Best of elephant journal

06/11/2024

Let's talk and listen and mourn and share.

06/11/2024

“We live in a culture that praises talking; I’m here to tell you that sometimes silence is what saves love.”

What if there’s a middle way? What if there’s a safe space where we can determine what to do before jumping into random conversations that could cause further damage?

05/11/2024

"See, I’ve always been someone who values being present and supportive, whether it's in friendships, romantic or family relationships, or work. Yet, I couldn’t help but notice that despite my best efforts to be available and engaged, there were times when my presence felt almost invisible. It was only when I took a step back, intentionally or unintentionally, that I became the center of attention."

Recently, I found myself grappling with an intriguing pattern in my personal and professional life. While by no means is what I am about to reveal some big secret

05/11/2024

"My husband asked me endlessly, wanting to know my decision. I told him I was keeping it a secret."

Pleasing God meant pleasing my husband. Period. I no longer had a decision to make.

30/10/2024

"Because, unconsciously, some women are attracted to this type of guy.

And because some women are invested in their pattern of 'helping' a struggling man."

Okay, so coming from a man to a woman, please don’t do this anymore.

21/10/2024

When we’re dealing with complicated emotions, we often feel worse when people’s attempts to help fail.

08/10/2024

"We are all aching to tell our more complicated stories and to know the real person next to us. Their stories. Our stories. We are all one heartbeat of love, false assumptions, fears, insecurities, hopes, and dreams. If we unveiled ourselves to each other, we would feel less alone and more connected."

Wikipedia defines an elevator pitch as a way of delivering a summary of your life in the time span of an elevator ride. Approximately 30 seconds. When I was in my early 20s

03/10/2024

"Going into my initial doctor’s appointment, I had some low grade worry simmering below the surface but was able to keep it at bay as I reviewed the (very little) I knew about breast cancer risk. I didn’t have any breast or other cancers in my family. I was young(ish), active, didn’t smoke and lived a healthy lifestyle. I immediately assumed I was in the clear. Given my understanding of risk factors for the disease coupled with what I knew of my own life and history, breast cancer was never something I considered would be part of my world or experience.

Until the doctor found the mass."

Read the full article: https://elejrnl.com?p=4066587

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01/10/2024

"1. I am fully feeling my fear. One morning last week, I sobbed in my husband’s arms. He held me and encouraged me to let the tears flow. Slowly, the intensity of my sorrow eased. As my tears dried on my cheeks, we talked about the reality of what might happen."

Waiting for Christmas Day is one of my earliest memories of waiting. I was 10 years old. Eagerly, I counted off the days from the beginning of December. Would that

30/09/2024

"1. There is nothing quite like a a job well done and a job done to completion. The feeling we get from our own journey and the accomplishment thereafter is not something we can purchase."

No one grew a tomato like my dad. When I was a child, my father‘s vegetable garden expanded with each passing year. He started small, but as it was with most of

27/09/2024

“The truth is we weren’t equipped with the right emotional and mental tools when we were exposed to new aspects of life and building our path into adulthood. We had to learn from our own mistakes and try again and again.”

Throughout the years, I had to reinvent myself many times so I could be loved, and sadly, I wasn't always genuinely loved because fitting in was my sole priority.

23/09/2024

Finding joy in fall's simple pleasures:

Every year, as summer ends, I find myself doing what many others probably do—reminiscing about the hot, sunny days that fill me with energy and joy. The season

15/09/2024

As unlikely as it may seem, negative thoughts have a huge impact on the success of a relationship. The truth is limiting beliefs not only hinder us from reaching our highest potential, they also wreak havoc on our closest connections.

04/09/2024

"I definitely like my to-do lists, and nothing gives me more pleasure than striking things off one by one after I am done with them. But it also occurred to me that while to-do lists can be incredibly helpful, they can also bring their own set of challenges."

Oddly enough—and that day’s example notwithstanding—I am a manic organizer. I like everything in its place and I like to know exactly what I am doing every single day.

01/09/2024

We rarely talk about the small disappointments that, when repeated frequently, cause severe emotional distress.

Just like a paper cut, the wound might not be visible, but we can’t ignore the discomfort it causes. The emotional pain that paper cuts generate might be tiny in the beginning, but when they accumulate and fester, the consequences become disastrous.

31/08/2024

"I always assumed he didn’t want us because he didn’t make it happen. The fact was, he most certainly wanted to; he was just too scared to make his move."

“If he wanted to, he would” was a favorite of mine as I always believed that if a man wanted to, he absolutely would. Especially when it came to pursuing a love interest.

30/08/2024

"As I write these words, just for today, I am 85 days clean of alcohol, ma*****na, and co***ne. And that, my friends, is a miracle. Don't get me wrong, I have had longer periods of sobriety, but they were miserable."

Hi. My name is Stuart, and I am an addict. Some of you may remember a couple of articles I penned for this very site. They were articles that I'm now slightly embarrassed by as when

29/08/2024

Here are two helpful things to keep in mind:

There are certain patterns I’ve watched in myself for years—reactions, beliefs, thoughts, and the feelings that arise in certain kinds of situations. I’ve noticed tendencies of my mind