Letting Go Was a Common Theme for Me in 2017

January 1, 2018 By LLH Leave a Comment

“Letting go was a common theme for me in 2017. Although it was hard at first, the freedom that came afterward was exhilarating.”

The Beautiful Art of Letting Go

The journey of letting go often begins with white knuckles and a racing heart. When something precious is slipping through our fingers—whether it’s a relationship, a dream job, or simply an outdated version of ourselves—our instinct is to grip tighter. I’ve been there too. This past year taught me that our hands weren’t designed to be permanent safes but rather open channels through which life flows. Those first moments of release felt like tiny deaths, but I gradually discovered they were actually births into newer, wider spaces.

What nobody tells you about letting go is that it happens in waves, not all at once. You’ll think you’ve released something completely, then wake up clutching it again in your dreams. That’s perfectly normal. Each time you practice opening your hands, it gets a bit easier. I found myself building a kind of “letting go muscle” that grew stronger with each farewell, each acceptance, each surrender. The things that seemed impossible to release in January had somehow floated away by December.

The most surprising gift of letting go wasn’t just the new space it created—it was discovering what had been waiting quietly behind all that noise. When I stopped clutching my old stories and expectations, I could finally hear the subtle whispers of my authentic voice. Dreams I’d forgotten resurfaced. Passions I’d abandoned found their way home. It’s like cleaning out an overstuffed closet only to rediscover your favorite jacket buried at the back—it was yours all along.

Freedom doesn’t mean you won’t feel loss or sadness. In fact, true freedom includes making room for all those feelings without being controlled by them. I learned to say, “Yes, this hurts tremendously AND I’m still moving forward.” When we stop fighting against what is, we free up enormous amounts of energy that was once spent on resistance. That energy becomes fuel for rebuilding, reimagining, and reinventing your life on your own terms.

If you’re standing at the edge of your own letting go moment, know this: you’re stronger than you think. The universe has a mysterious way of catching us when we finally surrender to its flow. Trust that whatever you release this year—be it grudges, expectations, outdated dreams, or toxic relationships—something better awaits on the other side. Not because magic will suddenly solve your problems, but because you’ll finally have the clarity and energy to build something real and lasting. The freedom you’ll feel isn’t just exhilarating—it’s the birthright you’ve had all along.

You Are Beautiful as You Are

January 1, 2018 By LLH Leave a Comment

“You are beautiful as you are. Remember to love yourself.”

You Are Already Beautiful

You are beautiful exactly as you are right now. Not after losing ten pounds, not after getting that promotion, not when you finally find the perfect partner—but right now, in this moment. The world has sold us the lie that we need to be fixed, but the truth is simpler and more powerful: you were born complete. Your worth isn’t earned through achievements or appearances. It’s your birthright.

Self-love isn’t some fluffy concept—it’s the foundation everything else builds upon. When you truly accept yourself, you make decisions from a place of strength rather than fear. Think about how many choices you’ve made trying to prove your worth to others or to silence that critical voice in your head. Now imagine what your life could look like if you approached each day already knowing you’re enough. The energy you’ve been using to criticize yourself could fuel your dreams instead.

We often treat ourselves worse than we’d ever treat a friend. Would you talk to someone you care about the way you talk to yourself? Would you point out their flaws constantly, dismiss their achievements, or make them feel unworthy of love? Of course not. Yet somehow we’ve convinced ourselves that self-criticism motivates improvement. The reality is that growth flourishes in environments of compassion, not criticism. Being kind to yourself isn’t weakness—it’s the ultimate strength.

Making peace with yourself doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a practice you build day by day, moment by moment. Start small: catch yourself when that inner critic speaks up. Take three deep breaths and replace that thought with something you’d say to a friend who’s hurting. Create a mental photo album of moments when you felt proud, competent, or fully alive. Return to these memories when doubts creep in. Forgive yourself for mistakes—they’re how we learn, not evidence of your unworthiness.

