh Hashanah. The beginning of a new year. New means new. 5778 is ending. It carried its blessings, it carried its learning experiences, it carried its challenges. And it no longer is. It was. Close that book and put it on the shelf. When you are in shul, remember a time when you could see …
