I hope this email finds you well. It’s been a moment since I’ve written to you.

To be honest, I occasionally feel the need to withdraw and get quiet in my life. It seems to be the best (or only?) way for me to hear my own thoughts clearly and to come back to a baseline that feels aligned with who I am becoming.

I used to fight those phases thinking that I needed to be equally productive all the time, but that was before I trusted that life just cycles through seasons that have different qualities.

Last week I whispered desperate words into my daughters ears that I never thought I’d utter before having kids: “Please, oh please just watch TV! Just one show. Look at your brothers watching ipad. Oh please!”

We were on an airplane to Sweden to visit family and my littlest one, Zoe (she is almost 2) was not interested at all in sitting down, playing with a toy, watching a show or being restrained on my lap.

She kept performing her wildest backward whale breaches to date while screaming at the top of her lungs for freedom to roam the airplane (no matter how much turbulence) and greet every passenger with a happy and loud “Hello!”… even the sleeping ones 😅.

Worry: The companion that keeps you up at night, fuels your anxiety, and robs you of enjoying precious moments.

But is it completely pointless?

Back in the caveman days the ones who worried about the tiger lurking, food going bad, storms approaching had a better chance of survival. Worrying -or, being alert!- was given to us for a reason.

The problem is that we were not designed to worry about every global event. We are not designed to hold, digest, respond and eventually make peace with every sad event and bad piece of news from the entire globe’s population.

It’s easy to lose the pieces of yourself that bring you joy, that light you up, that energize your soul.

Life gets busy, we become more serious, more stressed, more self-critical.

We watch everyone else hustle, achieve, having it all together.

We often don’t notice when we stop nourishing ourselves, when we stop playing, when we stop being kind to ourselves.

I recently decided that I would dedicate a specific time each week DURING THE DAY to doing something creative.

When I made this decision and put it into my calendar, it felt amazing, empowering, a little cheeky (which always gives me a nice little thrill;)).

Then, the day came when it was time for me to put my work and to-do’s to the side and pull out paper and paint.

It was so hard.

In 2009, I was on the NYC Subway reading Martin Seligman’s book “Authentic Happiness” when a woman around the age of my mother approached me. She was also reading this book and loved it. There was an instant connection and we exchanged numbers starting a friendship over the topic of happiness.

I was *just* re-emerging from a personal winter following back surgery after deciding to withdraw my med school application and pursue a degree in depth psychology instead. I was looking for my way to find my Authentic Happiness again.

Let’s dive deep!

Let’s get really real.

How do YOU want to EVOLVE in 2022?

Who are you meant to BECOME in this next year?

What parts of YOU are ready to EMERGE?

Most of my clients tell me that they wish they could simply enjoy their lives more.

That they could be more joyful.

They don’t necessarily want more stuff in their lives, but they wish they could really take more pleasure in what they already have.

Think about how much money, time and sweat we put into healthy food, supplements, doctor visits, working out, exercise gear etc. All in the name of health. In most cases, I think this is money well spent ✨

But guess what, there’s something else you can do for your health that’s FREE, but requires a little bit of intention, trust, and practice. It’s your mindset, your DECISION to be happy, your decision to approve of and like who you are, your decision to engage with people and activities that bring you joy.

One of the most powerful ways to simplify and improve your life is by knowing your values very intimately.

The key is to pick a FEW things that are really important to you… the things that truly bring you joy, the things that anchor you into your AUTHENTIC way of being in this world!

It’s key that you tune out what society, family or friends want and expect from you and just sit with your own soul.

I’m going to try something new: I’m going to create shorter posts that serve as a way for you to TUNE INTO yourself and experience an honest CONNECTION with YOU.

I believe that if you are connected to yourself in a positive and optimistic way, EVERYTHING in your life works better. But that connection to yourself needs tending and nurturing (like any thriving relationship).

Ans yes, I believe that positive self-connection IS possible even if the layers of your life feel chaotic at times, complex, and all demanding. In fact, I know so because my life is not that different from yours.

The reason I believe that an honest self-understanding is so crucial is because it sets the foundation for you to be able to create an aligned, optimistic, meaningful, and joyful life. And that is exactly what I am here to help you with:)

I don’t know about you but I can definitely fall into the trap of taking things too seriously that really should just roll off my shoulders.

For instance, we were at soccer practice for my middle son last weekend when my two boys ran straight into all the balls the team had collected nearly at the end of practice. They were having the best time, but I felt a wave of stress at the chaos and marched over saying “no no no!”

But why did I take this instance so serious?

Why did I let it stress me?

Today, I am writing to you from my office, windows open, soft music playing, gently getting back into my rhythm after a full summer and a trip to Europe where we could FINALLY hug our parents, aunts, siblings, cousins and nephews/ nieces.

Needless to say it was an emotional trip that brought so much warmth to our hearts as well as a few dips into the cold waters of Swiss lakes and the ocean in Sweden.

Recently I have been thinking about why so many women feel unsatisfied in their careers or relationships after a while.

Oftentimes jobs and relationships started off great and then something happens and the charm fades and dissatisfaction or misalignment creeps in.

Why does this happen?

While there are many reasons why feelings about jobs and relationships change over time and I do believe that oftentimes relationships, friendships, jobs etc. are simply made to accompany you for a particular season of your life, there is something else I have observed that I want to bring to your consideration today:

It is our ability to mold to certain people or jobs.

I remember nursing Zoe when she was just a few weeks old in May 2020. We had just moved into our house after a cross-country move, COVID was taking the world by storm, Zoe had colic and was crying/ screaming all day long, the boys’ schools just shut down and I was exhausted.

When I looked down at Zoe, however, tenderness filled my whole body and despite all the chaos, fear and unknowns in that current climate, I felt a sense of sweet satisfaction and gratitude that our family was complete.

It was in that moment that I realized that birthing and raising these three little humans would be the biggest, greatest and most important thing I’d ever do in my life.

We often think of our habits as the things we DO or ENGAGE in regularly.

It’s important to look at our habits, because these simple –often small and unconscious things– that we do consistently dictate so many of the outcomes and prevalent feelings in our lives.

Habits can be positive and nourishing or negative and destructive, so increasing your awareness for them is one way to step into greater self-leadership in your life.

Are you showing up WHOLE? Or, are parts of you staying hidden or neglected?

The concept of wholeness first occurred to me in my mid 20s when I discovered herniated disks in my spine. Through them I realized that I was operating my life from a masculine, disembodied, accomplishment driven place that left me feeling exhausted, uninspired, and empty.

Many of my conversations with my private clients are about feeling exhausted, stressed, anxious, like there’s never a break, they are always on…

As a result, many experience feeling angry, frustrated, easily irritated, flustered, all over the place, claustrophobic in their own lives…

And as a result of that, many eventually have something physical come up –examples include cysts, fibroids, hernias, wrist or shoulder injuries, debilitating migraines, neck or lower back pain… or chronic, autoimmune conditions where your own immune system turns against you– that quite literally forces them to stop everything and ask for help.

Not liking who you are can feel like one of the loneliest places.

That is why I want to approach this topic with a lot of love and sensitivity, but also honesty, encouragement, and optimism.

Here are my thoughts:

If you don’t like who you are, it’s either because you haven’t really met yourself yet, OR because you are not allowing who you really are out into the open.

Those are the primary –possibly even the ONLY– two reason.

If you have met yourself in this season of your life…

I was cleaning up my office last night and came across some of my husband and my engagement pictures from a little over 6 years ago.

As I was looking at the photos, something deep in me stirred. I sat there inspecting each photograph, holding them in my hands like precious jewels.