Category: HOPEfully Human
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Walking in Peace: The Stoic Way Most People Misunderstand
Stoicism taught me something I didn’t know I already lived — to stay calm with peace in my heart, even when the world misreads my intentions. The hardest part isn’t life’s storms; it’s the misinterpretations that come from others’ fears. Here’s how I’ve learned to walk in peace, even when my character is misunderstood.
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Lessons in controlling the minds narrative
They blindfolded me, told me to hold out my finger, and the next thing I knew — squish. My mind screamed poo! but the truth was far less terrifying… and much funnier. That day, I learned that sometimes the scariest part of life isn’t the moment itself — it’s the story we tell ourselves about…
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Exploring Hildegard of Bingen’s Divine Creativity
I didn’t know the word viriditas as a child — but I knew the feeling. It was the heartbeat of the forest. The pulse of life beneath the mountain. A greening force that found me in my youth… and saved me again in my darkest hour.
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Red Shirts & Cow Pies: Confessions of a Gullible Little Sister
I was a gullible little girl with a trusting heart — and an older brother who saw that as the perfect opportunity for chaos. From cow pies in my bed to ground squirrels biting my fingers, I believed every word he said. And I look back now with a laugh and a whole lot of…
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The Price of Wisdom, the Power of Will
Odin didn’t stumble into wisdom. He bled for it. He gave his eye. He hung from the World Tree. He endured isolation, pain, and silence in exchange for knowledge no one else could teach him. And in many ways, haven’t we done the same? We’ve sacrificed relationships, identities, and even pieces of ourselves — all…
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Healing Through Kuan Yin: Embracing Compassion and Forgiveness
There was a season where I stood in front of the mirror and could not recognize the woman looking back. Years of carrying everyone else’s pain—caregiving, heartbreak, the endless giving—had settled on me like an invisible weight that eventually became very visible. I thought the answer was discipline, diets, or a stronger will. But what…
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Viktor Frankl – Meaning in the Midst of Suffering
Viktor Frankl believed that suffering ceases to be suffering the moment we find meaning in it. After the death of my daughter, I came to understand this not as theory, but as survival. In this reflection, I share how Frankl’s teachings helped me honor grief not as the end — but as the beginning of…
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Cleopatra – The Frequency of Feminine Power
History remembers Cleopatra for her beauty and seduction, but that was never her true power. Her power was presence — a magnetic command of energy, emotion, and soul. She ruled not just with intellect, but with intuition. And like so many of us, she knew what it meant to carry the weight of expectation while…
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Embracing Grief: Rumi’s Wisdom and the HOPE Method™
After walking through the loss of my daughter, the end of my marriage, and the unraveling of who I thought I was, I didn’t go searching for meaning in a book — it found me in the poetry of Rumi. His words became a mirror for what my soul was already learning: that grief is…
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Eight Seconds of Glory (And a Lifetime of Grit)
Five kids. One saddle. One mischievous brother. He kicked the horse’s flanks just to watch us fly — and it worked. Everyone hit the dirt… except me. I clung to that saddle horn like a wild-eyed rodeo queen with something to prove. That moment didn’t just leave scrapes on my elbows — it carved grit…
Wild Soul HOPE 