As a young adult, I was resistant to the word "work" when it came to love and relationships. I believed if you loved someone or something that it should be easy, and if it wasn't well then maybe it wasn't really love.

Becoming a mother certainly dispelled that myth. I love my children deeply, wholly, with every essence of my being and yet that love is sometimes work. When they are little, it's the physical work of diligence, of diapers, of physical safety. It's the work of language, modeling behaviors, and of giving.

When they are older, it's the work of patience, of redirection, of listening, and honing in on the mental and emotional safety of becoming--especially through the teenage years.

My kids are mostly young adults now, love comes in deep waves of pride and gratitude. The work is now more about releasing with love, into the wild, wide world exploring and becoming. Honoring their shifts, their learning, their work. 

It is work to love people wholly. We are imperfectly...

"Set a timer for 15 minutes," I tell my child sitting a few cushions down from me on the couch.

"Okay... Ready, Set, Go!"

I begin typing here, now, because I am a writer who writes. And, because I am in integrity with the promises I make to myself about writing for at least 15 minutes a day and posting it on my blog. 

So here I am writing, after a full day supporting clients at different phases and stages of building their business, of up leveling their marketing, of writing and dreaming up new beginnings.

Of endings, too. With each level of expansion we enter in, there is a closing of doors, a turning away from so that we may turn toward the next iteration of who we are becoming. What an honor to witness and share this journey with so many amazing humans doing good work in the world.

Expansion isn't easy, the cycle of contraction and expansion, of opening and closing is not an easy one. But we don't have to suffer unnecessarily in it, we can acknowledge the grief and the...

I walked out of my favorite coffee shop this morning offering up gratitude with a quick, "Thanks guys!" as I turned to go. I love the people at this particular place, especially the eclectic bunch of 20-somethings that work there. They are just SO cool, and they deliver a great product and treat people with such curiosity and kindness. 

As I got to my car, though, I began to wonder about my use of the word, "guys." Curious about where it falls among the spectrum of gendered language. When I was in college, my writing professor brought to us his definition of the word "guys" as something gender neutral, and in the 90s I think it pretty much was accepted that way among many. I still often use the term as a collective "you all" my intention not affirming nor denying any sense of placement along the gender spectrum.

But language is always evolving, as we humans continue to grow and evolve. Expansion being our birthright as we hurdle through space on this planet within an...

One of the hardest lessons for this Aries girl is “slow & steady wins the race.” A year in (thanks Dave at Full Circle Fitness) and I’ve finally formed a new habit.

When I’m not seeing instant results in my business, my writing, my body, or my life it can be defeating and easy for me to just give up and believe that I’m just not capable. But that simply not true and it took years to understand that—and sometimes I still fight with the part of me that believes it!

So for me accountability is VITAL to my success. I need people in my life who reflect back to me what’s true, what’s possible, and to celebrate every small step along the way.

I’m guessing the same may be true for you, too. No shame, babes it’s human nature.

What is one thing you’re celebrating about a step you took today?  No thing too small… the steps add up and soon you’ve walked a mile. ‍‍‍

Change is hard sometimes, even when it's good. There is a lot of transition happening simultaneously in my world, and for many of you as well. Graduations, shifts in work, change of seasons... each of us holding on to some semblance of what we've known while looking forward to what is coming.

I write this from my porch, a favorite place of mine to spend mornings reflecting, working, and connecting with the people and furry friends in my home. I'm pensive. This weekend marks a subtle shift as my youngest child graduates from high school and I'm feeling pretty excited for what's next. I won't have an empty nest, but things will still change. And it's good. 

There's this sense that I've done my job, though we all know parenting doesn't end at 18. I've managed to birth and help steward three humans through their childhoods into relative independence and success since 1998. While the work continues, this is definitely an occasion to stop and celebrate: a milestone of many more to...

I'm not gonna lie. A lot of the work I do for my writing clients I've created because I needed them first. When I first committed to writing my memoir nearly 2 years ago, I knew I needed a space to show up consistently and write. As someone who does a lot of inner work, I know myself pretty well and understood that I'd be really good at distracting myself from making progress.

So I created the Writer's Room and invited others to show up with me. I knew if others were counting on me to hold the space that I would have no choice but to show up. My rebel self couldn't talk me out of it, though it continues to try. The space is amazing, two years into the membership and so many women are showing up for themselves in a new way: consistent, self-compassionate, and connected. It's a dream come true and an honor to hold the space.

And as I enter the next phases of my manuscript development, I am teaching others what I've learned along the way. Even after decades of writing work, editing...

It's all right here for you, though it may seem far it's really just an intention away. The fingertips touching into existence a dream unfolding.

We walk through this world, eyes closed and heart open. Yet we can not see in our minds eye what is possible until we can taste it, feel it, know it to be true.

And that's where TRUST comes in. Words like "Faith" and "Belief" have been twisted so often into religious piety, rightousness, and false pretenses that what lies underneath The Word is lost. I'm sad about that, because true faith and love are a vibrational match to all things possible in Light. 

I may not make much sense to you today, but the Universe is speaking and I can hardly hear it through the mess of the mind, the chaos of war outside, and the hurting that exists on the planet. I have to believe that our Faith and Trust in what we envision for ourselves, in what we wish to serve up for others to grow, expand and love more deeply and palpably exists if only we would...

Growing new muscles & starting new habits need the same things: 

• Consistency
• Just Right Challenge
• Commitment
• Repetition
• Celebration

There's probably more, but that's a good list to start with. Any new habit--especially mindful, healthy ones--require us to do things differently. It feels uncomfortable, resistance rears its ugly head, and suddenly everything else seems more fun or urgent than doing the thing.

I've committed to this blog practice for 30 days, in the hopes that it will help align me with the new and improved writing habits to get me to the finish line of my book edits. So far, I think it's working out pretty well, but I've definitely been doing some of that inner back and forth that gets in the way of just doing the thing.

But I'm building my writing muscles, just as I am building actual muscle. See, about a year ago I hired my friend and former coworker to be my personal trainer. I needed someone to get me off the couch, someone who would tell it to me...

On Friday night, I participated in my first dance recital in more that fifteen years. I would perform on occasion when my kids were little, and even sang in a band for years. Performing, while always a little nerve-wracking, was more exciting and fun to me until the anxiety weighed more in recent years.

So getting back on that stage, with its bright lights and an amazing group of women who were also willing and able to tap their hearts out was an amazing feat. I knew the steps, had practiced enough, and was ready.

What I hadn't anticipated was the surge of adrenaline and panic making it so I couldn't really move my legs that well. In the 2 minutes we were on stage I smiled, I turned when the group turned, I went in and out of my lines appropriately, but my feet did not really do the steps. The taps did not make the sounds I'd practiced, and my mind felt blank. 

The song ended and I came off the stage a little bit in shock and wanting to cry. But I did it, and focused on what...

A Saturday Sun Poem:

Thank you for the golden light
That allows me to remember:

the wind in my hair
the joy of laughter
the spirit of magic
the whispers of joy

Thank you for the warmth
That soothes an ache I can't name:

the longing of memory
the stillness of sorrow
the restlessness of heart
the passing of time

Thank you for the way 
you paint a picture of home:

the greens and blues
the subtle hues
of pink and orange
that pull me outward
when I struggle within