You notice it in strange places.  In the middle of a lively conversation, you laugh on cue, say the right things, and still feel like you are watching yourself from outside. Or you finally sit down at the end of the day and realize you have no idea what you actually feel, only what you managed to get done.   This reflection enters that quiet, unnerving territory, when you are not sure how to reach your own heart. If naming that gap costs you something, you are the one this is

You keep saying yes while something in you quietly goes numb.   You are tired in a way that sleep cannot touch, and when someone asks what you actually want, you feel a kind of blankness, or panic, or anger that has nowhere to land. This reflection sits right in that exhausted space, for the person who has spent a long time making other people more comfortable than themselves and is no longer sure what desire even means. If you recognize yourself here, you are not being analy

By the time you finally lie down at night, your body feels exhausted, but your insides are wide awake. Thoughts sprint, conversations replay, your chest is tight. You scroll, you pray, you bargain with tomorrow. Nothing really lands. It just keeps moving.   You tell yourself, “I just need to calm down,” but that only adds another voice to the crowd.   Something in you is loud, and it will not be managed.     When Your Insides Won’t Quiet Down   For some, the noise is obvious:

You notice it most in the quiet:  you’re doing “the work,” the hard work, the honest work…  and God feels farther away than ever.   Not just quieter. Distant.  Like you’re calling down a hallway that keeps getting longer.   It is disorienting to realize that the more you turn toward old wounds, the less you feel the One you hoped would hold you in them. A part of you thinks, “If I’m finally growing honest with my childhood, shouldn’t I feel closer to God, not abandoned?”    A

You keep trying to pray, or journal, or “be present,” and instead it feels like someone left a radio on inside your chest.   Not peaceful music. You’re having a five stations at once scenario.   You sit down to be still, and your mind immediately sprints: What did I forget at work?  Did I sound stupid in that text?  Should I be doing something more productive than this?  Is any of this even real?   Your heart joins in with its own noise:  Why am I so angry?  Why am I so numb?

There is a particular kind of fear that shows up in quiet moments.   It sounds like questions that do not resolve.   Did I miss my calling?  Did I take the wrong path ten years ago?  Is it too late to become who I was meant to be?   Sometimes this fear comes after a big transition, when the dust has settled and life does not feel like we imagined. Sometimes it leaks in around the edges of a busy, successful life that looks “fine,” but does not feel like a fit. Sometimes it co

For many people, Christmas arrives with a strange mixture of beauty and weight.   There may be moments of joy, warmth, or connection. And alongside them, there is often something heavier that lingers beneath the surface. Fatigue. Tenderness. Sadness. Irritability. A quiet sense of being emotionally full in a way that doesn’t feel celebratory.   When this happens, people often wonder what they’re doing wrong.   Why don’t I feel more grateful? Why am I anxious on Christmas Day?

Many people tell me their dreams feel different lately.   More vivid. More persistent. More emotionally charged. They wake with an image or a feeling that stays with them long after the day begins.   Often, the question that follows is simple: Should I be paying attention to this?   Dreams don’t arrive by accident. But we’re often left without instructions on how to understand their language. They speak in images, emotions, and scenes that resist tidy explanation. That can ma

Jason felt torn.  He had always intended for his business to be about more than profit alone. For Jason, a critical aspect of leadership was how his company could foster the spiritual health and well-being of everyone who worked there. The problem? Jason didn’t know how to pursue business goals in a way that genuinely nurtured people. And the lack of a spiritual dimension at work was beginning to show. He and the staff were starting to feel the workplace as a hamster wheel ra

Anthony set his phone on the table. “I’m doing everything I’m supposed to,” he said. “Scripture, prayer lists, journaling. And somehow I feel further away.”   I poured some tea into his mug and let the hum of the room catch up with us. “What would you like to have happen, now that you’ve done all those things?” I wondered. He closed his eyes for a moment. “I want God to show up and give me some answers! I want to know what to do to feel like I am right in life.” He turned his

"I think I've lost my sense of purpose," Lena whispered.   We gave the sentence a pause to settle. We sat for a while. Lena's voice was thin at first, then ste adier on the second try, "Yeah, there is an emptiness that just loops 'What is even the point?'"   She started making the laundry list to fight the feeling for a moment: she'd worked more hours, put in more effort, done more reading, made more lists. The harder she tried, the farther away meaning seemed to feel. There

You’re together, and somehow lonely. The kitchen is dim and kind. Two phones sleep by the sink. The dishwasher hums, steady and impersonal. You trade updates: soccer pickup, a budget line, a text from your sister. Your voices glide, but the room feels thin.   Loneliness in marriage or partnership isn’t failure, and it isn’t fate. It’s a threshold; a signal that the relationship is asking for a different kind of communication. Not more words or louder arguments, but truer

As the cold light from your screen glows in the dark, pros and cons multiply, and your chest tightens like a fist. You choose, then un‑choose, and search for one more article to silence the unease. This is decision fatigue: too many inputs, thinning attention, and rising doubt. The Ignatian Examen for decision‑making offers a gentle, reliable way to move from overthinking to peace, and to reduce second-guessing after you choose.        Decision fatigue drains judgment; noise