Dear Self, Remember that one time, you were biking up a huge hill and you just kept telling yourself, “Slow and steady, slow and steady, just keep pedaling slow and steady and you *will* make it!” And remember how you decided to adopt that mantra in your life to keep yourself focused and encouraged–even though [...]

~Tamara Rettino “A lot can happen to a person in a night. In the age of the social network, it can even happen when you’re sleeping. While you’re rosy cheeked and dreaming about Ryan Gosling rescuing you from a flash flood (you do have that dream, right?), a torrential dialogue can play itself out in [...]

~Anuhea The womb is where life begins. As women we are the mighty warriors of life giving creatures. Our womb speaks. Many times we are not aware. We don’t often listen to the powers of its growth and impact on our daily lives. This blog revolves around when I began to listen to my womb [...]

~Martha S. Mejia “…be attentive to what is arising within you, and place that above everything else…What is happening in your innermost self is worthy of your entire love; somehow you must find a way to work at it. ~Rainer Maria Rilke   …Innermost self…worthy of your entire love… Empowerment. Ultimately we are the only [...]

~Sasha R. God was in love when He made me. His eyes were focused on something in the distance when His hands slid across clay to form my face. He stared for a long time in that direction, His warm fingers at rest against my rough, wet cheeks. As He pushed at the clay, I [...]

~L. B. Nelson A note written at the request of Paulo Coehlo.  He wanted to know if I believed in Angels I believe in Angels. Angels can be as big as a planet or as small as a microscopic speck of dust. Angels can speak through a ray of sun, which then, can speak through [...]

~T. R. I hurried into a religious bookstore one day anxious to pick up a book previously ordered.  Old-time church hymns played on overhead speakers.  As I waited in line a nearby magazine caught my eye, the caption reading, “Woman of the Year.” My eyes traveling upwards saw a blond woman with long softly curled [...]

~The Captain @ Up She Rises It’s hard to explain what I mean when I say that I don’t believe in “God” anymore, so I don’t really bring it up.  Some people who love me, they get sad. It seems that what they hear is loss and despair–fearfully, desperately I claw my way through the [...]

–Lindsey Marcus @ I Run in Heels A year ago, my brother Seth and Ali, his girlfriend of 2 years, visited my parents in Oklahoma. While Ali appreciated the family-centric culture of our hometown, she commented on the emphasis on getting married young. Girls remarked she had the “patience of Job” at not receiving a [...]

–Mari A. Lee M.A., MFT As a sex and love addiction therapist who is passionate about my work in private practice, and as a counselor who celebrates my client’s courageous efforts in their own healing process, I realized it was finally time for me to come clean. For many years I led a double life [...]