Walk The Talk

“Knowing what’s right doesn’t mean much unless you do what’s right.” – Theodore Roosevelt

It is wholly one thing to speak beautiful words and wholly another to live your life in a beautiful way.

Our lips can give voice to sweeping visions of kindness, acceptance, grace, and unity. I believe that loving and lovely words are a treasured gift unto themselves. And I also believe that it is so imperative to take an honest inventory of whether or not our actions align with the words we speak.

Are we actually practicing what we preach, walking the talk, choosing to live our beliefs rather than simply speaking about them?

When we are willing to genuinely open up our hearts and sharpen our gazes to take a gentle inventory of the things we do on a daily basis, the way that we are interacting with the world, the life we are choosing to live each day, we can see if our actions line up with the opinions we share, the beliefs we cherish, and the ideals we hold dear.

Here's an interesting thing to try: make two lists, one of the values you set store by and another of your day-to-day actions…how do they compare?

I've had a series of bittersweet realizations about this recently. It's not always very nice to look at and it's so easy to ignore the gaps (sometimes gorges) between some of our most cherished tenets and actually living them. How can I stand up and speak of self-acceptance, of progress over perfection, and of shining over shrinking when I struggle in each moment to embody those words? I think it is a challenge to live beyond our good intentions and to take them into good action.

But it's a challenge I am devoted to tackle day-by-day, step-by-step, and moment-by-moment with my whole heart because I would hate to get to the end of this life and not feel proud of the way that I lived and of the person I chose to be. Let's not just talk about it...let's BE it.

“I challenge you to make your life a masterpiece. I challenge you to join the ranks of those people who live what they teach, who walk their talk.”- Anthony Robbins

Muditā

Muditā noun | (Pāli and Sanskrit: मुदिता)

1 - sympathetic, vicarious joy

2 - delight in the well-being of another

3 - warmth of the heart which is gained from the happiness and success of others

I genuinely believe there is no better feeling in the universe than the uninhibited swelling of your heart when you see someone you love have their dreams come true.

It vibrates deep into bones. It brings bold letter, all-caps, exclamation mark smiles to mouths and embraces cheeks into bear hugs so tight they begin to ache with joy. It turns lungs into hot air balloons and stomachs into baskets of butterflies.

And it is so unbelievably pure.

And it is infinitely and immeasurably sweeter than if the same thing had happened to you.

Witnessing those whom we love shining their brightest, stepping gracefully into their strength, overcoming obstacles, and living their lives in serene alignment with their own deep inner knowing makes every cell within us vibrate a little more gleefully - as if each atom within us was taking the victory dance after scoring the winning touchdown.

And I promise you that there are people in your life who feel this when YOU are thriving - people who bubble bliss when you speak your truth and fizz festivity when you taste triumph.

So knowing how unfathomably special a feeling this is when you see those you love blooming, why would you ever want to deny that same feeling to them in return?

When you step into your power, when you speak your truth, when you live your life with joy filled to the brim that brings muditā deep into the hearts of people who love you! Everyone in your orbit benefits from you shining. Everyone.

So please, go kiss your dreams and glisten in your sunshine because seeing you soar might just be the best feeling that someone experiences today.

Praying

“Praying" by Mary Oliver

It doesn’t have to be the blue iris,

it could be weeds in a vacant lot,

or a few small stones;

just pay attention,

then patch a few words together

and don’t try to make them elaborate,

this isn’t a contest

but the doorway into thanks,

and a silence

in which another voice may speak.

The idea of praying used to make me feel uncomfortable. Honestly, I felt this for most of my life...until I hit my rock bottom...until I found yoga...until I understood that communing and communicating with something greater than me and conversing with that intangible force (whatever it is and whatever you'd like to call it) that connects us all can be life-saving, nourishing, empowering, and necessary.

Prayer can (but doesn't need to) look like: kneeling at your bedside, walking peacefully in nature, writing in your journal, breath to movement embodied flow, gardening, gazing at stars, cooking meals for loved ones, singing, dancing, painting, swimming, running, or anything and everything that makes you realize that you are entwined with something that is MORE than your five senses - intangible and indescribable and beautiful and so incredibly powerful.

So what is prayer? It is a conversation with the divine "something" that nestles within each of us and that lives within all things.

