As we move through this Yuletide season, I’ve been thinking a lot about gifts. Not just the ones wrapped in paper, but the ones that arrive quietly in our lives. Opportunities, love, healing, moments of joy. And how often, when something good finally reaches us, our first instinct is to wonder whether we truly deserve…
Whimsy, Weariness and Whatever the Universe was Doing This Year
This year’s collage looks a bit like the universe shuffled my favorite play-list—travel, mountains, horses, pastries, auroras, bikes, and one very opinionated dog. I didn’t realize how lucky I’ve been until I started scrolling back through all the pics this year and thought, “Huh…this actually was a pretty good year”—even if my hair still hasn’t…
The Illusion of Sameness: What Politics and Love Get Wrong About Safety
We live in an age of reflex — a collective startle response.Our perception of humanity has split down the middle: us and them, right and wrong, awake and asleep. We scroll, we brace, we choose sides. It’s easier to belong to a camp than to sit in the tension of complexity. But the nervous system…
Aurora Sessions for a Wandering Heart
Last night, standing in my own backyard, I watched one of the largest auroral storms on record spill across the sky—curtains of color folding and unfolding like the world briefly remembered its own magic. It wasn’t the first time I’ve seen the northern lights; I’ve chased them in other corners of the world, letting their…
Emotional Road Rage and Other Holiday Traffic
It’s funny how fleeting peace can be. One minute you’re leaving pilates feeling like a Zen goddess, all breath and light and “nothing can shake me,” and the next, someone cuts you off in traffic and suddenly you’re auditioning for Fast and the Furious: Emotional Meltdown. It’s easy to beat yourself up in those moments….
The Tender Weight of Strength
I know I’m strong—and I’m grateful for that strength—but there are days when I simply wish for a moment of ease. Sometimes strength feels like both a blessing and a responsibility, a quiet understanding that I’ll show up and carry what needs carrying. And while I’m thankful for the resilience I’ve built, there are moments…
Borrowed Belief
We need someone who believes in us—who can see the light when we’ve forgotten where we shine. There are seasons when the weight of things feels too much, when dreams seem too far away, and self-belief slips quietly out the back door. In those moments, a voice saying “I got you” can feel like sunlight…
Yet…and
Something I wish I had understood in my 20s is the concept of a growth mindset. You’ve probably heard the term — it was popularized by Stanford psychologist Dr. Carol Dweck in her book Mindset, which I highly recommend. At its core, it comes down to this: people with a fixed mindset believe their abilities,…
When Structure Creates Space
The other week, my friend hit a wall. On paper, she has it together—great job, busy social life, always “on.” But inside, she felt wrung out, anxious, and disconnected. She told me, “I feel like I’m living in everyone else’s calendar except my own. How do you make rest look easy?” “Well, it hasn’t always…
Emotional Guac
Remember those books where you got to pick which page you turned to next? Life is basically one long game of “choose your own adventure,” except sometimes the options are life-changing and sometimes it’s just “should I order fries or a salad?” (btw: it’s always fries). Whether big or small, our decisions land better when…
The Ginger *Snap*s 