Dear friends, Even though we are well into March, part of me is still in a bit of a new year mode. With that in mind, I’ve been thinking more about what I’d like to cultivate and what I’d like to release in 2024. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you might remember that I consider myself to be a recovering people pleaser and extremely empathic. I often find myself bending boundaries to please others, and apologizing for things that don’t necessarily require one. Living this way can feel exhausting and even demoralizing at times. One thing I am definitely working on this year is to ..read more

“Accept – then act. Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it. Always work with it, not against it. Make it your friend and ally, not your enemy. This will miraculously transform your whole life.” Eckhart Tolle I used to really struggle with acceptance, in every aspect of the word, until reading this quote by Eckhart Tolle. I used to equate acceptance with settling, failing, and admitting defeat. I used to resist accepting what was, for fear that it meant that I could never create what I really desired. And then I realized that that entire train of thought was ups ..read more

Dear friends, When was the last time you had some good, old-fashioned fun? Or even chose something for yourself that you knew would bring you joy? If you had to take a minute to stop and think about it, it’s been too long! I know how hard it is to remember the importance of fun and joy in life. I know how easy it is to fall into the belief that life has to be a consistent series of high stress events, otherwise we won’t get where we want in life. We are taught that in order to make it through life, we must work hard, and be under the constant pressure to do “more.” Then, after retirement, we c ..read more

Dear friends, Though we hear about this practice often, and can mentally grasp the importance of it, sometimes it’s still challenging actually implementing it into our lives. Setting healthy boundaries is something we all know can benefit our lives in a myriad of ways, and yet how to do it, when, and why still can feel so elusive and confusing. What I wish to share today is a common example in my personal life, where a simple boundary could have prevented so much anxiety, difficulty, and heartache. A few months ago I was invited to do something that I really didn’t want to do. My intuition sai ..read more

Dear friends, This week I wanted to share with you some thoughts I’ve had about life, and what it really means to trust the timing of it. Over time, I’ve allowed myself to hold the vision of what I desire, but lose patience and belief that things could actually work out for me. I used to think that life really wouldn’t ever provide for me what I really wanted for myself. I was so untrusting of myself and my path, that I felt like I always had to intervene to try and force my desires to come to life. With this underlying belief, I would settle for things that were just “close enough” to what I ..read more

Dear friends, As we’ve started to settle into this new year, with all of the hopes, dreams, and opportunity, I’ve started to marinate on some themes that have been rising to the surface for me. After coming out of the heaviness of 2023, the challenges and difficulties and the emotions that come with it, I’ve noticed myself yearning for and leaning into a more playful, lighthearted mindset and energy for this new year. There is so much I want to create and foster in 2024, I desire to be a positive force in this world and have so many intentions to not allow whatever life puts in my path defer m ..read more

Happy New Year, dear friends! I hope the start of 2024 has brought you a renewed feeling of optimism, hope, and peace. If not, I hope you find comfort in knowing that it’s normal to feel even more pressure at the beginning of the new year. Society advertises things like, New Year, New You, as if on December 31,  at midnight,  a switch is flipped and we are all of a sudden free from all of our worries and stresses.  Be gentle with yourself and remember no feeling is ever final; everything changes, eventually. At the end of last year, I started to feel a different sense of excitem ..read more

Dear friends, It’s hard to believe 2023 is about to come to a close. As with any calendar year, so much transpires in 365 days. There are always high highs and low lows, and somehow, we find a way to maneuver through it all. As we know, life is never predictable, and things are always changing, but what remains constant (for me) is my infinite gratitude for you and for this community. While so much is uncertain and unstable, I find great comfort and joy in this little corner of the internet, our community. As we are now in that funny little week between Christmas and New Years Eve, I wanted to ..read more

Dear friends, I know this time of year can bring up so many emotions, and with so much happening in the world around us it can be hard to find morsels of optimism and joy. Personally, this year has been very heavy. I’ve experienced so much unexpected change and disappointment. I’ve felt angry, confused, and misunderstood. The happenings of the world have led me to feel helpless and hopeless. When the drama of the internal world mixed with the trauma of the external combine, it’s easy to feel like there is no light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. This week I wanted to share with you my per ..read more

Dear friends, “Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.” ~Melody Beattie  Every year at this time we all sit around with loved ones and discuss what we’re thankful for. Isn’t it wonderful? What would our lives be like if we had this gratitude 365 days a year? There comes a time in all of our lives where we just feel that nothing is going our way. Jobs, family, friends — it all seems to be less tha ..read more