I lit up like a Christmas tree at her impressive level of self-awareness, honesty, and humor about the sheer weirdness of the human experience.

Because seriously, this right there is a truth that hardly anyone ever admits, ever. In general, our culture pretends there are only two stages to getting what you want:

1. Not having what you want, or

2. Having what you want and being happily ever after.

We find this false belief anywhere from romance movies to advertising.

In reality, the only thing that feels worse than not having what you want is to finally get what you want.

This doesn’t just apply to work and doing what you love. For instance, I spent years trying to find the right person for me. You might think I was super-happy the night before we got married. That wasn’t quite the case, to put it mildly.

Why doing work you love—or finally getting something else you want—can feel so terrible

A stuck state—not having what one wants; not doing what one loves—is like a block of ice. When things start to open up and flow more, it’s like ice melting.

Cold, and stuckness, can be numbing.

Heat, and flow, thaw things. Including the heart and the energy body. And that often doesn’t feel great.

Have you ever gotten cold hands in winter? When cold hands finally warm up again, it feels terrible. Often, it feels worse when things first start to get better.

More flow, more purpose energy, brings up things: fears, pain points, long-hidden desires. That’s why I now think that doing what you love is really a journey of growth. It’s a journey of joyful growth, and yet, joy can feel terrifying.

We live in a world where it can be easier to numb oneself (Exhibit A: the news). Sometimes, numbing oneself is the right thing to do.

And sometimes, it’s time to thaw.

How to make the thawing process a bit less terrible

This process can provide some gentle guidance during the thawing phase. However, it’s not a substitute for mental health support. If you are experiencing mental health issues, talk to a mental health professional instead.

1. Connect with your heart

   Take a moment to get still and connect with yourself. Imagine that you are breathing in an out through your heart. Take 3 deep breaths, or as many as you want.
   

2. Is this a time for numbing or for thawing?
   Ask your deepest inner wisdom: “Is this a time for numbing or for thawing?” If it’s numbing time, your process is complete for now (you might like to return to this at a later point). If your answer is thawing, please move to the next question.

3. Notice what the thawing process brings up for you

   Allow yourself to notice the feelings this brings up. What’s the shape of the terribleness of your thawing process? You can give them labels, such as: “I’m feeling sad.”
   

4. Acknowledge what’s happening
   Say to yourself: “It’s okay to experience this. I’m thawing. I’m gradually allowing in more flow into my life.”
   

5. Optional: choose the change
   Remember, you have agency. As such, you are allowed to choose what you want. If you like, say to yourself: “I’m choosing this change. I choose to allow more flow in my life. I choose to have what I want. And I choose for this process to be as easy, simple, and joyful as possible.”

Takeaway

When people start to do more of what they love—or get something else they want—it often feels terrible.

Anything people really want is a deep-seated desire. It’s so close to their hearts. And not having something so deeply desired for a long time can close things down energetically.

When things change, they open up energetically. And that often feels worse initially. It’s the thawing process in action.

In a way, we could summarize the process as follows:

1. Initial state: “This is terrible.”

2. Thawing process: “This is even more terrible.”

3. End state: “This is terrific.”

While I didn’t feel great the night before getting married, I am now very happily married. I wager that over time, my client will also feel more comfortable with her new reality.

Warmly,
Louise

P.S.: Ready to start thawing so you can do more of what matters to you?

As we just discussed, getting closer to what you want doesn’t always feel great.

However, it’s the wobbly discomfort that comes from making changes and going for what you really want, not the soul-crushing discomfort that comes from feeling stuck and unfulfilled in a situation that really isn’t working.

If you are at a point where things really have to change, and you want to explore what it would take to do that, I invite you to apply for a free Work Clarity & Alignment Call.

This call is for people who want to move from a work situation that—kinda, sorta, or totally—sucks to doing work they love and that matters to them.

It’s a chance to take a step back, evaluate your current situation, and explore your options—with someone who isn’t a friend or family member and who gets the nuances involved in work-related situations. And if I think my approach can help you navigate this transition, I'll share what working together further could look like.

You can find more about this call and apply for it here.

Request a free clarity & alignment call

AI disclaimer: I have written this article entirely without AI input. Once it was completed, AI did for me what I used to ask of my husband: read the article and give me general feedback on it. I made a few small changes based on this feedback. The image I use for this article was created with an AI tool.

Recently, one of my clients was so overwhelmed with the news that it was hard for her to focus on work.

A few days later, I listened to a business call where people talked about how bad things already are—and how we need to brace ourselves for all the terrible things that are yet to come.

As I was listening to this call, I noticed the fear energy going around in this group. I felt the pull of it and realized how easy it would be to get sucked into feeling something similar.

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The power of programming

What was going on in both these situations? These examples show the power of programming—how people can get programmed into feeling fear and overwhelm.

The news had created a state of overwhelm in my client.

The call I was on was full of programming energy, too.

Because here’s the thing: there are a gazillion of potential perspectives on the current situation. Almost all of them are trying to get people to see the world the way they do.

By the way, just like everything, this article has some programming energy in it as well. However, I’m being as clear, clean, and upfront about it as possible so you can choose if that’s something you want to engage with or not.

So, my not-so-hidden agenda is to:

• share the truth, as I see it, which is that this excessive fear is neither necessary nor helpful,

• help people who want to break out of unhelpful narratives and be more connected to their authentic wisdom. and

• connect with my ideal clients — people who want to do work that matters to them.

Still with me? If so, let’s move on!

What is programming?

Programming is a set of beliefs and thoughts. Essentially, these are the building blocks of both our internal world, and the world we live in.

