Mind Notes

Mind Notes

October 13, 2025 - When the Leaves Begin to Fall

There’s something deeply humbling about this time of year—the way the trees release what they no longer need, without hesitation. I’ve been thinking about that lately, how nature lets go so gracefully while I often hold on too tightly. The leaves don’t fight their falling. They simply trust the wind to carry them where they’re meant to go.

This week, I’ve been trying to do the same. To let go of old fears, old stories, old versions of myself that no longer fit. It isn’t easy—some things cling the way leaves do before the frost—but there’s peace in the attempt. Letting go doesn’t mean forgetting; it means making space for something new to take root.

Change, like autumn, asks for surrender. It asks me to trust that even as things fall away, beauty still remains. The bare branches, the fading light, the chill in the air—they all make room for renewal I can’t yet see.

If you’re holding on too tightly to something, maybe this season can teach us both to loosen our grip. To trust the falling. To find grace in the release.

Mind Notes

October 6, 2025 - Turning Toward the Unknown

October arrives with its own kind of invitation. The air shifts, the light changes, and everything around me seems to whisper, “It’s time to turn.” There’s a certain beauty in this transition—the way nature leans into change without asking for certainty. Leaves let go, skies stretch longer, and the world transforms quietly, almost without resistance.

I want to carry that same spirit within myself this month. To stop bracing against the unknown and instead lean toward it. To see uncertainty not as a threat, but as an opening. Life doesn’t wait for me to have all the answers, and maybe that’s the point. The unknown isn’t here to be solved—it’s here to be lived.

So this October, I’m learning to release a little more. To welcome the turning, the shifting, the questions. To trust that I don’t need to see the whole path to take the next step.

If you’re stepping into the unknown too, may this month remind you that uncertainty can carry its own kind of grace. We don’t have to resist the turning—we can move with it.

Mind Notes

September 29, 2025 - The Strength in Small Beginnings

Lately, I’ve been reminded how much power lives in starting small. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by everything waiting to be done—the unfinished dreams, the unanswered questions, the weight of expectations. But I’m learning that even the tiniest beginnings carry momentum.

This week, I focused on one small task at a time. Writing a single sentence. Taking a short walk. Reaching out to someone I’d been meaning to call. None of it was grand or remarkable, yet each action stacked quietly on the last until I realized I’d moved further than I thought possible.

Small beginnings don’t always look like progress, but they are. They build trust with ourselves, reminding us that we don’t need to leap—we only need to step.

If today feels too heavy, start small. Begin with what you can carry right now. Let that be enough. In time, those small beginnings will grow into something far larger than you imagined.

Mind Notes

September 22, 2025 - The Edge of Change

Change has a way of arriving quietly at first, then all at once. I often find myself clinging to what I know, even when it no longer serves me, simply because the familiar feels safer than the unknown. But the truth is, every time I’ve stepped into change—no matter how reluctant—I’ve found pieces of myself I couldn’t have discovered otherwise.

This week, I caught myself resisting a shift I knew was necessary. I wanted to hold on, to keep things as they were. But I remembered that growth rarely comes in comfort. It comes at the edges, in the places where I feel stretched, uncertain, maybe even a little afraid.

Change doesn’t always feel like progress at first. Sometimes it feels like loss. Yet in time, it reveals itself as an opening—an invitation to grow into someone softer, stronger, and more whole.

If you’re standing on the edge of change, know that hesitation is natural. Take the step anyway. What feels unsteady now may one day become the ground you trust most.

Mind Notes

September 15, 2025 - The Weight of Rest

Rest has always felt complicated to me. There’s a part of me that equates stillness with falling behind, as though pausing means I’m failing. But lately I’m learning that rest isn’t absence—it’s presence of another kind. It’s the body repairing, the mind resetting, the heart gathering enough courage to keep going.

This week, I gave myself permission to slow down without guilt. I noticed how much softer the day felt when I allowed myself to nap, to read without rushing, to sit in silence without filling it. Nothing in the world collapsed because I stopped moving. Instead, I found myself steadier when I returned.

Rest, I’m realizing, is not a sign of weakness. It’s a form of strength—an act of trust that life will still be there waiting when I rise again.

