Blog - The Art of Living Consciously

Using Consciousness to Soothe Despair

I’ve noticed a lot of people seem to be feeling despair these days, and I’m wondering if you have noticed this too. Strong political divisions. Climate crisis. War. The fear of extinction. I read recently that despair-correlated deaths such as suicide, drug overdose, and alcohol-related deaths have risen to unprecedented levels, especially in young…

How to Give Back When You Feel Overwhelmed

I recently wrote about how to give to the world in a way that feels fulfilling. There are many different ways to give and different levels of commitment, but sometimes we resist giving because we feel overwhelmed. We may feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of options for giving. We may feel overwhelmed because…

The Power of Conscious Giving

I recently taught my annual New Year’s Reflection workshop, and one of my favorite parts of that workshop is reflecting on the previous year. In this workshop, I asked the participants to think back on how they contributed and gave to the world around them in the previous year. This could include helping neighbors,…

A Conscious Way to Ease Your Winter Blues

Around this time of year in the northern hemisphere, we often hear about the winter blues or the winter “blahs”. Right now, a lot of us are commiserating about snow and cold like there’s something new about wintertime! I used to dislike winter, but I’ve changed the way I approach this season to make…

What does it mean to accept yourself?

You’ve probably heard from self-help gurus and social media influencers to “accept yourself,” but when you really think about it, you might realize you don’t even know what that means. Let’s take a closer look at that. The illusion of perfectionism Most of us think that we will accept ourselves once we achieve…

What Does Growth Really Mean?

We hear a lot about growth state in mental health and wellness spaces, but how do we define growth? Some people think of growth as moving toward perfection, but I see it differently. Growth, especially spiritual growth and consciousness, is about becoming more authentic and accepting life as it is. This is a process…

Instead of New Year’s Resolutions, Try This

2019 is drawing to a close. The new year is on the horizon, and many of us are thinking about what we want to do in 2020. We might think about losing weight, earning more money, saving more money, keeping our homes cleaner, climbing the ladder at work, or any other number of things.…

How to Look Forward to a Mindful Holiday Season

The holiday season is upon us! For many of us, we approach the holidays with dread and consider it a time full of expectations, extra work, triggers, and conflict. How can we actually ENJOY the holidays instead of wishing they’d be over? The answer is consciousness. Most of us don’t put much thought into…

Focus on What You Want in Order to Create it for Yourself

Many of us wait for life to happen to us and hope we get what we want. We don’t take responsibility for our lives and our experience. Now, of course, things happen to us and around us that are out of our control. We can’t control the weather. We can’t control other people. And…

Everything You Need to Know About Boundaries

There’s a lot of talk about boundaries in the self-help and mindfulness spheres lately. Some of us don’t set boundaries at all, so a lot of the literature out there can be helpful. But I also see a lot of confusing advice about what boundaries actually are, how to set them, and how to…