Today kicks off my 40-day countdown celebration to turning 40 years old. Yes, you read that correctly; I am indeed celebrating this momentous time in my life with something special every day leading up to my birthday. I refuse to spend the last weeks of my 30s mourning my so-called youth, especially when the awe and wonder I feel toward life only grows with each passing day. Sure, it would be … [Read more...]
I know I’m not alone in trying to process the terror and violence that recently erupted in Charlottesville, VA. The brutal altercation between rallying white supremacists and counter-protestors has slammed more tidal waves of horror, disbelief and sorrow about race relations against the rocky foundation of our country. It has compelled a period of deep reflection on what the United States of … [Read more...]
Increasing numbers of teens and young adults are using self-injury as a strategy for dealing with negative emotions. A recent World Health Organization (WHO) collaborative study found the number of teenagers who self-harmed in England had tripled in the last decade. The 2013-2014 survey found 20 percent of 15-year-olds had self-harmed over the past year, as compared to 6.9 percent of 15- and … [Read more...]
Everywhere we turn, old beauty ideals are being shattered and redefined to embrace the magnificent diversity of humanity. Nose-pierced, tattooed Tess (Munster) Holliday is turning heads as the first size 24 woman signed to a major modeling agency, and last week’s Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue features a plus-sized supermodel (albeit, in an ad) for the first time. Supermodel Carmen Del’Orefice … [Read more...]
This morning, bestselling author Elizabeth Gilbert, who wrote the much beloved memoir Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia, asked a favor of her readers on Facebook. Almost daily, she shares inspiration and wisdom that I and countless others feel called to share with friends. Today was no different. Glibert shared a candid, unpolished photo of … [Read more...]
Toward the end of 2013, I was looking for more tools to not only help me serve clients as a health coach, but to also become a part of my own healing regimen. I had studied and become certified as a holistic health coach, specializing in nutrition at IIN. I had studied as a women’s fitness specialist with NASM. I had even taking the first steps toward getting certified to teach various mind-body … [Read more...]
I am a wild woman I know, inspite of myself and in spite of what I've been told that there's beauty in every age no matter how old I am a wild woman I've learned what it means to be a life bearer* to bear children to create art to plant seeds of love I am a wild woman from the depths of the dirt underneath my fingernails to the height of my very soul I am one with the Earth the winds from the four … [Read more...]
Some of you may look at me now and wonder—what could I possibly know about the struggle to lose weight? What do I understand about what it is like to look at myself in the mirror and not like the image reflected back me, what it’s like to feel a prisoner in my own clothes, to feel my self-worth defined by my body shape and to have my activities restricted by my size? The truth is, this was how I … [Read more...]
Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie’s decision to have a preventive double mastectomy continues to be the topic for public debate three weeks after she announced in a New York Times editorial that she had the surgery. Jolie is hardly the first woman to make this very difficult choice, and it’s one that women who already have breast cancer face as well. A recent study presented at the American Society … [Read more...]
As we welcome in the New Year, what more tempting a time it is to consider turning over a new leaf in life. We look back on the experiences of the past year, some amazing and beautiful, others we’d much rather forget. We look back on the chances we didn’t take or the promises we made to ourselves that we broke, and we swear to ourselves that this year will be different. The year ahead of us … [Read more...]