It's never too late to start cultivating a new level of kindness toward ourselves. Self-compassion practice is where we can begin.

What might shift for you if you were to act as if everything your heart most desires is already on its way? If you could relax and trust that you're right on track, how would you use this down time to weed your garden and prep the soil for the sweet new things about to blossom? What happens when you stop waiting and start preparing?

The reason apparent opposites come up when we focus on healthier ways of being is because we have to clear out whatever's taking up the space the thing we want to welcome in will inhabit.

The old less healthy habits are in the way.

So the unpleasant stuff has to come up in order to create space for the pleasant stuff to come in.

Keeping an open heart in this world isn't for the faint of heart.

Staying as open as possible while simultaneously protecting our energy and soft spots when appropriate. Riding out the open and closed phases of the heart.

And the reality is, the heart does open and close. Rhythmically. Naturally.

Our work is to let ourselves feel life in its insanely wide spectrum as best we're able.

But you don't fall out of good habits because you're a glutton for punishment.

You fall out of them because some (less than conscious) part of you is likely choosing a different — and more instantaneous — reward than the good habit seems to offer.

Anything we do repeatedly we keep doing because we get some kind of reward from it.

We stay quiet because we fear if we put words to the things we fear most about ourselves, it will confirm that they're true. Paradoxically, the reality is the moment we share our secret shame - our monster in the closet - someone else inevitably chimes in with "Oh my God, you too? I thought it was just me!!"

The truth is, beating yourself up all day isn’t actually making you more productive.

The habit of beating yourself up as an attempt at motivation is actually likely damming your flow up way more than you realize.

You have to meet the universe halfway, for sure. But if you cling too tightly to what you want, you'll suffocate it.

Your dreams need air and space to come to life.

Two antidotes to suffering:

1) Keep your eyes on your own paper (or yoga mat). 2) Let yourself let go of things you can't control.

Momentum picks up or inertia settles in based on our first thoughts and actions of the day.

So setting an enlivening tone first thing in the morning is a simple but powerful way to shift gears upward for your entire day.

Placing rigid demands on how your desires manifest blocks the flow of abundance.

If you're pushing 100% of the time, there's no room to receive what life wants to deliver you. And who knows, maybe life has something even better than what you'd been imagining in store for you?

That's how a life of following your intuition — or following the bread crumbs, as I like to think of it — is.

You might not understand why you've been called to do the thing you feel called to do, but you do it anyway because it just feels right.

It's only in hindsight that you see how it all connects.

It's true; as your mindfulness muscle is just starting to grow, it can make you feel more in your head than ever. You're suddenly paying attention to everything, so it can feel like things are even crazier than before.

But the reality is, your mind was just as wild before. It's just that you're finally noticing it.

What if this messy, curious, confusing, exciting, terrifying, eyes open exploration is your life's purpose?

What shifts if you drop the illusion that some perfectly packaged "Here's what you're meant to do with your life" bundle with a bow will arrive at your doorstep and you accept that whatever you're exploring or struggling with right now is your life's purpose?

Appropriate guilt is a useful call to action. It's a flare going off to call your attention to an area where you might want to alter your behavior to get back on track toward being the kind of person you want to be and living more in alignment with your values.

You don't have to believe it fully for the seeds of possibility to start to germinate.

You just have to keep the door of possibility open, and acknowledge that even slightest sliver of what's possible.

Then keep opening the door a little more and a little more, and the universe will start to open the door in equal measure.

Whether you write it all down or not, trust this: You'll receive the lessons you're meant to receive in your life no matter what. So you can relax and let the process unfold without worrying whether you've captured every detail. The core essence will leave its mark in the perfect way for you.

All we need to do to get unstuck from a sticky moment - aka a sticky thought - is to: Pause. Step back. Take an objective look at what's actually happening (not in your mind, but in reality). And get curious about what's under the microscope, with no clinging to or pushing away whatever you discover.

Comfortable tends to trump unknown, even when we're aware that the way we're operating is a) really painful and b) holding us back and slowing us down. The irony is, the investment of energy required to update our internal systems (limiting beliefs and skewed self-perceptions) is actually way less than the energy it takes to struggle through with the same old inefficiencies.

When we view jealousy from the perspective that what we see out there is something we not only don't have now but believe we may never be able to have, it is a nasty beast for sure, and can leave us feeling petty and guilty. But there’s a much friendlier way to view jealousy: As a reminder that what you see in the person you're jealous of is something you want to turn the volume up on in yourself.