When Healing Feels Lonely: What I Now Know About Peace

“Avoiding your triggers isn’t healing. Healing happens when you’re triggered and you’re able to move through the pain, the pattern, and the story, and walk your way to a different ending.” ~Vienna Pharaon I thought I had figured it out. For a year, I had been doing the “inner work”—meditating daily, practicing breathwork, journaling, doing […]

If Parenting Feels Hazardous to Your Health, Try This

The U.S. Surgeon General recently issued a warning that startled millions of people, claiming that parenting can be hazardous to your health. My understanding of the report is that he finds the hazards to be the deleterious impact of stress, social isolation, and financial strain. This was compounded by a powerful March 2025 essay in […]

What Collective Trauma Feels Like

Recent and ongoing events in the U.S. and throughout the world—unstable political leadership, natural disasters, armed conflicts, violence, and racism—have a profound impact on our collective sense of well-being. Stress levels among Americans have skyrocketed over the past 20 years. Depending on a group’s proximity to experiencing the event, the effects can range from chronic […]