Practicing Abundance

Last night we went to Katherine Applegate's One and Only Family tour organized by Red Balloon Bookstore. 😍 I've recently discovered Katherine Applegate's books and I just love her style of writing. I listened to most of them during my last few months working at a middle school when I was really struggling with my health and didn't know what was going on. So when I heard she was going to be in town I had to go! She is a lovely person and does a fabulous presentation. I loved hearing from her and was mostly successful in ignoring how woozy I felt during the presentation.  Standing in line to meet her I tried not to think about how weird my knees felt, and that my legs were starting to shaky. My mind immediately jumps to the worst conclusions when something is off with my body.  I reflected on my week. I have had a nagging sense of overtired fatigue, but brushed it off in favor of doing what I wanted to do.  Actually it has been several weeks that I've been letting my...

This summer I read a fantastic book called The Upside of Stress: Why Stress is Good For You And How To Get Good At It. It was a life-changing, fascinating read and I learned SO much I will probably read it again soon.  One thing that made a lasting impact on me was the concept that stress could be defined as when a perceived challenge outweighs one's perceived resources.  One: that makes stress largely about perception , not events. Interesting.  Two: if we take Jesus Christ at His word, we definitely have the skills to learn to stress less. Jesus promises that He will be with us, He leaves us His Comforter and Spirit, and gave us multitudes of scriptural stories of followers learning to trust and lean on Him - and succeeding. "I am with you always" , He says.  Jesus Christ is our strength . He is our Resource. Our Reserve. What perceived challenge can outweigh us now?? What earthly power could be stronger than The Creator, Lord, and Savior of our world, not only the...

  This week I started reading The Lupus Book by Daniel J. Wallace, MD. It's a little bit of a milestone for me, as I feel it shows an increased level of acceptance and non-reactivity to the idea of or even the word 'lupus'.  The title sounded a little ominous at first, but it isn't nearly as intimidating as The Lupus Encyclopedia , which is much, much larger.  That one is coming up on my book list.  So here's to applying my new strategy for reading books on a new type of book.  This feels like a step in a good direction and I am grateful for the divine courage to take it.  Also, the weather today is my kind of perfect 😊🍂 Welcome, fall weather!!

I've been thinking about this one for a while.  It seems like everyone is talking about dopamine these days. How good it feels to our brains, how it helps us regulate as humans, and how the modern world preys on our chemical systems like a hungry predator... 😳 Dramatic, perhaps, but unless we start using this beautiful brain of ours to filter and decide how and when we access these dopamine mines of the modern world, we may soon find ourselves needing more and more and more just to feel satisfied. More on why that matters in a minute. Dopamine is known as the "more molecule" in some circles. It's the messenger in your brain that says "That was good! Do it again" and "More please". Checking off a to-do item on a list, putting things back in their places, and the allure of endless novelty through scrolling media or exploring the endless internet are just a few examples of when this chemical response happens.  In his book, Indestractable , Nir Eyal e...

  This week I read a fascinating concept in the book, Bearing the Unbearable by Joanne Cacciatore. It's a deep, healing read and helped me to navigate an intense grief experience the very day I read it.  I recommend giving the book a try if you feel disconnected from the love of your lost one(s).  The piece I read was this:  The word emotion has its roots in the Latin mover  and emover , meaning "to move through" and "to move out". Our emotions move in us, move through us, and move between us. And when we allow them to move freely, they change, perhaps scarcely and perhaps gradually - but inevitably. This is grief's most piercing message; there is no way around - the only way is through. Page 54 Later that evening, I felt another surge of big feelings rising up inside of me (why is it always in the evening??). Sensing that this was a big one, I retreated to my designated safe space and sat, pressing one hand into my heart space and one over my lower belly. I...