Wunjo Way of Joy

Years ago, I found The Book of Runes by Ralph H. Blum—a companion for the spiritual warrior, offering guidance through simple stones inscribed with ancient symbols. Among them, the rune Wunjo—joy—kept appearing, quietly insisting that joy is not just a fleeting feeling but a direction, a compass, a way of being. It still feels true. Wunjo is a reminder to orient toward inner alignment, beauty, and the harmonies that arise when we live close to nature and close to ourselves.

I’ve been writing on and off since my teenage years—scribbling into notebooks, chasing questions, trying to remember and reveal who I am and why I’m here in this body, on this Earth. Writing became a way of listening: to my own heart, to the natural world, to the whispers of something larger. Julia Cameron’s Morning Pages showed me how to meet myself on the page, honestly and without judgment. That practice stayed with me. Writing still brings me peace, joy, and the kind of clarity that comes only through attention and reflection.

This blog is an offering from that place—a contemplative space shaped by curiosity, longing, love, and a quiet devotion to beauty. It’s a way of tuning in, of learning through presence, of honoring the seasons both within and without. The Wunjo Way is not a fixed path—it’s a practice of becoming, again and again, with wonder and heart.

The Best We Can Do

***This post took me 2 hours to write. It takes about 10 minutes to read. I posted it and then deleted it last night, but then reposted it today because I really do want to share even though it feels vulnerable.*** I’ve spoken with a lot of people in the past year who are struggling…

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Spirit of the Forest

Walking slowly. Stopping often to listen and observe. Noticing the millions of details of these woods, trees, leaves and earth – each in their fluctuating states of growth and decay. I come here to transform myself, to let the natural world impress itself on me and not the other way around. I come here to…

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Message from the forest

Message from the forest: Stay relaxed. Take your time with everything. Do not let the fast pace of the human world rush you. Do not be ashamed of your slow deliberate pace. Take steady, conscious steps and walk softly on the earth. Let your feet slowly kiss the ground. Feel the quality and weight of…

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Wild Woman

Written before the photo shoot. Who is my wild woman self? What does she long for? How does she move through the world? How does she move her body? How does the skin of her face rest and revive itself? How does it feel inside of her when pleasure rises up through her root chakra…

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First smell of fall rain

First smell of fall rainStoking my desire for moreLet go letting go Seasons change, people change, and I change. I want with all my heart to be the most current, accessible, and loving version of myself at all times. I can be all those those things and still struggle to let life flow through me…

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Grey Hairs

A few years ago I decided to stop hiding my grey hairs. I’ve noticed my grey hairs growing in for the last maybe 5-6 years. For the first few years, I decided that I would use demi-permanent hair color every 3 months or so to cover the grey hairs and fade out gradually instead of…

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Adrienne Mehri Shamszad

Last night Adrienne’s voice, her songs and the music she and her band played blasted my heart wide open and made tears stream down my face. She sang poems by Rumi, Hafiz and other amazing mystic Iranian poets in Farsi and it made me understand the longing to be overcome by the love of god.…

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More Guns Than People

In 1998, I lived in Brisbane, Australia for 7 months while studying abroad. So many Australians I met were so curious to hear about what America was like. The number one question that I was asked was, “Does everyone in America have a gun?” I was confused by this question because I grew up very…

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Self Love

For many years, I’ve been aware of my tendency to join in when life beats me up. If someone or something hurts my feelings, I will sometimes think all these terrible thoughts about myself in the aftermath. Other times I feel distinctly self-destructive. I’m often able to find mostly harmless ways to cope. Sometimes I…

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Anxiety

Behind the curtain of the personality I most often present to the world, I have a fair amount of anxiety streaming through me a lot of the time. The core of my anxiety stems from the experience of being in a group of people or at a party and feeling that no one sees me…

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Body Shame

On Friday I had a conversation with a doctor that left me feeling upset and ashamed about my weight. A part of my recovery from 15+ years of struggling the an eating disorder has been that I am much calmer when I do not focus on numbers. I do not weigh myself and I tell…

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Letting GO

My prayer today is to let the letting go happen in an easier, more peaceful way. Whatever is letting go of me is becoming something else that is useful somewhere else. The birds and the trees and the fire and the breeze showed me infinitely that the truth is right here all the time. It’s…

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