It is yoga.

It is bare toes grasping green grass.

It is unexplored places and coffee dates with old friends.

It is asking for help and it is graciously receiving it.

It is the soft sunlight at the end of the day saying, "I'm holding you, I see you, and I love you wholeheartedly, flaws and all."

Let's whisper into the quiet and let's ask the questions lingering unspoken on our tongues. And let's trust...that we are held and that our words are being heard and resonated and reverberated into the places we cannot see and absorbed by the forces we cannot see.

Your prayer can be anything you choose it to be and I believe that is the magic. I believe in you and your own brand of mysterious magic...trust that you are seen, you are heard, your are felt and you are held. I love you. So much.

Grace

grace /grās/ (noun)

1 - elegantly tripping on both feet, dancing in a world of beautiful and terrible things

2 - the intangible light that guides us through life

I love words - how a combination of letters can mean so many different things depending on their alchemy. How a word can be infused with emotion, definition, and connotation based on the context of the situation, the other words living next door, the mood of the speaker, or the inflection of the tone.

And I really love beautiful words.

Not necessarily words that in their expression sound luxurious or lovely but more so the kind of beautiful words that stir something in your heart, spread tingles to your fingers, and spark fireflies in your belly. Words that inspire beauty in the speaker and in the speaking.

When I think of the person I'd like to be in the world, I think of two of my most favorite beautiful words: kindness (my favorite forever and always) and...grace.

There are a million and one things that grace can evoke and I find each of them to be more beautiful than the next. Grace is gratitude.

Grace is poise under pressure.

Grace is the pause before responding.

Grace is walking lightly on the earth.

Grace is holding the hearts of others with soft hands.

Grace is honesty bathed in kindness.

Grace is behaving with dignity.

Grace is treating others with respect.

Grace is fluidity in movement.

Grace is forgiveness.

Grace is faith in others.

Grace is courtesy.

Grace is acceptance.

Grace is rising above.

Grace is leading by example.

And it's not perfection...it's something so much sweeter than that.

It's elegantly tripping on both feet as you dance in a world of beautiful and terrible things. It's the intangible light that guides us through life. And I think it lives in all of us, quietly (or you might say gracefully?) waiting to be embodied, expressed, and explored.

Your Mosaic

“You must surround yourself with the dreamers and the doers, the believers and the thinkers, but most of all surround yourself with those who see the greatness within you even when you don’t see it in yourself.” - Edmund Lee

You know how sometimes you can hear something over and over again and feel nothing and then suddenly (and seemingly out of nowhere) you hear it one more time and it finally hits you right in the heart? That was my day today.

For years I've heard the expression "You become like the 5 people you spend the most time with" and honestly until today, I had never really given it much thought. Sure, I've had moments where I'll say a word or unique phrase and laugh as I realize I picked it up from a friend, but I hadn't given deeper inquiry to the layers under the surface - the truly foundational aspects of each of us that become reflections (or sponges) of those we share our time with. For some reason, this time it finally landed...and I was genuinely struck silent for a moment. What a strangely potent lightbulb moment to have first thing on a Friday morning!

So I sat with my morning coffee and I had a good ponder and a good feel. I wondered, how much of me comes from my own unique sparkle and how much of it is an intricate collage of aspects adopted from those around me? And then I wondered some more...do these unintentionally purloined traits align with the person I am aspiring to be?

And then I wondered even more upon more...am I choosing to surround myself with people who inspire me, spark creativity, ignite passion AND (again wondering more upon more upon more) am I the kind of person who inspires greatness in others, nourishes their growth, helps swell the tide of their successes? Am I choosing to surround myself with sunshine or hurricane?

I indulged myself and let my thoughts swirl and dance and spin and tumble until I finally followed the bouncing ball all the way to a very simple answer. Yes, in many ways I am both a reflective mirror and an absorbing sponge of those I keep close and yes, I believe the same is true in reverse.

And you know what? It felt so incredibly empowering to voice that simple idea. It made me want to commit to not only surround myself with the inspired, motivated, passionate, grateful, and open minded people in this world, it made me want to BE the dreamer and the doer and the believer and the thinker and the person who sees greatness in others even when they don't see it in themselves.

