There is a particular quality to the turning of the seasons — a threshold moment that invites us to pause and take stock of what has unfolded. Here in Maine, the arrival of summer always brings that feeling for me, and it often finds me reflecting on the deeper currents moving beneath the surface of a season.

One of the beautiful threads of a recent spring was the completion of a three-month Alchemy of Self™ II mentoring immersion with an amazing group of deeply soulful women. As we moved through the final arc of the program, Emanation, I found myself practicing the very thing we were exploring together: living in the flow state of Self, listening deeply, and allowing guidance to arise from within.

And, as life so often beautifully does, it gave me an opportunity to live it.

When life arranges itself around a deeper listening

In March, I was in St. Martin with my beloved on our annual fun-in-the-sun vacation — a place where I also tend to go deep in devotion, quiet, and listening. That trip was marked by the sweetest little litter of kittens who, over the course of two weeks, learned to crawl out from under the deck and play in the shrubs twice a day. Pure joy.

While there, I happened upon a last-minute training in two of my favorite modalities — the ones that deeply inform the foundation of my work, and honestly, my life: Internal Family Systems (IFS) and Polyvagal Theory (Rhythm of Regulation).

What felt so meaningful was not only the training itself, but how it arrived — quietly, unexpectedly, and with that unmistakable sense of an inner yes.

I reached out to Deb Dana and learned that she was co-leading a weeklong training in Portugal with Alexia Rothman, who had co-facilitated my Level 3 IFS training with Dick Schwartz years ago.

It all fell into place, and two weeks later I found myself in beautiful Portugal.

It was such a gift to return to these bodies of work in a new way, at this stage of my life and practice, and to feel again how deeply they continue to support the path of embodiment, nervous system awareness, Self-leadership, intuition, and awakened consciousness.

I imagine many of you know this feeling too — when life begins arranging itself around a deeper listening. When something opens, and you can feel the invitation before you fully understand it. When the next step comes not from pushing or striving, but from presence, resonance, and that quiet inner knowing.

That, to me, is so much of the practice.

Gathering in sacred circle

As we moved toward the Summer Solstice and the longest days of the year, I felt the call to gather again in sacred circle — a small Sacred Summer Solstice evening with former participants of Alchemy of Self™, Self Mastery, and Intuitive Intelligence, along with a few others who felt aligned with this work.

Our theme for the evening was:

Living from Self A conversation on presence, consciousness, and embodiment.

Together, we gathered in my Portland office for meditation, reflection, and sacred conversation to honor the season of light — the longest day of the year, the light of awareness, and the light within.

We explored what it means to live from Self — not only as an idea, but as an embodied practice: listening inwardly, staying present with what arises, and allowing our daily lives, relationships, and work to be guided from deeper awareness.

This is the heart of the work, and it doesn’t belong to a single evening or a single season. Living from Self is available to us in any moment we are willing to slow down enough to listen.

An invitation to listen

Whatever season you find yourself in as you read this, the invitation remains the same. Rest, spaciousness, and time in nature are not detours from the practice — they are the practice. So much of what wants to emerge in us can only be heard when we stop long enough to be still.

I hope life has been good and full for you, and that you’re finding some time to be in nature, pause, and reflect.

What is the light within you asking for now?

Where are you being invited to listen more deeply?

What joy, guidance, or quiet knowing is beginning to emerge?

May you take a little time to sit, be still, listen, and see what arises.

And please do reach out — I’d love to hear how you are, what is stirring in you, and what feels true for you these days.