December 10th is the last day for my series on open-hearted living. All 2025, I posted on the 10th of every month, exploring different letters, feelings, and expressions around “open-hearted”. Some lessons learned… I’ve developed stronger decision-making skills while staying grounded. Instead of pushing forward, I’ve learned there’s a comfort in stillness. An open heart…
Category: Open-Hearted
Open-Hearted: Earn
Productivity culture is insidious. It makes an appearance when I’m busy just for its own sake. Or when I took a sick day earlier this month, I felt guilty about it. Moreover, when I measure a day’s my worth by how much I got done that day, I am not embracing open-hearted living. That’s surviving….
Open-Hearted: Time
I am 33 today. An adult, according to hobbits. All we have is time. And choices in them. So I’m choosing my time today. To dance. To grieve. To live.
Open-Hearted: Reveal and Revel
When I’m open-hearted to the universe, love reveals itself. Joy intensifies, then lingers into contentment. I have nothing to hide. Instead, I’ve reveled in life. Changes like jobs, a new place soon, and a new car are transitions that may have frightened me in the past, “it’s too much”. Especially to my relationships. Instead, my…
Open-Hearted: Actions and Allyship
Welcome back to my series on open-hearted living. “Open-hearted” is my word for 2025, and every month, I dive into a different letter of the compound word. How do I stay open-hearted while also being courageous to make change? When so many (queer, Black, brown, disabled, home-insecure) people are suffering, how can I show up?…
Open-Hearted: Easy Energy
I considered many Es for this post, enoughness, essentialism, and enthusiasm, among others. Fortunately, there’s one last E at the end of this open-hearted series. In a sea of transitions, I’ve pondered many questions, opening my heart and home to new possibilities. Such a process of intentional asking and opening my heart to the universe…
Open-Hearted: Help and Healing
It takes courage to ask for help. Becoming my truest self has been healing. Yet my people-pleasing tendency sometimes quietly lies, you’re not (doing) enough. I’m not letting people-pleasing win anymore. If I need help, I need to communicate it. The key is asking for support. It’s not only sharing an unmet need or want,…
Open-Hearted: Naming
What exactly is in a name? According to dear ol’ Bill Shakes, not much. Respectfully, I disagree. Naming is an action. It reminds me of a theory in psychology: When someone who is experiencing a host of symptoms finally receives a diagnosis, they have a sense of relief. That’s because they’re not alone; these conditions…
Open-Hearted: Embody Exemplars
This week, I learned about top-line behaviors, which are ways of being true, one’s best, and/or embracing the everyday. As I continue to explore open-hearted living as it is my word for the year, I have a ton of top-line eeee behaviors on my heart and mind: Just a few examples of how my word…
Open-Hearted: Presence
Staying grounded in the present takes diligence, day by day, to see, create, and manifest glimmers. I see glimmers as the not-quite opposite of triggers. Glimmers are pockets of joy. Think, the sun shining through an otherwise blustery day. A coupon for a free veggie burger. Spring making a quiet entrance (or sometimes, a loud…