My Best Self 101 Blog
If you’ve ever felt the urge to pivot—to step back, reevaluate, and re-route—you’re not alone. Humans are wired for growth. While striving to be more and achieve more can become toxic when fueled by comparison or perfectionism, the desire to evolve is a healthy and necessary part of becoming our best and truest selves.
This post is about that kind of growth—the kind rooted in values, agency, and psychological science.
I have a memory from my teen years of listening to my younger sisters playing in the next room. By the sound of it, it was an intense game of make believe. The melodrama was abruptly interrupted when my six-year-old sister broke character and let out a frustrated groan, “Ugh, I hate my pee!” I heard a quick succession of feet run to the bathroom, the flip of the toilet seat, a stream, a run back to the dolls, and a seamless reentry to the fantasy world as if she had never left.
(Only now am I realizing there was no sound of a bathroom door closing—or hand washing—but anyway.)
If so, you are not alone! As frustrating as it can be to struggle to improve, understanding the process of change can provide valuable insights and the motivation to keep pushing forward when the going gets hard. And to understand how change occurs within ourselves, let’s take a look at another type of transformation: chemical reactions.
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:
A journal excerpt from seven years ago reads:
“Last night, I was awake half the night with a new baby. Today, I chased a toddler, ran elementary kids to gymnastics and soccer, navigated the emotions of a middle schooler, attended choir and orchestra concerts at the high school, helped my junior with math homework, encouraged my senior to apply for college scholarships, and led the parent drama board. Oh, and kept everyone fed.”
Breathing is vital to life, but did you know the way you breathe can be used as a cheat code to vitality? Breath work has been the recipient of some much well deserved attention lately. You may have heard of deep breathing or box breathing, but one breathing technique stands out above the rest. Enter the physiological sigh (or cyclic sighing if done on repeat). This sigh isn’t your typical exasperated "why me?" sigh that you let out when your drink spills. A physiological sigh is essentially a double-inhale followed by a long exhale. It’s a natural pattern of breathing you may have noticed yourself performing after a good cry. That’s because the physiological sigh has been known to help your body move from “fight or flight” to “rest and digest” or “chill and heal” via the parasympathetic nervous system, making the physiological sigh a sort of super hero. Humor alert: If sighs were a superhero, they'd be "Captain Reset"—swooping in to save the day from emotional villains like "The Overthinker" or "Deadline Doom." And unlike caffeine, they won't leave you jittery—just joyfully zen. From what mechanisms does the physiological sigh gain its super powers? Well, I’m glad you asked.
Bringing a new life into the world is nothing short of miraculous. But the days, weeks, and months that follow can be some of the most overwhelming. Postpartum recovery is layered—physical healing, emotional adjustment, and the mental shift into a whole new identity. While medical care, rest, and a strong support system are critical, there’s another quiet, powerful healer that’s often overlooked: nature.
I remember being more excited to go to school on Fridays than any other day of the week. In elementary school, I followed a very conventional schedule: I went to school from 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM, Monday through Friday. Fridays were, of course, special. I think most people in the world have a soft spot for Fridays because they signal the start of the weekend—a glorious and triumphant day marking the end of a workweek. But that wasn’t my reason for loving Fridays.
Something I have been thinking about lately is empathy. Empathy seems to be one of those words that has various definitions, and depending on who is talking about it, a different take on what it looks like to be empathetic. I decided to investigate and see what some of the people who spent time studying empathy had to say. I wanted to know how empathy can be expressed and utilized for good and if there are ways to increase the ability to extend empathy to those around us, especially those who are different from us.
