Satisfaction Realty Real Estate Blog

“We don’t see things as they are. We see things as we are.” ~Anais Nin When I was young, I used to stare out into the big, blue sky and ask, “Is this really the right place?” “Did they drop me off on the wrong planet?” I wondered. It felt like I didn’t fit in or belong. Things seemed so much easier for others. They moved forward with ease even when something was painful, while I felt an arrow pierce my heart every time a loved one was in pain, or a difficult situation arose. When...

I think I know you pretty well. I know I don’t know you, know you, but I’m guessing since you’re here, you’re a lot like me. You want to be your best self. You want to make the most of your life. You want to be the best you can be, physically and mentally, for the people around you. And you quite possibly will take a little time today to think about what you should embrace or release in the year ahead to boost your happiness and make a positive impact on the world. Maybe you’ll make a list...

“Others have seen what is and asked why. I have seen what could be and asked why not.” ~Pablo Picasso This article is about the day I realized Picasso wasn’t born Picasso. If you’re already opening Google to find what his name was at birth, I’ll save you the typing and tell you here… He was born Pablo Ruiz Picasso. (His baptized name is wayyyy longer, but you get the point.) Okay, so he was always a Picasso. But he wasn’t always the Picasso. Let me explain by rewinding a few years...

“I’ve always envied people who sleep easily. Their brains must be cleaner, the floorboards of the skull well swept, all the little monsters closed up in a steamer trunk at the foot of the bed.” ~David Benioff I can feel the night converting into day. Hooting owls pass the baton to chirping birds before flying off into the slowly fading night. Low-grade panic sets in as total silence gives way to minor stirrings, and I realize my time to carve out at least a tiny patch of sleep amidst this...

“You alone are enough. You have nothing to prove to anyone.” ~Maya Angelou How do you measure your self-worth? By the salary you make each year? By the number of lines on your resume? By the amount of people who follow you on social media? Now what if you never had to measure your self-worth again? That is what I want to do. I grew up as a gifted kid with high expectations to boot, always pushing myself to meet them. I earned the best grades I could, secured a full-ride scholarship to a local...

“There were two classes of charitable people: one, the people who did a little and made a great deal of noise; the other, the people who did a great deal and made no noise at all.” ~Charles Dickens “It’ll be okay, just…” If I could have taken that expression and thrown it at each person who said it to me when I was struggling with depression, it would have felt much better than hearing it each time. Here are a few ways people ended that sentence: “Try not to think about it.” “Cheer...

“The only way to ease our fear and be truly happy is to acknowledge our fear and look deeply at its source. Instead of trying to escape from our fear, we can invite it up to our awareness and look at it clearly and deeply.” ~Thich Nhat Hanh My daughter began taking tumbling classes a week before her eighth birthday. She had been dancing since the age of three, and those classes included instructions for cartwheels and roundoffs. The harder stuff, like the back walkover, required tumbling or...

“Survival mode is supposed to be a phase that helps save your life. It is not meant to be how you live.” ~Michele Rosenthal Childhood is the most cherished time for many. However, nobody gets to adulthood unscathed. We all go through incidents with our friends, family, and at school or otherwise that leave us feeling emotionally bruised or scarred. Growing up in a household where my parents were busy raising three kids and working hard to better their economic status, somewhere along the way...

“When you love someone, the best thing you can offer is your presence. How can you love if you are not there?” ~Thich Nhat Hanh The only thing worse than not listening to someone is pretending to listen. Giving the vague murmur of agreement, or a quick nod to communicate “Yes, I’m listening, totally,” when really, we’re not. I remember vividly a dinner I had with friends about four years ago. I’d been backpacking in New Zealand for twelve months and had just returned...

“No amount of guilt can change the past and no amount of worrying can change the future.” ~Umar Ibn Al Khattab I don’t remember the exact day the message came through. It was from my son, Julian, and he needed to talk to me. It sounded pretty serious. He never really needs to talk to me. His father was found dead earlier that week. He’d hung himself. While this news hardly affected Julian at all, it hit me like a ton of bricks, and I cried. Our Marriage We met in a taxi thirty-three years...