“Your great mistake is to act the drama
as if you were alone. As if life
were a progressive and cunning crime
with no witness to the tiny hidden
transgressions. To feel abandoned is to deny
the intimacy of your surroundings. Surely,
even you, at times, have felt the grand array;
the swelling presence, and the chorus, crowding
out your solo voice. You must note
the way the soap dish enables you,
or the window latch grants you freedom.
Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.
The stairs are your mentor of things
to come, the doors have always been there
to frighten you and invite you,
and the tiny speaker in the phone
is your dream-ladder to divinity.
Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into
the conversation. The kettle is singing
even as it pours you a drink, the cooking pots
have left their arrogant aloofness and
seen the good in you at last. All the birds
and creatures of the world are unutterably
themselves. Everything is waiting for you.”
What Is For You Will Find You
I wrote these words in my notebook last week. What is for you will find you.
Up until 2018, I had no idea there was a board certification for health and wellness coaching. I just knew I was drawn to this field and I loved encouraging individuals and helping them reach their wellness goals. I had 11 years of nutrition knowledge and experience as a registered dietitian, and a deep motivation and passion to empower people in their own health journeys.
The wellness coaching coursework took two years to complete outside of my job. 6am classes on Monday morning. Homework. Lots of reading. Practice groups. I loved every minute of it. Books like The Art of Possibility and others on positive psychology that were already dog-eared on my nightstand were woven throughout the coursework. Topics on motivational interviewing, presence, active listening skills, positive emotions, design thinking. Each week I was learning new skills that added to my toolbox. I noticed how my values of creativity, curiosity and a growth-mindset were natural parts of this field.
I can’t say that I actively searched out coaching. It found me.
Today, after seven weeks, I received my exam results that I passed. I am officially a National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach! I am beyond grateful that every morning I wake up and get to do work I love and enjoy, and see individuals thrive and become the best versions of themselves.
I needed the fast-paced acute care clinical nutrition setting to teach me the foundational knowledge of nutrition in disease conditions and how to thrive in a stressful work environment. I needed my retail sales experience to learn how to interface with customers. I needed my teaching experience to learn the soft skills of empathy, reading nonverbal cues and body language. I needed to be a student again to remind myself that we are never done learning and educating ourselves. I needed to work in an environment where I felt my work wasn’t valued to fully appreciate how it feels to do work that matters and makes people better. So keep going. Everything can be used for a bigger purpose, for the bigger picture.
And never give up.
Indeed, what is for you will find you.
Write What You Know.
An excerpt from a journal entry in 2016. Art created with alcohol ink and pen, made with Procreate.
I attended a winter solstice writing retreat in 2014 where I didn’t know a single person. Everyone was older. Scholars and teachers. People who wrote for a living. We stayed in cabins without electricity and no one wore makeup. It was if they already knew the secret- you can’t make your writing better by looking better. There was nothing to prove, no one to impress through appearance. It was all about the picture you could paint with your words and your ability to cut through the fluff to touch down into something real.
Afternoons were spent walking silently near the ocean or writing in the grassy fields. We sat on thick wooden chairs with velvet cushions around the fireplace in the evening and read our work aloud to each other. I was scared and shy and wrote about subjects that were safe. As a result, my writing was distant and dull. Writing from a deeper place seemed impossible at the time. I needed to pierce through my own pain with self-compassion and acceptance before any breakthroughs in my writing took place.
It took time, but words were the breadcrumbs that led me back home to myself. I journaled every morning, writing longhand. Page after page. Through this writing practice I found my voice. It took this retreat to teach me the effort that goes into safe writing. That space of self-protection actually takes work. The writing also suffers. One of my friend says, “It’s too much effort to pretend to be anyone other than myself.” I vowed after this retreat to write from a truthful, raw, vulnerable, and real place. It’s in those corners of the soul where the real magic lives, and where we can connect most intimately with others. When we write what we know, inevitably, we write what others know too.
You Have the Answer.
“Always we hope
someone else has the answer,
some other place will be better,
some other time,
it will turn out.
This is it.
No one else has the answer,
no other place will be better,
and it has already turned out.
At the center of your being,
you have the answer:
you know who you are and
you know what you want.
There is no need to run outside
for better seeing,
nor to peer from a window.
Rather abide at the center of your being:
for the more you leave it,
the less you learn.
Search your heart and see
the way to do is to be.”
How To Get Unstuck: Planting Idea Seeds.
Choose a theme. Then make a list of anything associated with it. Write down your automatic associations. Then think outside the box. Look at it from a different angle. From a different historical time. Change the context.
Your list is proof that diverse iterations can grow from a single idea seed.
Your creative idea is the same. Loosely write automatic assumptions, first thoughts. Then let the seeds soak for a bit and write other ideas from different angles and contexts. What if you created for a different audience? Chose a different medium to represent your idea? Did the opposite of what is usually ‘on brand’ for you?
The direction you decide to go is completely up to you. In reality, you can go in many different creative directions. All that it requires is for you to continually show up to do the work, dance with the possibility that it might not work and push the boundaries of your own comfort zone.
If you’re willing to make something and put it out into the world because it hasn’t ever been done before and it may change someone for the better, then you know what I’m writing about. You’re reading this and nodding. You know the feeling of accomplishment and pride that comes with service and generosity and dancing with fear to bring an idea to life. This is where the true magic lies.
