Author: Nauser Bear

Hi! My name’s Nauser. It rhymes with “saucer.” (Yes, I’ve said that since I was in kindergarten.) In Arabic it means “helper granting victory.” I was named after my paternal grandfather, who was from Iran. When I was 11, I started using the name “Nick,” because many people couldn’t pronounce my given name. In Greek, Nicholas means “victory of the people.” I did not learn of the etymological similarities between my two names until much later in my life, and I find the coincidence fitting, as I’ve always been concerned with helping others achieve their goals, and social movements. My top three values are love, humor, and justice. I’m half-Persian, half-“white,” half-blind, and half convinced that we can save the world. I’m an associate marriage and family therapist in California and a spiritual life coach using tools and strategies from personal development, psychological healing, and spiritual growth to help heart-centered leaders find their power and build the better world that our souls are yearning for.
Posted on

What’s self-love got to do with it?

Last week for Valentine’s Day I wrote about four guideposts on the path to a more nourishing kind of love, the first of which was self-love. As someone who has battled depression, shame, and low self-esteem, I’m no stranger to the impatient eye rolls that the concept of self-love is often met with. However, since I understand eye-rolls to be an expression of sarcasm and sarcasm to be an expression of fear, I take inspiration from Joseph Campbell, who said, “The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.” So today I’d like to talk about what self-love means, and why it’s important to our ability to love in general.

Posted on

Four guideposts to a more nourishing kind of love

The first three guideposts are about staying grounded in self-love despite the inevitable fluctuations and murmurings of our minds and bodies. Once this kind of self-love is being practiced consistently, and we become aware of how many internal obstacles stand between us and true happiness, a natural compassion at the tragicomedy of human existence begins to build. We begin to see that these obstacles to inner peace are not unique to us as individuals but are a part of the human condition. The recognition that we are all just doing our best with what we know in order to be happy and avoid suffering can be heartbreaking, and the only natural next step is to commit oneself to universal love and selfless service of others.

Posted on

Be the change: Step 1 – Find your WHY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9MaQrSlcSg&ab_channel=NauserBear With everything happening in the world right now—coronavirus, climate crisis, police brutality and white supremacy, the election, so many high-stakes things—it can be easy to feel overwhelmed and not know how we can make a positive difference in the world for ourselves, our family, and for the future of humanity. And to top it …

Continue reading "Be the change: Step 1 – Find your WHY"

Posted on

Let’s Change the World Together

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4LwgAUh_Co&ab_channel=NauserBear It’s hard for me to put into words how I feel about living in this country. How I feel about being an American. Being a white American. Being a straight white male American. A cisgender, able-bodied, college-educated, middle class American. Because on the one hand, I know that this society was built for and …

Continue reading "Let’s Change the World Together"

cropped-quantum_desktop_2.jpg