Personal evolution

What’s the difference between acceptance and letting go? 

By Nicole Urdang | May 31, 2022
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While both acceptance and letting go are verbs, there is a qualitative difference between them. Acceptance feels more like allowing or surrendering, and letting go seems to be a more active process. Depending on your history and personality, one may seem easier than the other. It’s interesting to play with your reactions to these different […]

How self-pity can be the first step toward self-compassion. 

By Nicole Urdang | April 21, 2022
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Believe it or not, self-pity can be the first step toward self-compassion. Most of us learned that self-pity was to be avoided at all costs. It was narcissistic, self indulgent, and shameful. Clearly, anyone worth their salt  would not wallow in self-pity and, if they did, they would never admit it. Recently, I’ve been reframing the […]

Feeling resentful? Perhaps, you’re compromising too much.

By Nicole Urdang | January 24, 2022
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In a yoga-inspired course on the chakras, teacher Davidji said of the fourth, or throat, chakra: “Throughout the day when you find yourself making compromises out of fear, out of playing small, out of not believing in yourself, remind yourself that the vibration ‘hum’ is the vibration of permission. Whether you say it silently or […]

How Good Are You At Predicting Your Life?

By Nicole Urdang | May 17, 2021
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While walking this morning, it suddenly occurred to me that all the best things in my life were unimaginable before they happened. I never envisioned moving to Buffalo (completely by choice, if you’re wondering), hosting one of the first radio call-in counseling shows, mothering two children, becoming a yogi, or any number of life experiences […]

Insight Timer: My Curated List Of Their Best Meditation Teachers

By Nicole Urdang | June 24, 2019
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I am a huge fan of the free app: Insight Timer. It has over 150,000 meditations. While I certainly haven’t listened to all of them, I have sampled many. With such an embarrassment of riches it’s a bit daunting to sort through them and bookmark all the ones you love. I thought it might be […]

Inner Conflict Resolution: How Not Acting Can Be A Path To Peace

By Nicole Urdang | December 31, 2013
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“Faust complained about having two souls in his breast, but I harbor a whole crowd of them and they quarrel. It is like being in a republic.” Otto von Bismarck Every day, you are faced with conflicts. Have a donut or a yogurt? Take a few minutes to meditate or vacuum? Save your money or […]