We are wired to adapt. We are made to live. — We often underestimate how much our culture influences and drives the expectations we have of ourselves and what others hold about us. That, alongside what we hold onto others. You see, our brains are biologically wired to adapt to our environment. It has been said by many that we are…

A history of childhood sexual abuse. I experienced childhood sexual abuse twice. From a family friend and from a family member. In high school, I was in a relationship that began with being emotionally abusive, and eventually sexual as well. As a kid, I was overweight, and the people around…

Experiencing stress is a part of our daily lives. — Within the past couple of years, research has been increasingly focused on topics such as health, wellness, and well-being — including stress. However, stress has gotten a pretty bad rep. We’ll often learn that stress is an adaptive response that our ancestors needed to survive unpredictable and dangerous environments. …

How Have You Lived all the In-Betweens of Life? — The Push and Pull Between Staying and Moving It’s been over two months since I moved away from home to attend my current PhD program. The move initially was a lot more difficult than anticipated, and lead to a big drop in mental health. In college, I had technically moved away for two years to a shared home…

If we embodied everything they manifested and that eventually lead to us… — You want to imagine yourself having a thousand strings attached to the back of your body. Then you make a prayer and ask your ancestors to pull those thousand strings. They pull on them, guiding you through your journey. To make sure you don’t get lost in anyone else’s vortex…

Our manifestation of resilience, strength, and fortitude can be seen as an incarnation of the divine. — Have you ever passed by a work of art and felt “caught” in it? Where you felt driven to stay and curious about every line, every color, every fragment of the artistic piece? Have you ever wondered what within you caused that attraction? My Previous Experience with Religion I wouldn’t consider myself to be a…

Find a cognitive balance. — An Introduction to Meditations: A New Translation Recently, my boyfriend encouraged me to read a book he just finished called Meditations: A New Translation by the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, translated by Gregory Hays. It doesn’t read like a typical, contemporary book. The structure of it gives the impression — as explained by the translator —…

I forfeited my potential to make others comfortable. — The Bullying I was around seven years old when I first began to intentionally engage in physical activity to lose weight. I had been bullied for perhaps two years or so by this point in my life due to my weight, light skin, and natural brown-blonde-colored hair. …

Overthinking may be holding you back. — Introduction: Moving to a New City Just recently I moved to a new city. The thought of leaving my hometown was daunting for many reasons. First of all, none of my family members nor my partner moved with me. I know no one in town other than my new apartment manager. I will be starting a…