Jul 18
Throughout my travels and my life, one of the prominent themes that I’m constantly aware of, is that here in America, we (many, but not all of us) rarely sit comfortably in the present moment. One of my favorite memories of Italy is sitting outside and actually enjoying my cappuccinos! Read more
Okay, so a couple of months back, I embarked on a new “blogging regimen” if you will. Every Monday, I would write about what I was grateful for in the previous week. I started this exercise right as I was beginning my second-to-last quarter of graduate school and my last 600 hours of practicum/residency. I was expecting it to me a crazy, hectic, stressful experience at the time, -and it was/has been!
Here is an excerpt from my first Weekly Gratitude explaining my deeper thoughts and purpose for sharing my gratitude:
In the mist of my panic over the major changes beginning in my life today, I’ve realized Read more
There is no better place for growth then when we face our fears. Take the leap and see what happens. If you constantly hide behind your shadow, and stand stagnent paralized by your fears, you’ll never know all that you can acheive and where your fears might take you. Read more
“…Learn to silence the chattering of your ego, whether through prayer, meditation, or a long walk in the park. Find that place where you can detach from the pressures of the world. Find that place where your body and spirit work together in harmony…You don’t need the right car, the right shoes, the right girlfriend to be complete. All you really need is to be yourself. Your spirit is the real you. Let it guide you…Be still. Listen to your spirit say, I am, and I am enough. In the silence, you’ll hear God…” Read more
Last week I started writing this “Weekly Gratitude”, post to keep my spirits up as my life quickly got crazy, to keep my mind focused on what matters most, and hopefully (both fingers crossed!) help myself let go a little and relax! But all week I ended up struggling to figure out what I have to be grateful for, or at least that were worthy enough to write about. The harder I tried, the less I felt grateful. Writing this post became more of a chore that needed to be done perfectly, rather than a tool to help me reflect and relax a little. As I whined about this post to a friend, he said, “Nina, just be thankful that you’re even able to juggle your schedule right now”. Isn’t that the truth…
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About two weeks ago, I was out with a friend for dinner. We had a nice meal, discussed our days, and then I headed home to pack for my trip to Trinidad. On my way home driving through downtown Minneapolis, I spotted a bicyclist a little ways ahead me. He was swerving between lanes, biking in the car lane rather than the designated bike lane clearly marked to the right of me, and seemed to be oblivious to other cars on the road. As the distance between us grew smaller, and I was coming up behind him, I began wondering what direction he was planning on going when we reached the red light up ahead. Was he going to make a right hand turn at the light like I was planning to do? Read more
In the mist of my panic over the major changes beginning in my life today, I’ve realized that I’m spending a lot more time panicking, looking at my crazy schedule, complaining, and feeling overwhelmed, than I am being thankful that I am even able to actively participate in these changes. Read more
This post is a bit atypical I suppose, but I felt it was actually more relevant than not. Almost a year ago, I took a trip to Thailand with my friend Gina that was nothing short of amazing. We traveled through Bangkok, Phuket, Koh Phi Phi, Krabi, and Phanang Bay. Thailand was simply amazing in so many ways. It was a trip that I desperately NEEDED at the time. I was working far too much, juggling a course load that was far more difficult than I had ever imagined, and I was completely and totally burnt out. This trip was a great refresher; the much needed relaxation that helped me get back to reality and a hold of my life again. Read more
One of the most important people in my life is my older sister Jessica. Jessica was born with Down Syndrome and today is her 28th birthday. It’s hard to believe she is that old; she’s not even five feet tall, and still looks like a kid. She still acts like a kid actually, which is one of the wonderful things about Jessica. She is easily pleased, almost always happy, and see’s life through an endlessly positive lens. Read more
Mar 22
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…With an Open Heart
Thoughts on this post
This post by SweetMother is simply hilarious!! I’m sure many, MANY bloggers have felt this way after publishing a post. I know while I read this I could certainly relate. What I really appreciated however was the neurotic dialogue she had with herself. One, it was very comical. Two, it made me realize how funny my own thought process is daily and how ridiculous my self-criticism can be!!! Now that I’m more conscious of it, I’m going to try and AT LEAST make my self-talk (often critical self-talk) much more comical.
