On August 1, 2011, I packed my Toyota Solara and left Bend, Oregon, bound for Colorado with my friend Jason. I had shipped a few of my larger belongings to his home, sold the rest, and fit everything I owned into the car.

The road ahead felt full of possibility — I was excited, curious, and maybe a little nervous.

What would life in Colorado be like?

What kind of energy would Boulder hold?

Jason had offered me a place to stay until I got settled, and while I didn’t know how long that might take, I was grateful for the chance to land somewhere soft.

My recollection begins at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California—the cradle of the human potential movement and the place where the spiritual energy of the Sixties first took hold along the California coast.

Esalen is more than a retreat center; it’s founded on the idea that human consciousness and potential constantly evolve.

The spirituality of the Sixties resembled a journey through comparative religion—a quest to find the mystical core shared by the world’s great faiths.

At Esalen, and within the broader Sixties spiritual movement, the focus wasn’t on believing in God.

It was about experiencing the divine firsthand.

I first visited Esalen in 1980, at the age of 27.

There, I encountered fellow baby boomers — Baptists, Catholics, Episcopalians, Jews, and Protestants — […]

Can we be sure something exists just because we believe it does? Consider a picture of a meal — the aroma, flavor, and texture aren’t captured, yet we still understand they’re part of the experience.

Our vision is limited to three dimensions—much like how a camera captures only two.

So whatever animates life likely exists beyond what most of us can perceive. The force that sustains us operates outside the reach of our five senses, remaining a mystery to many.

Yet, despite not fully understanding it, we trust in it, believing it will carry us into the next day. Whether we recognize it or not, we all live by faith.

We place immense trust in an invisible force—that the earth will keep turning, the […]

We are wanderers in the ever-shifting landscape of existence, passing through this world like a breeze through leaves, touched by its beauty and shaped by its impermanence. This realm, with all its mystery and majesty, is not our final dwelling but a luminous waypoint on the unfolding journey of the soul. Our presence here is no accident.

We’ve come with the intention—to observe with open eyes, feel with open hearts, and awaken through the experiences life places in our path.

Each dawn carries a message, every encounter a mirror, and every hardship a quiet teacher. We are here to be changed—to let joy soften us, let sorrow refine us, and let life sculpt […]

This fundamental truth has the power to uplift you.

The glass crashed onto the floor. My first reaction was frustration. It wasn’t just about the glass—it was the entire day.

One thing after another had gone wrong. A leaking toilet, overwhelming friend expectations, and miscommunication with my neighbor had made everything feel twice as difficult.

The broken glass was just another symbol of how everything seemed to fall apart.

Then, I paused.

Had I unconsciously chosen this mindset?

For a moment, I felt like life was working against me, not for me. I was focused on the cracks, not the light shining through them.

I searched for proof that the world was unfair—and […]

It’s a harsh lesson that took me seventy years to (almost) figure out.

“To thine own self be true.”

As morning light filters through my window, I wake up with a sense of gratitude. For most of my life, I never stopped to question my path.

I went through life like an old-fashioned jukebox, automatically playing the tunes others chose whenever a coin was dropped. It took 20 years in the corporate world before I finally woke up and struck out alone.

After thirty years as an independent advocate and educational consultant, I realized I was still expected to follow someone else’s script. I refused. I was running my own business on my terms and living my truth.

That independence came […]