You're standing at a crossroads, and you can't see around either corner. One path might lead to the career change you've been contemplating. The other might take you deeper into the life you already know, with all its familiar comforts and constraints. You squint into the distance, trying to make out the terrain ahead, waiting for some sign that will tell you which way to go.

When was the last time you let yourself really want something—without judgment, guilt, or justification?

I mean truly want it. Not the careful, measured wanting that comes after you've checked all the boxes of gratitude and responsibility. Not the wanting that you've dressed up in practical reasons or justified with how it might benefit others. Just pure, honest desire.

You've learned to recognize the whispers—that knot in your stomach, the Sunday night anxiety, the hollow feeling after achieving something you worked so hard for. You've started to identify the invisible barriers that keep you from fully listening to what your body and mind are trying to tell you. But now what?

Last week, I wrote about learning to recognize the language of transitions—those physical signals, mental patterns, and behavioral shifts that tell us when something in our lives is ready to change. But what happens when you can clearly hear those whispers from your body and mind, yet find yourself unable to fully listen?

Sometimes the whisper comes as a knot in your stomach. Sometimes it's the Sunday night anxiety that has nothing to do with Monday's start of the work week. Sometimes it's that hollow feeling after achieving something you worked so hard for. Our bodies speak the truth to us in a myriad of ways, but often we don't hear.

When we think of grief it is most often associated with the death of a loved one. But in my practice I’ve helped clients move beyond this narrow scope and think of grief more expansively. Grief is interwoven into the fabric of our lives and the process of grieving serves an important role in shaping our personal evolution.