The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely. – attributed to Carl Jung Confronting self is the start of self-forgiveness. Without that forgiveness for your mistakes and failures, your inner critic can turn guilt into shame, and shame into self-sabotage. Healing begins when you take responsibility for your thoughts and actions without abandoning self. …

Lived pain—what one has endured and remembers – carries more authority than abstract conjecture offered from a distance. Suffering has a way of converting mere speculation into hard-won knowledge. The theorist has an argument; the person with scar tissue has durable evidence.  Experience trumps theory.

Not everything that is interesting, exciting or upsetting needs an audience.  You can experience something without immediately turning it into content, an opinion, a story, or a status update. Your inner life belongs to you.  What you share is at your option.    There’s something powerful about having an unobserved life.  Cultivate the skill to choose the level of access that suits you. 

You can learn a lot about the people you meet. Pay attention.  Look beyond their charm. How do they behave when their guard is down?  How do they react when they are disappointed, inconvenienced, ignored, tired, or given power over someone who cannot offer them anything in return? Charm is a presentation. Patterns reveal character. …

I was not a math person until I chose to become one.  I labeled myself in high school as not being good at math, settling for mediocrity, and avoiding advanced classes in it.  I think my avoidance might have been a response to my trying hard and still failing – it might confirm that I…

See your flaws Do not depend on others to reveal your inadequacies.  People are political, and will share mixed messages of both praise and criticism – rarely a complete or neutral picture.  You have to find out for yourself.  Learn from your mistakes and failures rather than defend them. Examine yourself honestly. See where your…