Why you need to stop taking on other people’s emotions

By Joanna BartlettNovember 26, 2019November 26, 2019 Personal growth, Spiritual development empath

You’re sensitive. You feel the world around you. The vibe in the room, the moods of the people in the grocery store, the heartache of the person waiting at the bus stop as you drive by. I know. I’m sensitive too. You also need to stop absorbing all this information. It’s not good for you….

Are you tired of trying to distract yourself from your pain?

By Joanna BartlettOctober 14, 2019October 12, 2019 Grief recovery, Personal growth avoiding pain, childhood pain, pain

Almost 20 years ago, I heard a speaker at my church talk about the ways we try to distract ourselves from pain. These often end up developing addictive or maladaptive behaviors that not only don’t help, but actively get in the way of having a happy life. I was in my early 20s and it…

What to do when self-care becomes a burden

By Joanna BartlettSeptember 30, 2019September 30, 2019 Healing, Personal growth personal development, personal growth, self-care

Two years ago, I decided to embark on a year of self-love and radical self-care. I made a New Year’s resolution: to be kind to my body and to make friends with it. The plan was to chronicle my efforts and self-care journey all year long. It seemed like a good idea. I lasted until…

Want to heal from your past? Learn the 5 myths of forgiveness

By Joanna BartlettSeptember 16, 2019September 16, 2019 Grief recovery, Healing, Personal growth

Forgiveness. It’s a loaded word and often a misunderstood one. Forgiveness is also an incredible gift. It’s one you give to yourself, not to the person who hurt you. That’s one of the myths of forgiveness, the widely believed falsehoods that might be keeping you from doing this important work to free yourself from the…

Depth-journaling, releasing the steam valve on repressed emotions

By Joanna BartlettJuly 3, 2019July 3, 2019 Personal growth depth journaling, healing from loss, personal development, personal growth

It’s taken me a while to write publicly about my healing journey and the processes I’ve used to accomplish it. Telling your story is hard when you’re still in the middle of it. You don’t know the ending, or how it’s going to go, and that puts you in a vulnerable place. It’s also tricky…

My healing journey: learning new tools to release old pain

By Joanna BartlettJune 20, 2019June 20, 2019 Healing, Personal growth healing, trauma

Just over two years ago, I decided to start telling people the truth when they asked me how I was doing. When they’d say, “How are you?” rather than issuing the standard response of, “I’m fine,” I’d tell them, “I’m having a full human experience.” I thought I was being clever, but it turns out…

The hidden dangers of positive thinking

By Joanna BartlettMay 7, 2019May 7, 2019 Healing, Personal growth, Spiritual development personal development, personal growth, positive thinking, spiritual development

Sometimes, thinking positively can hurt you. I know, it doesn’t sound like the kind of thing you expect me to say. I teach people how to raise their vibration and connect with their inner self, after all. But I also I teach people how to look, with emotional honesty, at the losses they’ve endured and…