Reflections from a midlife journey

Befriending your fear
Siobhan Nash Siobhan Nash

Befriending your fear

Befriending your fear—acknowledging its existence and listening to what it has to say—is far more effective in calming your nervous system and allowing you to move forward with confidence than when you resist it, pretend it doesn’t exist, or push through it. Those strategies only fuel fear and amplify it. Ignoring your fear only succeeds in keeping you stuck where you are.

Read More
Surrendering to the magic of what wants to be
Siobhan Nash Siobhan Nash

Surrendering to the magic of what wants to be

Another birthday is in the books and, as usual, it had its ups and downs. This year came with a theme, though, a magical message that stayed with me on the days surrounding and including my birthday:

Less effort, more surrender.

Read More
Making peace with judgment
Siobhan Nash Siobhan Nash

Making peace with judgment

When I am in the throes of self-judgment, there is no room for any other part of me to show up—compassion, curiosity, patience, kindness, generosity, forgiveness, etc. Self-judgment is all consuming.

Read More
Siobhan Nash Siobhan Nash

The choice is yours

People pleasing vs. integrity and authenticity. It’s an ongoing struggle, especially if you’re highly sensitive and empathic. And yet if you resist making the difficult choice, at some point, the choice will be made for you. Chances are you may not like the outcome.

Read More
Siobhan Nash Siobhan Nash

The longing for enjoyment

During a recent morning meditation, there was a moment in which I experienced a deep longing for enjoyment. I don’t believe the longing was because my life is lacking in enjoyment. I think the longing was my soul’s way of nudging me to recognize the pleasure I do experience. Something I can’t know simply by thinking about it. The only way I can truly know whether something brings me pleasure is to focus on how it feels in my body. Because therein lies the truth.

Read More
Siobhan Nash Siobhan Nash

Removing the mask

In one way or another, for one reason or another, we all do it. We hide. And the way many of us hide is by being busy.

It’s easy to hide behind the guise of busyness. It’s socially acceptable and in many ways it’s expected. Busy is the yardstick by which our culture measures our value and we in turn use to measure our own worth.

Read More
Siobhan Nash Siobhan Nash

Pushing the edge

The pace of life + cultural conditioning makes it easy to forget ourselves. That's why we need reminders and nudges to wake us up and help us connect with our souls and the truth of who we are. When you are actively pushing against this edge, evolving into a newer, more expansive version of you, you need support. A lot of support.

Read More
Siobhan Nash Siobhan Nash

Let yourself be changed

On April 30, my husband and I marked our five year “Bendiversary”—the day we moved from California and became Oregon residents. The years feel like they have passed in a flash. Some days it doesn’t feel like much at all has changed in those five years. But when I stop and reflect, I can see that so much has changed—namely, me.

Read More
Siobhan Nash Siobhan Nash

In your own time

This is my least favorite time of year, the transition from winter to spring. (Or “sprinter,” as I call it.) Just because the calendar says it’s spring, doesn’t make it so. I didn’t wake up the morning after the vernal equinox to find the landscape transformed—the trees fully leafed and buds all abloom.

Transition and transformation don’t work like that—in nature or in life.

Read More
Siobhan Nash Siobhan Nash

A successful mistake

Yesterday I made my annual batch of Irish soda bread for St. Patrick’s Day. The same recipe I’ve been making for 19 years. The only change I’ve made in all those years is to substitute gluten-free flour for all purpose.

Until yesterday …

Read More