Shakti Sutriasa
How to Discern Between Love & Like

I'm sure you’re aware of the difference between liking someone and loving them. But would you indulge me for a minute?

Call to mind a friend or colleague. Someone you genuinely like who perhaps is reliable, trustworthy…Now think about someone you love. A family member or close confidante.

Can you feel the difference?

Yes!

Unfortunately, sometimes the lines between love and like get blurred, especially with members of our family.

Here’s an example of what I’m talking about.

When I was in my early 20s, I moved across the country to live near my sister. Growing up, our relationship was complicated. Sometimes we got along wonderfully, other times, not so much.

How to Discern Between Love & Like
Shakti Sutriasa
Ready for Your 2nd Chance?

Today is my grandson’s birthday. It also happens to be the day my sister was born. (She died in 2010.)

 Two years ago, when my grandson arrived looking like my sister and me (blond hair and blue eyes), it felt like a circle had been completed. I wrote about that experience and you can read it here.

As I contemplate the miracle of this day, I find my mind ruminating on the idea of repeating patterns and do-overs. The way life keeps circling people, experiences, and things around to us again and again much like the changing of the seasons.

Ready for Your 2nd Chance?
Shakti Sutriasa
The Place Where Dreams Come True

I used to think that if I moved somewhere else, everything in my life would be better.

Have you fallen for that, too?

I did for decades, spending, on average, four years in any one location.

It wasn’t until I had a child that I even considered changing. One of my close friends said, “you can’t keep moving, it’s bad for the baby.”

Initially, I ignored her, rationalizing my actions by the fact that infants cling to primary support, not place. Her words, however, rang in my ears year in and year out, until I finally stopped running.

Because- 100% transparency- that’s what I was doing. Running away from me.

You see, I’d convinced myself that each new place was the answer to my unhappiness. It wasn’t that the dissatisfaction lay inside of me, absolutely not! It was the pollution, the traffic, the neighbors, the lack of opportunities…

The Place Where Dreams Come True
Shakti Sutriasa
Embracing the Mess

The other day, I was talking to one of my daughters who was sharing her desire to embrace the messiness of life.

Since that chat, I’ve found myself thinking about this idea because, let’s face it, life is messy!

Yet we so often put expectations on ourselves to be pristine, perfect, unruffled.

Can you relate?

Do you find yourself compulsively cleaning before a friend comes over? Or self-conscious about the way you’re eating? Wanting to look neat and delicate. 

Perhaps it’s time for a reframe.

Embracing the Mess
Shakti Sutriasa
Defining Success - 4 Questions

I have a client who, according to her, has the ideal life. She has her own business, doing something she loves. She has help with her child, and a supportive husband who financially bears the load of their life, and emotionally encourages her to pursue her passion. 

She doesn’t feel successful.

When I talk with her, I’m reminded of myself and a similar internal struggle I had for years! That persistent feeling that success alluded me.

Sound familiar?

Defining Success - 4 Questions

Fall rituals

3 Ways to Celebrate the Fall Season

3 Ways to Celebrate the Fall Season

Did you enjoy the equinox?  

Good news because the fall celebrations continue!

Everywhere folks are welcoming in the harvest. In India, it’s Durga puja- the celebration of the Mother. And in the Jewish tradition, it’s the new year and the days of atonement, otherwise known as Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

This time of year always feels like new beginnings to me. Maybe it’s the decades I spent as a student and then a teacher, but the fall is definitely a transition time.

There is a closeness to God now, and we see it actualized in many faiths. The veil is thin.

The spring and summer were all about outward expression, and now, as we have reaped the rewards from nature, it’s time to turn within.