And...you know what else? It made me so unbelievably grateful. Because if I am a mosaic made up of tiny tiles of the people I share time with then that makes me the luckiest human in the world...because look at this radiant community of phenomenal people I stumbled my way into. I hope you know how grateful I am for the vibrant sunlight you give me every day. And I hope you know how determined I am to live up to your radiant example and to embody even a tiny amount of the inspiration you have given me.

No Bad Parts Of You

"I'm still learning to love the parts of myself that no one claps for." - Rudy Francisco

There are no bad parts of you. Let's read that again...there are no bad parts of you.

We all have challenging flashpoints in our personal history from which spring myriad ways of coping. These coping mechanisms give life to different aspects of our personality that linger and emerge from time to time even once the initial challenge has passed. I often feel this acutely.

I think perhaps we have all had a situation which spurs in us a feeling of "I'm not good enough" or "I'm not worthy." From this initial challenge source, we may develop a way to make up for this perceived lack. Perhaps you lean into perfectionism or overachieving or people pleasing - always seeking to be flawless so that no one can ever say that you aren't enough ever again. Or perhaps you tend towards humor or being the class clown because if you are laughing then at least you won't be crying. These ways of dealing with the situation emerged to protect us and to guide us through as best they could at the time they were initially needed. The tricky part comes when the challenge has passed but those parts of us linger and they become annoyances that we label as bad or unacceptable or we deny their existence entirely.

But there is so much to be learned, to be celebrated, and to be healed by listening to these parts of us that have a story to tell. The same part of you that you see as flawed has likely also given life to a paired aspect that is likely one of your greatest strengths. Perfectionism walks hand in hand with self-awareness and discipline and a lively sense of humor teaches us to find a silver lining of laughter in all things. All parts of us were made with the very best intention - they were made to be of service, they were made to help us deal, they were made to hold us and carry us through hard times. These are a part of us whether we want them to be or not.

So perhaps the question isn't how do we get rid of them...but rather how do we listen closely and offer them the support they need? How do we say "thank you" for trying your best to help me in the best way that you know and then how do we help these pieces transform, mature, and evolve in healthy tandem with our own personal growth?

There are no bad parts of you.

Hugging Heals

"If you hug someone close for more than a few seconds, your hearts will begin to synchronize. And what's even more incredible is this: if one person in the hug is calm and one person is anxious, the anxious heart will synchronize to the calm heart until both people are relaxed." - Andrea Gibson

I've been healed by a hug before. I've felt myself falling to pieces and I've felt, in a single heartfelt wrapping of arms over arms and chests to chests, my scattered shards being scooped up and placed back together.

I think this is one of the reasons why I believe in the best in people...because any person can be a healer with the simple of act of giving someone a warm embrace.

I find such sweet comfort in knowing that in the moments when we are trembling with anxiety, when we can't catch our breath, when we feel shaken or out of control or shattered that there is a bit of relief right at our fingertips if we simply ask for a hug.

I wonder sometimes at how easy it is to forget how incredibly powerful we are - so powerful that our own calm heartbeat can soften the racing heart of another. What an amazing gift to recognize that we can all be healers every single day of our lives if we choose to be.

So I hope you read this and feel me hugging you with each word. And I hope you remember that you have this incredible capacity to heal - all you have to do is open your arms to it.

Becoming Pizza…

"And then the day came, when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." -Anais Nin

When was the last time you took a leap of faith? The last time you exposed your heart, or struck out on your own, or said the words you've been choking down, or dared to fly without the promise of a safety net? When was the last time you actually let yourself blossom?

I would hate to think of any of us at the end of our days looking back on our lives wishing we would have lived more fully, more authentically, or more brightly.

I once had a woman compare my life to a ball of pizza dough which made me laugh and also hit me right in my (pizza-loving) heart. Pizza dough is full of glorious potential, but if you don't start to work it, to expand it, to try out different toppings, to add your flare and style and the things that make your pizza the tastiest pizza around, then you will just sit there as a ball of dough for the rest of your life. What a waste of dough (and of an amazing life)!

I think it's one of the scariest AND most empowering things we can do - to take the risk to fully blossom knowing that some people may not love the kind of pizza we choose to be. Your toppings may not be for everyone but they will be perfect for the ones that matter, the people who love your distinct flavor and style.

