Dear Reader,

We win when we say yes and step into something new.

When was the last time you intentionally stepped outside of your comfort zone and tried something unfamiliar, took a chance, or opened yourself to new relationships and experiences?

For me, it was a couple weekends ago at the Inspired Life Event in Quincy, MA.

About a year ago, I received a phone call from a stranger, Linda Joy, who has since become an inspiring friend and mentor. She told me about a “women’s weekend of love, light, and laughter” that she was organizing and invited me (and Barred Owl Retreat) to be a sponsor.

Who can say no to love, light, and laughter? So, I said YES!

That yes led me into something entirely new: an 8x10 booth, a speaking opportunity, and an event full of really cool, wise, and loving women I had never met.

The experience refreshed my spirit like a spring breeze blowing through an open window after a long winter. A change in routine and learning something new combined with the new season has helped me see with fresh eyes.

So many of the people I met this weekend were in a season of questioning, shifting, and quietly outgrowing—or growing into—new parts of their lives. It felt like a shared moment of becoming.

I’m also excited to announce that many of us are part of a collaborative book project, and it launches tomorrow! Keep an eye out for an email tomorrow morning inviting you to the online launch party. This anthology, Embers to Wings, brings together the voices of women who bravely share their personal stories of rising.

Life is always inviting us to begin again. To look again and see with a fresh perspective. We are not married to our stories or our ideas of what we thought would or should be. The fact is, life doesn't allow for that. As we know, the only constant is change; so we must begin anew with intention.

As a mindfulness professor and coach, of course I know this in theory—but I also feel it deeply in experience right now. It becomes easier to remember this truth when we step outside the familiar and when we let ourselves be shaped by something new. Sometimes we have no choice to be reborn thanks to loss or illness. Right now, nature burgeons in a season of renewal showing us how everything is always becoming again. Up from the fallen leaves and ashes of our lives, up from the detritus, comes the promise of rebirth.

In this new season, everything feels a little more sacred—full of possibility, even in an unpredictable, volatile world. I feel it in what I’ve been growing, in the relationships taking shape, and in the quiet remembering of who I am and what I value.

So I share this with you as both an invitation and a reminder: stay connected to yourself, stay connected to what is coming alive in you, and stay connected to your one "wild and precious life" in this powerful season of rebirth.

If you feel called, I invite you to stay in touch in this online community or perhaps through an upcoming retreat, sound journey, or online offering.

Join the May Weekend Retreat

And I leave you with a few “RE” reflections I’ve been sitting with—questions for renewal, return, and reawakening.

Return — What in me is calling me back home to myself right now?

Renew — What part of my life or self is ready for a gentle, sacred renewal?

Rebirth — What within me is asking to be lived in a completely new way?

Restart — If I began again today, what would I choose differently—with love and gentleness?

Reawaken — What truth, feeling, or desire is waking up inside me again?

Remember — What truth am I ready to embrace that I have forgotten or ignored?

Release — What am I ready to let fall away so I can breathe and blossom more fully?

Restore — What in me needs softness, repair, and deep restoration?

Reclaim — What voice, boundary, or truth am I ready to take back as mine?

Reimagine — What new possibility is trying to form itself through my imagination?

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And to help with this reflection, I recorded a Rebirth meditation for you:Rebirth.mp3 Please give it a listen and share your thoughts and aspirations with me.

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With light, love, and renewal on your path,
Jess