Joy Letters
I am a recovering perfectionist, productivity chaser, and people pleaser, coaching women to disrupt old thought patterns, let go of behaviors that keep them stuck, and make their joy an everyday priority.
🦩 almost missed it 🦩
Guten Tag, Reader, We were stuck in traffic along the La Paz promenade, and it became increasingly obvious that we weren’t going to make it home in time for the sunset. In fact, I could see the blues, oranges, yellows, reds, and purples shapeshifting in my rearview mirror. People in every restaurant were interrupting their New Year’s Eve dinners to take photos because 2025 was not content with leaving on an ordinary sunset. This was a particular spectacle. Missing it made me feel sad,...
🦩 flotsam & permission slips 🦩
Guten Tag, Reader, How are you? Today. Right Now. Really. Honestly. Deeply. I’ll go first. My emotions are like a rocky beach in a secluded cove. The actual cove that inspired this letter. Close to Todos Santos, BCS Generally calm. Undisturbed. Harmonious. Content with just being. Aligned with my inner tides and rhythms. Spending the holidays away from the holidays suits me well. Surprisingly well. On closer inspection, there is some flotsam strewn across the beach. Some feelings of grief for...
🦩 then. when? 🦩
Guten Tag, Reader, You may have noticed that last week’s letter was out of rhythm. I didn’t until this morning when I woke up in a hotel room south of Provo, UT. For the last few weeks, I have felt fragmented—some parts of me already in La Paz, MX, some parts somewhere on the road, and the remaining parts struggling to keep things together in the present. Today’s letter will bring us back on schedule. How fitting that it is about living on your own timeline. Driving on I-15 South in Montana....
🦩 providing a moment 🦩
Guten Tag, Reader, My yoga teacher snaps a photo and sends it to her partner. My friends use it to open the day as a family before they each head their own way. Another friend uses it as a connective thread to her sister back east. Each of those little stories from people using my Holiday Slowdown card deck warms my heart with joy and pride. It was my colleague, though, who used a phrase that I wrote down because I did not want to forget: You never know when you might need some scrap paper to...
🦩 the un-listables 🦩
Guten Tag, Reader, My inbox simply exploded with gratitude newsletters this week. Better than exploding from capitalist pressure to buy another “greatest deal of the year” for stuff I didn’t even know I needed, I guess. Granted, while some gratitude expressions felt simply performative, others were heartfelt. Here is a soul-felt one from Robin Kimmerer that I can’t stop sharing. Listen, I love a good list. The piece I wrote for The Startup in 2019 is still one of my most-read ones on Medium....
🦩 ripples of delight 🦩
Guten Tag, Reader, “You are a delight,” someone said to me as I left a networking thing last week.* “I know,” I answered, “and adding delight to the world is an important part of my mission.” This is not an exchange that would have occurred during my successful (measured by numbers and titles) corporate career. I did not see myself as a delight, nor was any part of my mission to spread delight. It usually had something to do with KPIs, ROIs, CTRs, or whatever acronym was the measure of...
🦩 rituals, values, and the courage to pause 🦩
Guten Tag, Reader, I saw an Advent Calendar at Costco last weekend. It sells for $99 and is five feet tall. I’ve been wondering who it’s for, and apparently, at least one loud part of me is screaming “MeMeMe,” because I am still thinking about it. What do people want from an Advent calendar? What do they value about having one? Me? I value ritual. Pausing. Vorfreude. I want a little delightful treat every day during a time that’s supposed to be about joy, love, compassion, and generosity, but...
🦩 if your conundrum were a raindrop... 🦩
Guten Tag, Reader, This morning, I filled the final empty pages of my current “Daily Page” journal.* The Hierophant is a good guy to have on your council of elders. As I flipped through the pages from today to the beginning, I realized that the first pages were actually journal entries from the Salmon River Slowdown, the retreat I co-hosted last year. It had been raining and we’d all retreated to our tents (still unaware of the approaching thunderstorm that would shake the canyon walls within...
🦩 slow currents 🦩
Guten Tag, Reader, Even if the surface appears completely still, the river is always in motion. Things have been slow ever since I returned from the river. And with “things” I am referring to my thoughts (and their slowing is a relief), my body (its slowness a variable in my daily movement patterns), and my work rhythms (which really requires me to filter out all the non-essential stuff). But if rivers have taught me anything, it’s that the current is always moving. It may not appear to be...
🦩 packing bags 🦩
Guten Tag, Reader, Packing for the wildHER Rogue River Adventure. I am glad it all has to fit into a 3.8 cu. ft. drybag: Sleeping bag, down pillow, hiking shoes, camp shoes, river pants, camp pants, long underwear, tank tops, wool hat, sun hat, journal, pens, book, pajamas, chargers, battery packs, toiletries, meds, fleece jacket, rain jacket, rain pants, cotton comfort clothes, costume for the last-night-on-the-river celebration. Oh, and the little stuffed ant eater that has travelled across...
I am a recovering perfectionist, productivity chaser, and people pleaser, coaching women to disrupt old thought patterns, let go of behaviors that keep them stuck, and make their joy an everyday priority.