Creating With Community.

How do you describe the sweetness of a mango to someone who’s never tasted it? Or explain how the ocean feels to someone living in the desert? Experience is our greatest teacher.

I’m halfway through my Morning Altars teacher training, and this past weekend, it was a gift to share this practice with three special individuals. To bear witness to the transformative power of meaning-making using nature. Arranging our outer world to make sense of our internal landscape. To see the changes that took place through gathering, arranging, rearranging, creating, and surrendering to what wanted to come through each altar. To lay something down and let it go.

I’m still a student- deepening, growing, and fine-tuning. But being able to share this practice with more people as I continue to learn has been the best part of all. Like sharing a slice of ripe mango with a friend or stepping into the ocean with them for the first time. You look at nature differently. Appreciate it in a new way.

(Photos courtesy of Anthony Lé)

Fairy Rings.

I enjoyed guiding an IRL hike/hang with local health coaches this past Sunday at Huddart Park in Woodside.

Within this circle are coaches who specialize in intuitive eating, sports nutrition, lifestyle medicine, trauma-informed coaching, and somatic practices in tandem with the foundations of clinical nutrition.

The next time you’re in a redwood forest, look for fairy rings. These are circles of redwoods surrounding the base of the parent tree. It was believed that these trees were genetic copies of the parent tree. But now there’s evidence that genetically distinct trees exist within a ring. This diversity supports the long-term health and resilience of the forest.

Whatever industry you’re in, look around. Appreciate the multiplicity of talent. The specialist degrees and certifications. The areas of study some people naturally gravitate toward and fully immerse themselves in. While others simply want to dip their toes in.

What a relief. We don’t need to know everything to help someone. We simply need to know who to ask.

I’m grateful to be a part of this diverse ‘fairy ring’ of exceptional health coaches. We share our specialties, skillsets, and knowledge to best support our clients.

Who are the individuals in your diverse fairy ring of life? What can you learn from them and how can you share and contribute your knowledge to nourish the forest of your life?

Co-Creating Magic.

I’m excited to be part of the line-up for tomorrow!

There’s a journal called “One Line A Day” that acts as a 5-year diary that allows you to record what you did on any particular day and see what you did on that same day in the past. The simplicity of this tool captured my attention. It’s fun to compare how much you’ve changed (or stayed the same) year to year.

I started my own version of this on Valentine’s Day in 2013. I gave myself the prompt, “I am thinking about love…” and wrote a short paragraph on what bubbled up around love that I’d learned or experienced that year. I continued this tradition each year, and in 2020, compiled all of these entries into a single spoken word poem.

My favorite thing about poetry is that it changes as we change. Similarly, my view and perspective around love have also matured, developed, and deepened throughout the years. Tomorrow I have the privilege of sharing this poem. In front of a live audience. On Valentine’s Day. All of those aspects make me excited. I’ve revamped verses, added new ones, and removed old ones.

I’ll be sharing the stage with Esther Young, who will accompany me with her guitar. I’m a firm believer that music adds layers of emotional depth and nuance to poetry, so it’ll be exciting to co-create art together. And, to add to this sense of magic, we’ve agreed that our on-stage collaboration and performance will be the first time we will dance in this space together. I can’t wait!

A visual taste of our vibe together…Esther and me at my First Friday book launch event.

Here’s to stepping into the arena with courage, curiosity, and creativity!

Let's First Go On A Ride.

Epic views along the coast from last week’s ride.

I hope you write your thoughts and weird ideas down, mostly so “future you” has something to reread and smile at. The past storm left our neighborhood without power for two days. Imagine. No electricity and WiFi. It was dark but too early to sleep, so I took a flashlight and decluttered old journals. I found this poem I wrote in 2019:

If you ever want to date me
Let’s first go on a ride
How you act on two wheels
Gives me a solid glimpse inside
Of your tenacity, confidence,
Humility or pride.

Do you like to have the route mapped out
No room for happenstance?
Or are you led by curiosity and like to take a chance?
Do you like to speed up far ahead like you’re competing in a race?
Or compromise and make adjustments to find a steady pace?

Do you let me tuck behind you
when the headwind gets too strong?
And encourage me to take my pull
when I’ve been sitting back too long?

If you ever want to date me
Let’s first go on a ride
We may never know-
Could be the best ride of our lives.

Write everything down. I still think a bike ride is a solid filter for finding a good partner. 🤷🏻‍♀️🚴🏻‍♀️🚴🏼

What If?

“There’s so much more that I still want to do. I bought a golf set at Costco last week because it was 50% off. Do you golf?”

She paused. I lifted my pen from the spiral notebook I’d been furiously jotting notes on and caught my breath. She’d been free-flowing her Wellness Vision to me for the past minute, and I’d done my best to capture the essence of what she was envisioning. Strength training because I do Zumba five days a week and I think I should start resistance training. Clearing out all of this clutter in my space. Feeling more ease. Simplicity. Spaciousness. My husband’s been gone 7 years, and it’s like there’s an entire part of myself that is finally waking up and coming alive.

Out of the hundreds of clients I’ve supported over the years, I’ve never met anyone more enthusiastic to create her Wellness Vision.

She’s 82.

And yet she sees an entire life still ahead of her, with experiences yet to create.

