I’d also like to take this opportunity to reflect on how grateful I am for the hard things we go (and grow) through. I’m specifically referring to the smaller scale things we handle, maybe on the daily or weekly — things we might get so frustrated and annoyed with. And while I wouldn’t wish them on anyone on purpose, I see how we emerge more capable, more resilient, and even brighter than we might have ever thought we’d be.

Don’t make do and make yourself a martyr because you were taught that’s the cool and chic thing to do. We all deserve to have our needs met.  And every time you lean into that resource, you’re reinforcing how much you care about yourself, and that’s some BIG magic ✨

Imagination might seem to be in opposition to mindfulness: letting your mind wander and dance with ideas that have no bearing on the present, dreaming of things that aren’t current reality, and creating fantasies that have no sure-footed roots. But I don’t think imagination is a foe of mindfulness. I think they need each other quite deeply and fervently.

As a queer woman, I’ve experienced a lot of situations where it hasn’t felt safe to speak up, and I know many of you have encountered those too. It’s sadly all too easy to stay stuck in danger-detected mode. Living in a world where most things feel like an immediate threat to your own or your family’s safety dulls your ability to discern when it is safe to speak up.

It’s really easy to confuse brain business with body presence. Brain business (or brain presence, if you will) is you trying to tangle intellectually with whatever’s happening — trying to puzzle over it, work it out, or solve it. Body presence is literally being with it. Noticing the sensation and your breath, and then whatever happens next. Not trying to exert force or make it into anything in particular. It’s riding the wave with wide open inner eyes.

For those of us that live in a near (or actual) state of constant tension and activation, softening our bodies can be so far beyond our realm of familiarity that we don’t recognize it as safe for our bodies. It brings a lot of sensations that aren’t the hard, locked muscles we’ve grown accustomed to moving with. Instead it brings things like twitching, shifting, lengthening,  and loosening, and sometimes those things are uncomfortable or even hurt.

When we don’t take the time to show ourselves we’re safe, we’re likely to (a) rush and/or force our bodies into shapes, or (b) resist at the same time we’re trying to allow. Either of those things is a recipe for discomfort and pain, which is going to make you feel less safe. Which is going to turn up the tension and guarding in your body and mind. Which is not an environment that supports embodiment.

We’re like these living nesting dolls of urgency, buried in container after container – each reinforcing the drive to go faster, squeezing our essence smaller and smaller until it seems like a tired old joke. 

Can you picture yourself like that or get a sense of it? Imagine what could happen if even just one of those nesting containers broke wide open?

This week’s Mindful Morsel is an invitation to lean into the changes of life in the present.

Created in good energy💚

This week’s Mindful Morsel is a reminder that mindfulness is a hard practice. Let’s let our brave hearts shine and keep on keepin’ on.

Created in good energy💚

We are in the energy of the harvest moon* this lunar cycle, a time to take in the fruits of our labor, and I invite you do this with a lens of acceptance.

Shifting into Mindful Morsels: tasty nuggets to help us sprinkle more mindful moments throughout our days (with hopes that the snowball effect will work in our favor).

This week’s Mindful Morsel is a reminder to walk away. We all need purposeful breaks to unplug, recharge, and breathe. Physically get up and move to a new environment.

Created in good energy💚

This week’s Mindful Musing is a bite-sized reminder to ask for what you need — give people a chance to help, and show yourself love by speaking up.

Created with good energy💚

This week, I’m practicing honoring where I’m at energetically with a little more peace by noticing when I’m judging myself and instead telling myself (out loud) to drop the imaginary yardstick.

Let this Mindful Musing be a pulse check - are you bypassing and avoiding or honoring where you’re at?

With tender and empathetic energy💚

what’s in front of you?

My patience has been short lately, particularly around my daughter. Parenthood is hectic and trying at times, but the root of the problem is how I’m reacting to my own feelings — shifting blame and responsibility outside of myself.

This week’s Mindful Musing is a reminder to look inward. To pause and breathe. And to once again visit the whimsical land of proactive self care, so that we may love ourselves and others more fully.

In good energy 💚

My relationship with sleep is a tense one, and it’s one of the top things I experience shame and guilt around.

I’ve created the circumstances that limit the number of hours I sleep, and this affects my quality of life everyday. Now I’m experimenting in a new way to see how I can remedy that.

I offer you this week's Mindful Musing as an invitation to relate, find inspiration, and reflect on what you might be brave enough to experiment with.

With rejuvenating good energy 💚

If you're feeling triggered, numb, or stuck in overwhelm from witnessing all that is going on in the world --- me too.

I offer you this week's Mindful Musing as an invitation to focus on self care basics to build a strong foundation for yourself, promote regulation, and create change in accessible ways.

With tender good energy 💚

find some pockets of time and space to practice mindfulness before the big moments when you really need it

what's your relationship with your body like?

Our relationships with our bodies can feel intimate and vulnerable and scary; there’s no other relationship like it.