My Best Self 101 Blog
Recently, I’ve been on a kick listening to music that holds deep messages about life, learning, and growth. Listening to these songs has had a unique healing effect on some negative thoughts, emotions, and experiences that I have been having, while others have further amplified positive feelings in my life. Because it has been so powerful for me, I want to share it with you. A few have stood out to me, and through them, I’ve started to realize that music is more than just something we listen to; it can act as a form of emotional processing, reflection, and even healing.
Some days I wish I had been born into a quieter decade where my attention wasn’t on constant assignment to (what feels like) one hundred million different tasks. It’s easy to lament the increasingly distracting world: being continuously bombarded with a slew of notifications from Apple News, pop-up advertisements, email dings, group-me pings, and text messages. While it’s thrilling to hear which states federal agents are being deployed to and the recap of the 2026 golden globes within the span of 30-seconds, I’m afraid my life would be a lot less noisy without these buzzes on my phone.
I will spare you the preamble, you read this correctly. Stay with me here.
I posit that there is a WEALTH—nay—a TREASURE TROVE of amazing mindfulness advice being shared in our modern demon-slaying media. I will look at the sensational K-Pop Demon Hunters, as well as Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, (Demon Slayer) which are two of the most popular movies at the time of writing. Let’s begin:
One of my favorite family traditions that I had growing up was camping around Christmas time! We would go up into the mountains and spend a few days hiking around in the snow and playing card games as a family. It felt so cozy to be surrounded by the tall evergreen trees and the snow covered mountains. My favorite part about our trips was at night. There was this dock close by that was used in the summer. It afforded a nice view of the wide river that connected all the mountains. At night, it was the perfect stargazing spot. Looking up you could watch the night sky spin.
Many of us think of prayer as a way to communicate with a higher power, God, nature, etc… We rarely think of prayer as a researched practice to enhance mental and physical health benefits. Regardless of the beliefs of each reader, prayer proves to be a powerful principle of positive psychology and puts forth results for millions of people around the world.
As spring has begun, the weather has been pleasant enough to leave my window cracked open. Nature’s morning alarm, the sounds of birds outside my apartment, gently makes its wake-up call, setting me up for a more mindful morning. It is an immediate reminder when I wake that I am connected to the world around me. The birdsong helps me to not be so caught up in my own busy schedule—rather be prepared to notice and enjoy what’s around me.
Inside the Accademia Gallery of Florence in Italy my husband and I shuffled shoulder to shoulder like cattle moving our way toward our goal. We had gotten tickets months in advance and were among the thousands of tourists each day wanting to see it with our own eyes. We turned the corner and there, over the heads of the herd at the end of a wide corridor lined with other sculptures by the great Michealangelo, I saw it. Considering the number of people, it was almost eerie how quiet it became the closer we got to the masterpiece. David commanded an awe and reverence as we took him in. He really is elegant. I’ll never forget how I felt seeing the famed David my art teachers had raved about.
You’ve probably heard the usual advice: meditate, exercise, journal. These staples work—but they aren’t the only routes to a healthier mind. Mental health is personal. And sometimes, what really helps isn’t a silent room and a breathing app, but a splash of cold water, a virtual forest, or a bench in the sun. If your usual routines aren’t cutting through the fog, here are six creative, research-backed ways to refresh your mind and stabilize your mood, with no yoga mat required.
At age forty-nine, I have attended hundreds of bridal showers and wedding luncheons. When the time to “give advice” rolls around, two bits of advice surface nearly every time.
The first is, “Never go to bed angry.” Personally, I disagree with the word never in this statement—sometimes a good sleep, a little distance, and perhaps a hot meal can do wonders for a difficult issue—but that topic is for another blog post.
