This week marked one year since my mom died.

As I stood in front of a group recently, every reason not to share showed up:

Don’t take up space.
Don’t make it awkward.
If you cry, you’ll seem attention-seeking.
If you don’t, you’ll be judged.

None of those voices were wrong. They were protective.

I shared anyway. Not to fix anything. Not for a breakthrough.
But so I didn’t have to carry it alone.

It was emotional. Uncomfortable. Relieving. And exhausting.
Just another step in the healing process.

Brené Brown says…

You don’t have to achieve your goals to be happy. True fulfillment comes from who you become along the way, not just what you complete. Let go of perfection and celebrate growth, self-acceptance, and progress. You are worthy of joy right now, even as a work-in-progress.

There was a fear or a sense of dread and discomfort I was creating as a way of protecting myself from feeling incompetent It’s really amazing the machinations our minds can create that may come from an inner desire to keep ourselves safe but in reality keep us stuck. What do you recognize in yourself and/or what other patterns do you experience.

Last week, I wrote about something we all long for, being loved in a way that makes us come alive and deeply feels like love to us.

Before we guide others into how we want to be loved, we have to learn how to offer it inward — so it doesn’t feel foreign, or undeserved, or impossible to receive because: We can’t teach others a language we’ve never practiced with ourselves.

Have you ever noticed how we sometimes expect others to just know how to love us—how to speak to us, what to say, what not to say—and then feel disappointed or unseen when they don’t?

The truth is, we’re always teaching each other—consciously or not—how to care for us.
Every interaction sends a message: what feels okay, what doesn’t, what opens us up, and what shuts us down.

The challenge is that most of this “training” happens unconsciously, but what if…

The Wisdom Beneath the “Bad” Emotions 🌿

We’ve all been taught to sort our emotions into “good” and “bad.”
Joy, love, peace — those get celebrated.
But fear, anger, worry, grief? We tend to hide, suppress, or shame them.

The truth is: when we make emotions wrong, we’re not just rejecting a feeling — we’re rejecting a part of ourselves. And that creates distress in the nervous system. Safety doesn’t come from being perfect. It comes from being whole.

Each emotion has a purpose:

Many of us spend our lives unknowingly trying to prove something—to ourselves, to others, to the world. These subconscious and unconscious patterns often run beneath the surface, shaping how we show up, love, work, and connect. Let’s explore the hidden beliefs and nervous system conditioning that can hold us back from authentic living. Learn how to recognize the unseen forces that drive you—and how to meet them with compassion so you can live from truth, not from fear.

Have you ever noticed how, just as things start going well, something inside you suddenly pulls back? You get tired, distracted, or anxious — as if your body doesn’t trust the very peace you’ve been craving. That’s not weakness. It’s your nervous system trying to keep you safe by holding you in the familiar. In this post, we’ll explore how our bodies can sabotage our own success, why “safety” can feel like fear, and how to lovingly retrain your nervous system to support your growth instead of resisting it. Think of it as learning to befriend the parts of you that panic when life gets good.

For years I held back from posting videos—waiting to feel ready, to get it “right.” Now I’m giving myself permission to show up imperfectly. I’m 3 days into a 30-day journey of posting one unscripted video a day. Day 4 drops today! Follow along, comment, and let me know what topics you’d love me to explore next. 🌿✨

What if, instead of preparing for disappointment, we practiced preparing for delight?

• What if you let yourself imagine that the project, the relationship, or the opportunity will go beautifully?

• What if you allowed yourself to feel the excitement now, regardless of the outcome later?

• What if the possibility of things working out exactly as you want became the story you rehearsed?

So much of who we think we are is shaped by these shoulds. When we believe them, we diminish ourselves. Whether we mean to or not, we are in subtle ways telling ourselves we are not enough. Every should is a reminder that we’re falling short—measuring ourselves against someone else’s standard or an idealized version of who we “should” be.

When most people think of courage, they picture something epic — a warrior on the battlefield, an activist risking everything, a firefighter running into flames. gregg, those images are powerful, but they can also be deceptive. They trick us into believing courage only “counts” when life is on the line. 

The truth is more mysterious, more intimate. Let’s explore where courage lives in you!

If you’ve ever felt yourself dimming your light to fit in or holding back parts of who you are out of fear of judgment, know that you’re not alone. It’s a tender and very human struggle. And yet, there’s so much freedom and joy available when we give ourselves permission to be seen as our full selves. This is the work I love supporting people with—learning to trust your own expression, quiet the voice of self-doubt, and step into the wholeness of who you are.

We often treat people, emotions, or even inner parts of ourselves the way we treat poison oak. If someone triggers us, challenges us, or brings up discomfort, our instinct may be to avoid or cut them out entirely. And sometimes that is the right call—but sometimes what’s really needed is a boundary that honors both connection and safety, not total elimination.

When we find ourselves triggered or emotionally activated, it can feel like our entire nervous system is hijacked. The body tightens, thoughts race, and reactions take over before we’ve had a chance to choose them. Unless we slow down our actions can become a reaction to our emotions and the stories we create rather than a response to the actual situation.

Lately, I’ve been pouring my heart into growing something on Instagram — and not just plants and tree posts (though yes, there’s a fair bit of that too!).

I’m sharing content that’s all about emotional resilience, EFT tapping, healing from burnout, forest bathing, self-love, setting boundaries and finding permission to be your full self — even the messy, tired, anxious, overwhelmed parts. Yes, especially those.

The page is alive with gentle reminders, nature medicine, tools for nervous system support, and plenty of green. I’ve included some snapshots below to give you a peek at what’s blossoming over there. In addition to nourishing content, it's a sensorial wonder of sights and sounds.

I’d so appreciate your help!…

Have you ever felt stuck between two choices — neither of which feel good?  One of my clients recently found themselves in a situation like that.

They felt angry. Powerless. Trapped.

There are parts of us — angry, scared, grieving, ashamed —that we’ve either ignored or tried to control. But trying to suppress it doesn’t make it go away. It just makes it louder. 

Have you ever been deep in something—grief, anxiety, burnout, confusion—and found yourself thinking, “I should be able to handle this on my own”?

I know I certainly have. And when I have that thought it keeps me stuck in cycles of self judgement and inability to move forward as easily as I might.

That little phrase—“I should be able to do this alone”—has kept so many of us stuck in silence. Overwhelmed. Isolated. Ashamed for needing what is, in truth, deeply human: support.

What I’ve discovered to be true, is…

Why Beating Yourself Up Isn’t Helping—And What To Do Instead

It’s human to beat ourselves up when we feel we’ve wronged ourselves or someone else. Perhaps we think we deserve punishment or it's the path to preventing mistakes in the future. That might briefly work. But the long term result is to create stress in our nervous system. But what if we could forgive ourselves? What might be possible?