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You have just had a close and fun weekend with your girlfriend Alice (substitute your own partner here). You drop her off at her home with plans to see each other again on the weekend. You sit down to have dinner together the following Saturday and she says, "I am not sure if I fit into your life." You sit back in shock. You remember all the things you did together last weekend. Examples of how you showed she's important to you spring to mind. You feel a wave of indignation.

Between the time you dropped her off and saw her a few days later, Alice had fallen down a rabbit hole filled...

This week I've been getting up close and personal with my humanity. More than usual, I mean.

I knew this Fall would be really challenging; there was going to be a predictable, limited period of very time-demanding work, lasting about 4 weeks. I chose this, I planned for it, I was ready to support my well-being and balance for the duration.

Then a lot of unexpected stuff happened. (I know this never happens to you.) An urgent, seemingly not-too-time-consuming request too alive for me to decline (add 1 week); technical problems outside my control (add 3 weeks); an important...

Ok, I admit it: I'm a word nerd. I love words because they take me deeper into my experience. They provide me with handholds when I'm struggling to explore the landscape inside me. They create bridges between your inner world and mine, carrying the energy of my experience to you so that you can taste it and come into luminous, resonant connection with me ... and vice versa.

Words really matter. The childhood saying, "sticks and stones will break my bones but words can never hurt me" is simply not true: research has now shown that a physical blow and a verbal one alarm our nervous...

There are least three essential elements that dissolve shame. Shame begins to dissolve when exposed to the light of your consciousness and the presence of caring others. This means naming it out loud. The more specifically you name it, the more it loses its power. Shame further loses its hold on you when you connect with the need or value you hold regarding the situation in which shame was triggered. Lastly, shame has trouble even coming up when you consistently tend to a connection with your own goodness and grounded sense of who you are and what you contribute to life.

Naming...