Expectations are the kill joy of your dreams. And they are as vital to you as the air that fills your lungs. Expectations are the stuff you use to construct your perfect world. They are the measurement of choice when it comes to deciding whether things are going right/wrong or good/bad. When things measure up, all is calm and great. When things don’t measure up, your world turns upside down. Anger, frustration, disappointment—they feed on the fantasy in your head, tearing it to shreds along with the last ounce of power you could have used to create what you actually want. That’s the thing with expectations—they steal your power away....

This forest is unlike any I’ve ever known. It smells sweet. A scent you’d get from sap and pine needles baking in the heat. The air is clean and cool. The trees are strange—short, scrubby pines, twisting towards the sky. The wind whooshes through their tops, making a sound like ocean waves in the distance. I secretly wonder if they learned to imitate the sea from living next to it. Wandering down the pine needle path, sun spots dance in the grass and moss speckles the forest floor. There’s magic here. It’s palpable and real and I stop to breathe it in, taking it into me. When you’re grounded, you’re...

Pursuing and living your calling is one of the highest forms of WAKING UP. When you’re anchored in the world by your calling, you feel a sense of fulfillment that is no match to what any relationship, any drug, or any amount of money from a soul-sucking job could provide. I know this because I’ve experienced it myself. There was a time in my life when I was anchored in the world not by my calling, but by the men I dated. They WERE MY WORLD and I let my life revolve around them. I let them be my purpose—to the point where I became obsessed. So obsessed that I...