The most revolutionary act in a world that profits from your self-doubt is to love yourself completely. When you stand firmly in your own worth, you become unshakable. You’ll find yourself naturally drawing boundaries with people who don’t respect you. You’ll pursue opportunities that truly align with your values rather than chasing external validation. And perhaps most importantly, you’ll become a living example that inspires others to claim their own beauty and worth. Your self-love creates ripples that change the world around you. Isn’t that worth practicing today?

Take What You Love and Make It

January 1, 2018 By LLH Leave a Comment

“Take what you love and make it your life in 2018.”

Take What You Love and Make It Your Life This Year

Have you ever noticed how time seems to fly when you’re doing something you truly love? That’s no accident. When we build our lives around our passions, we tap into an endless well of energy and fulfillment that makes every day feel meaningful. Taking what you love and making it your life isn’t just some fluffy dream—it’s about creating a life that actually feels worth living. This year can be your turning point if you’re willing to take that first brave step toward aligning your daily existence with what lights you up inside.

The biggest mistake most of us make is waiting for the “perfect time” to pursue what we love. We tell ourselves stories about needing more money, more education, or more confidence before we can start. But here’s the truth: there will never be a perfect time. The people who end up living fulfilling lives aren’t the ones who waited until everything lined up perfectly—they’re the ones who started anyway, with whatever resources they had. Start small if you need to. Spend just thirty minutes each day on what you love, and watch how that time gradually expands as your passion pulls you forward.

Fear will always try to talk you out of following your heart. That voice in your head might say you’re not talented enough, that you’ll fail, or that you’re being selfish. I’ve heard these same fears from thousands of people, and I can tell you something important: those fears aren’t unique to you, and they don’t define what you’re capable of. Everyone feels afraid when stepping toward something meaningful. The difference between those who create lives they love and those who don’t isn’t the absence of fear—it’s the willingness to feel the fear and move forward anyway.

Making what you love into your life doesn’t necessarily mean quitting your job tomorrow. It means intentionally bringing more of what matters to you into each day. It means making decisions based on what will feed your soul rather than just your bank account or someone else’s expectations. When you start making these shifts, something magical happens—opportunities begin appearing that you couldn’t have planned for. People who share your passion enter your life. Doors open that you didn’t even know existed. This isn’t mystical thinking—it’s what naturally happens when you stop forcing yourself down paths that aren’t meant for you.

The greatest regret I hear from people in their later years isn’t about risks they took that didn’t work out—it’s about the dreams they never pursued at all. Don’t let another year pass without moving toward what makes your heart sing. You don’t need to have it all figured out. You just need to take one step, then another. Your unique combination of loves and talents isn’t random—it’s pointing you toward your purpose. Trust that. This year can be different from all the others if you make this commitment to yourself: I will no longer put my deepest desires on hold. I will take what I love and, step by step, make it my life.

Sometimes You Get to Know Someone and It’s the Best Gift

December 30, 2017 By LLH Leave a Comment

“Sometimes you get to know someone, and it’s the best gift in the world; other times, the person they truly are just breaks your fucking heart.”

When People Reveal Their True Selves

We’ve all experienced that moment when someone’s true colors finally show. It can feel like unwrapping a beautiful gift, only to find something that takes your breath away – sometimes in wonder, sometimes in pain. The truth is, getting to know someone deeply is always a risk, but it’s one of life’s most profound experiences either way.

When you discover someone’s soul matches yours, it’s like finding a treasure you didn’t know existed. Those rare connections where you feel truly seen and understood can transform your life completely. These relationships become safe harbors in life’s storms – the people who celebrate your wins without jealousy and hold you through your darkest moments without judgment. Their presence alone can make even ordinary days feel meaningful.

But then there are those other revelations – the ones that gut you. You invest your trust, your time, your heart in someone, only to discover they’re nothing like the person you thought they were. Maybe they betrayed you, or their values turned out to be completely opposite to what they claimed, or perhaps they simply couldn’t love you the way you needed. That kind of disappointment cuts deep, leaving wounds that take real time to heal.

