Neuroscience shows that we as humans can adapt to stress (physical and mental) and grow from that stress, but only when paired with real restorative rest - which is the opposite for many folks on this side of the pandemic or even for work hustle culture generally. I see rest as a critical element of living intentionally and mindfully.

Taking on other’s work as a Rescuer gave me a temporary rush of purpose and service followed by lots of guilt, worry, anxiety, and emotional exhaustion. What it never did was give them the tools to engage in more effective behaviors, or change how they worked or prioritized tasks, or even how to make more value aligned choices.

I’ve found the Rescuer role is the predominant one folks I work with play - in large part because they are servant leaders/educators and change agents so their energy and efforts are outward seeking naturally. The line between serving and rescuing can be blurry. Rescuers lose their own empowerment and sense of choice in relationships as they slide into over-functioning and over-working.

Does drama got you all tied up in a knot? Did you know worms tie themselves up when water/nutrients are scarce…maybe your knotted up stomach is giving you a clue, huh! Get out of the drama trauma cycle and into empowerment.

Autumn has a rich, juicy invitation to transformation. Autumn is a liminal space. [Don’t you just love that word, liminal, liminality] Autumn is the threshold between the growth and abundance of summer and the inner, restorative nature of wintering.

Central to (un)(re)learning Love is how to love self, love others, and be loved in order to fall in love daily with the World. We choose to love. We get to choose mindsets, actions, and behaviors that support and grow Love.

I love this phrase a client used - wanting off the conveyor belt. The conveyor belt is hyper fast paced with continuous noise. It drowns out any voices from within. It suffocates the authentic voice that wants to be embodied.

Did you know that we, humans, express 38% of emotional meaning through tone and rhythm of voice and only 7% through our actual words.* All the rest is done through body language. On my quest, I saw clearly my old ingrained pattern of “go along, to get along” through some of the practices we were invited to embody. Practices that asked our soul and true self to step into and share out with others we had just met.

I’m going to talk about Experimental Threshold Crossings (ETC’s) as one tool or practice to support change and to play with living your authentic voice. It’s about nudges - little actions - taken from the standpoint of your vision self. Little nudges every day will shift and build up over time. It’s a practice.

Ever since my first breakdown back in 2016 (the one with herniated discs from chronic stress), I’ve worked to - what I thought at the time - heal myself. As this self-work evolved, now I see our role is really to whole and rewild.

Part of the quest was 4 days of solo fasting (only water to drink) time. I knew that would be challenging all on its own. Combine that with torrential mountain thunderstorms, hail, swaying old trees surrounding me to really place the inner fears smack out in front to be faced.

One year ago, I quit higher ed because I was fatigued of the constant deconstruction mode. The tearing apart of mind, body, and soul. I was ready to reimagine a paradigm shift beyond the fear and shame. My journey had placed me back at home within myself.