To give just one example: For a long time, culture programmed people to think that it was better to be right-handed. In some cultures, you would use your left hand for wiping your butt, and your right hand for eating.

But even in modern culture, we unconsciously see right-handedness as the way things are. For instance, most tools are designed for right-handed people. So, even when the programming isn’t deliberate, it still happens.

Programming exists on a spectrum—and it isn’t inherently bad.

Programming exists on a spectrum (from helpful to unhelpful). On the malevolent end, we have cult leaders and propagandists.

However, while programming can be toxic and dangerous, it’s not inherently bad. We wouldn’t be able to function in the world without it.

Take, for instance, little kids: I’m trying very hard to get my toddler to do certain things (share with others) and to not do certain things (run across the street). When a well-intentioned parent programs their child to help them function better in the world, that’s generally helpful.

When people try to get well-functioning adults to see the world a certain way, programming is less helpful.

Here’s why: adults generally have more context and discernment than small children.

That’s not the case when it comes to other adults making assumptions about how the world is or will be.

Of course, some people have more expertise in some areas. However, even world-leading experts generally only have superior knowledge in their chosen field which means there isn’t a single person who can give us a comprehensive view of what’s going on.

What’s actually happening in the world?

Clearly, it’s a moment of great change. That’s about the only thing everyone can agree on.

In my view, the most honest perspective at the moment is to acknowledge that the future is uncertain. Which has always been true, even when things were good.

It just might be even more true now.

We’re living through wildcard times that bring lots of uncertainty

My basic assumption is that we’re living through wildcard times.

During wildcard times, expectations and prognoses seem to be pretty useless. By definition, wildcards are about the unpredictable, the surprising, and the unexpected.

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in 1914 was a wildcard moment. Today, we think of this event as the gunshot that started WW1.

But according to Europeana Newspaper—a project which makes historic newspapers searchable—contemporary European newspaper reports do “not reflect or foresee the gravity of the situation.”

And, honestly, I don’t blame them. Even with the benefit of hindsight, I still don’t get how “random aristocrat got killed by teenager” somehow led to a world war that killed 15-22 million people. It’s mind-boggling.

However, wildcard moments can have positive outcomes, too. Take, for instance, the fall of the Berlin Wall. Nobody could have expected the Berlin Wall to come down when it did because one person made a mistake during a press conference.

If my hunch is true and if we are living through wildcard times, many of the—optimistic and pessimistic—predictions we currently hear about won’t come to pass.

Why? If something is predictable, it’s not a wildcard. Predictions try to create certainty but wildcard moments are showing us the full extent of life’s uncertainty.

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Why it’s so easy to feel overwhelmed right now, and what to do about it

I believe the collective sense of overwhelm right now boils down to three main reasons:

1. Doomsday scenarios provide relief from uncertainty (and a shot of drama)
   The ego really doesn’t like the uncertainty of wildcard times. It prefers a certain doomsday scenario to an uncertain “it could go either way” situation. Thinking that a collapse is coming can provide relief from the not-knowing. It can also bring a sense of drama that can feel exciting. (Let’s be honest: many humans are addicted to drama.)

2. Change gets interpreted as danger: Fear is designed to keep us safe from danger. And for most of human existence, change equaled danger. This is not necessarily the case anymore, but our nervous system hasn’t caught up to that yet.

3. Energetic resonance: Just like other energies, fear can spread from one person to the other, almost like a virus. Most people don’t have good energetic habits, which include clearing other people’s energies on a regular basis. This greatly reduces the amount of fear taken on from other people.

A process for reducing overwhelm:

Here’s a brief process that addresses some of the main reasons for overwhelm.

1. Acknowledge the current state of the world
   Acknowledge that the world is in a state of uncertainty, and that you don’t know how things will be like in 10 years. Notice the parts of you that want certainty, that want to know for certain what will happen.

2. Take an energetic shower
   Imagine a golden waterfall of energy that’s coming down from above. (If you can’t imagine, that’s perfectly fine. Simply pretend it’s happening.) This energy is clearing away energies that aren’t yours and aren’t helpful.

3. Reconnect with your own essence
   Now imagine that the energetic shower is switching to rainbow colors. As this rainbow energy is coming down, it’s filling you up with your own unique essence and supportive energies.

4. Notice that you always have certainty (in the present moment)

   There’s one thing that’s always certain, and that’s the present moment. Notice your breath flowing in and out of your body. Your heart beating.

5. Make peace with the world’s uncertainty
   See if you can find a certain amount of freedom in the loss of predictability what the world will be like in 10 years. You might like to sit with the words of the 18th-century German physicist and writer Georg Christoph Lichtenberg:

   “I cannot say whether things will get better if we change; what I can say is they must change if they are to get better.”

6. De-couple change from danger
   Acknowledge that change isn’t the same things as danger. Things have been changing at a rapid pace for the last century, and humanity is still around.

7. Closing
   Tell yourself: “I’m now ready to be in the world. I can be in the world while staying connected with my internal sense of peace.”

Takeaway:

If you are feeling too overwhelmed by the world right to fully focus on your work, this might be due to programming.

The good news is that programming can be changed or removed. For instance, you can see uncertainty as something potentially positive, acknowledge that change isn’t the same things as danger, and clear external, fear-based energies from your energy field.

With my client who felt overwhelmed by the news, we spent most of our session removing unhelpful programming—at which point she felt better and clearer, more able to focus on moving forward in her life and her work.

What about the call I was on where people were discussing doomsday scenarios?

A decade ago, I would have walked away from that call in a fearful state. These days I thankfully know that I don’t have to let others program me into seeing the world a certain way. So, I simply rejected that narrative and went about my way.