We all need to laugh at ourselves sometimes. Better yet, daily! If we laugh more, especially at ourselves, perhaps life will suddenly become less “why so serious?” and a lot more……….See photos : )
The below is a list of what happens in my brain for the next 31 minutes after I hit “publish” each and everyday. Note: I only have about 1 original thought per minute, the other thoughts within that minute are variations of the original-thesis thought for that correpsonding minute.
Min 1: “Did my post suck today? It’s been a minute and there is only one “like”. Maybe it sucked.”
Min 2: “It’s Sunday, people don’t read very many blogs on Sunday, that’s a low-views day according to my stats.”
Min 3: “Oh, wait, it’s Monday. Okay, that is also a low-views day – so is Tuesday and Wednesday and hold on…”
Min 4: “I should’ve written about my Mom. People like it when I write about my Mom or my Wifesy.”
Min 5: “I don’t think I should’ve capitalized Mom in that last minute…
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This morning I came across this post by A Thousand Shades of Gray discussing the paradigm shift we go through as humans whenever we’re in a process of personal transformation and growth.
Kurt Lewin developed the Change Theory that is today, the epitome of change models. Lewin is also regarded as the founder of Social Psychology and contributed vastly to the field. On the most basic level, Change Theory describes the process of change that occurs in humans, society, organizations, etc., as conscious and in three phases: Read more
It’s SUCH A BEAUTIFUL DAY in Minnesota!! It’s March and it’s 61 degrees outside. In Minnesota! Crazy, but I’m going to take it. There is nothing I like more than sunshine; how it heats up my body, how it glimmers through the sky and onto everything around me. My whole world seems better when the sun is out. I see things more clearly, and feel much more balanced. This makes Minnesota winters difficult, and I honestly despise them, but I will not complain this year. This year was wonderful!
Each day, roughly 60,000 thoughts will cross your mind. What are you thinking about? Are your thoughts positive or are they negative? Do you feel happy most days or sad? Of these 60,000 thoughts, it’s up to you, to make sure that 59,999 of them are not wasted on negative, self-defeating thoughts.
We’ve all heard that you are what you eat, right? But what about You are what You think? Every thought you have creates a physiological response in the body. Read more
Almost everyone wish they could change something about themselves, or their lives at some point. It’s normal I supposed to not be completely satisfied. Some of us are perhaps more satisfied than others. But what happens when we’re only satisfied with perfection?
If I had to use one word to sum up my most prominent thought the last few weeks it would be: Perfectionism. In fact, I would say, if I had a stocker, it would be Perfectionism. It just won’t get away from me. I’ve been a self-proclaimed perfectionist for years, and frankly, I think I liked it; Perfectionism was a friend of sorts. But over the last year, I’ve become aware of just how annoying, and clinging, and rigid, and judgmental, and selfish, and cruel this friend really is. Perfectionism is a total Bitch! Read more
When you think about what it takes to be strong, honest, courageous and authentic, you may or may not include vulnerable to your list. In fact, synonyms of vulnerability include: defenseless, sucker, susceptible, unsafe, weak, and in danger. Quite the contrary to anything strong and courageous!
I’m not even going to try to lie and say that now that I have my first post out there, and my biggest hurdle is behind me, that I no longer feel vulnerable. I most certainly do, -and I feel susceptible and exposed too! But that was sort of the point now wasn’t it?
As humans, we thrive through honest, vulnerable, trusting connections to others. We are born vulnerable to everything around us. If we experience love, tenderness, physical and emotional connections and safety, we grow up to be healthy, happy, functioning adults (well, most of us). Vulnerability is essential to human existence. Yet, so many of us fight it. We fight, because Read more
What is …With an Open Heart? Well, it’s my best attempt at making a change in my life and opening myself, and my heart to the world. There are so many things I could try and say to explain this little blog, and the reason why I’m started it, but every time I try, I struggle to find the words. So let me just start by explaining my feelings leading up to this blog.
Feelings: I’m afraid of them!!
I’ve been running from them for nearly eight years. At first, this was easy, and made life a hell of a lot easier. How do you feel? Fine. Did that bother you? I couldn’t care less. I basically just shut down. I turned off my feelings and stopped caring. Read more
I'm just a twenty-something trying to find my place in the world. I'm rather silly, fairly light hearted, and I laugh often. I have the curiosity of a small child, fueling my desire to constantly be learning. I hope to use my BA in Psychology and MS in Mental Health Counseling to help others live authentic, fulfilling lives full of purpose. I strongly believe life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, but learning to dance in the rain!!
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With an Open Heart 