Julianne Harvey

I know that change is good for me.  Digging a hole and sitting in it forever might be safer than taking regular risks, but it sure as hell isn't healthy for me.  Why do I long for security for myself and my loved ones above all else?

I think the answer to this question is rooted in my childhood.  It has been crazy hard but ultimately rewarding to go back in my mind to fea...

I am learning to live with what is, instead of what I wish it would be.  When I have a high expectation on myself or someone else, and it does not get met, I feel resentment and anger.  But if I take each day as it comes, intentionally staying in the moment instead of racing ahead in my mind to all of the potential outcomes, I have a much better chance of avoiding disappointment.

Spring is the ideal time to wake up from a winter slumber.  The very ground is changing around us.  Day by day, it moves from brown to green; from dead to vibrant and alive. Birds sing with joy in their hearts and flowers push up from the cracked dirt to bloom with tenacity and colour.

Our spirits follow a similar process.  Our lives are made up of s...

Life is one long series of blocks, one built on the next, until the structure of our choices begins to reveal itself.  Most of this process is completely unconscious.  Our brain does the work of remembering what happened in the past so we don't have to consciously think about each and every thing we do.

At a certain point in our lives, everything that we are unaware of is actu...

These days, I feel scratchy on the inside.  Something is itching, just out of my internal reach, and it makes me squirmy and uncomfortable.  I long to believe that I am getting healthier, and accept that this might be part of the long process of growth, but most of the time I feel ticked off that I'm not just simply better like I think I should be.

A few months ago I real...

Our kids need to learn to manage disappointment.  These days, parents tend to jump in and shield kids from the harsh facts of life, and I don't think this helps children learn what they need to know to become healthy, well-adjusted teens and adults.

When I was a kid, I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that I would not be invited to everyone's birthday party.  I understood tha...

So much is going on inside of me right now.  Something has been demolished, and the dust is rising up so thick that it gets in my throat and impairs my vision.  I sense, in a way which runs very deep, that this internal work is incredibly important and that I must step back and wait for the process to complete itself.

Stepping back is not my strong suit.  I must sit on my...

Last week I took the kids to the pediatric dentist for cleanings.  I realized while sitting in the waiting room that if I could measure my personal growth using nine month dental check-ups, I would be able to see just how much I have actually changed.

Two years ago, I would fantasize about throwing myself down the stairs in the days leading up to the dentist appointm...

The other day, a friend said, "I feel afraid because the squirrels are back, running around in my head and making me crazy.  All I'm doing, every single day, is trying to keep squirrel shit off my sidewalk and hoping they will go away so I can be sane again."

I loved this metaphor.  Instantly it rang true for me.  I never before considered my racing mind to be squirrels, ...

Worrying that other people are upset with you is like being slowly buried to death with a ton of rocks piled on your chest.  Some stones are small, too insignificant to be felt on their own, and others are boulders whose weight makes it difficult to breathe.

I was moving a reasonable distance down the road of living as myself without fearing the displeasure of others when I think I...