Happy New Year! I know I’ve been mostly absent for the last couple months, but I’m trying to start the new year off right.

I’m not much of a self-help book kinda gal. Growing up in the ‘90s it felt like they were a fad I could never get away from, but wanted to avoid forever. So imagine my surprise when I was drawn to Jay Shetty’s Think Like a Monk.

The last part of 2024 was chaos for me. I went back to work after being home for 4 years. We moved out of our house and into the camper while house hunting. My daughter ended up in the hospital for 11 days with pneumonia. I needed to find a way to refocus and find a calm for 2025. I am hoping that the quotes I took from this book will start me off on the right foot. Maybe they will inspire you as well.

These are my favorites

• When you learn to navigate and manage your breath, you can navigate any situation in life.
• When you try to live your most authentic life, some of your relationships will be put in jeopardy. Losing them is a risk worth bearing; finding a way to keep them in your life is a challenge worth taking on.
• Your identity is a mirror covered with dust. When you first look in the mirror, the truth of who you are and what you value is obscured. Clearing it may not be pleasant, but only when the dust is gone can you see your true reflection.
• When we tune out the opinions, expectations, and obligations of the world around us, we begin to hear ourselves.
• Don’t judge someone with a different disease. Don’t expect anyone to be perfect. Don’t think you are perfect.
• The more we define ourselves in relation to the people around us, the more lost we are.
• Remember, saying whatever we want, whenever we want, however we want, is not freedom. Real freedom is not feeling the need to say these things.
• The less time you fixate on everyone else, the more time you have to focus on yourself.
• The emotion you fall asleep with at night is most likely the emotion you’ll wake up with in the morning.
• Treat yourself with the same love and respect you want to show to others.
• If you don’t break your ego, life will break it for you.
• When you’re present in gratitude, you can’t be anywhere else.
• In every relationship you have an opportunity to set the level of joy you expect and the level of pain you’ll accept.
• Selflessness heals the self.
• You don’t have to have to give.