To lose my mind and find my soul. ~ John Muir

It’s been a little while since I’ve been in your inbox, so thank you for opening and reading this message today. I have to say that this time of quiet reflection and contemplation has been extraordinary. It started in late October when I took a group of some of my most favorite forever clients and family — to Costa Rica for a weeklong retreat.

My intention for the retreat was of celebration and closure. The group had just completed the 8 month A-Game Mastermind. It required a lot of hard work, dedication, and commitment and it was time to celebrate all that they had accomplished – moving and starting a whole new business, reinventing their existing business, growing their team, paying off debt, pulling the trigger on big projects and making tough decisions, training for runs, swims, bike rides. And getting up at 5am, 5 days a week to meditate, workout, do yoga, read their visions. I mean these people were fiercely dedicated and I loved them more than ever for going on this journey with me.​​​​​​​
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So to celebrate we had to go to Costa Rica. And they were in – which was rad. ​​​​​​​This was going to be my 17th trip to Costa Rica since 2000. Yes, an average of 1 trip a year. And some part of me thinks I’m crazy to always return to the same place and part of me can’t go a year without feeling its energy. In fact, I’ve been dying to share the energy with the people I have the privilege of working with. 

What is the energy of being in Costa Rica? It’s life. Pure life. Pura Vida as the locals say. Everything grows there. I grow there. I swear I reverse age and my hair gets longer. In some ways it reminds me of the drink that makes the hobbits in Lord of the Rings grow a little taller. Costa Rica is my drink. It’s a Blue Zone – one of those areas in the world where people live the longest – so I’m not the only person in the world that feels this way. And everywhere you go, you’ll meet people that came on vacation and never left or went home and sold everything they owned and came right back. It’s that delicious to some of us.

I have a theory that there are certain places on earth that resonate with your soul so that when you are there you feel more in tune and awake and deeply and truly yourself than in other places. Costa Rica is certainly that for me.

Planning this mastermind retreat was one of my most fun experiences. I decided that we would have a truly Costa Rican adventure and that our itinerary would include the things I most love to do there and also the thing I go there for the most and although I didn’t know how to articulate it until I shared it in this way – it’s not adventure, it’s not relaxation, it’s not even surfing, or the people, or the food. Though I love all of those things so much.
It’s remembering.

I remember that the things that I’m holding on to can be put down.

I remember that my to-do list is not nearly as important as my ‘to be’ list.

I remember that everything works out.

I remember that people are kind and the universe is too.

I remember that though life is tenuous, souls are not.

I remember that I’m made of stars and fire and earth and ocean.

That’s a lot to remember. I love remembering.

I had an experience during one of our sessions, where you find yourself in a moment you’ve dreamed of forever. I was sitting in my vision. I started to cry. The joy of it was so intense. 

So what’s next? Inquiring minds already want to know. 

My intuition tells me answering that question is not to be rushed into, but to sink into. To cherish the open space that comes with completion, to see what happens when the mind has gone quiet and creativity returns. The sacred downloads have started again. Now that has been fun. More on that to come, I have so much more to share.

For now, enjoy the pictures and know that I will be doing this again and maybe next time you will be there to experience your own remembering. I would love that.

Pura Vida!