The good news is we don’t just get one seed to plant in a lifetime.
If we’re lucky and generous and hard-working, we can plant an entire garden.
Limited Edition: Holiday Cards 2020
Holiday cards just in! I had such a blast designing these. There’s nothing like rounding up the events of 2020 into one big word tree time capsule for the year that will go down in history. Let’s spread holiday cheer, not COVID.
Grab a limited edition card for yourself or send a few to your friends HERE.
Food Synergy: Anti-Inflammatory Turmeric Golden Milk Recipe
Art brought to you by Bach and black peppercorns.
Travel restrictions and the lack of social gatherings have given me more time to do things I enjoyed but never actually carved out time for. Like playing the piano.
Quarantine has reunited me with my old piano pieces like Mendelssohn’s Rondo Capriccioso and lots and lots of Bach. When I play Bach on the piano, I’m fascinated how each hand independently holds its own. Unlike Mozart or Beethoven where the left hand is the accompaniment and the right hand is the melody, the polyphonic nature of Bach enables it to simultaneously weave two melodies together. Each can stand on its own. But intertwining the right and left hand together synergistically creates a more complex and intricate piece.
Relationships are like that too. The best kinds of relationships are those that respect each person’s own power and greatness, but TOGETHER they are a magical force to be reckoned with. We each have a unique melody to share with the world, and yet there are some melodies that interlock with ours that enable us to create something far more beautiful together in the world. It’s synergy at its finest.
Black pepper and turmeric are a powerful pair. Turmeric contains the compound curcumin, and black pepper contains the compound piperine. Studies have shown that piperine enhances curcumin absorptions in the by body by up to 2,000%. Together when combined, they are a powerful anti-inflammatory team that fights infection and improves digestion.
If you’re looking to include these into your diet, here is an easy recipe:
GINGER TURMERIC GOLDEN MILK:
1 cup of plant milk plus 1 teaspoon coconut oil. (The small amount of fat helps with nutrient absorption.)
1/2 teaspoon of ground turmeric
big pinch of freshly ground black pepper
1 small (1/4 inch) piece of ginger root peeled and grated (more or less to taste)
1 big pinch or sprinkle of ground cardamom
1 big pinch or sprinkle of ground cinnamon
Honey, maple syrup, or monkfruit extract to sweeten (optional)
Directions:
Blend or whisk all the ingredients together and warm on the stove over medium heat. Simmer (do not boil) for 15 minutes. Enjoy!
How To Become The Person You Want To Be.
Runners run.
Investors invest.
Teachers teach.
Cooks cook.
Dancers dance.
Gardeners garden.
Painters paint.
Designers design.
Singers sing.
Photographers photograph.
Writers write.
Too often it’s easy to get caught up in the preparation that you never take action. Finding the perfect running shoes, choosing the most delicious recipe, or having the right camera or paintbrush or pen in order to begin. But really, that’s just fear, neatly packaged.
To be the noun, do the verb.
The Practice of Daily Gratitude.
In 2015, I began a gratitude practice. It was an intentional act to train and rewire my brain to begin scanning the world for what was actually going well in my life versus focusing on everything that wasn’t going so well. This daily practice encouraged me to find the blessings tucked within each day. I wrote down at least three things that I was thankful for, folded them up, and kept them in a jar near my bed. On New Year’s Eve, I opened all of them with delight. Adventures, conversations, meals, opportunities that expanded my comfort zone, and compliments that I would had entirely forgotten about were all recorded and documented. When I reread through them, I experienced all those positive emotions again.
I’ve continued this tradition throughout the years and it has inherently changed the way I see my life and the world around me. The practice of gratitude raises our emotional states and allows us to reframe even the most difficult experiences with grace and recognize the silver linings in challenging situations.
At the end of the year when I go through my gratitude jar, I often send pictures to my friends so they too can remember the adventures and fun experiences we shared. The inside jokes. The delicious meals. The breathtaking views in nature.
I store these stacks of gratitude slips in a keepsake memory box as time capsules for the year.
Paying attention to our world, and more importantly, to the beauty in our lives, shifts our entire perspective. We become what we focus on, so turning our focus on that which is good and beautiful is one of the greatest gift we can give ourselves.
Praise, Praise, Praise.
Mori Point, Pacifica
“Do you have doubts about life? Are you unsure if it’s worth the trouble? Look at the sky: that is for you. Look at each person’s face as you pass on the street: those faces are for you. And the street itself, and the ground under the street and the ball of fire underneath the ground: all these things are for you. They are as much for you as they are for other people. Remember this when you wake up in the morning and think you have nothing. Stand up and face the east. Now praise the sky and praise the light within each person under the sky. It’s okay to be unsure. But praise, praise, praise.”
Movement Map: What Does My Body Need?
We can all agree that moving our bodies helps us feel better mentally and physically. But it’s challenging to know the best movement for our bodies while also juggling the demands of daily life with fluctuating energy levels and time. Decision fatigue is real! Over the years I’ve become much better at listening to what my body needs and trusting what it tells me, versus pushing through a difficult workout because it’s “on the schedule.” Our bodies are always communicating to us, and we thrive when we listen with respect and move in ways that nourish and strengthen them.
I created this as a visual guide for movement, based on the time we have and what our bodies need (relaxation —> burn off steam). I hope that it encourages you to move in ways that nourish your body so you feel more joyful, energized, strong, peaceful, and grounded.