Do you practice joy with your body?

This photo was taken a couple of weeks ago at the end of an exceptionally shitty day where I was feeling the emotion of despair.

Maybe this isn’t what you’re used to deep sadness looking like. I’d been brooding on the beach for a couple of hours and then a kite-surfer arrived and inspired me to run around the sand like a child holding the sheet I’d been sitting on and sulking.

When I was done, something shifted. My body sent a message to my mind and I felt lighter.

Joy is something that can be somatically expressed in an intentional way in order to shift a mental state.

Tools like this are some of the ingredients that transform adversity into empowerment.

Have you signed up for my 4 week online course on this topic hosted by @copperbeechinstitute yet? We start this Monday Oct 4 and I would love to see you, whether you’re in the middle of a crisis or in between crises, all of you is welcome in this healing container.

Today is #nationalsonsday and it gives me an opportunity to reflect upon my three beautiful young men. I feel so blessed to be their mom. We think of unconditional love as something that a mother is supposed to offer her children, and for me, that path came easily. I do marvel though, at how much I also like them as people. They each have huge hearts, a solid inner compass, and a spirit of courage and resiliency that came from navigating tragedy at a young age. I am blessed to have three REALLY good men here. 

I also want to say this: As a society, we must lean more into our sons and celebrate and honor their masculinity. Many of you know, I’ve been a lifelong feminist and women’s work is the nucleus of my life’s purpose. My kids grew up with my activism as well as many spirited debates at dinner about the problem of the patriarchy.

What I have learned over the last few years, however, is that something very important is being lost in the messaging. Within my zeal to affect tangible change for women, I have overlooked at times what the path of being a young man is like, and how much men have been harmed by the societal constructs they were born into.

Through curiosity and conversation these three amazing beings have helped me course correct. My love for them taught me to listen, and their feedback has made me a better teacher, coach, mother, activist and human.

When we are able to hear each other with love, we all rise.

Thank you.  I honor you today  
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