Every person wants to be happy and free in their own way. But avoiding pain is not the way to achieve that goal. If you truly want to become free, you must accept pain as a natural part of life. I used to believe that was impossible. I thought we …

I am now blessed to say that twenty-five years into my journey, I can go days without hearing whispers of revulsion when I look in the mirror. Sometimes I go weeks between thoughts of needing to lose weight and I rarely feel guilty for eating foods that our culture deems …

Same scenario, different cast. This is real life though, not to say people are not happy and content with their lives, what I'm saying is that in the average person's life there is no happy ending. Like the saying goes life has no guarantee. What exactly it is you want …

Considered together with additional evidence linking imbalances in the gut to memory and cognitive impairments, this research holds fascinating promise for better understanding and treating many neurological diseases--including multiple sclerosis. Research has shown that fully one-third of the molecules in our bloodstream comprise the breakdown products of our own gut …

They didn't need sophisticated research to prove it, either; Informed by their knowledge and contemporary investigations, researchers now know that in times of chronic stress, the acidity in the GI tract increases, which disrupts the biodiversity and function of the gut microflora and damages the intestinal lining--a major double-whammy that …

When you hear of relationship goals by standard what comes to mind. Traditionally life is set up by a pattern. Some agree, some disagree but we have all heard of the picket white fence mentality or formula. You know the one; That is the ideology of success for a lot …

This reduces the leakage of ammonia from the feces in the gut to the bloodstream. The ammonia effects on neurological function are thereby halted. Just as in the case of HE, better understanding of how the gut and brain communicate with each other can offer valuable clues about a variety …

This courageous young woman goes on to fight against everyone's responses to her tragedy. She opens her Bible, starts reading it, and finds a God she never knew. He leads her to leave her parents' home, move to a new town where no one knows her, and find a tiny …

And my intention is to become better every day. So if you judge me based on my past actions, you're judging someone else. Today, you're a new person. People think life is static. And that you are what you are. If we feel awkward, unworthy, unattractive, or unwell; This tendency …

Like a merry-go-round needs just the right center point to spin around effectively--bringing joy and laughter to everyone who rides it--life does, too. Life needs God at the center. What I didn't realize was that when I made myself the center, life lost its balance, spun wildly out of control …

Life is meant to be used. When we're free, we use our time. We make ourselves useful to our community. That's ultimate freedom. Let's talk about the things holding us back from achieving that. Webster's defines authenticity as trustworthy and genuine; By its very definition, it is rooted in honesty …

It's folly to measure your success in money or fame. Success is measured only by your ability to say yes to these two questions: Did I do the work I needed to do? Did I give it everything I had? We were all sluts in the '90s. Did you get …

These traps are very real and exist in all of our lives. But before we talk about those traps I want to define freedom beyond the definition I used at the beginning of this section. Freedom means living life the way I want. This is a subjective definition of freedom …

Modafinil, which is a dopamine agonist/stimulant, initially worked well for me but then began to cause heart palpitations. Today I use Ocrevus, and I'm happy to say it has made a huge difference in my quality of life in terms of cognitive function, such as planning and memory function …

You don't have to be hot in a way that some dumbfuckedly narrow mind-set has construed that word. You don't have to have taut flesh or a tight ass or an eternally upright set of tits. You have to find a way to inhabit your body while enacting your deepest …

We now know, for example, that the concept of impure blood is a sound one: Research has proven that fully one-third of the molecules in our bloodstream comprise the breakdown products of our own gut microflora. When we suffer from dysbiosis, we literally become full of garbage: Endotoxins (natural by-products …

I also tried to create the image of the perfect helpmate during those first months of marriage. I cooked and cleaned the house for Jonathan, just like a good wife was supposed to do. My dad always appreciated a hot meal as soon as he arrived home from work, so …

What stands in the way of our freedom? There are so many traps we are unaware of. Why do we feel overwhelmed? Why do we dislike our work, relationships, and ourselves? Why do we end up in situations that seem hopeless? We have no doubt heard this before, but how …

You can't fake the core. The truth that lives there will eventually win out. It's a god we must obey, a force that brings us all inevitably to our knees. It asks, eternally: Will you do it later or Having an accountability partner holds you responsible for sticking to a …

Before I was diagnosed--but after I'd already begun experiencing many other cognitive symptoms of MS--I experienced episodes in which a simple sentence from a loved one sounded like a jumbled heap of nonsense. Rearranging their words into a coherent sequence was exhausting--or even impossible. It worked the other way around …