What I’ve learned through both the beautiful discoveries and heartbreaking ones is that neither experience is wasted. The painful revelations teach us about our own boundaries and what we truly value. They force us to strengthen our self-respect and clarify what we will and won’t accept in our lives. Meanwhile, the beautiful connections show us what’s possible when we keep our hearts open despite past hurts.

The hardest but most important truth is this: you have to keep risking those revelations. Close yourself off, and you’ll never experience the joy of truly being known. Stay open, even after heartbreak, and you create space for those rare, life-changing connections that make everything worthwhile. Your heart will know the difference between people who deserve your trust and those who don’t – you just need to get quiet enough to listen to it.

I Hope You Find Love but More Importantly

December 30, 2017 By LLH Leave a Comment

“I hope you find love but more importantly I hope you’re strong enough to walk away from what love isn’t.” – Tiffany Tomiko

Finding True Love and the Courage to Walk Away

I know you’ve heard it before – “love is all you need” and “love conquers all.” Nice ideas, but real life isn’t that simple. We all want love, that deep connection that makes us feel alive and valued. But sometimes what we think is love is just a shadow of it – something that looks like love on the surface but leaves us empty inside.

The hardest lesson I’ve learned is that walking away from “not-love” takes more strength than staying. “Not-love” is when someone says they care but their actions show otherwise. It’s when you keep making excuses for how they treat you. It’s when you feel smaller, not bigger, in their presence. Many of us stay in these situations far too long because we’re afraid of being alone or starting over. We convince ourselves that half-love is better than no love at all. Trust me, it’s not.

Your heart knows the difference between real love and its counterfeits. Real love makes you feel secure, not anxious. It brings out your best self, not your desperate self. It adds to your life instead of draining it. And here’s the truth that changed my life: you cannot make room for genuine love if you’re clutching tightly to what’s hurting you. Sometimes the bravest thing you’ll do is walk away from something that once gave you hope but now only gives you pain.

This doesn’t mean giving up at the first sign of trouble. All relationships face challenges. But there’s a world of difference between working through normal problems together and trying to turn a pumpkin into a carriage. Pay attention to patterns, not promises. Watch how someone behaves when things get tough. Notice if they’re growing with you or holding you back. Your future happiness may depend on your willingness to see clearly what stands before you.

Remember this above all: you deserve real love, not just the appearance of it. Being alone is infinitely better than being with someone who makes you feel alone. Walking away from what love isn’t clears the path for what love truly can be. It’s an act of self-respect that tells the universe you know your worth. And ironically, that same strength that helps you walk away is exactly what will help you build something beautiful when the right love comes along. Don’t settle. Be brave enough to wait for the real thing.

Stop Pretending Nothing Happened

December 29, 2017 By LLH Leave a Comment

“Stop pretending nothing happened. Our emotions often get the best of us when we don’t allow ourselves the time to heal.” – Ferry Corsten