So let's take the risk, let's expand, let's not live our lives as balls of dough...let's make some pizza!

Fly Again

"Most birds were created to fly. Being grounded for them is a limitation within their ability to fly, not the other way around. You, on the other hand, were created to be loved. So for you to live as if you were unloved is a limitation, not the other way around. Living unloved is like clipping a bird’s wings and removing its ability to fly. Pain has a way of clipping our wings and keeping us from being able to fly. And if left unresolved for very long, you can almost forget that you were ever created to fly in the first place." - William Young

Humans have been clipping the wings of captive birds for centuries (and clipping the wings of other humans for much longer than that). Whether born in the wild or in captivity, birds all have the same biological impulse to fly - their entire bodies are structured specifically for flight. A bird who has been regularly clipped quickly loses the musculature necessary to fly but it does not lose the desire to soar. However, without being able to lift off, they soon learn that attempting flight will result in failure and pain so they feel reluctant to try again - both physically and psychologically they become smaller, less confident, less vibrant versions of their former selves.

But there is always hope. If clipped feathers are given the time and space to regrow and heal, if the bird is shown by other birds what flying looks like, if the muscles are re-trained and cared for and nurtured...a caged bird can once again fly. I believe the same is true of people.

Once we've had a traumatic event or damaging life experience we can lose the emotional musculature needed to learn to fly again - we become afraid to try because we have fallen before. And so we shrink back, we allow ourselves to become small, and we forget that we were created to soar in the first place. I also believe that, just like birds, we can absolutely learn to fly again - stronger and more vibrant than ever.

So give yourself the time and space to regrow and heal. Surround yourself with others who inspire you to soar again. Nurture and care for your wounds. Gently re-train your emotional muscles to operate fully again...to feel fully again.

If your wings feel clipped, know that you are not alone and that you can and will fly again.

“Finally my clipped wings regrew, now, I soar higher than the eagle." - Humble Edward

Building Beautiful

“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.” — Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

Did you ever see the Pixar movie, "Inside Out"? It's a sweet story (and worth the watch if you have a bit of time) about the richness of feeling the layers of our emotions. When I think back on my life, there is not a single impactful memory where I felt purely one thing. There are moments of joy with a side of longing, there are moments of sadness with glimmers of hope, and there are plenty of moments of tears and laughter puddled together into a delightfully messy emotional smoothie.

Perhaps it's a habit of our culture to always be seeking to feel solely happy...and I think in doing so we could potentially miss out on the nourishment of a balanced diet of emotions - as if each emotion had a certain vitamin, flavor, and texture to add to your diet. We may prefer some over the others but we know that even the bitterness of a darker chocolate moment can be softened by adding a touch of whipped creamy hope right at the end.

It's true that the most beautiful people I've ever met are those who have tasted darkness and have used it as a springboard to empathy - to enhanced moments of kindness and understanding.

Beautiful people are made of intricate layers of emotional flavors - a recipe whipped up through perfectly imperfect, bitter yet sweet, salty and spicy and sugary and savory experiences...all nourishing growth, all welcome, all felt.

Easy To Love

“What if you moved through the world as if you were easy to be loved? Because I promise you, you are easy to love.” - Sonalee Rashatwar

Whew. I needed to hear that today. What a concept...to move in the world with the knowledge that you are easy to love. It makes my heart ache a bit thinking of about this - a good ache and also a sad ache.

There is a sweetness in having someone promise you, so surely and so confidently, that you are worthy of love. And also a tinge of regret - realizing how challenging those words can be to hear...and to believe.

So maybe we can try this on for size together? Each of us promising the other, "you are easy to love," and each of us choosing to believe it. That seems like a pretty tender world that I would love to live in.

So, from my heart to yours, trust me when I say, you are easy to love and I love you.

New Years Blessing

"We do not grow absolutely, chronologically. We grow sometimes in one dimension, and not in another: unevenly. We grow partially. We are relative. We are mature in one realm, childish in another. The past, present, and future mingle and pull us backward, forward, or fix us in the present. We are made up of layers, cells, constellations." -Ana'is Nin

I've always loved the promise of a new year. There is a freshness and sweetness that can be found in turning to the next page.

Plus the lovely sense of potential...potential for growth, for adventure, for just about anything. And, hand in hand with the promise of something new comes an opportunity for a beautiful and intentional acknowledgement, reflection, and integration of all that has happened within the past year.

As I write this. I realize I am once again found without the "right' words. This past year has at times flown by and at times slowed to a crawl. I've felt all of the things: joy, sadness, embarrassment, glee, wonder…

In some ways I've grown lightyears and in so many others I feel stagnant or pulled backwards - uneven and unsure. I suppose, to be honest, I'm still processing...and maybe we are always in the process of processing one thing or another?

What I know for sure is that in this moment right now, thinking of you all and the time we have shared and the consistent glow that lights up my heart seeing you each week, I feel so incredibly, abundantly, overwhelmingly blessed.

Blessed to know you.

Blessed to spend time with you.

Blessed to love you.

Thank you for a year full of memories together that I will cherish always.

1440 Minutes

“be easy. take your time. you are coming home. to yourself.” - Nayyirah Waheed

There are 1440 minutes in each day...how many are you truly present for?

I suppose we sleep through about a third of these so, out of the remaining 960 minutes, how many times do you feel genuinely awake, aware, and appreciative during your day?

If I'm being honest, I think on a good day I'm fully aware of maybe 4 hours worth of time? Maybe less?

This line of self-inquiry isn't meant in any way to make us feel guilty about how we spend our time or to suddenly rush out to fit a million things into each day. I think it's simply an interesting tool to gather information so that we can be more active in how we choose to spend the time we are given.

If anything, 1440 minutes is a beautifully abundant amount of time! If we are currently spending hours on autopilot then it is a fabulous gift to reclaim these hours back into our lives! We are more able to take our time with ease and grace because we have reallocated our un-present moments into the fully present category. To me, this is very empowering.

Out of all of your daily minutes today, perhaps you choose to shift some un-present moments to present moments and take the five minutes or an hour (or more) to re-energize, to nourish, to take sweet care of yourself.

The Good You Might Do…

"Are you afraid of the good you might do?" - Victor Hugo

I can't help but think that sometimes we hold back not from fear of failure but from fear of success. It's like if we actually showed up completely and authentically as ourselves, if we actually were as kind as we know we can be, if we actually shot for the stars and lived the lives of our dreams then all of a sudden we would have something to lose.

It's such a strange thing that when having a moment of purest joy and celebration that so often the very next thought is, "I wonder how long this will last?" or, "What happens when this goes away?" It's like we are afraid of giving in to the goodness of the moment because we fear losing it. We hold back instead of taking the leap because being in the moment means being vulnerable.

So, let's take a breath to imagine what amazing and incredible GOOD you could do in this world if you allowed yourself to. That is a world I would love to live in.

No Guarantees

"Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory." - Dr. Seuss

There are many moments of my life that I wish I had cherished more while they were happening - time spent with friends and loved ones, big wins, small victories, belly laughs, and comforting hugs.

In hindsight, I can see how special these flickers of time truly were. I've been thinking about this a lot recently.

We are not guaranteed time on this earth.

We are not guaranteed clear memories of the life we have already lived.

What we are guaranteed is this moment right now.

It's so simple...and so challenging...to be right here and right now. But just like anything else, I think we can practice.

So let's not wait until tomorrow to realize how special our lives are.

Let's not wait to cherish the people in our lives.

Let's not wait to soak in the laughter and the smiles and the sun and the sky.

Let's value the moments IN the moment.

Listen To The Niggle

What is your niggling feeling trying to tell you?

We all have gut feelings - little niggles that we can spend years trying to ignore. We throw ourselves fully into stubbornly shoving these niggles aside or numbing out so we don't need to process them. We hope that if we turn away from them for a long enough time that they will simply disappear. But they persist and life keeps serving up bigger and more obvious situations to encourage us to face these feelings.

Until we acknowledge the niggle. it will never be resolved.

Until we tend to the niggle, it will always be like the pea under the mattress.

Our bodies often reveal the niggles first, even before our intuition has time to catch up. The inconvenient anxiety or strain or tension is a guidepost pointing us to what needs to be shifted - the conversation that needs to be had, the decision that needs to be made, the relationship that needs to be addressed.

So let's take the time to pause and scan the body - to breathe more deeply and to tend to these pebbles in our shoes before they become boulders.