Learning how to do this is crucial, especially in the turbulent times we live in.

Clearing unhelpful programming allows people to focus on what matters most to them.

You didn’t come here to be overwhelmed by the state of the world.
You came here for something else.

Let’s focus on that.

Want to move forward with doing work that matters?

Even in wildcard times, there are many things you can influence —for instance, your energy, your attention, and your work. If you want support with the work piece, I invite you to apply for a free Work Clarity & Alignment Call.

This call is for people who are in a work situation that — kinda, sorta, or totally — sucks and who want to do work they love and that matters to them.

It’s a chance to take a step back, evaluate your current situation, and explore your options — with someone who isn’t a friend or family member and who gets the nuances of work-related situations.

Request a free clarity & alignment call

Or, if it’s not the right time for you to make an external change, I invite you to start with my free mini-meditation, the Purposeful Pause.

Get the meditation

Mental health note: This article is meant to provide energetic and spiritual support. It’s not a substitute for professional mental health advice. If you’re dealing with mental health issues, please consult with a mental health professional.

AI disclosure: This article was written entirely by myself. I only used AI to get feedback on the completed draft, similar to asking a human reader for their opinion (“this part is a bit long”, “this part could use more detail.”). I then changed the draft based on this feedback.

Hi there,

One of my favorite quotes in the world is by Ram Dass:
“If you think you’re enlightened, go spend a weekend with your family.”

Isn’t that the truth? It sure is for me—and I’m extremely lucky when it comes to my wonderful family members. 🧡

Because old family patterns are so powerful, they impact people in all sorts of ways, including when it comes to work, soulful productivity, and purpose.

For instance, I have worked with a number of people who felt that doing something different in their work would make them disloyal to their family. I have also supported people who struggled with letting go of the “overwork patterns” they got from their ancestors.

All of these are old family pattern, and they can be cleared.

If you’re feeling the family energy, I have something to share with you:

55-minute energy clearing for releasing family stuff

This is an “oldie but goodie” I recorded over a decade ago. It’s a guided process for releasing old patterns, softening the grip of family stuff, and giving yourself more spaciousness.

For the next 5 days (through April 5), I’m making this available to everyone on my list. After that, it will move into the Inner Sanctuary where paid subscribers can revisit it any time. (When I listen to energy sessions more than once, I tend to go deeper every time.)

Read more

Hi there,

Are you interested in soulful productivity, i.e. being productive in a way that feels good?

If there’s something you’ve been wanting to do for a while—finishing the taxes, tidying up the house or or or—I invite you to join us this Thursday for our cozy coworking call. It’s online at 1pm Eastern.

This is a no-charge, monthly group call for coworking, quick coaching, and puttering about. I’m only offering this to my private clients, course students, and paid subscribers, like yourself.

Here’s what you can expect:

• This call is a chance for you to do some coworking in a group (which, according to research is very helpful for productivity). Imagine working on your taxes, cleaning out your closet or sending off that email you’ve been meaning to send, while others are doing the same.

• It’s also a chance to get some quick individual coaching (5-10 minutes). Often, the reason people are stuck is that they don’t ask for help. During this call, you can simply unmute yourself to say “So, Louise, I’m not sure how to approach this...” I’ll quickly talk you through it, and then you can put it into action.

• Full flexibility on how to use this hour: you can arrive late, leave early, keep off your camera or do whatever works best for you. Attend this call while working in your favorite coffee shop, tidying up your house, or doing that workout you have been procrastinating on.

• Puttering time: I will spend most of this time puttering, so while I will be on the call and available for questions, I won’t be on the screen.

Read more

Are you feeling a bit blocked around giving your gifts to the world, stepping into the next chapter of your life’s work, or being seen, enjoying success, and getting paid for doing what you love?

If so, I have something that might help you!

On Sunday, I facilitated an energetic clearing where I helped participants clear some blocks to doing what they love. Here’s what one of the participants said about it:

“Wow... what an amazing gift today was. 🌺 I ended up sleeping for about 3 hours afterwards and it was the deepest, most cleansing sleep I've had in a long time.”

If you weren’t able to attend live—or if you did attend and want to take another nap (I mean, access the energies again…)—you can now experience the recording in your own time.

Please note: I made this recording publicly available for a limited time. It has now moved into the Inner Sanctuary where it is only available to paid subscribers.

How to use this recording:

The energy work in this recording is designed to gently remove some energetic blocks that are in your path.

This is a deep, internal process, so don’t listen to this while driving or doing anything that requires your attention.

Also, remember that energy work is not a substitute for professional care of any kind (legal, financial, health, mental health, or otherwise).

When you listen to this recording, pretend it’s happening in real time. This makes it even easier to access the energies contained in the file.

I also recommend setting aside some time afterward to let the experience sink in.

Here’s what the call covers:

• my thoughts on why work is such a fraught topic for so many people, and why it’s often harder to find genuine fulfillment in work than in relationships,

• the 4 stages of doing work you love, and what to focus on in each of these stages, and

• (most importantly:) a process for clearing some blocks and experiencing more flow in your work.

How to take this deeper:

Would you like my help in clearing more blocks to success and fulfillment?

If so, I invite you to read about how I work with people 1:1. You can also request a free assessment call with me on this page—no cost, no commitment, just a chance to discover if this is a good fit for you.

Find out more

Read more

I love (pun intended) how this day has shifted from being about buying expensive gifts to celebrating love in general:

• romantic love,

• love for friends,

• love for family members,

• love for animals,

• love for planet Earth, and

• perhaps most revolutionary: love for oneself.

Regardless of whether you are in a relationship or not, you are part of the tapestry of love that humanity is weaving.