When Healing Demands Honesty

We all do it—something painful happens and we slap on a smile, saying “I’m fine” when we’re anything but. Stop pretending nothing happened. Our emotions often get the best of us when we don’t allow ourselves the time to heal. This simple truth changed my life, and it might just change yours too.The moment you admit something hurts is the moment your healing truly begins. Think about a physical wound—you wouldn’t ignore a deep cut and hope it goes away. You clean it, bandage it, and give it time. Yet with emotional wounds, we often do the exact opposite. We bury them deep, pile responsibilities on top, and wonder why we feel so exhausted all the time.Your pain doesn’t disappear when you ignore it—it transforms. That ignored heartbreak becomes random crying in the grocery store. That unprocessed grief shows up as anger toward people who don’t deserve it. That brushed-aside betrayal becomes an inability to trust anyone new. Your body keeps the score even when your mind tries to forget.There’s nothing weak about needing time to heal. In fact, it takes tremendous courage to look at your wounds honestly. Society rewards those who “power through,” but wisdom comes from knowing when to pause. The strongest people I’ve met aren’t those who never fell apart—they’re the ones who respected their own healing process enough to give it the space it needed.Healing isn’t linear, and that’s okay. Some days you’ll feel like you’ve conquered mountains, and others you’ll barely want to get out of bed. Both are valid parts of the journey. The only true mistake is believing you should be “over it” by some arbitrary deadline. Your healing happens on your schedule, not anyone else’s.When we refuse to process our emotions, they don’t just disappear—they become our decision-makers. That promotion you didn’t pursue? Maybe it wasn’t laziness but unaddressed fear from past failure. The relationship you sabotaged? Perhaps it was unhealed trust issues calling the shots. Our unprocessed emotions silently direct our lives until we finally turn and face them.Healing often requires community. While some pain needs private processing, isolation rarely leads to breakthrough. Find people who can hold space for your truth without rushing to fix you. Sometimes healing happens in the simple act of being truly seen in your pain, no masks required.There’s wisdom in your wounds if you’re brave enough to listen. Every painful experience carries lessons that can transform your future—but only if you stop running long enough to receive them. The very things that break us often become the foundation for our greatest strength and deepest insights.True healing changes how you carry your story, not whether you remember it. You’ll always remember the significant losses and betrayals. Healing doesn’t erase these memories—it transforms your relationship with them. Eventually, you can tell your story without being consumed by it. The pain loses its power to define your present.Forgiveness is often misunderstood in healing. It doesn’t mean what happened was okay or that the person deserves your trust again. Real forgiveness is the decision to stop carrying the weight of resentment for your own sake. It’s setting down a burden that was never yours to carry in the first place.Start small. Healing doesn’t always require grand gestures or complete life overhauls. It might begin with simply acknowledging to yourself: “That hurt me, and it matters.” It might be five minutes of journaling before bed or finally letting yourself cry. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.The gift on the other side of honest healing is authenticity. When you stop pretending nothing happened and honor your true experience, you discover who you really are beneath the protective layers. And that authentic self—scarred but stronger, wounded but wiser—has so much more to offer the world than any mask of perfection ever could.

You Did Not Choose Your

December 29, 2017 By LLH Leave a Comment

You did not choose your:
1. birthplace
2. skin color
3. birth parents, family
4. birth gender
5. birth language
6. birth name
7. ethnicity
8. born abilities

You can choose to be:
1. kind
2. generous
3. honest
4. grateful
5. respectful
6. optimistic
7. humble
8. teachable
9. faithful
10. happy

– Vala Afshar‏

Life’s Greatest Freedom: The Power of Choice

When you think about it, we arrive in this world with many things already decided for us. You didn’t get to pick your birthplace. Maybe you were born in a bustling city or a quiet village. Your skin color? That was determined long before you took your first breath. The family that welcomed you, the gender you were assigned, even your name and mother tongue—all these were chosen for you.

Your ethnicity connects you to a specific cultural background with its own unique traditions and history. And those natural talents you were born with? Some people have a knack for numbers while others can draw beautifully without even trying. These things are like cards dealt to you at the start of life’s game.

But here’s where things get interesting—and where your true power lies. While you didn’t choose your starting point, you absolutely get to choose your direction. Think of it like this: life handed you certain materials to build with, but the blueprint of who you become? That’s entirely up to you.

Kindness doesn’t cost a thing, yet it’s priceless. When you choose to be kind, you’re like a pebble creating ripples in a pond. That small act—holding the door for someone, sending an encouraging text, or just offering a genuine smile—can change someone’s entire day. And the beautiful thing? Kindness comes back to you in ways you might never expect.

Generosity works the same way. It’s not about how much money you have but about your willingness to share whatever you do have—whether that’s your time, your knowledge, or simply your attention. When you live with open hands instead of clenched fists, you’ll be amazed at how much more fulfilled you feel.

