Dear friends, I wanted to share a gentle offering with you — alongside a few quiet clips from Bali, a place that’s been reminding me daily of the value of slowing down and listening more deeply. I’m currently offering a free 10–12 minute intro relationship coaching call — a short, grounded space to pause, reflect, and get some gentle clarity around whatever you may be navigating right now. There’s nothing to prepare and nothing to commit to. Just a calm check-in, offered with care. 💬 If you’d like to book one, you can DM me the word “CALL.” Thank you for being part of this community — a space for emotional maturity, presence, and tending to love without self-abandonment. Go gently with yourself 🤍 With care, Owen Fox From Struggles to Thriving Love

Most people think communication breaks down because of what is said. But very often, it’s not the words that hurt — *it’s how the interaction moves.* Two qualities matter far more than we’re usually taught to notice: Pacing and rhythm. 🌿 Pacing is about speed and intensity — how fast someone speaks, how quickly emotions escalate, and how pressured or rushed the exchange feels. 🌿 Rhythm is about flow and completion — whether there’s space to respond, whether conversations end cleanly, and whether there’s back-and-forth or interruption and abrupt cut-off. Here’s a key insight many of us were never taught: 👉 *The nervous system listens to pace and rhythm before it listens to meaning.* When pacing is too fast, or rhythm is abrupt or incomplete, the body can experience the interaction as unsafe — even when no harm is intended. And when safety drops, the nervous system naturally moves into self-protection. That can look like: 🌿 pulling away 🌿 shutting down 🌿 becoming reactive 🌿 or needing distance Not because love is gone — but because *presence isn’t available without safety.* This is why so many attempts at repair fail when we jump straight to “talking it through.” If pace and rhythm aren’t regulated, the body can’t receive the repair — no matter how sincere the words. Slower pace. Softer tone. Clear beginnings and endings. A rhythm that allows completion. These aren’t communication “extras.” They are *the conditions that make real connection possible.* 🌱 A gentle invitation Inside my Thriving Love Circle, I’m slowly building a growing library of deeply nuanced, trauma-aware teachings like this — exploring not just pacing and rhythm, but also: 🌿 tone and word choice 🌿 nervous-system safety 🌿 distance vs presence 🌿 repair and reconnection 🌿 emotional leadership in relationships These teachings are shared gently, layered over time, and designed to fundamentally shift how we experience connection — with partners, children, and ourselves. If you feel drawn to go deeper, you’re warmly welcome to explore the Circle here:

🌿 When Spiritual Growth Isn’t Enough for Relationships Have you ever noticed how someone can do years of spiritual work… yet still struggle deeply in relationships? Meditation. Retreats. Plant medicine. Inner work. Daily practices. None of these are wrong. I’ve walked that path myself. And yet — what actually saved my own marriage wasn’t more spiritual practice. It was learning relationship-specific wisdom. It was developing emotional and somatic awareness in real moments of tension, conflict, and disconnection. It was practicing radical self-honesty, seeing where I was defensive, avoidant, controlling, or afraid — and being willing to change how I showed up. 🌿 Relationships don’t heal through spiritual identity. 🌿 They heal through relational maturity. 🌿 Through learning how nervous systems interact. 🌿 Through repair, accountability, boundaries, and emotional availability. 🌿 Through choosing growth when it’s uncomfortable — not just when it feels aligned or peaceful. Spiritual growth absolutely matters. But relationships ask something more specific, more grounded, and more humbling. Reflection for you: Where might you be relying on spiritual understanding… instead of developing the relational skills and self-responsibility your closest relationships are asking for? If you’re here, it’s likely because some part of you already knows — love isn’t just about awareness… it’s about practice in relationship. 🌿 If this resonates, you’re already in the right place. Inside this free Thriving Love community, we’ll continue exploring what actually helps relationships heal — not spiritually bypassing, not self-blame, but grounded, honest, relational growth. If you’d like a little more personal support as you begin (or clarify your next step): • You can explore my free e-book • You’re welcome to book a free 10–12 minute clarity call for gentle, trauma-informed, somatic-based relationship support • And if / when it feels aligned, I also offer a founding members rate inside my Thriving Love Circle — my paid community with weekly live calls and deeper guidance

I wanted to share something a little more personal today. My stepdad’s birthday was recently, and this short video reflects on the role he played in my life — not perfect, not huge, but present for many years. Becoming a second dad myself has given me a deeper appreciation for the time, energy, and effort that were offered, even when things felt complicated. I’m sharing this here because this space is about real relationships — the messy, meaningful, human ones. No teaching today. Just a moment of reflection. 🤍

Have you ever shared something honest… and only later realised it created discomfort instead of connection? 🤍 I want to share a subtle but powerful relationship teaching that most of us were never taught. 💛 Not all truth belongs in every relationship. 💛 Not all attraction is sexual — but all attraction creates energy when directed at a person. 💛 And honesty without attunement can unintentionally become intrusion. Here’s something many of us don’t realise: You can feel appreciation, resonance, even attraction — without attachment, without desire, without agenda. That part is healthy. That part is human. But the moment we place that feeling into another person’s nervous system, the relational field changes. Suddenly there is: 🌿 one who feels 🌿 one who is being felt about 🌿 a subtle asymmetry 🌿 a quiet tension Even if the feeling is gentle. Even if the intention is clean. Even if nothing is meant to happen. This is where relational wisdom begins. Authenticity is not only about saying what is true inside us. It is also about asking: ✨ Is this invited? ✨ Is this appropriate for this context? ✨ What nervous system will this land in? ✨ Who else does this affect? One of the deepest forms of maturity is learning to: 💛 feel attraction without attaching 💛 feel resonance without pursuing 💛 feel polarity without objectifying 💛 feel openness without projecting And sometimes… the most loving thing we can do is to hold a feeling privately, rather than placing it into someone else’s life. This isn’t suppression. It’s sovereignty plus care. It’s truth guided by wisdom. It’s love guided by attunement. A gentle reflection for you: Where in your life might honesty be asking for a little more attunement… and a little more care? 🌿 🌟 Invitation — Thriving Love Circle (7-day free trial) If this kind of trauma-informed, nervous-system-aware relationship wisdom resonates with you, I warmly invite you into my Thriving Love Circle — my deeper, guided space for people who want to grow in: