Chocolate birthday cake with dark chocolate drip, topped with white chocolate sprinkles and two lit candles shaped as the number 80.

Practices in Intention

Some people peak in high school. I want to peak when I’m 80. 

Over the years, I’ve developed small intentional practices and creative experiments to help me move in that direction. Some practices have lasted for years. Others lasted for a season. Many have sharpened my ability to pay attention and notice.

I love helping people pay attention to how they were designed and the areas where they hope to grow.

I enjoy helping individuals and groups think about the practices, rhythms, and intentions shaping their lives.

Finding New Rhythms

A collage of various homemade and recently prepared dishes, desserts, beverages, and food ingredients, including salads, soups, baked goods, and smoothies.

When I was intimidated by the kitchen, I committed to cooking two new recipes a week using the cookbook Healthy Cooking for Two or Just You.

Now cooking is part of my regular rhythm.

A collage of various outdoor and indoor activities, including people smiling, walking, biking, swimming, playing baseball, and visiting a healthcare center, with natural scenery and facilities in the background.

Creating Motivation

When I was intimidated to go to the gym, I gave myself $2 every time I went in order to save up for new exercise clothes.

Fifteen years later, I practically sleepwalk to the gym because the routine is so ingrained.

Overcoming Anxiousness

Collage of women participating in a trapeze and aerial silks training class, practicing on a metal frame, a platform with safety harnesses, and a woman checking her equipment in an indoor gym.

In my 30s, I realized I was becoming overly anxious about the future, so I practiced letting go by taking flying trapeze lessons.

It was a physical way of communicating to my insides: this is what it feels like to loosen my grip.

A collage of images showing a lakeside park with trees lining a paved walking and biking path, under a bridge, transitioning from winter with snow to spring with lush green foliage.

Changing Perspectives

Taking a picture of the same tree every day for a year taught me something about transitions — how spring might be preparing to burst out of a tree that still looks like winter.

30 Day Commitments

A classroom with a diverse group of students listening to a woman speaking. Some students are raising their hands. The room has large windows, a green chalkboard, and desks.

I teach a class in prison called Religion and Spiritual Growth. One assignment asks students to design a personal spiritual practice and commit to it for 30 days. I’ve had students create anger logs, slow down and focus on chewing their food, and silently pray for people around them in the prison yard.

Regularly, students marvel at how these small commitments help them recognize their own agency — this coming from men living in a maximum security prison.

Want to develop your own practice?

I am available for one-on-one listening sessions focused on developing intentional practices, as well as workshops and conversations on intentional living, spiritual formation, and attention.

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