Honesty might seem like the harder path sometimes. It’s tempting to take shortcuts or tell little white lies. But when you choose to be truthful—even when it’s difficult—you build a foundation of trust that nothing can shake. People know they can count on your word, and that’s a rare and valuable thing in today’s world.

Gratitude is like putting on special glasses that help you see all the good things you might otherwise miss. When you choose to be grateful, even for small things, your whole perspective shifts. That cup of coffee, the sunshine, a friend’s laugh—these everyday moments become treasures when viewed through grateful eyes. And science backs this up: grateful people are happier people.

Respect is about recognizing the worth in others and in yourself. You can choose to treat everyone with dignity, regardless of differences. This doesn’t mean you always agree with everyone, but it does mean you acknowledge that each person’s journey and perspective has value. When you show respect, you create spaces where real conversation and growth can happen.

Optimism isn’t about ignoring problems or pretending everything is perfect. It’s about believing that good things are possible and that challenges can be overcome. When you choose to be optimistic, you give yourself permission to try again after failure and to look for solutions instead of dwelling on obstacles. This mindset literally changes what you’re capable of achieving.

Humility is often misunderstood. It’s not about thinking less of yourself—it’s about thinking of yourself less. When you choose humility, you free yourself from the exhausting job of trying to appear perfect. You can admit mistakes, learn from others, and grow in ways that arrogance would never allow. There’s incredible strength in being humble enough to say, “I don’t know, but I’d like to learn.”

Being teachable goes hand-in-hand with humility. When you stay curious and open to new ideas, life becomes an endless adventure. Every person you meet knows something you don’t. Every challenge contains a lesson. Those who choose to remain teachable continue to grow and evolve throughout their entire lives, while the closed-minded eventually stagnate.

Faith—whether in a higher power, in humanity, or in yourself—gives you something to hold onto when times get tough. Choosing to believe that there’s meaning beyond what we can immediately see provides comfort and direction. Faith is like an anchor that keeps you steady when life’s storms hit, and it’s something you can nurture and develop over time.

Finally, happiness itself is a choice you make moment by moment. It’s not something that happens to you when everything’s perfect (because let’s be honest, when is everything ever perfect?). It’s a way of engaging with life exactly as it is. When you choose happiness, you’re not denying life’s difficulties—you’re simply refusing to let them define your entire experience. And that might be the most powerful choice of all.

Always Do the Right Thing No Matter

December 25, 2017 By LLH Leave a Comment

“Always do the right thing no matter what others say. It is you, not them, who have to face the consequences.” – Leon Brown

The Path of Integrity

When you choose to do what’s right, even when everyone around you disagrees, you’re building something powerful within yourself – a foundation of integrity that no one can take away. Your conscience knows the difference between right and wrong, and at the end of the day, you’re the one who has to live with the choices you’ve made. While others might pressure you to take shortcuts or look the other way, they won’t be there when you face the mirror each morning or when you lie awake at night with your thoughts.

The consequences of our actions ripple through our lives in ways we often can’t predict. That quick decision to cheat on a test, to spread gossip about a friend, or to take something that isn’t yours might seem small in the moment. But these choices stack up over time, becoming the building blocks of who you are. When you consistently choose what’s right – especially when it’s difficult – you’re creating a life where peace of mind becomes your constant companion rather than regret.

People who truly respect you will eventually honor your commitment to doing what’s right, even if they disagree at first. And those who continue pushing you toward wrong choices? They’re showing you exactly who they are. Remember that the crowd is often wrong, and history is filled with individuals who stood alone in their convictions before being proven right. Your courage to stand apart might inspire others who secretly wish they had your strength.

Think of integrity like a muscle that grows stronger each time you exercise it. Every time you choose what’s right over what’s easy, you make the next good choice a little easier. Over months and years, this practice transforms you into someone who naturally gravitates toward goodness without internal struggle. That transformation is worth more than any temporary approval from others who won’t shoulder the weight of your decisions. Your life becomes authentically yours – built on choices you can stand behind with your head held high.