Growing up around my Southern family, the topic of weight was always an issue. After not seeing someone for a while, elders would greet me by identifying how much weight I’d gained or lost. This was the foundation on which my body image was built. “After not seeing someone for a while, elders would greet …
What if I told you you could add ten years to your life by doing nothing? I mean it: Nothing. For 24 hours. Each week. On a day many of us consider the junk drawer of the week, Sunday is seen differently by communities that observe the Sabbath. For instance, in Loma Linda, CA, the …
Growing up around my Southern family, the topic of weight was always an issue. After not seeing someone for a while, elders would greet me by identifying how much weight I’d gained or lost. This was the foundation on which my body image was built. “After not seeing someone for a while, elders would greet …
If you’ve ever lived in (or even day-tripped through) a rural area, you understand the appeal of locally grown cut flowers. Throughout late spring, summer, and fall, farmstands and farmers’ markets beckon with bouquets of seasonal blooms, the stems often handed over by the very ones that tended them. For Valerie Schirmer, president of the Association …
Conscious Vloggers We Love Searching for content on minimalism or need quick tips from a zero-waste pioneer? YouTube has you covered. The online content platform is home to thousands of sustainable and intentional living vloggers, all of whom are making valuable and engaging content for their audiences. We anticipate that we’ll be spending a lot …
My first experience with poetry was sugary-sweet and dripping in rhyme. Dr. Seuss’s melodic stories captured my youthful attention, and I loved listening to how the words bounced off the page to form music of their own. When I began writing poetry as a preteen, I invested my allowance in a rhyming dictionary. I rhymed …
To nap or not to nap? That is the question. By now, we know that proper sleep is essential to a plethora of bodily and brain functions. Lack of sleep — that’s less than seven hours a night for most adults — can adversely affect overall health, wreaking havoc on our immune system, metabolism, brain function, …
The first time I traveled on my own, I was 19 and studying abroad in the Netherlands. Every weekend was a mad dash to see a different city in 48 hours, and to experience as much of each city as possible — no museum, cathedral, park, or touristy attraction left unturned. “That breakneck speed, …
Pulling an oracle card — or several — is among my favorite daily rituals. My basket of decks (current count: 14) is a curated collection of cards chosen for their art, insight, and motifs. One deck features whimsical moments, another imagines hidden realms. The teachings of Rumi, color theory, spiritual ecology, classic archetypes, marine animals, …
“Beautiful piece, I think you just gave me enough food for thought for a few days,” reads a comment on a Substack post I wrote last spring. Even two years after launching Feelings Not Aside, a weekly newsletter for sensitive people, I continue to find myself surprised by the comments and emails I receive from …