Summer 2026

Life becomes much clearer when the stomach feels safe. There's a short prayer I learned from a friend: "I forgive the past, I am calm in the present, and I allow clarity for the future." Such a simple (read: powerful) sentence gently shifts perspective. Needless to say, the effects of the spring Vamana have integrated into regularity. Healthy is my stomach's new "cool," (and fellow pitta types, you especially know that dichotomy!)

When I was a kid, one of my favorite summer memories was playing tag at dusk with the larger part of the north side of town's neighborhood kids and then getting home to the kitchen lights beaming through the windows, the promise of a sweet treat (usually Schwan's ice cream) before bed (unless I stayed up and watched Johnny Carson with my folks). Then I'd go to bed and read under the covers with a flashlight, some Nancy Drew or Sweet Valley High or Ramona Quimby. And the next morning, I'd eat breakfast groggily, put my watch on, and go out on my bike somewhere until lunch, which usually ended up with finding some sort of blueberry patch or bird's nest behind the Vaughan-Steffensrud Elementary School. I didn't need a plan, just my imagination. God knew the rest of the way. The days were wild and free with potential and possibility. I think that is what a lot of us want to feel in our daily lives: expect miracles, let go of worries, take a person at their word. In following the unknown, we become trustworthy of what is coming to us, even if we don't know it yet.

At the end of June, I will travel to southern Finland for an artist residency at Arteles Creative Center, deep in the woods, for the entire month of July. On our second day, we turn our phones in for the rest of the month and let our creative spirits take care of the rest. I am looking forward to this for so many reasons, and one of the more profound ones is to feel more like my carefree self before I felt inundated by the drain of blue lights, multifactor authentication, endless headlines, and social media noise. It's like a road that was cluttered in road construction is now a smooth, open lane. I feel that I am going to a place I've never been but deeply know, and not just because of the technology break, but because it's a place inside of me that refused to get buried in busyness. Have you ever had that feeling before? It's not like fate or destiny, but it's a knowing that only the higher calling understands. A little "yeah" that is always ready to grow.

Last week, I was lucky enough to get close to a baby fawn napping in the grass. It reminded me to embrace my gentleness with the beauty of who I am and the childlike innocence of my heart. So, this summer, I offer you this blog to get outside, unplug, and live each day with integrity and openness. Believe in the curiosity and love of

the little one inside of you.

New beginnings are here.