5 x 5 Rule

The 5x5 Rule: If it won't matter in 5 years don't spend more than 5 minutes worrying about it.

I am an expert at working myself into an worry spiral. I can spend hours upon hours fretting over past conversations, upcoming events, things I "should" or "shouldn't" be doing, and on and on and on. Enter: the 5x5 rule - the most effective way I've found to break a worry spiral.

Here's the concept: Take a moment to close your eyes and breathe. Then, ask yourself if what you are spinning about will matter in five years from now. If the answer is yes, then take a few more breaths to regain your composure so that you are more resourced to make a plan and respond accordingly. If the answer is no, then allow yourself five minutes to feel whatever it is you need to feel, and then move on.

There are two very sweet reasons this seems to work. Firstly, it allows you to zoom out a bit and put the experience in the context of your greater life timeline. It takes some of the stressful urgency out of the equation and allows you to see if you are needlessly overthinking. Secondly, it allows you the space and time to actually feel. Take a short but sweet five minute window to acknowledge your feelings rather than shoving frustrating emotions away somewhere inside where they will likely pop back up later - digest the emotion rather than putting off the inevitable processing that needs to happen.

So perhaps the next time your thoughts begin to slide into the worry spiral, try the 5x5 rule on for size and see if it is helpful.

Trust The Detour

"Life is constantly rerouting us to be on our best paths." - Catherine Cassidy

I often think back about the detours, reroutes, and unexpected paths life has taken me on. More often than not. I am struck with gratitude in the unfolding.

It would certainly be a strange world if everything always went exactly as we planned! There would be no zest. no sparkle, no surprise ... no laughter spontaneously bubbling up from an unexpected delight. If all had gone according to the plan I had laid out early in my life. I would never have found yoga.

It is with unending thanks that I reflect that if not for the roadblock that forced a diversion from the path I thought I wanted, I would never have met many of my closest friends, been a part of a community that I cherish, or found the courage to use my voice and discover my self-worth.

So I'm reminding myself today to trust that when the sands shift underfoot that it is simply life guiding me onto a better path. When you feel unsteady or rerouted I hope this helps you too.

Feeling First

"Trust your instincts. Intuition doesn't lie." - Oprah Winfrey

If there is one thing I've learned in the past few weeks it's that your gut almost always knows the right answer before your head has figured it out. It is easy to logic away your instinct - to fill spreadsheets, make pro/con lists, or talk yourself into or out of a decision regardless of what your tummy is telling you.

It takes courage to act on intuition - to follow the guidance of your body as it picks up on the subtle vibrations deep inside that know if something is right or wrong for you. I think the truth is that the brain can spin any story and your heart can easily spiral upon pure emotion, but the voice that speaks from your gut? I think that is a whisper directly from your soul.

As with all things, learning to tune into feeling takes practice and patience. So let's breathe together. Let's close our eyes and turn down the noise. Let's try feeling first - before the brain starts to chatter and before the heart starts to weave it's story - let's try to feel deep into the gut...deep into the soul.

Ditch The Plan

"We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us." - Joseph Campbell

When I was a child, I imagined that at my age I would be in a very different place. I would be happily married, living in New York or Los Angeles, raising several beautiful children while all the while effortlessly starring in Broadway shows or big Hollywood movies...and also traveling the world as an all-star wild animal veterinarian on the side?!

The very honest truth is that my life has quite obviously taken some drastic turns from what I planned...and I wouldn't change it for the whole world.

By default, I am an inherently hyper-organized and list-oriented human. I love to follow instructions, step-by-step, until every "i" is dotted and every "t" is crossed. Yet, the universe has had a very different plan and the greatest moments of joy I have found in this lifetime are in the unplanned moments - the times when I soften my grip and lean into pure and unrestrained trust of the unknown.

If I had stuck to "the plan," I would never have found yoga. I would never have learned to use my voice. I would never have discovered my strength. I would never have found YOU - this community - this unimaginably incredible tribe of people who make my heart sing and my soul dance.

I don't know what tomorrow brings but I know that it brings more time with you and that makes every moment of uncertainty drift away. So thank you for teaching me to soften my grip on the future, to lean into and trust in the unknown, and to fully embrace the life that is waiting!