I hated my body, my lack of control, and the weakness I could not seem to overcome. I also found myself lying about simple mistakes I made. If people discovered a crack in my she-has-it-all-together-and-is-perfect facade, they might discover where I was really failing in life. Everyone would know I …

Attention Deficits After I learned that I had multiple sclerosis, certain aspects of my life made a lot more sense to me: like the way I couldn't absorb the meaning of things Sarika would say to me if I was doing something else--even something as simple as getting dressed. I …

How worthless, how weak, how vanquished, how hollow it is to have a parent who exists but cannot reach, who says but will not be, who thinks but doesn't dare, who plays and plays and plays, but only, always, forever in the minor key. We sing the song of parenthood …

I will, however, share what I have done to become free. And I can point out all the ways you might be unfree right now. You know ideas, self-talk, positive thinking and inspiration are cheap. It's all talk. This article is different. Something about the way we behaved or the …

I turned toward the wall and cried silent tears of guilt and shame. What should have been happy last moments under my parents' roof became hours of self-condemnation. The next morning, my big day finally arrived. May 22nd dawned hot, humid, and sunny. The preparations began at the church early …

It seemed like just as my life was taking off and looking like sunshine and roses, hers was crashing. I knew that had to hurt down deep in her heart, but I let her actions dictate my responses rather than asking God to help me love her. Looking back, I …

Forgiveness doesn't just sit there like a pretty Forgiveness is the old fat guy you have to The answer to most problems is more often than not outside of the right-wrong binary that we tend to cling to when we're angry or scared or in pain. We are a complicated …

She was my mother, but I was motherless. I was trapped by her but utterly alone. She would always be the empty bowl that no one could fill. I'd have to fill it myself again and again and again. The thing about Then throughout the day, find people you believe …

It is known that MS symptoms and relapse rates can be more severe in African Americans. Family history. If one of your parents or siblings has, or had, MS, you are at higher risk of developing the disease. Certain autoimmune diseases. You have a slightly higher risk of developing MS …

You get something in your head, read a few articles on conquering fear, get your act together and decide to pursue it. You took action. But half way through, you realize you don't even want the thing you're chasing. But despite that realization, you put your head in the sand …

Because Jonathan loved me so much he patiently agreed to wait a year and a half to get married so I would be 19 and entering my senior year in college. Prolonging our engagement was one of the dumbest decisions I have ever made for several reasons. First, it made …

And yet, just because your parents want it for you, you give in. It's the same thing with intimate relationships, which play a big role on the path to our freedom. When a girlfriend, boyfriend, partner, or spouse expects certain things from us, we often give in. We do things …

Making your list specific enables you to know when these values are actually happening in your interactions. You can then tell whether your relationships are embodying your ethics and yearnings and moving toward your hopes and life goals. They guide, motivate, validate, challenge, and comfort us in our own lives …

My work is focused on finding concepts, skills, and practices that allow me to continue to heal myself and my patients, and to teach others to effectively work with this immaterial, immeasurable level of experience where so many of our modern Western disorders and symptoms arise. I have studied various …

Have your feelings been hurt today at work? Has somebody caused you distress? One of the most difficult things for people to deal with is feeling like they did not get closure or that someone who has done something wrong to them does not feel remorse about it. They will …

That is something you have charge of. Do any of the following describe the major problem in your life? It is an uncomfortable thing when you feel like you are being singled out. You will look at other people not currently being treated this way by this person and think …

Alchemical principles are at the root of Taoist, Kabbalistic, Christian mystical, and Buddhist meditation practices and also form the basis of traditional Chinese medicine and the modern depth psychology developed by C. I now believe that the alchemical worldview emerges from a universal stratum of human consciousness that is innate …

This is awareness, and every moment of awareness is a moment of being alive and healing. However, beware of people who constantly use the phrase I did the best I could as an excuse not to be responsible for their actions and who make no effort to be mindful and …

Why can't we slow down? And what are we missing if we don't? Then I remembered some of my own experiences when I was the one talking to a patient seated on the examining table--and I realized that the blame for the doctor's attitude lay within the system itself. About …

Take another slow and conscious bite like you did before with your eyes closed. Pay attention to chewing and tasting and the texture of the food in your mouth. Since healthy physical activity is fundamental to a naturopath's philosophy and treatment approach, this made sense to me--and the idea of …