Spanish culture, flamenco, and the Gipsy Kings have been woven into my heart for decades. This video from a Gipsy Kings concert 10 years ago might be the clearest proof. 😅. Now I’m in Andalucia, hearing this music all around me. Pure delight.

Wandering in Granada reminded me how deeply beauty affects my body. New colors, textures, sounds, and little moments of mystery invite me beyond my familiar edges. After years of chronic illness and a nervous system stuck in protective mode, it’s such a gift to be out in the world again, opening (even through some discomfort) to beauty, wonder, and awe.

After 30-ish years, I’m traveling sola again. And I’m in SPAIN! After decades of caregiving, chronic illness, and wondering whether my body would ever be able to do the things I love, I’m here. Walking the streets of Granada. Reveling in my strength and freedom. And feeling a whole new era of my life beginning. Plus sharing pics!

For most of my life, asking What do I truly need? was a completely foreign concept. I was much better at performing, caretaking, and figuring out what everyone else needed from me. Eventually, nervous system healing led me somewhere deeper: toward the unmet needs underneath all those coping strategies. What happened when I started listening surprised the heck out of me.

I spent years chasing the answers, desperately trying to figure out what was wrong with my body and how to fix it. I kept assuming that the answer was complicated and that it would come from outside of me

What if your relationship with yourself could become the blueprint for every other relationship in your life? Instead of waiting for someone else to love, cherish, celebrate or deeply understand you, you can begin creating those experiences for yourself right now. It’s simpler (and more fun) than you might think.

How do we cut through the platitudes and actually create the internal relationship we are longing for? In my 5 year journey to rehabilitate my nervous system and heal old trauma, I’ve found three distinct “flavors” of Self-love to have a deep and lasting impact on my life. Plus, I’m sharing simple, everyday action to bring each of these flavors into into your 3D life.

• offering myself grace

• learning to self-parent

• caring for my adult needs
  
  

For years, rushing and relentless problem-solving felt like essential parts of who I was. Through nervous system rehabilitation, I began to recognize them as survival patterns that were keeping me stuck in chronic stress.

Yes, I had to give up the adrenaline and dopamine hits that came with manic creativity and problem-solving. But I’ve gained so much more: deep peace, authentic joy, and vibrant health.

A story (about me). For decades, one woman devoted herself to being good, keeping the peace, and making everyone else happy. She was so focused on giving and doing that her body eventually shut down. This is the deeply personal journey of finding my way back to my True Self and discovering that self-love was not selfish after all. It was the nourishment that made a healthy, happy life possible.

Back when I was in full-on codependent mom mode, I was devoted to everyone around me. But I was barely present for myself. In this conversation with my adorably over-giving, over-doing former self, I look at the fears and beliefs that made taking care of myself feel impossible.

So much education happened right there in 30 seconds: Parenting 101, Life 101, Health 101

It had never dawned on me that:

1. I deserved to be really well taken care of.
2. It’s primarily my job to make sure that happens.
3. If I expect to have anything to offer anyone else, I need to make sure I’m resourced first.