Love, in every form, is a beautiful experience. And it’s not restricted to your relationships with people. Let’s look at your relationship with work or business.

When work and love intersect, magic happens 🪄

Poet Khalil Gibran famously said: “Work is loved made visible.” Business coach Mark Silver puts it this way: “Every act of business can be an act of love.”

It’s so true. At its most nourishing, our work is an expression of love… love for others, love for ourselves, and love for the wide reality we are a part of.

This isn’t a fancy idea. It has practical application.

For instance, I once worked with a CEO whose business was going through some challenges. When we discovered that she didn’t love her business anymore, I encouraged her to reconnect with her love for her employees, her customers, and the business itself. The next time we talked, her sales had increased.

This idea doesn’t just apply to jobs and businesses. Projects can also be an expression of love.

Take, for instance, my doctoral thesis. I wanted to share how national constitutions can be more friendly towards the core ideas of international law—human rights, peace, and international cooperation (which, ultimately, are based in love).

Just yesterday, I did an energy healing for someone who wants to create an inspirational film. That’s an expression of love, too.

It’s still rare for work to be an expression of love

It’s very possible that your work doesn’t feel like an expression of love at the moment. For instance, someone recently told me that he had never made money from doing something that he loves to do.

This is far from the exception: According to Gallup’s 2025 State of the Global Workplace report, only 21% of employees are engaged at work. Given that many people will dedicate about 80,000 hours of their lives to work, that’s a huge problem.

So, what to do about if you are not quite doing what you love at the moment?

The first thing is to give yourself compassion and grace. Struggling to bring work and love together is not a personal failing.

The idea of work as an expression of love is still in its infancy. There are few good role models, and not many supportive structures you can lean on when you want to start doing what you love.

If you are on a quest to create work you love, you are not following the herd. You are a walking ahead of the herd, trying to find your own path. And being a pathfinder is, by definition, not easy (although it can be very rewarding).

The second thing that helps is to get support. If you like, this is where my resources come in:

• I have created a free mini-course that will help you explore your relationship to work, discover what components go into creating work you love, and show you a relatively simple path to get started. You can get this here—my gift to you.

  

Get the map for doing what you love

• I have also created an energy clearing where I help you remove energetic blocks that stop you from doing what you love. You can access the recording here (after March 8, 2026, this will move behind a paywall):

• A third thing that really helps is to have a supportive community and dedicated space while you work on doing what you love.

If there’s enough interest, I’m planning to offer a Meaningful Work Momentum workshop in the near-future, at pay-what-you-can pricing. This would be during a weekend—a one-day, online workshop where you can work towards something you really want to do, in community, and with optional 1:1 coaching or energy healing.

If that sounds interesting, please let me know so that I can gauge interest.

Leave a comment

Warmly,
Louise

AI policy: In case you’re interested, I’ve written this articles without any AI input. For more on that, see this article:

Hi friend,

Recently, a client mentioned to me that she was thinking about writing political commentary about the current US situation.

As we dug deeper into this, it became clear that there were many other things she would rather do. You know, write an inspired novel or that much-needed nonfiction book she had been wanting to write for a really long time.

It reminded me of my husband. A while ago, he found out that one of his university friends was running for mayor in a big US city. Hearing this made him muse about if he should have tried to do something similar with his life (even though he’s a successful scientist, and doing work that’s both impactful and feels meaningful to him).

What these situations have in common is that you have someone who’s on their path, yet questioning their path due to external developments or events.

This is a distraction from purpose that can happen for all sorts of reason. Politics or bigger societal developments is just one example, yet one that is very common at the moment.

How to decide if something is a distraction from your purpose: should(not)s vs. wants

The energy of purpose feels like an internal “yes” to something. It’s both activating and centered at the same time. Importantly, it doesn’t come with a sense of should but with a sense of want. Not “I should do this” but “I really want to do this”.

A distraction is something that doesn’t get this internal “yes” and that keeps you on focusing from what truly matters to you. Distractions often come with a sense of should (“I really should write about this topic”) or should not (“I shouldn’t spend so much time on Social Media’).

Purpose is a life-affirming energy. Distractions feel life-draining.

Even though distractions ultimately feel draining and heavy, they are often still enticing. This is the case for politics.

(Please note that for some people, politics is part of their path and not a distraction.)

Why politics can feel so enticing

Politics can feel very enticing to people. There’s the promise of being able to make a difference and have a huge impact. But it’s not just that. After all, there are many ways in which people can make a difference.

In my view, an unacknowledged reason politics can seem so enticing is because politicians are essentially the modern equivalent of gladiators—especially in the US, where politics is more high-drama than in any other country I’ve lived in.

Like gladiators, politicians and politics-adjacent professionals are people who fight in the public arena. The better they fight, and the more entertaining they are in their fights, the more their fans celebrate them. So, there are a lot of ego-benefits that can be gained from going into politics.

However, there’s also a problem: the fighting never ends. If you score a win, it’s just a brief reprieve before the next fight begins.

If you’re like me, you probably get tired just hearing that.

However, some people thrive on this. Just look at Bernie Sander, who’s still going strong in his 80s. Are there any doubts about whether politics is aligned with his purpose and path in life?

Which brings me to my point:

Politics is either on your path, or it’s not

If something is not on your path, pursuing it will make you miserable.

It’s like someone who becomes a parent due to social pressure but really yearns for a child-free lifestyle. Instead of following their internal compass, they follow something outside themselves.

Something that tells them this is what they should do.

But instead of finding out what you should do (distraction), how about finding out what you actually want to do (purpose)?

