Cindy Spiegel Bio

Tonight, I’m Cleanin’ Out My Closet

Try This: In a quiet moment, relax your body and your breath. Then, imagine yourself as a skeleton. Go down beneath the skin, muscle tissue, organs. Strip it all away and be bone. “The question of what you want to own is actually the question of how you want

A Love Letter To Yourself

Try This: Rip a button off of a shirt, then sew it on again. Contemplate the Zen of pointlessness. “Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.” ~William Wordsworth “A real love letter is made of insight, understanding, and compassion. Otherwise it’s not a love letter. A true

Hell, Part II: Resisting Reality

Try This: Clean something, with great attention to detail, for 20 minutes. Stop after 20 minutes, even if you’re not finished. ““The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” ~unknown In the last post, we looked at how we create hell with our thoughts. In this post, we’ll

Hell, Part 1: It’s All In Your Head

Try This: Go to a favorite restaurant and order something you’ve never eaten there before. “ “The mind is its own place, and in it self can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.” ~John Milton, Paradise Lost A Buddhist story tells of a warrior who asks

Angry With Me? Tell Me About It

Try This: Find a picture of yourself from middle school, and tape it to a piece of paper. On the paper, write love notes to yourself at that age. Sing that kid’s praises. “ “Most of us aren’t afraid of other people’s anger; we’re afraid of their aggression.” ~Nick Wignall,

I’m So Angry I Could…Process It

Try This: Play a board game or a card game (not solitaire), in person, with an actual board or actual cards. While the game is being played, silence your phone. “ “To ask, ‘Is my anger legitimate?’ is similar to asking, ‘Do I have a right to be thirsty? After

Turn and Face the Strange

Try This: Roll down a grassy hill. If you’re unable to roll, spread a blanket on the grass and lie on it. Look at the clouds. “ “The ego never wants to release energy; it tries to hoard it against the fear of death. As a result, new energy cannot

Eat to Be as Awake as You Want to Be

Try This: Wear the most outlandish outfit you can find in your closet. Then dance to this song. “Everything we eat affects each of us differently; so it is with how we relate with our own energies. We are the only ones who know what wakes us up and

Be Strong, Be Weak, or Better Yet, Be Neither

Try This: Pour a glass of water into a second glass. Then, pour the water back into the first glass. Repeat for 5 minutes. Don’t spill a drop. “So sometimes things are ahead and sometimes they are behind; Sometimes breathing is hard, sometimes it comes easily; Sometimes there is

Give it Away, Give it Away, Give it Away Now

Try This: Write a love note to yourself. Ask someone who lives with you to hide it in a place where you’ll find it someday. “And forever, my love to the Taco Bell employees, who took my order when I was drunk or high or crying, who listened and

Here, Let Me Fix You For You

Try This: At the top of a blank piece of paper, write, “What do I need to know right now?” Then, write the answer to that question with your non-dominant hand. “When we do things for other people that they are capable of doing for themselves, we are enabling them.

Will Everyone Please Notice How Nice I Am?

Try This: Use masking tape, chalk, or string to create a circle on the floor. Stand or sit inside of it for a few minutes. Feel centered. “ “While it is…important to try to be kind, it is also imperative to not strive too hard, to not believe too deeply

Get Thee Behind Me, Loki

Try This: Imagine that wherever you go today, you are inside a big bubble of light. “Drama is the stirring, the excitement, the exaggeration, the eruption, the unrest, and the medicine to feel alive…” ~Dr. Scott Lyons Loki, the trickster god in Norse mythology, gets his kicks by causing chaos

Are You My Still, Small Voice?

Try This: Laugh for no reason. Keep laughing, loudly, for 1-2 minutes. “And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an

The Peace of the Pause

Try This: Adopt a power stance. Pose like your favorite superhero or take a variation of Warrior pose. Feel your feet rooted, your body tall, your shoulders wide, your chest puffed out. Make your eyes fierce. Feel the power centered in your belly, coiled like a snake. Hold for one

Let Them Meditate on Eating Cake

Try This: Sit quietly in a public space, in an out-of-the-way spot, and watch people’s faces. “ “I’ve learned how to be in the present.” “How?” asked the boy. “I find a quiet spot and shut my eyes and breathe.” “That’s good, and then?”

Is This the Real Life? Is This Just Fantasy?

Try This: Set a timer for three minutes. Sit in a comfortable chair and study your hands. Let your eyes wander over your fingers, your knuckles, your nails. Trace the veins on the backs of your hands. Trace the lines on your palms. If you get bored, bring your hands

What Depression Wants

Try This: Find an open space outside, like a field or a lake. Pick up a rock or stick and throw it as far as you can. If you don’t have an open space, throw a small stick. Or a very, very heavy rock. “You experience low mood when there

It’s the End of the World As We Know It

Try This: Hold a pen and start moving your hand. Just notice how it wants to move. Then, bring the pen to a blank piece of paper and see what emerges. Title it when you’re done. Sign it with a flourish. “The universe, and the human mind will not allow

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