Intentional Inbox: 9/23/25
Your dose of weekly mindfulness, intentional living, and wellness tips.
I’ve been thinking a lot about novelty lately (I’m sure this isn’t the first time I’ve written this sentence here on Substack). It’s such a tough balance finding a routine and familiarity with spontaneity and newness. Also, as the seasons change, it’s kind of insane that our lives don’t usually change very much. We are
For instance, finding a yoga teacher whose classes you love but then finding out they are moving or the schedule changes. It’s jarring, and a big loss. It can be hard to reconcile the grief. But it’s also a big opportunity. If you’re always doing the same things with the same people, where is the room to become an expanded version of yourself?
As fall officially begins in the Northern hemisphere, the outside world invites us to shed what’s not serving us anymore, to lighten our schedules, to prepare to get cozy and hunker down for the wintertime. It asks us to not hold too tightly to what we know now and allow what’s coming in. In this way, I think of holding too tightly to our routines and the expected.
MINDFULNESS TIP-OF-THE-WEEK
This week, the invitation is to notice, when you’re outside, how does the air feel on your skin? Is it warm or cool? Strong or soft? Where do you notice it? Did you remember to notice or did you find yourself noticing and then remember?
INTENTIONAL LIVING TIP-OF-THE-WEEK
In the spirit of embracing novelty and uncertainty, can you choose one thing this week you’ll do a little differently? It might just be brushing your teeth with your nondominant hand or it might be trying out a new workout class. It could be a new route home from work or going to bed at a different time. Whatever you want!
WELLNESS TIP-OF-THE-WEEK
This week’s invitation is to consider the ways your usual and familiar routines aren’t serving your health. This is such a big one. For some reason we are very quick to ignore our unwellness (me included) — work feels more important, xyz has to happen now. But we are nothing without our health. If you’re really honest with yourself, what comes to mind? (for me it’s that the story of what I eat and what I actually eat aren’t totally aligned — I still eat healthfully, but not nearly as much as the story in my mind of how I eat. Oof though. I see some meal planning in my future that I’ve been avoiding for literal months. No time like the present!)
Fun fact: I’m on season 5 of The Nature of Nurture podcast with my dear friend Dr. Leslie Carr. My episode is available on her Patreon, where you can find bonus content AND once a month I’ll be joining Leslie’s community there for live coaching and nervous system goodness. If you’re more of a YouTube person, my episode will be live there in the new year. I’m not gonna lie, our conversation is absolute fire (in a good way!) and we talk about this very topic of health coming first and the ways it doesn’t.