I have been devouring books as of late. The screens with the plethora of choices as you scroll Netflix or HBO, it is not doing it for me. And of course, I recently read in a book titled ‘Why Sleep Matters’ all about the blue light and LED light before bed and the brain and now I am on a rampage to read and dim the lights.

I often am asked how I make time to read when I share a new book review or a recent book stack from my library. So! I polled my book club for some ideas on how to support your reading goals this year, in no particular order, here you go:

I have been pondering a lot (a lot a lot) in the last six month about personal responsibility and my own health. And wowza, take a moment to define the word ‘health’ for you as it comes in all shapes and sizes with different words and vibrations for every single person. And I truly believe that in order to create practices or connection to even a word like health, we have to know what it means first to create choice and clarity - while also checking in to see if someone or some social ideal has defined it for us.

I have been having vivid dreams of the holidays of past with my Grandmother now gone. As if reaching to recreate them here in December, I keep visiting snapshots in time.

I have seen my cousin and I with huge glasses and huge jackets exploring the snow outdoors when everything was wrapped in ice. I have another memory checking the lake to see if it was ready to ice skate and I went too far and fell in and my Grandmother had to get me out. I wrote a short story in the 7th grade about Christmas and the traditions of a card game called euchre and re-read that recently. And then another memory surfaced…

To my point in this share, I don’t know if I have ever realized the connection that I am someone’s Earth. I am the Earth for my child right now as she grows and listens in and experiences life in utero and nourishes through me with me. I know this divine connection with Mother Earth but that woman shaking every so gently and saying ‘earthquake’, I was like wow, that is me.

I am her Earth.

I am an Earth, too.

Today is my husband’s birthday and while I won’t be doing any huge photo share and sweet post on Instagram or social media as I will write that in a card or evey truly say it out loud to him again and again, there is a detail of our shared live I keep re-visiting and it is time to write it.

I recently read this stat and then googled it again to be sure and cannot stop thinking about it:

‘Family therapist Virginia Satir once said, “We need four hugs a day for survival. We need 8 hugs a day for maintenance. We need 12 hugs a day for growth.” While that may sound like a lot of hugs, it seems that many hugs are better than not enough.’

I believe in intros.

I love meeting people at a coffee shop. Kismet moments that mean nothing and everything.

I love seeing people you know at the airport and catching up, what are the actual odds of running into someone?

I love even more re-introductions as we all change….and then change again.

I love looking back at old photos to now in my own album for an intro of sorts.

And I love love love doing intros for other people to highlight their gifts and quirks.

So here I am, taking a moment to intro myself to you and perhaps even re-intro myself to myself.

Venturing out to dinner with small children can rock the nervous system. It feels like a good idea with not having to make dinner (note, I dont make dinner, Chris does and it is nice to give the chef a break), fun to order something different or if you are like me, I always treat myself to a root beer when out to dinner these days, it feels bubbly and fun.

I saw my reflection staring back at me this week on what felt like the 40th zoom call this week. My hair was parted down the middle in a low ponytail bun with enormous glasses frames and little to zero make-up, maybe a lip stain of a more neutral tone and some blush but that is about it.

Some of you might not know this about me but I had a very religious practice growing up. I was raised Catholic and went to church on Sundays.

Lately I've been thinking about how Imposter Syndrome has gotten such a terrible reputation? So many people ask me this on the daily, “Jacki, how do I overcome imposter syndrome? How do I not imposter someone else on the internet or in real life? How do I be myself in business and in life?”

Living in the mountains, the thunder always rolls a bit longer and the sound lingers as it moves from one side of a canyon to another. Some days, the rain feels out of place here in the sunny state that is Colorado. It feels foreign.

Sitting outside in the morning sun, the steam rolling in those steam rolls from my coffee mug a hummingbird came and perched right down on the wire above me. I stared at her for a while as she darted her eyes back and forth while comfortably seated on my unlit twinkle lights wire strung above my porch.

For most of my life, I believe I can truthfully say that I did a lot; edging on too much most of the time. I liked more things on my plate than less, I believe I was trained to enjoy the juggle and the hustle and perhaps even getting a little scrappy.

This morning I woke up with a clear calendar until 12noon.

In the past six months, I have been working hard to remove appointments from my calendar and actually do less. I know that read like an oxymoron, working hard to do less … but for someone like me who has always understood that you have to do more to make more, well it is hard when rewiring your brain.