“Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken.” ~ Oscar Wilde . Wanting to be liked is a powerful temptation At my age, it’s a lot easier to follow the “Be yourself” advice than it was when I was a young woman, but I continue to be surprised how powerful and tempting it is to want […]
Self Knowledge
Spring Cleaning Can Blast You Out Of Winter’s Black Hole!
Spring is here at last and spring cleaning is a tried and true ritual! Why do we still associate spring with spring cleaning? Certainly, in prairie cabins a century ago, when the wind blew dust through the chinks between the logs, spring was the first time the sun was warm enough to dry those curtains […]
Book Review: On The Brink Of Everything by Parker J. Palmer
On the Brink of Everything: Grace, Gravity, and Getting Old by Parker J. Palmer Reviewed by Elizabeth H. Cottrell Published 2018 240 pages (Hardcover edition) 5 stars out of 5 Parker J. Palmer is among my favorite authors because he writes beautifully and honestly about the questions, challenges, and paradoxes of life. His writing explores, […]
Self Knowledge: 6 Ways To Discover Your Truest Self
Self-Knowledge is considered a virtue in all the world’s great religions and philosophies. It is one of the four keys to unlocking your most #HeartspokenLife. Here are six ways to discover your truest self. In so doing, you will become more integrated, more authentic, and more content. This post about self-awareness has been considerably revised […]
Book Review: Becoming by Michelle Obama
Becoming by Michelle Obama Reviewed by Elizabeth H. Cottrell 5 stars out of 5 This absorbing and compelling memoir not only told a remarkable story, but it also offered practical but inspiring examples of perseverance, resilience, courage, and vulnerability, all juxtaposed with human frailty and the challenges of dealing with those whose lives are so […]
Should Christians Forgive AND Forget?
Christians struggle with Jesus’s teaching about forgiveness: we are commanded to forgive over and over. But do we have to forgive AND forget? Maybe not… This post originally appeared on the blog in 2014, where it stimulated quite a bit of emotion and conversation. The question has come up so often lately, however, especially […]
My 19 for 2019 List
Instead of New Year’s Resolutions, I’m taking a new approach to goal-setting for the year: a “19 for 2019” list. Gretchen Rubin and her sister, Liz Craft, have a fun podcast called “Happier,” and for the second year in a row, they’ve encouraged listeners to create a list of important accomplishments they want to achieve […]
Book Review: Let Your Life Speak by Parker J. Palmer
If you’ve ever struggled with wondering where to take your life next, Let Your Life Speak, by Parker J. Palmer, will be your guide and teach you to listen for your calling instead of struggling to attain goals that you were never meant to attain. This review has been pulled from Heartspoken’s archives and updated […]