jamestippins

[jamestippins]

Affinity Feels Like Home... It Isn't.

Affinity Feels Like Home. But Resonance Is Home. Affinity is the echo of something familiar. It draws you near because it feels like you—like a mirror, or a memory, or something you’ve once loved. It’s comforting. It’s warm. It gives you that gravitational pull that says, “This makes sense. This is safe. This feels like me.” But resonance doesn’t feel like you. Resonance reveals you. Affinity…

[jamestippins]

The best day of my life...

There is only one day I have ever truly lived. Not because I chose it. Not because it aligned with my desires. Not because it brought triumph or peace or even clarity. But because it was the only day that existed.And that day—this day—is always now. This is the first claim:Today is the best day of my lifenot because it is pleasurable, successful, or redemptive—but because it is real. This…

[jamestippins]

The Unseen Shaping: How to Recognize Control and Reclaim the Core

There is a kind of prison you can’t see until you stop trying to be good. It doesn’t have bars or locks or guards, just subtle agreements—signed with silence, compromise, and the aching need to be seen as “enough.” We grow up learning to adapt, to shrink, to survive. And at some point, we mistake survival for maturity. We confuse compliance with wisdom. We call our numbness peace. But something…

[jamestippins]

Maybe It Was Never About Being Funny

There was a time I couldn’t enter a room without making it laugh.Not because I wanted attention.But because it felt safer when people were smiling. If I could keep them focused on the twist, the wit, the timing—They wouldn’t look past it.They wouldn’t see me—at least not the parts I wasn’t ready to show. I used to call that skill.I still do.But the motive behind it?That’s what’s shifted. Back…

[jamestippins]

Who Am I? My Values and Their Expressions Tell Me

Root and Expression: Building a Broad and Thick Foundation of Identity and Values I spent years peeling back the layers of who I thought I was, discarding what didn’t belong, and reinforcing what remained. What I found at the center wasn’t a single, rigid truth but something deeper—something layered, interwoven, and alive. Core values and identities aren’t singular. They are manifold, forming a…

[jamestippins]

Why do you NEED Someone? Ignite Connection Instead

The Weight of Need & The Freedom of Resonance There is something in us that pulls toward others—not just toward connection, but toward attachment, toward something we can hold, something that feels like proof that we belong. We search for people who will affirm us, complete us, quiet the restless questions in our minds. And yet, the deeper we lean into this pursuit, the more it eludes us. Need…

[jamestippins]

When Fuel is the Cage: Momentum without Freedom

Momentum is not the problem. It never was. I have always known how to generate force, how to translate thought into action, how to press forward when everything in me wanted to retreat. My capacity for movement has never been in question. But there comes a point where movement itself must be examined—where the momentum that once felt like power begins to feel like compulsion. Where the force that…

[jamestippins]

Guilt and Shame are NOT Motivators in Freedom

Escaping the Guilt Cycle: Why Self-Deprecation Isn’t Humility and How to Break Free Guilt is a familiar weight, isn’t it? That creeping sensation that whispers, You should have done more. You should have been better. You should have known. It disguises itself as responsibility, masquerading as virtue, tricking us into believing that if we just carry enough self-inflicted shame, we’ll somehow…

[jamestippins]

People Can't Touch Me.

The End of Anxiety: How I Deal with Intensity, Contempt, and Triggers Without Losing Myself I haven’t felt anxiety in over 670 days. No panic. No self-doubt. No feeling of being overwhelmed by the world’s chaos. And it’s not because life got easier. It’s not because people stopped being difficult. It’s because I found myself. Once anxiety disappeared, I expected smooth sailing, but that’s not…

[jamestippins]

James' Core Values | Core Identities

Fighting to find myself was a chore. I had to peel layers, and FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT… I also had to get in shape with my mind, body, and spirit. I have uncovered these values are at the root of the REAL me. Consider that THIS LIST is what I discover that I embody, not “want”. These things are true for my purest and authentic self. Until I see that I embody these values, they are not here. Love…

[jamestippins]

You Don't Need to Posture Before God

I Am Always Spiritual, But Never Always One Thing For years, I lived under the weight of an assumption—that to be spiritual, I had to be engaged in something explicitly holy. That my connection to God was strongest when I was in prayer, in study, in silence. But what about the rest of my life? The moments of drive, of exhilaration, of pure, unfiltered being? Then came the whisper. “I’m still…

[jamestippins]

There is no such thing as anxiety...

The End of Anxiety: How Knowing Myself Set Me Free Anxiety is the chaos of being lost—the fear that arises when you do not trust, love, know, or believe in yourself enough to face, handle, embrace, or overcome an experience, whether real or imagined. I haven’t felt anxiety in over 660 days. No panic, no racing thoughts, no knots in my stomach, no dread clawing at my chest. It’s not because life…

[jamestippins]

"I’m Not Attracted to You Anymore" the freedom in these words.

Few phrases hit harder than when the person we love says, “I’m not attracted to you anymore.” It feels like a direct assault on our identity, our value, and the very core of who we are. But in reality, while this statement is deeply painful, it holds within it layers of meaning, about them, about us, and the relationship. Understanding these layers and knowing how to respond with grace,…

[jamestippins]

Peek out, Come forth, Be seen...

Peek out—if only the edge of a gaze,a flicker where the veil grows thin,for the earth hums low beneath its breath,whispering your name in tones that rise,a hymn spun from roots and restless skies. Come forth—not boldly, but as the tidecreeps in to kiss the unsuspecting shore.You are no tempest, yet storms sleep in you,a quiet surge of untamed lore.The heavens bend,not in pity, but in awe,for you…

[jamestippins]

Forgiving Others is About You

Forgiveness is a word that carries the weight of a lifetime, doesn’t it? It’s simple to say, but its depth is something that can drown you before it saves you. For years, I misunderstood forgiveness. I thought it was something I did for the benefit of others, a way to release them from the consequences of their actions. What I didn’t see—what I couldn’t see—was how forgiveness was never about…

[jamestippins]

Test Your Peace and Embrace It

Testing Peace and Rest: Where Authenticity Takes Root Peace is a strange thing when you first find it. It feels almost too good, like something you didn’t earn or don’t quite trust yet. It sneaks in quietly as you start peeling back the layers, discovering who you are underneath everything the world told you to be. And then, out of nowhere, your mind goes: Wait, is this okay? I’ve never been…

[jamestippins]

The Solitude We Fear and the Self We Find

To be alone is often a fear most cannot consider, much less face. The silence of solitude terrifies because it leaves us with nothing but ourselves, stripped of the noise that so often fills our days and drowns out the questions we are too afraid to ask. Yet, in solitude lies a gift unmatched, a chance to meet the self hidden beneath the weight of the world’s demands. In solitude, we find our…