If you’re carrying too much today, I hope you let yourself set it down for a while. Rest doesn’t take you away from the journey—it makes the journey possible.

Mind Notes

September 8, 2025 - Carrying Light

On the darker days, I catch myself searching for something steady—something to remind me that I can still move forward. I’ve realized it doesn’t always take much. A kind word, a gentle memory, a moment of stillness can be enough to carry light into a place that feels heavy.

This week, I noticed how even the smallest sparks change the way I see things. A smile from a stranger, a song I’ve heard a hundred times, the warmth of a familiar routine—they don’t erase the weight, but they soften it. They remind me that hope doesn’t have to arrive in grand gestures. It can live in the quiet, in the ordinary, in the overlooked.

I’m learning that light doesn’t only come from outside—it can be something I choose to carry. In how I speak to myself, in how I pause to breathe, in how I keep moving even when the path feels dim. That light, however faint, is enough to guide me through.

If you’re searching for brightness today, look for the small sparks. They might not change everything at once, but they’ll help you take the next step. And sometimes, that’s all we need.

Mind Notes

September 1, 2025 - The First Step

Beginnings are always the hardest. There’s a hesitation in me every time I face something new—the weight of doubt, the pull of comfort, the fear of not being ready. But I’ve learned that the first step doesn’t need to be graceful. It just needs to be taken.

This morning, I thought about how often I’ve waited for the “right moment,” as though life would hand me a perfect sign. But the truth is, moments don’t arrive fully formed. They become meaningful because we choose to step into them. The first word on a blank page. The first breath after a long pause. The first decision to keep going, even when the path is unclear.

The beauty of beginnings is that they don’t have to be loud or dramatic. They can be small and quiet, unnoticed by anyone but ourselves. What matters is that they happen. And once the first step is taken, the second always feels lighter.

If you’re standing at the edge of something new, don’t wait for certainty. Begin where you are. Begin with what you have. Let the act of starting be enough.

Mind Notes

August 25, 2025 - The Quiet Work of Healing

Healing doesn’t always announce itself. It doesn’t arrive with trumpets or clear milestones you can point to. Sometimes it’s nothing more than waking up and realizing the weight you carried yesterday feels a little softer today. Sometimes it’s finding yourself laughing at something small, without that shadow of heaviness tugging it back down.

For the longest time, I thought healing had to be visible, measurable—something I could chart like progress on a graph. But I’ve learned it’s more like a tide. It ebbs and flows. Some days it pulls you back into the ache, and others it carries you gently forward, almost without notice. Both are part of the same current.

There’s no perfect pace to it. The body remembers, the heart resists, the mind circles back. Yet even in the silence, even in the stillness, the work continues. Healing moves in whispers, not declarations. It’s in the pauses, the breaths, the courage to keep going even when nothing feels new.

If you’re in the thick of it, don’t mistake the quiet for emptiness. The shift is happening, just beneath the surface. Trust it—healing rarely looks like what we imagine, but it arrives all the same.

Mind Notes

August 18, 2025 - Holding Space for What Hurts

Today, I want to reflect on the importance of holding space for what hurts—how allowing myself to acknowledge pain, instead of rushing to “fix” it, has been an essential part of living with Schizoaffective Disorder. There’s a quiet courage in sitting with the discomfort instead of turning away.

This week, I had moments where the ache in my chest felt heavier than my words could carry. My instinct was to distract myself, to move past it quickly. But instead, I chose to stay. I let myself cry. I let the weight settle. I reminded myself that feeling pain doesn’t mean I’m losing—it means I’m human.

One of the most meaningful moments came late at night, when I realized that the act of allowing pain to exist made it feel less like an enemy and more like a visitor. And visitors, eventually, leave.

Holding space for what hurts has taught me that emotions don’t need to be silenced to be survived. They can simply be heard, honored, and then released in their own time.

To those reading this: if something hurts today, let it. Give it a chair, let it speak, and know that you are still safe within yourself.

Thank you for sharing this journey with me. Your presence reminds me that pain is not a permanent place—it’s a passing moment, and we can walk through it together.