Author Archives: Tara Zafft, Ph.D.

Spirituality is definitely transcendental, but to soar we must first be grounded.   When my kids were very little, a friend gave me a DVD about “stranger danger”. The approach was great; it broke adults into three categories (safe people, people you kind of know and complete strangers) and explained that ONLY the safe peopleContinue reading “Getting Grounded”

I need to re-learn this very simple truth every day!   Because…despite all the hours of meditation and books read and therapy and deep and life-changing conversations—we are human and we love and care and we easily get caught. We get caught by pain from our childhood, ideas of who we think we are supposedContinue reading “Intention-compassion-intention…”

It’s that wonderful time of year again—when we get the opportunity to rid ourselves of unwanted habits and create new and healthy ones!   And what better way to embark on these resolutions, or intentions as I like to call them, than with a reminder that most goals are well within our reach and allContinue reading “Repetition…”

You may be thinking…hardly a festive post for Hannukah Christmas Eve! But, actually there is nothing more relevant when ‘tis the season for family togetherness.   For those particularly challenging relationships, we may think that avoidance is the best course of action. And in some cases, especially when it is clear that your thoughts andContinue reading “Conversations”

  It is easy to convince ourselves of our rightness. There is confirmation bias, the echo chamber, memories and tribes and self-fulfilling prophesies—all which lock us in mental prison.   And these mental prisons are dangerous! They fill us with passionate vitriol that inhibit our ability to question ourselves or converse with those who haveContinue reading “Rightness”

Our true nature is more than all the details of our lives or the particulars of our personhood. We are, as they said in Kabbalah, a spark of the Divine. And, while we are more than the ups and downs of our daily lives, it is precisely through these ups and downs that we accessContinue reading “True Nature”

Throughout our lives we experience many moments of chaos, which in turn give rise to order, until it is again time to let go, restructure and rebuild.   Yet all too often we see chaos as bad, as an unwelcomed force that disturbs the peace of our lives. We are convinced that everything is exactlyContinue reading “Chaos and Order”

We carry countless untold stories within us. And kept secret, some of these stories can feel like a burden. They can reinforce feelings of shame and fear. And they can make us feel terribly alone.   While it is unwise to be an open book to all, it is important—and even necessary—that we have safeContinue reading “Untold Stories”

  Many of us carry a false belief that we are broken.   And we respond either by trying to fix the brokenness or—when we are overwhelmed—by avoiding whatever upsetting emotion or situation that is triggering us.   But this premise is wrong! We are not broken. We are human beings navigating our way throughContinue reading “If it ain’t broke…”

  A beautiful and powerful metaphor we experience in autumn is watching leaves transform from bright and shiny and green to rich yellows and oranges and reds. And then, we watch them fall, shrivel up, and be washed away by rain or snow.   Birth and death. Beginning and end. And we are equally multidimensional.Continue reading “Branches and Roots”