Have you ever stopped to think about how your relationship with your dad has shaped the person you are today?
Whether you had an amazing dad, an absent dad, or something in between, your father plays a huge role in your development and sense of self.
For many of us, our fathers are our first love, our first protector, our first example of what a man is.
If you were lucky enough to have a dad who was loving, […]
Compassion
No Relationship is Perfect
As we approach Mother’s Day, I would like to invite you to take a moment to contemplate, what is/was your mother like? What is/was your relationships with your mother like? What important lessons have you learned from her?
No relationship is perfect, of course. I’m sure there were some challenges, and some very beautiful moments you two spent together.
Some of us have a “mother wound.” I had a very tumultuous relationship with my mother growing up. […]
How to Create New Emotional & Spiritual Energy for 2023
The beginning of a new year can start a new chapter in our lives
Why is it so difficult to follow through with our New Year’s resolutions despite our best intentions?
From a therapeutic perspective, for a resolution to work, it is crucial to bring self-awareness and honest self-reflection into the process.
We can design real and permanent change if we take some time to look back, assess and reflect on what worked and what did not work in our lives. […]
How to work with anger
Monica explores how to meet anger with conscious awareness
This article was first published on Lion’s Roar on June 28, 2022.
While I don’t consider myself an angry person, I have always had an open curiosity about anger. As a child, I remember experiencing deep fear in the chaotic moments of my mother’s angry spells. I felt helpless and anxious, but I suppressed these emotions because of my fear of adding more intensity to my mom’s outbursts, […]
Como trabajar con la ira
Monica Jordan explora como relacionarnos con la ira de una manera consciente
Este artículo fue publicado en Lion’s Roar el 28 de junio de 2022
Aunque no me considero una persona que se enoja fácilmente, siempre he tenido mucha curiosidad con respecto a la ira. Cuando era niña, recuerdo haber experimentado un miedo profundo en los momentos caóticos de ira de mi madre. Me sentía impotente y ansiosa, […]
Two Components to Freedom
Indispensable elements for our Self-liberation
In the Buddhist tradition, there are two essential components to our freedom. The first one is awareness. It is the wisdom that comes from training your mind to see clearly and the second one is compassion for yourself and for others.
These components are compared to the two wings of a bird, without which the bird would be unable to fly and be free.
Awareness
The first wing is our conscious awareness that allows us to recognize what is really happening in our moment-to-moment experience. […]
On Mother’s Day
As we approach Mother’s Day, I would like to invite you to take a moment to contemplate, what is/was your mother like? What is/was your relationships with your mother like? What important lessons have you learned from her?
No relationship is perfect, of course. I’m sure there were some challenges, and some very beautiful moments you two spent together.
I had a very tumultuous relationship with my mother growing up. We both had good times but also very challenging times. […]
Making Friends with Yourself
Making Friends with Yourself is the Art of Self-Compassion
Life offers us so many opportunities for great joy and pleasure but it is our sorrow that can undoubtedly have a detrimental effect on our confidence and on our ability to trust who we are. It is in moments like these that we need to make friends with ourselves by cultivating self-compassion.
Challenging times are often accompanied by anxiety, impatience and a deep sense of uncertainty. […]
The Art of Listening
Good, Conscious Listening Can Be Cultivated ~ Here’s How
The art of listening is cultivated with the deep desire to understand and connect to the other. Unfortunately, good listeners are very difficult to find and, for that reason, conscious, meaningful conversations are not natural because we are usually more interested in expressing our own thoughts, feelings and opinions. However, skillful listening is a talent we can all learn and cultivate.
Holding a space for the person who is talking to feel comfortable and safe enough not to hold anything relevant back, […]
Loneliness is a Gift
Hafiz, the beloved Sufi poet, reminds us in the poem below that loneliness is, indeed, a gift. Unlike depression and lethargy, which want us to stagnate and to sink in darkness, loneliness encourages us to move.
Loneliness is a desire, a physical feeling, something missing in the heart that inspires us to seek. Without loneliness, Hafiz suggests, how would you find yourself?
Part of being human is feeling the desire to connect and share with others. […]