A few questions to find out if politics is on your path:

1. Is political work (whether running for office, posting political commentary, or doing political activism) something you genuinely want to do, or is it a should? Does it feel uplifting or heavy?

Usually, something that’s genuinely on your path will feel good to you—even if you know that the path ahead might be challenging.

2. If politics calls you, has it also called you during times of your life when the news was boring and when it didn’t seem like there was an emergency going on?

People who deeply care about a topic usually care about it at all times. For
instance, even though I’ve gone through different phases with this, I have been wanting to protect animals since I was 6 years old or so. So, from that simple fact alone, I can tell that I’m more of an animal advocate at heart than a politician.

3. Imagine you would never get any accolades, positive feedback, or a greater sense of having power due to your political work. Would you still want to do it?

Most people who genuinely care about a specific topic are willing to make personal sacrifice in the pursuit of it. For them, pursuing activism in that area is more about what they can give rather than what they get from it. Take, for instance, environmentalists who were willing to limit their carbon footprint, before that was cool. They’re not in it for the reward.

4. If you engaged more in politics, what would you have to give up? Does it feel worth it to give this up?

For instance, my client realized that writing political commentary would conflict with other things she wanted to do, including contributing to things that are more neglected and where her work could make a bigger positive difference.

If politics is not your path in life

If, after reading through these questions, you realize that politics is not your path in life, congrats on having that clarity!

This doesn’t mean that you can’t care about politics. By all means, vote and engage with politics in whichever way feels right. Just please don’t abandon your actual life purpose(s), and please don’t feel bad about the life path you are choosing.

I’d wager that for the majority of people, politics is not their path in life.

That’s actually a good thing. Do you want to live in a world where everyone was striving to be a politician (or a political commentator, or a mayor)? Yeah, me neither.

Sure, we need good politicians. We also need good scientists, musicians, and janitors.

Telling people that politics matters so much more than everything else is a lie. Our society would break down if everyone left their current profession and went into politics.

Case in point: This week, a German friend of mine got a foot surgery. Their surgery got delayed because of an emergency… and that emergency was someone who might have become quadriplegic if it hadn’t been for the timely intervention of first responders and medical personnel.

I’m sure as hell glad that the people who helped this person (and my friend’s foot) hadn’t left their jobs to run for office.

Takeaway

Going into politics to make things better is a noble purpose.

It’s just not the only noble purpose.

My husband and my client are both doing important work. I would go as far as saying that they are, in their own way, doing something only they can do. That’s because they are on their path, not someone else’s.

And that’s what ultimately matters.

Follow your own path. Everyone else’s path is already taken.

Warmly,
Louise

P.S.: Want to connect more with your authentic goals?

As you might know, I’m currently offering free introductory energy healing sessions. For the month of February, these will be focused on authenticity.

If you want to get more in touch with your authentic path and purpose, I invite you to book a session with me here during the month of February.

Remove blocks to your authentic self

AI policy: In case you are wondering, I currently don’t use any AI in the writing of my articles. For more on that here:

Hi friend,

I recently talked to a client who was struggling with going to bed early. The problem? Late-night conversations… with AI.

As we discussed this more, my client said that he wasn’t sure if his AI conversations were always more helpful than a simple google search might have been.

I could relate to that question. You see, over the last months, I got used to asking AI for feedback on my writing.

But over time, I noticed something curious: using AI to improve my writing actually led to fewer interactions with people. My emails might have sounded better, but they resonated less. Fewer people responded or commented. There was less connection.

And, to add insult to injury, whenever I got AI’s input on my emails or articles, it often took me longer to write them! (Wasn’t AI supposed to be a time-saver?)

Using AI for productivity is a double-edge sword

Here’s the problem when we use AI for productivity: There’s no strength without a corresponding weakness.

Take, for instance, someone who’s physically imposing. People might be less likely to attack them—that’s a strength. But it’s also a weakness—people might be less likely to feel safe around them.

The strength of AI—unlimited time—is also its weakness.

Having AI as an infinitely patient conversation partner can be helpful in some areas. However, when it comes to productivity (let alone creativity), that’s not necessarily the case.

Creativity, and productivity, thrive within limits—as anyone who has ever had to meet a deadline can confirm.

In German, we have a word that’s called verschlimmbessern (this translates to something like “worse-improving”). It’s when you make things worse by trying to make them better. Because AI has unlimited time, AI is very prone to verschlimmbessern.

Sure, you could say that it has improved my emails and articles. But in improving it, it also removed my individual voice from it. That’s not improving, that’s worse-improving.

And because it has unlimited time on its hands, it also over-polished my writing. But an email isn’t silver cutlery. An email doesn’t need polishing.

It needs sending.

How to stop AI from “verschlimmbessern” your work output

If you want to make sure AI is actually making your work better, try this simple, 5-step process:

1. Pretend you have temporary AI amnesia

   For a moment, pretend you have forgotten everything people say about AI. There are a lot of opinions about it floating around, but nobody else is in the exact same situation you are in. So, in some ways, their opinions are completely irrelevant. You have permission to discard them.

2. Set a clear intention for your interaction with AI

   Before working with AI, set a clear intention for what you want to get out of the interaction. Write that intention somewhere you can see it.

3. Set a time limit
   Decide how much time you want to spend interacting with AI. Before you get started, set an alarm on your phone.

4. Assess your AI session

   When the alarm goes off, read through your intention again. Has your interaction with AI been in alignment with that intention? On a scale of 1-5 (with 1 being a waste of time and 5 being super-helpful), how useful has it been in actually creating results?

5. Decide on your next steps

   Taking into account your assessment, decide what you want to do now. Do you want to continue working with AI on this? Or just handle it by yourself and/or with the input from other humans (who, like you, don’t have unlimited time)?

