I was grateful and blessed to spend the day yesterday with a cousin I hadn’t seen in over two years. At one point, she asked me what my fasting strategy is, how much I fast every day. I said something like…it varies day to day. I hadn’t really thought about what my fasting strategy is right now. When I started fasting, I had all sorts of plans and strategies. At first, it was 16:8 that I tried. 16:8 helped me curb nighttime binges and balance my blood sugar. Then, I experimented with 18:6. I extended my fasts to 24 hours, 36, and eventually 48. At some point, I got into a pattern of doing two fasts a week of 42 hours, doing one feasting day with 3 meals or more, and the rest of the time doing 16:8, or something like that. Every 3 months, I would do a 3-5 day fast to get into deeper autophagy. This pattern was ReALLY effective for helping me let go of over 70 pounds of excess weight. Most recently though, my pattern is “I do what I feel like.” The technical term for it is IDWIFL :oP It’s been working pretty well for me. I strive for doing at least one fast of 36-42 hours per week, but it doesn’t always happen. Last week, I had 3 days of one meal a day, and one 36 hour fast. This week, I’ve had 3 days of 3 meals a day. For my birthday in the beginning of May, I did a 5 day fast to gift myself stem cells. Then, I parent chaperoned a trip to Catalina Island and didn’t fast at all for a week. Well ok, I fasted once for 18 hours, but that was it. If I find myself feasting a lot, I make it a point to take more pauses in between eating and lean into fasting. If I find myself fasting a lot, I recognize it’s time to feast and throw in a day or two of feasting. I don’t stress about it at all, just strive for having some sort of balance between fasting and feasting. And it works for me :) What’s your fasting strategy? Do you have one? How about a JOY strategy? I’ll share about my joy strategy in the comments.

I had the privilege of being a parent chaperone on my son’s school field trip to Catalina Island, off the coast of California. And for some reason, I couldn’t connect to Skool at all during my time there. I missed my community on Skool. And yet, REAL LIFE experiences are often under-rated and under-explored in our super techy world. If you have a chance to fast from any kind of screens and social media for a week or more, I would highly recommend it! We hiked daily, walked on the beach, kayaked for hours, some of us got sun burned, we snorkelled in super cold water day and night, saw lots of bright orange garibaldi fish, touched sea anemones and urchins, learned about marine life, ate a lot of healthy food, kissed a sea cucumber, saw a Buffalo wander into camp and drink our dirty boot water, played games, rock climbed, and more. I was grateful to get to know some of my son’s classmates and spend time with him in this special environment. Didn’t get much privacy, as I was often accompanied by teenagers everywhere I went. But, I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything. It was truly awesome to get off screens completely, step out of my comfort zone, embrace cold water (which I typically avoid!), and support a bunch of sixth graders as they tried new things and explored a whole different world. Some of the kids we were with had never flown in an airplane or been to an airport. Others had never seen the ocean. It was truly epic. Hope you had a great week too last week, would love to hear about it in the comments! Have you stayed off of screens and/or social media for multiple days recently? Would you consider it? Why or why not?

We all have certain preferences when it comes to creating change in our lives. Similar to a Jungian Personality blueprint (such as ENFJ), we also have a transformation blueprint. I don’t have a quiz for it YET, but it can be fun to just reflect on it. This is something I came up with while watching myself and my clients approach transformation and change in their lives. Answer the questions below to figure out your blueprint- share your blueprint in the comments, if you’d like :) You may find you relate to both sides of some questions, but maybe one side feels a little more familiar and comfortable. 1. ) Do you prefer to be a Rebel or a Follower when you seek out change? Rebels (R) like to do things their way. They don’t generally like being told what to do. They can tolerate following for a while, but eventually tend to find their own way of doing things even if others don’t agree with it or understand it. They do best with general guidelines that they can tweak to their own needs rather than a step-by-step system that has to be followed perfectly. Followers (F) LIKE a step-by-step system. They love following the rules. With a little guidance and a clear system, followers are on their way to positive transformation and change. They do great with concrete rules that they can just follow and not have to think too much about. 2.) Do you prefer to Do-it- Yourself, or do you like to Do-it-with- Others? Do-it- Yourselfers (Y)- often like to be lone wolves. They think more clearly when they’re on their own. They might enjoy coming together with others to share, but during the deep work of transformation, they like to be alone. They do great with lots of time by themselves, to try things and experiment, away from the attention of other people. Do-it- With- Others folks (O) - thrive in a group dynamic. They love to learn from other people’s experiences and to support those who are not as far along as they are. They thrive in a supportive, loving group environment. Finding groups and communities with common interests helps DIO oriented people transform with joy and ease.

I spent months spinning my wheels in my health and wellness coaching business. I had information and tools that I knew could transform people's lives for the better and help them thrive in ways they hadn't even imagined was possible for them. This information had transformed my own life completely. Yet, I didn't know how to package it, how to connect with the right people who could really benefit, or how to make my business financially sustainable. I hit some really low points. Felt completely burnt out at times. Spinning our wheels gets so tiring at times! I questioned whether I was up to the tasks and dreams that were living in my heart. At times, I considered letting it all go. It was ironically during one of my lowest points in my business that things started shifting for me. I realized I need support. I needed a coach...not a business coach, but a life coach who could help me navigate the uncertainly, the occasional disappointments, the limiting beliefs that were coming up for me. I didn't need a perfectly packaged business system or someone telling me how to do things their way. I needed someone to help me get clarity about my own knowing, someone to help me sift through the noise of business and marketing advice and take the right steps for me. The ones that come from my own heart. Some people claim that building a business is one of the most challenging spiritual paths available. I now understand why! Silly me, I thought parenting was the most challenging spiritual path available! Guess I gravitate towards the difficult things. That's where the most powerful transformations lie. Maybe. That's not always true. But, it's a nice story for someone who gravitates towards hard things sometimes. What I found was that I needed space to connect with my own knowing. I needed time to create my own plan of action. A plan full of steps that felt exciting for me and aligned with my goals and intentions. It was like the abstinence plan I created, but tailored to business growth.

Have you had time to relax or not so much? Mine was very full! I need to catch up on relaxation this evening, with a walk in nature and a meditation. I'm doing a Permaculture Workshop this weekend, so the past few days have felt really "full-on". Even though I wouldn't call it "relaxing", it's been super inspiring and fun. And it's so much fun connecting with folks who are interested in growing food in a regenerative way and living our lives in a regenerative way. Anyone else here interested in permaculture or regenerative agriculture? Share in the comments what you love about it. I know that @Joshua Haag did a really cool project in college where he built garden beds and a koi pond for some large greenhouses. Feel free to share more about that if you'd like, Josh. @Emil Moldovan eats, lives, and breathes permaculture principles, as far as I can tell. What first drew you to permaculture, Emil? @Marama Elizabeth is all about regenerative agriculture too and has done some neat courses on growing your own food. What inspires you most about these ideas, Marama?