a soft, low, gentle voice thoughtful silence curious questions attentive listening summarizing Benjie’s position out loud showing empathy

Remember that when dealing with any form of anxiety, our task is not to fight our own nervous systems but to help them relax and enjoy cooperating with our conscious intentions, like sensitive animals that have learned to trust kindly humans. When we get hijacked by anxiety patterns, we’re dealing with literal wild things: sections of our nervous s

conscious mind even knew what was happening. If you do any sort of three-dimensional work that calls on right-hemisphere thinking, like gardening, building, or cooking, you may sometimes feel that the soil or the hardwood or the food in your pan is “asking” for what it needs in a way you can’t describe. Novelists may find their characters saying un

Biological ecosystems constellate wherever three things come together: energy, water, and space. You have a metaphorical set of these same components. The energy is your desire, the longing for what you truly, deeply want. The water is your creativity. It flows from the deep wells of your personal genius in forms you yourself can’t predict or compl

As Hesiod wrote about achieving any kind of mastery, “[W]hen you come to the top, then it is easy, even though it is hard.” To dwell consistently in this sense of being “on mission,” we must do three things. The first is to detach from the social roles we may be following, unless they are perfectly fitted to our sense of mission. The second is to r

Here is the true miracle of life: when it is awake, it heals.

The philosopher Frederick Buechner defined vocation, or life mission, as “the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”

It’s quite true that you created your calming scene by selectively focusing on certain memories, perceptions, and fantasies. But that’s exactly the same thing you’re doing when you see the world as frightening and unsafe.

As the Irish poet and novelist James Stephens wrote, “Curiosity will conquer fear even more than bravery will.”