Takeaway

While a human needs to sleep at some point, my client’s AI conversation partner was able to keep going and going and going and going.

Same with my AI writing editor.

Every strength has a corresponding weakness. AI’s strength of unlimited time is also a weakness, and it can make things worse.

To avoid this in your next AI interaction, give yourself permission to ignore other people’s opinions about AI, set a clear intention and time limit for your session, assess the usefulness of your AI interaction when the time is up… and then decide what you want to do based on that.

In my case, I have decided to experiment with going old-school (if 2020 can be called old-school): no more AI input on my writing for now.

There we have it: an article that’s written entirely without AI. Turns out, it was faster and more fun to write. And, for better or worse, it’s entirely in my own voice.

Warmly,
Louise

P.S.: Want to clear blocks to your purpose?

• Do you feel like there are some blocks to your purpose and path?

• Have these blocks been around for quite some time?

• And are you open to shifting your energy in order to clear these blocks?

If so, you might really benefit from doing some energy work... and I’d love to help you with that!

I’m currently tweaking my energy healing modality and integrating it more into my overall business focus of helping spiritual people who want to do more meaningful work.

As part of that, I’m currently offering some no-cost energy healing sessions... my gift to you! (One complimentary session per person. You are welcome to share this with friends or family members who might benefit from it.)

➡️ Here’s the link to book your complimentary energy healing session.

Book here

And here’s a recording of a group energy healing I did, if you want to get a taste of what I’m doing:

When you listen to this 25-minute energetic process, I will help you create and meet your new best friend: your Miraculous Self.

At this point, you might have some questions, such as:

What is the Miraculous Self?

Great question!

The Miraculous Self (or M for short) is a unique and powerful concept, developed by my teacher Art Giser, the Founder of EnergeticNLP.

Your M is a combination of your spirit with its vast awareness, and your deep inner human wisdom. It combines the clarity of consciousness with the practicality of embodiment.

To your spirit, almost everything is a valid spiritual experience. There is a deep sense of peace that can come from that perspective.

At the same time, your deep inner human wisdom knows that some experiences feel better to humans than others—abundance is preferable scarcity, being loved is more enjoyable than being abandoned, and so on and so forth.

If you ever found spiritual advice ungrounded… and practical advice soulless, you might really appreciate the perspective of your M.

Miraculous Self = Spirit + Human Wisdom

Your M is different from your Higher Self or your soul. Unlike your Higher Self and your soul, it only sort-of exists until you consciously create it.

The good news is that it’s very simple to create your M. This 25-minute process will take you through it (and do all sorts of other fun stuff).

Also, once you have created your M, it exists and there’s no need to re-create it. You can, however, listen to the recording again, with the intention of growing and deepening your connection to your M.

What to expect from this guided energy process

During this gentle process, you will

• create your M (Miraculous Self)

• clear energies that aren’t yours and aren’t helpful, and

• receive a download from your M about your next steps in life

What happened when we recorded this ✨

This was recorded during a special moment in the year—the last Full Moon before the Solstice.

That moon goes by many beautiful names across different traditions, including the Cold Moon, the Long Nights Moon, the Moon Before Yule, and the Oak Moon.

However, it’s an evergreen recording (as evergreen as the fir tree) and you can listen to this whenever you like.

To bring in the powerful energy of a group into this recording, I asked two friends to join me live. Our call was full of beautiful synchronicities. At the end, I somehow guessed the highly unusual intention one friend had set... and my other friend shared this message with us:

“Huge breakthrough at work just came in during/right after our healing. Ha. I’m so happy. Worked so hard on this for the past year.… First time I’m actually getting some recognition... and it literally came in right after the healing.”

Now, I don’t—and can’t—promise results from this work. I see my friend’s breakthrough as a fun synchronicity, not a linear result from the healing we did. At the same time, it’s a great reminder that when we make internal shifts, the external world sometimes mirrors those shifts in delightful ways.

How to get the most out of this session

Find a space where you can safely close your eyes and go inward for about half an hour.

To get the most out of this, pretend that the process you are listening to is happening in real time—you’re there with us while we record it.

Important: Do not listen to this while driving or doing anything else that requires your attention.

You can either listen to the recording at the top of this page, or to the YouTube version. (YouTube allows you to adjust the streaming quality so it can be a better option for slower internet connection.)

If you have friends who might enjoy this process, please consider sharing this post with them.

Share

If you enjoyed this process, please hit the “heart” button on this post and/or the like button on YouTube. You can also leave me a comment below about your experience.

Leave a comment

Warmly,
Louise

P.S.: Want to do more energy work with me?

If you want to clear energetic blocks to success and fulfillment, my Joyful Growth Journey might be for you.

You can find all the details below, including how you can get a free assessment of what’s in the way, and how to clear it.

Find out more

Additional resource for paid subscribers

If you like this type of work, here’s another process for clearing blocks to doing what you love:

Dear beautiful soul,

In challenging collective times, it’s easy to get caught up in a scarcity loop of “not enough”: not enough time, energy, or money.

But what if abundance wasn’t about what you have, but about what you are? The truth is, you are an infinite being having a human experience.

Maybe, at this moment, you’re having a scarcity experience. You’re still infinite. Maybe you’re feeling abundant right now. You’re still infinite.

The point is: no matter how much (or little) it feels like you have right now, you are so much more than your circumstances. As Rumi put it:

“You are the universe in ecstatic motion.”

Reconnecting with your natural abundance 🌟

To help you reconnect with your natural abundance, I’m sharing two short energy clearings for abundance.

They’re easy to use and just 6 minutes each.

