I've spent the past few days thinking about last week's conversation with Johnnie and Reuben. When I sat down to record this week's podcast, I thought we were going to talk about fitness. That was certainly the plan. If you haven't had a chance to check it out then you can listen here: Johnnie and Reuben have spent years helping people become healthier through movement, strength training, nutrition, and by creating a community where people genuinely feel like they belong. We'

One of the things I've come to appreciate about these weekly questions is that they almost never take me where I think they're going to. Every Sunday I ask a question on the podcast, and then I spend the rest of the week living with it before I sit down to write this reflection. I've learned not to rush to an answer because when I do, I usually end up writing what I think I should say instead of what I'm actually learning. If I simply stay curious and give myself enough time,

This morning I walked into my garden carrying a new hummingbird feeder. For the last couple of months, I've been trying to capture a picture of one of the hummingbirds that visits my flowers. If you've ever watched one, you know they're almost impossible to photograph. They're fast, unpredictable, and never seem to stay still long enough. More mornings than I can count, I've stood quietly in my garden with my camera, hoping this would be the day I finally caught one. For my b

Last Sunday, I asked the question, What is your body trying to tell you? If you haven't had a chance to listen to this week's podcast yet, you can do that here before reading today's reflection. One of my favorite parts of this new rhythm is that I don't try to answer the question right away. Instead, I carry it with me throughout the week. I take it on my walks, think about it while I'm driving, and simply pay attention. By Wednesday, I usually realize the answer isn't somet

Every week begins with one question. I record the conversation, spend a few hours editing it, upload the episode, and then I do something that has become part of my routine. I put in my AirPods, lace up my sneakers, and head out for a long walk. By then, I'm no longer listening as the host who's wondering whether I should have edited one more sentence or paused a little longer before making a point. I'm listening the same way everyone else will, curious to discover what the c

When I first sat down to write this week's reflection, I thought I was writing about identity. Over the past several weeks, I've been having conversations with people who all seemed to be asking the same question. One woman had spent fifteen years caring for her parents until they both passed away. Another had poured everything she had into raising her daughter after a difficult divorce, only to find herself standing in an unexpectedly quiet house when college arrived. Anothe

I don't think we always recognize when a season of our lives is coming to an end. More often than not, we're too busy living it. We're focused on the work in front of us, the next decision that needs to be made, the project that still feels unfinished, or the dream that hasn't quite become reality yet. We keep moving because that's what the season asks of us, rarely stopping long enough to realize that one day we'll look back and recognize it as a chapter that quietly shaped

Summer Solstice Garden Gathering June 20, 2026 "Twelve years ago, I stood alone beneath a winter sky searching for answers I could not yet name. Last Saturday, I stood beneath a summer sky surrounded by growth in every direction. The stars were the same. I was not." For weeks leading up to the Summer Solstice Gathering, I found myself imagining how the evening would unfold. I had planned readings, reflections, and stories I wanted to share. I imagined introducing the books, t

As I sit in the garden writing this, there are only a few days left until the Summer Solstice Gathering. The table in front of me was built by Dave. The journal I am writing in was gifted to me by Kalista. Both of them have spent countless hours helping bring this vision to life, and as I sit here reflecting, I find myself looking around at all of the pieces that have somehow come together over the past few months and wondering how I ever got lucky enough to be part of this s

The first rose climbing the trellis in the Becoming Garden. This week, I put together a video showing the progress of the Becoming Garden. What I expected to be a simple collection of photos documenting the journey somehow became a reflection on something much bigger. The video begins with the garden as it looks today. The lights are glowing, the flowers are blooming, and the space feels alive in a way that I could only imagine a few months ago. From there, the video moves ba

Were you taught to pursue happiness… or were you taught to pursue survival, stability, money, and approval? This morning in our workshop, we were reading Chapter 5 in Part II of Becoming Aligned, The Foundation of Values. We are currently moving through the space between Awareness and Alignment, and honestly, that in-between space feels messy, emotional, complicated, and incredibly human. It is the space where you begin to recognize something feels off, but you are still tryi

There are certain moments in life that quietly mark the beginning of something new. Not because everything suddenly changes overnight, but because somewhere along the way, you realize you are no longer standing in the same season you once were. Nearly eleven years ago, on a cold winter night outside an old farmhouse, I stood beneath a sky full of stars and felt something inside me become still enough to finally listen. I did not understand it completely at the time, but looki

“I think for me… it’s actually coming to terms with needing to fix this instead of just keeping going.” There’s a version of this kind of work that sounds really good when you talk about it. You set goals, you build habits, you create a plan, and then you follow through. It feels structured, it feels productive, and it gives the impression that change happens in a clean, predictable way. But that’s not what this looks like in real life. Over the past four weeks, I had the opp

There’s something powerful that happens when someone chooses to pause and really look at their life—not from the outside, not based on expectations or roles, but from a place of honesty. Over the past few weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to work with a small group of individuals inside the Foundations Four program. Each person came into it with their own story, their own challenges, and their own reasons for saying yes to something new. What I’ve found, time and time again, is

You don’t start when life settles down. You start when it doesn’t. During our Sunday group meeting, someone asked a question that I hear often, and one that I think a lot of people quietly carry with them: “When is the best time to start a program like this?” In responding, I shared something that comes up in conversation again and again—that while many people say it sounds like a great idea, they often feel like they need to clear some things off their plate first before the

It is spring break, and my news feeds are filled with sunsets, beaches, amusement park rides, and dinners that stretch long into warm evenings. There is an ease in those images, a sense of stepping away from everything for a little while, and I can feel the pull of that. The idea of warmth, of rest, of being somewhere beautiful and different for a few days is undeniably appealing. But here at home, something else is happening. We are deep in the season of Spring—not as a plac

Awareness is not the moment you need to change your life. It’s the moment you begin to understand it. It doesn’t ask you to fix or act right away, but to stay—to pause long enough to see clearly without turning it into pressure. You are not falling behind by simply noticing; this is where growth is already happening. This morning, during our workshop, we found ourselves talking about awareness in a way that felt different than usual. It wasn’t theoretical or structured. It wa

The Practice of Intentional Living Not long ago, I attended a conference where there was a motivational speaker who used a lot of familiar language — the kind you hear often in personal development spaces — words like manifesting, creating the life you want, making your own luck, living with passion and purpose, and being disciplined. It all sounded good in the moment, the kind of message that is easy to nod along with. At the end of his talk, he opened the floor for question

Stone Valley Trail, Colton, NY - Early spring, when everything is moving—but not everything has arrived yet. Not everything blooms at once, and maybe that’s what I’ve been learning—especially this time of year, when the shift into spring doesn’t happen all at once, but in quieter, almost unnoticeable ways, until one day you realize something has already changed. There’s this idea that when something in your life shifts—when you finally “figure something out” or commit to doin

There’s a moment at the beginning of any meaningful change where everything feels possible—but also a little unclear. You know you want something different.You know you’re ready.But you’re not quite sure where to start. That’s exactly where this part of Foundations meets you. It reminds us of something simple, but incredibly powerful:without clear goals, change stays abstract. When we don’t define what we’re working toward, it becomes harder to stay consistent, harder to me