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Intentions Mindfulness

Intention: How Awareness and Intention Impacts Action

Intention is fueled by awareness, and action is fueled by intention. Last week one of my students arrived at the realization that joy wasn’t just going to fall into her lap. We laughed together in a shared recognition of the human habit of assuming that whatever we want will arrive in our laps simply by […]

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Mindfulness

Mindfulness in Nature for More Peace and Connection

Mindfulness in nature can help us to feel more peace and a greater sense of connection with ourselves and the planet. We can practice mindfulness in nature by being fully present in the moment when we are in nature. Try choosing a place outdoors that you can be still for a few moments. You might […]

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Mindfulness

Embracing Change with Mindfulness and Meditation

Embracing change with mindfulness and meditation supports us in cultivating more acceptance and less resistance. We cling to the transitions that we love, and we resist or fight against the changes that we dislike, and this creates suffering. Mindfulness encourages us to turn toward whatever is here in the present moment with an attitude of […]

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Mindfulness

Shadow Work: Mindfulness to Facilitate Healing and Wholeness

Shadow work involves embracing the aspects of ourselves that remain in shadow, unexpressed, or hidden. Our shadow includes aspects of our personality that are unconscious and can include both positive aspects as well as the darker aspects. When our shadow remains unconscious, we may be ruled by it, and this can keep us from living […]

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Meditation Mindfulness

Cultivating Self-Compassion for Healing and Resilience

Cultivating self-compassion can nurture a greater sense of inner peace, happiness, and resilience. In cultivating self-compassion, we practice noticing the moments in which we are treating ourselves with harshness and criticism. We pause, bring our kind awareness to this habit, and choose something different. We can focus on our sense of shared humanity, acknowledging our […]

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Creativity Mindfulness

How to Engage in Mindful Creative Expression to Increase Creative Flow

Mindful creative expression can support your wellbeing and facilitate creative flow. Creative energy is available to us in infinite supply, but in order to access it, we must invite it in, welcome it, and nurture it. We must create space and time in our day to honor it. If we ignore our creative muse, she […]

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Mindfulness

Nature Therapy and Birds

Nature therapy and birds can light up your mind body and soul. Last night we counted 300+ Black Skimmers in the bird colony at Wrightsville Beach. The beach was filled with couples walking, waiting for the full moon rise. Love was in the air.    Many of the Black Skimmers are now in pairs, and […]

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Mindfulness

Bird Therapy with Black Skimmers

Bird therapy with Black Skimmers is one of my favorite mindful nature therapy practices. Black Skimmers continue to arrive at the colony on Wrightsville Beach. and begin to form pairs. The male makes a mark in the sand as though to suggest, “What about this spot for our nest?” If the female approves, she lies […]

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Mindfulness

Mindfulness Journey to Peace and Wellbeing

You mindfulness journey toward peace and wellbeing can be an amazing awakening. At times we all become entangled in the busyness of the daily grind and in the habit of bracing ourselves against the challenges of our lives. We may believe that if we keep up the grueling pace, we’ll one day come out ahead. […]

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Mindfulness

Coming Home: The Return of the Black Skimmers

Coming home, the Black Skimmers have begun their return to the south end of Wrightsville Beach. Black Skimmers are found year round in South America and along the Gulf Coast, and they come to Wrightsville Beach each summer to breed. I counted 52 of them this morning flying over Masonboro Inlet and into the dunes. […]