Below is the spoken word poem I wrote to conclude my keynote for the "Reinventing Aging After 50: Age Your Way" Conference. I invite you to challenge preconceived notions of aging and instead ask yourself "What if?"

First, create a new framework of possibility. And then bravely live into it.

What if Laura Ingles Wilder, who still wasn’t published at the age of 62

surrendered to writer’s block and chose something easier to do?

What if Ginette Bedard never started running at 69?

What if she resorted to eating Bonbons in a chair reclined,

Reading trashy magazines and sipping wine-

She’d never know the thrill of crossing a finish line.

She refused to believe her body was done

And completed her 12th consecutive NYC marathon 

at the remarkable age of 81.

What if Colonel Sanders was a driver for DoorDash?

Instead of recipe testing, he wanted quick cash

He was in his 60s! He could’ve said with a sigh, “If Church can make chicken, then shoot, why should I?”

But he believed in his vision, all his skills he applied

And that’s why today we have Kentucky Fried.

 

What if the story you’ve told yourself about aging isn’t true?

What if there’s so much more that’s left for you to do?

Instead of worrying about how many years ‘til we die,

What if we wondered how to maximize the years we’re alive?

There are still experiences to enjoy and memories to make,

There are books to be written and art to create.

There are friends to support and wisdom to share,

There are stories to tell to people who care.

Your body may move differently than it did before

it takes a little while longer to pick up something off the floor

and sometimes you forget the keys in the door

and your memory may not be as sharp as before.

But one thing’s the same- you!

You are still you! Right down to your core.

Every one of you is a marketing scout

Who has the power to transform what aging is about

It begins with your vision of what you want to create

So go live, and report back, “Glorious opportunities await!”

Strength Matters.

CASHEW see how strength matters more than weight alone? Instead of focusing on getting smaller, focus on getting stronger for overall physical and mental well-being. This mindset shift radically transformed my relationship with my body.

If you tend to fixate on numbers (namely what the scale says), shift your attention to other numbers- how much weight you can lift, squat, pull, and press. With more muscle, you’ll improve metabolism, insulin sensitivity, longevity, and healthspan. So get after it! 💪🏼🏋🏻‍♀️

Creativity Within Constraints.

Constraints remind us of the preciousness of what we have. With too much time, too many ideas, and an unlimited amount of materials, we can become paralyzed, lazy, and drown in decision fatigue. Limitations create value. They challenge us to make more intentional decisions and work with less. Constraints give us a sandbox where we can play and utilize everything we have to create something new. Remarkable art has been created with limitations. Beethoven composed some of the best masterpieces without his ability to hear. Grant Achatz, the famous chef of the Chicago restaurant Alinia, cooked many of his dishes without the ability to taste after he was diagnosed with tongue cancer.

Some people, however, use limitations as excuses.

I don’t have enough time. I have a bad knee and crippling arthritis. I have three kids under the age of 10 and I’m a single mom working full-time. I’m losing my vision. I’m past my prime. I’ve been rejected by 30 publishers already.

Others use constraints as a playground for creativity.

“Limitations are a necessary partner in the creative act as well as in the crafting of a successful life.”
— Anne Bogart

Below was my exploration of this in real-time, using only two different flower types and a 45-minute time limit.

Honoring the Four Directions.

Spread love and share your gifts.

Expand beyond your comfort zone and dance along the edges.

Instead of allowing the constraints and limitations in your life to stifle your creativity, how can you learn to create from them?

Finding Center.

“I saw that everything, all paths I had been following, all steps I had taken, were leading back to a single point - namely, to the mid-point. It became increasingly plain to me that the mandala is the center. It is the exponent of all paths. It is the path to the center, to individuation.” -Carl Jung

My Returning to the Center altar, created in my Morning Altars Teachers Training course.

The times in my life when I’ve felt numb, isolated, and lost were the moments when I was disconnected from my center for an extended amount of time. Finding my way back to my center returned me to a place of balance, order, and rhythm. But it’s not about remaining there. Life is a continual dance between departing and returning.

In creating this piece, I noticed how it’s the rippling out from the center that creates the patterns and ultimately, beauty. The maroon mums near the edges of the circle signify a return to the center in an expanded way. It’s not about always staying in the center and not leaving. It’s about departing, expanding, and then finding center again.

What represents the ‘center’ in your life?

What does it mean to let something emerge from your inspiration and ripple out, without losing the heart- the center- of who you are in the process?

Pay Attention.

Running through Godrays at Purisma Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve.

Pay attention to…
The way their eyes light up when they see you. Your intuition. Synchronicities. What you’re doing when it feels easy. What you’re doing when time flies by. Your self-talk. The things you choose to self-soothe. Who you text back immediately. Who you wait more than a day to reply back to. How your body opens up and expands when it’s a wholehearted “YES.” Moments it contracts when something feels off. What turns you on. What frustrates you. When you feel most like yourself. Who you want to spend your lunch with. How much energy and space you regained once you established boundaries. Who still reaches out even when you’ve made your boundaries clear. Books you want to reread. Quotes that resonate with you. Where your mind wanders. The smile you hear in their voice when they answer the phone. What you still want to learn. Godrays. The freedom children have when they play and make art. Soul-replenishers. The beautiful, fleeting moments that take you by surprise. Your breath. Your heartbeat. How there is only one of you in the entire world.