When I was a child I taped sheets of printer paper together in huge sprawling configurations so that I could then design my ideal houses. My mom subscribed to Southern Living and I especially loved looking at their house plans in the back of each issue. They had all sorts of nooks and crannies and dormers and gables and butlers pantries. 

Today I'm starting with mess and space constraints. This can feel like a real barrier to certain dreams because mess and space are so freaking tangible. It can feel like reality that you don't have enough space for your own kiln in your studio apartment. (Yes, perhaps objectively true.)

Not that long ago I was driving in the rural county where my parents now live in Virginia. On the way to their house is a little cinderblock cottage. It's small. Not fancy, but clearly the person who lives there takes care of it and it's a home. It has little touches like flower pots and some sun catchers in the windows. The paint trim, if I'm not mistaken, is turquoise- a highly idiosyncratic choice and clearly personal. 

the whole point of having dreams and desires is to delight in them! 

And bonus: our dreams don't have to be huge to be meaningful. 

As I mentioned the other day, it's easy to get caught up in having Big Dreams for yourself like new homes, relationships, bodies, bank accounts, writing books,  making art. 

The whole Ideal Life exercise is a common one in coaching circles and remains part of my work with clients to this day; however, I do think that we don't spend enough time solidifying why that's your ideal life and then how to bring small elements of it into your daily round right now.

This essay is the first in a series about the ways we withhold from ourselves the living our ideal lives. I’ll be linking to each part as I post them.

We are constantly doing- and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. What wisdom can we find then in this cliched adage about being vs. doing? 

What do lowly root vegetables and New Year’s resolutions have in common?

Are you a resolutions person? Do you pick a word of the year? Is there a specific way that you participate in our cultural’s annual self-improvement orgy?

I’ve not worked that much (or even been in touch with friends and family aside from texts) because we have had Coronavirus at our house. And while I do run a business, it has not been business as usual.

For the first month or six weeks of this experience, life was hard and joy was hard to come by.

There’s no question that it’s not business as usual at our house these days. My husband began experiencing telltale symptoms the day after we left NYC in early March. About a week later, I was starting to get sick too.

Lately I’ve been observing (or on the receiving end of) communication that rubs me the wrong way.

I’m very excited to announce my Full Circle Retreat on Wednesday December 18 from 10 am to 4 pm.

This gorgeous respite from the hustle bustle of the holiday season will be a time for us to connect and bring our year…full circle.

This fall is the public debut of several things that have been brewing behind the scenes and I am beyond excited to share them more widely.

Oh boy. It’s nearly fall! I looooove the autumn. It’s my fave time of year for so many reasons- snappy weather, the bluest skies and fall leaves, cozy sweaters, new beginnings, learning.

How much are you worth? In dollars and cents?

While you think about it, I’m going to tell you a little story.

About five years into my coaching and consulting work, I was finally starting to work with bigger companies. It wasn’t through any particular focus on my part and in fact serendipity played a larger role than I might like to admit in the evolution of my business. (Is serendipity repeatable? I kinda think so.)

This is the first post in a summer series on landing corporate contracts. I’ll be posting an index shortly with links to all posts on this topic.

Many a coach/consultant wants to move into working with bigger clients, but very few actually make that leap unless they came out of a corporate environment already.

Just the other day in a public restroom I told my 4 year old that when we’re really rich we’ll have a Japanese toilet that cleans your bits and plays music and heats up the seat for you.

Her response?

“Mummy, what does rich mean?”

I made a mid-year review in lieu of journaling questions. It's a way to take stock and reflect on what has been your 2019 so far and then

Whew! March is here! I’m starting to post my journaling prompts here so that they can live in a public space.

If you’re new to them, each month I send out a newsletter with the journaling prompts for the month. I recommend printing them out and putting them in a notebook so that you can collect them over the course of the year.