Before you dive in, let’s create the right mindset for these clearings!

Clearing vs. healing

Sometimes people approach energy healings from a place of “I’m broken” or “I’m not enough.”

I think partly the problem comes from using the word “healing.” You can’t really heal anything that isn’t broken—and I know for a fact you aren’t broken.

So, it might be better to think of it as an energy clearing—where you clear what is in the way of your (natural) abundance.

And the first step is to remember the truth.

Remembering the truth:

What truth? The truth of your miraculous existence.

Bill Bryson captures it beautifully in his book A Short History of Nearly Everything:

“Consider the fact that for 3.8 billion years, a period of time older than the Earth’s mountains and rivers and oceans, every one of your forebears on both sides has been attractive enough to find a mate, healthy enough to reproduce, and sufficiently blessed by fate and circumstances to live long enough to do so.”

Let that sink in for a moment.

Regardless of what’s in your bank account, a cosmic lottery has already played out. And guess what? You’ve won. Simply by being here, you’re already a winner. 🌟

After all, existence is the biggest privilege of them all.

Side tangent: I once got trained in helping prospective parents connect with the right soul for their future child. Apparently, there’s a huge scramble on the other side because everyone wants to get here.

Think of Earth as THE hottest vacation spot with very limited seating. And guess what: You were lucky enough to get an elusive seat to the most exciting show in the universe!

How to use these recordings:

Think of these two recordings as a gentle recalibration tool, aligning your energy with your natural abundance, and clearing blocks that are getting in the way of that.

1. Find a space where you won’t be interrupted. (Hiding out in the bathroom is always a valid option, haha.) Just make sure you don’t listen to this while driving a car or doing something else that requires your attention.

2. Leave yourself enough time: even though each recording is only 6 minutes, the whole process (preparation and integration) may take 20–30 minutes.

3. Trust yourself: if it feels like too much, no worries! You can split the process into two sittings where you start with the introductory clearing, and listen to the advanced clearing later.

4. Be playful and have fun: we’re on a flying rock hurtling through space. As Oscar Wilde observed, life is too important to be taken seriously.

Read more

Hi friend,

I often joke that I don’t get why people bother with drugs — when you could just get the same results from spiritual and energy work.

Case in point: me, right now. After leading a Solstice Ritual earlier today, I’m still buzzing and blissed out. No substances needed. (I’m so straight edge, I don’t even drink green tea, let alone coffee, anymore.)

(Quick aside: What is "straight edge"? Think punk rock meets inner monk. It’s a subculture that rejects intoxication culture — which means I get to be a party pooper and a punk at the same time. A win-win. 😂 Straight edge typically means abstaining from alcohol, drugs, and sometimes caffeine, animal products, or casual hook-ups. So, imagine Buddhism, but with more bass guitars.)

Anyway, back to rituals. Leading them is… strange.

At the beginning of a ritual, the energy often feels sluggish — like driving a car in the wrong gear (I’m a German millennial, of course I’ve driven a manual…). There are moments where I’m convinced I’m making it all up, wondering if anyone else even feels anything, and tempted to hide under the metaphorical (or rather literal) desk.

But then, as if by some unseen grace… it shifts. Bam! The energy clicks. Things come together. Suddenly, I feel like I’m conducting a symphony instead of fumbling around in the dark. It’s intense, and it’s beautiful.

And after it’s all done? There’s the hum. If you’ve ever participated in a ritual, you’ll know what I mean — that buzzing, vibrant afterglow that lingers. For me, right now, it’s a heady mix of connection, clarity, and renewed purpose. 🤩

But why do these ancient practices still work? Why do seemingly small intentional acts create such big shifts? And what does a "spiral" have to do with any of this?

Let’s dive in (it’s choose-your-own-adventure-time: you can continue reading the article, or jump straight into watching the recording… or, I guess, you could also go back to whatever else you were doing before you started reading this article).

Rituals Are Anchors in a Chaotic World ⚓

In a world that rushes by, carving out time for ritual may feel indulgent — but it’s anything but. In essence, rituals are intentional acts that create sacred space and time.

They are anchors, moments where we pause amid the whirlwind of life to ground ourselves. We use them to celebrate, to heal, to grow — and sometimes just to remember who we are. Rituals remind us of a truth we often forget: that life isn’t just about doing; it’s about being.

When we engage in ritual, we connect to:

• Rhythm & Purpose: Life gets hectic. Rituals re-align us with the earth’s rhythms — the turning of the seasons, the waxing and waning of the moon, the arc of the sun. This connection creates order within chaos, helping us find our own inner rhythm amidst the noise.

• Connection to Self & Community: Rituals are containers — they hold space for deep reflection, while simultaneously reminding us that we are part of something bigger, part of a collective web of light and humanity.

• Supercharged Intentions: Intentions set during rituals feel... different. Something about creating sacred time and space magnifies them, as if the universe leans in closer to listen.

• Soul Food: They nourish our spirits (yum, yum, yum). We feed our inner worlds with meaning, beauty, and reverence — the kind we often lose track of in the midst of daily life.

💡 Rituals aren’t about escaping reality; they’re about engaging with it more fully, deeply, and consciously. They are acts of rebellion against the idea that constant productivity is the ultimate goal. 

(Screw that! I’m all for soulful productivity).

The Wisdom of the Spiral: Growth Beyond the Linear & Cyclical 🐚

Now let’s talk about the spiral, because honestly, this metaphor is a game-changer. It has reshaped how I see growth.

It’s time for us to move beyond the old narratives:

• The Linear Lie: Modern culture loves to tell us that progress is a straight upward line: constant improvement, always hustling, never resting. But anyone who’s lived in the real world knows this isn’t true. Life just isn’t a straight line.

