Romantic love can become complex and weighted, when diluted with fear, dysfunction and self-serving motives--causing a considerable amount of pain for each party in the relationship. In consideration of the relationship with self and the practice of self-love, it becomes even more crucial to distill the relationship with self in transparency for the release of anger, depression or addictive behaviors that can hamper positive momentum towards the fulfillment of creative goals

Prayer and meditation are both an effective means of navigating worry and negativity in the face of personal challenges and trials on a spiritual level, however we may afterwards still find our minds immersed in problem-solving, in a constant fight against our fears, and an imagined, inevitable doom. As a result, as artists, we can become creatively lost and stagnant, and new ideas and inspiration are blocked. When combined with the act of creativity, prayer and meditation ca

The last months of the year are typically accompanied by a time of self-reflection, where the facts of our lives serve as headline copy towards a final assessment and punctuation of the year. Some years end with a simple, tidy period. Some end with a semicolon, colon or other connector in the continuation of a new chapter or circumstances. Others end with a loud exclamation point of change. With holiday celebrations and networking events on the horizon, our final judgments ar

Courage is a trait that is mostly associated with the confrontation of fear, injustice and immediate physical danger. But there is a different kind of courage required in closing the door and walking away from your expectations and the comfort of what you know to be true. There are consequences to that type of courage, in the act of moving forward, that force an acceptance of change—ushering your development into a person you’ve never seen or no longer recognize. While studyi

A couple of weeks ago, while visiting family in New Orleans, I had an opportunity to visit The Presbytère, a former monastery residence, which is now a museum, located adjacent to the Louis XIV Cathedral facing Jackson Square in the French Quarter. The museum houses two large exhibits dedicated to the events and aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and an extensive exploration of every cultural facet surrounding Mardi Gras. Within the Katrina exhibit there is a display midway befor

Rejection is never easy to receive. In the case of realizing your career goals, it is rare to ever learn the exact reason why you were rejected for an opportunity. Most feedback offered will be mixed with a placating neutrality to buffer any anticipated reactions of anger or combativeness, particularly in a corporate environment. It can be additionally confusing when you’ve received commendations on what you’re holding in terms of talent or ability—only to have the door polit

About seven years ago, I found myself falling further into a depression that originated from a growing anger and frustration with a number of personal challenges and disappointments I had been grappling with throughout my twenties and thirties--all of which would unknowingly set my course towards a greater pain that I thought I would never experience in domestic violence. Previous to that experience, at the genesis of that downward slope, I got desperate one day and opened th