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Drawn Like a Moth to a Flame
This summer my emotions, like the heat, have been combustible. After a very long hiatus and lots of trepidation, I’ve begun online dating again which means I’ve been ghosted, love bombed, and bread crumbed, dating lingo for wrestling with how to be a decent human being in a virtual world. It’s been a jagged path of moving toward and moving away, clarifying my values, my offer, trusting myself, and being honest without being brutal. Like a moth drawn to the intensity of a flame, I’ve fully engaged the dance between living with generosity and openness and shrink-wrapping my heart. Everything…
Pleasure in Pausing: Summer Stillness, the Ultimate Adventure
Nearly everyone I talk to is traveling somewhere or has just returned from someplace. Maybe it’s post-COVID pent up desire to explore, making up for months and for some years of lock down. At such a time it feels counterintuitive to consider going nowhere, going slow, being still, and yet that feels like the most healing medicine, a tonic for our climate that is on fire, grounding in a society hooked on speed and Grind Culture. Whatever is important is happening in your life now. Pausing to fully know and feel that moment without the mad rush to be somewhere,…
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Celebrating St. James Day & Walk in Beauty
El Camino is Within You, Always Today, July 25th is the feast day of St. James, the patron saint of the Pilgrimage of El Camino de Santiago, Spain. As a Walk in Beauty Pilgrim you know first-hand about the magic, comradery, authentic, heartfelt stories shared, moments of discovery, laughter, tears, renewal, challenge, and accomplishment of this extraordinary journey. Over the years, Walk in Beauty participants have made life-changing choices to live closer to what matters most. Participants have changed careers, moved across the country or to other countries, found new loves, connected within themselves for greater authenticity, learned to be…
Embodying Summer’s Lushness
It’s been a wild and lush summer of learning, growing, and stretching outside my comfort zone, and I’m having a blast.I’m taking courses on Gestalt therapy and training, centering leadership presence with Rev. angel Kyodo williams Roshi, embodied social justice with Staci K. Haines, rest as resistance with Tricia Hersey, coach diversity training to support my clients, yin yoga teacher training to reset my autonomic nervous system and support many clients suffering from anxiety and burnout, tennis to boost my hand-eye agility and balance, and botanical drawing to sharpen my capacity to ‘feel and know’ the natural world.Throughout the summer…
Black Joy: Celebrating and Honoring Juneteenth
“Joy is a part of our inheritance. . . .It is my responsibility in this lifetime, in this generation to really revel in the joy that has been passed on to me through the impossible, through the insurmountable, through so much grotesque horror and brutality (of enslaved Black people). That this joy was passed forward like an envelope that was read and carefully sealed again and passed on to the next generation, and carefully read and passed on to the next. . . .It is our duty to be seen in the power of that joy.” —-Esperanza Spalding Juneteenth commemorates June…
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ARTICLES
Spiritual Directors International Reviews Hope Leans Forward, December 2022
Mindfulness Bell article on Hope Leans Forward, November 7, 2022
A Day in the Dharma with Valerie Brown, dharma teacher, leadership coach, and former lawyer
Ask the Teachers: How can I frame my practice in more positive terms?
