Something I’ve been practicing recently is holding and giving space to how I feel, without acting on or withdrawing from it. I’ve been practicing slowing down to experience the fullness of what’s available to me as a human and to give myself choice in how I respond, when I choose to. For most of my life, things have been different. For most of my life, my instinct has been: How do I express this feeling or make it go away? To be human is to feel. And what I find true for me and my people is that we struggle to BE WITH how we feel. We tend to act...

It’s easy for me to be a fine mist. It’s much more difficult for me to be a steady stream. Thank you to my Coach for this analogy, because now I can’t get it out of my head. How honest are you? How willing are you to say and do what’s true for you? How willing are you to ask for what you want, even when there’s a possibility of hearing “no” or letting someone down? I’ve always thought of myself as an honest person, but like everything, there’s a chance to embody more of it. I AM honest, but not everywhere. Sometimes, I want to work with someone, but...

I feel the shield you carry. It’s heavy like armor—impenetrable. In many ways, we all wear armor. We wear it around our hearts to keep the hurt out. The longer life breathes us in, the more bruises we collect and sometimes, they stick around. The faint black and blue—a reminder to hitch the shield up higher because you never know what will come of what. People with the heaviest armor tend to have the most tender hearts. To bear all that love to the world—it’s like getting too close to the sun. It will burn all of you up. My own heart has been broken many times over the years,...