The Future of Community in a Post-Religious Society | TEDx Chicago | Lola Wright
Many years ago during a meditation I saw myself on a TED stage…sort of cliche, I get it but it’s true. It was vivid. I did …
Normal white people. Developing Racial Consciousness
I was 10 when I became acutely aware that something was off in my community. I began challenging the assumptions of the adults aro …
I Am Proud.
proud /proud/ adjective feeling deep pleasure or satisfaction as a result of one’s own achievements, qualities, or possessio …
“We Can’t Trust You”: The Insidious Trap of Fear & Doubt
We can’t trust you. Wait, no. You can’t trust you. For every choice we face, every obstacle we rub up against, we often bury t …
Wake Up: Your 7 Daily Mantras Inspired by the Word Ban
Raise your hand if, lately, in our current political climate, you feel…reactive? We are witnessing the most unconscious aspe …
What the F*ck? An Exploration of Sexual Transgressions in Recent History
There is something about the Matt Lauer announcement—I mean it brought it ALL up for me. It was a combo of, “Really Matt?! Wha …
5 Loving Practices to Get You Through the Holidays
I love the holidays. I love the season of gratitude, giving, snow, hot chocolate, holiday music, cookies, and celebrating. And eve …
5 Ways to Get Exactly What You Want by Doing Just One Thing
I almost don’t want to say it. It feels so damn predictable. A cliché. Boring. And yet, here’s the truth: Everything is worth …
Why the Church Isn’t Working and How Spirituality Can Help
In 1992, my mom left my dad for a woman—in a white, hyper affluent community that was not at all cool. My dismantled family syst …
Why You Are Here: Get To Weeding So You Can Grow Something REALLY Beautiful
“Have dominion over your awareness, and you’ll have dominion over your destiny.” When my first mentor said this to me, somet …
Speak Your Truth…Because Nobody Else Will
There is a powerful stirring happening—a sloughing off of shame and self-doubt. The human spirit and voice is being liberated fr …
Why I Am Here
I was born with everything a girl could want. My life has been a beautiful, heartbreaking, and complex tapestry of contradictory h …
Get Comfortable with Anger to Feel Joy
We all get angry. While some of us yell and scream, others quietly seethe. Anger is just one of the many feelings we experience in …
Investments 101: Making the Most of Your Precious Assets
There are only a handful of really important questions I recommend exploring over the course of one’s life. A critical one among …
Rise Above: How to Find Your Faith
There are times when life feels like it’s working. Our relationships are smooth, our career is enjoyable, our bodies are in good …
Slow Down to Be More Intentional in Life
We are wired for impact. We want to know that we make a difference. That our lives matter. It’s the existential orientation of o …
Your Best Offense: It’s Not About You
Let’s set the stage. You get into a discussion, which turns into an argument. You take the other person’s words personally, a …
How to Love the Yuck
We all have yuck in our lives: people, circumstances, chores, body issues. To get rid of it, you gotta love it all — even that w …
The Key to Self-Love: Be Your Real Self
Self-love. You read about it, you dabble in it, and then you “quit” it in pursuit of bettering yourself with potions, promotio …
Disrupt Through Discovery: Exploring Your Own Racial Consciousness
I have four children. My older two children are biracial, and my younger two are white. Race — and class — in America are prim …
Your Word is Your Wand
We all use the power of the word to express how we feel, what we want, and what we don’t want. It’s often hard to remember tha …
Get Real: Become Your Own Spiritual Leader
What would it take for you to consider yourself a spiritual leader? Would it require becoming a vegan? A meditator? Having peacefu …
How Do You Find Your Purpose? Embrace Your Struggle
I have spent most of my career wondering when I would ever figure out what I am on the planet for — a regular existential crisis …
Get to Give: How to Open Yourself to Receiving More
You hear the refrain often: Give to get. But we can’t expect to give unless we are open and receptive, unless we see our abiliti …
How to Fall Madly in Love…With the World
Love: It might perhaps be the most overused word today. And yet it’s so damn powerful. You are a lover. No matter how you’ve b …
Why We Shouldn’t Normalize Being “Perfectly Imperfect”
“The goal in life is not to attain some imaginary ideal; it is to find and fully use our own gifts.” — The Big Leap: Conque …
The Power of Divine Femininity: Why it’s Essential to Be Fierce and Loving.
The divine feminine lives in each of us. Embracing your creative and expressive center and learning how to guide that center is on …
How to Forgive to Live
Imagine a life of freedom — freedom from your past, freedom from old hurts, freedom from relationships that keep you stuck. Inst …
In the Moment: Live Your Life By Getting Out of Your Own Way
“Be who you are and let everyone love that person.” — Wiz Khalifa The Hamster Wheel Here you are, clocking time, g …
Living Abundantly: Lay Down Your Escape Plan
We treat money as adjunctive to spiritual issues — something wholly separate from our spiritual nature. There is what we know, f …
How Hip-Hop Saved My Life
“I’m not lonely. I’m alone. And I’m holy by my own.” — ‘Holy’ by Jamila Woods In 1993, A Tribe Called Quest d …
Spiritual Consumerism vs. Spiritual Community
We are longing. We are looking. We are consuming. But are we communing? Consumption is a necessary part of life. We sustain oursel …
Mama Bear Talking: Listen Up, Trump.
Last week, I had a dream. I had a dream that I was asked to coach President Trump. In the White House. Alone. Never one to pass …
No One’s Coming to Save You: Be Your Own Salvation
“Do yourself a favor, become your own savior.” — Daniel Johnston Once upon a time, we were born. We came into t …