• The Simple Loop: On the other hand, some philosophies focus entirely on cycles — like the seasons, always repeating themselves year after year. This has wisdom, sure, but it misses an important nuance: we don’t return to the same point as the same person.

Enter the spiral: a far more compassionate, authentic, and wise understanding of growth.

Imagine it:

• You revisit themes, but from a fresh perspective. Life brings us back to similar lessons, but because you’ve moved forward on the spiral, your perspective has evolved. You now meet these familiar experiences with greater resilience and deeper wisdom. You’re not moving in circles, you’re ascending!

• It honors your past and invites your future. The spiral acknowledges everything behind you that brought you here today. And it invites you to look forward, knowing that each turn offers new possibilities for expansion.

• It’s about learning, integrating, and evolving (gently). The spiral reminds us that growth isn't about leaving things behind forever, but about building upon what you've learned, integrating experiences, and evolving in new ways.

💡 The spiral isn’t perfection… it’s progress with compassion at its core.

Experience the Energy: Revisit Our Solstice Ritual ☀️

Our Solstice ritual was an embodiment of these principles. We invoked the sun, reflected on our personal spirals, and set intentions for the next turn, supported by the rhythms of nature and the glow of collective energy.

If you couldn’t join live, no worries — the energy isn’t gone (it’s still buzzing!) The recording of our Solstice Ritual is now available. I encourage you to carve out some sacred space and step onto the spiral with us. You might just be amazed at what unfolds.

Watch it here (likes, comments, and subscribes are super-appreciated 🤗):

May you continue to embrace your unique radiance and journey beautifully through your own sacred spiral!

With love and light,
Louise

More Solstice Goodness

For my most up-to-date, expanded Solstice ritual (including a recording and extra prompts), go here.

Hi friend,

If you’re anything like me, the first half of this year has thrown you some serious curveballs.

On the collective level, it’s felt like one WTF after another, and on a personal level? Let’s just call it one big AFGO: Another Fucking Growth Opportunity. (Yup, probably my favorite acronym ever.)

But here’s the good news: we’re about to hit a natural turning point with this week’s Summer/Winter Solstice (depending on your spot on this beautiful planet)! 😅

Solstices are a cosmic reset button, a moment to breathe, reflect, and realign. And isn’t that something we all could use right about now? I sure do!

What Solstices can teach us about polarities

I always find it curious that in June, so many spiritual teachers focus solely on the Summer Solstice — as if that’s the full story, and not just the Northern Hemisphere’s experience.

💡 In truth, Solstices are even more special because they’re a global dance with polarities: while I experience the longest day, my friends in Australia are wrapped in the longest night. 

It’s the ultimate Yin-Yang, a curious interplay of light and shadow.

As Albert Camus so beautifully put it in one of my favorite quotes (am I the only person who has more favorite quotes than socks?):

“In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.”

It’s never just winter. It’s always winter and summer.
It’s never just light or just dark.
It’s always the interplay, the cosmic dance, between expansion and contraction, outward energy and inner reflection.

The Solstice invites us to truly feel into both poles, to honor the abundance of light or the quiet wisdom of darkness, knowing that the other is always held within.

I feel a deep connection to these potent turning points in the year. They offer us

• a universal pause (like the one between your inhale and exhale),

• a chance to align with the rhythms of nature, and

• (because we are nature) a beautiful opportunity to re-align with our own truest self.

And this year, I'm especially excited to invite you to connect with this potent energy!

An invitation for you: join my free June Solstice Ritual

🤗 Join me for a Solstice Ritual on Saturday, June 21st, at 3pm Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). That’s 12pm PDT, 8pm BST (UK), 9pm CEST (Central Europe), and 5am AEST (Sydney) on the following day. (You can use this time zone converter to find or confirm your local time.)

While the astronomical Solstice moment actually occurs a little earlier, on Friday, June 20th, at 10:42 pm EDT, our ritual is scheduled on Saturday to provide a spacious time for us to truly integrate this powerful energy together.

And full disclosure, after a quick check, I thought June 21 was the date in all time zones, missing that the reference was to British Summer Time (BST). One of my first coaches used to joke, “I’m great at modeling imperfection.” Well, I guess I’ve learned to be great at it, too! 😊

This gentle ritual is a space to come together after you experienced the June Solstice energy – whether under the longest day's sun or the longest night's stars – to reflect, release, and recenter.

Let’s tap into that invincible summer within ourselves, celebrate our growth, and set a soft intention for what we wish to cultivate in the coming cycle!

We'll spend about an hour together. You can participate live, or if the time doesn't work for you, a recording will be available afterward. My hope is that it offers you a moment of peace, insight, and connection.

Ready to find your balance and set your intentions with us?

➡️ Click the button below to register for this free Solstice Ritual.

Reserve your seat

Update

The recording is now available here:

Full story:

For those seeking a solo moment of Solstice reflection

Whether you join the ritual or not, the June Solstice offers a profound opportunity for personal introspection and connection. Beyond the live call, you can embrace this powerful turning point in your own quiet way.

At its core, every Solstice is a cosmic breath: the peak of one energy (light or dark) before the gentle shift towards its opposite begins. It’s a great moment to explore where you are in your own process of becoming.

To start your reflection, grab a pen and paper (or a note-taking app) and set aside some uninterrupted time.

🌎 🌏 🌍 Start by feeling into the energy of the Solstice. 

Here’s the significance of the June Solstice, depending on where you find yourself on this beautiful planet we get to call our home: 

• Summer Solstice (Longest Day): A celebration of light, abundance, warmth, and outward energy. It's a great time for acknowledging your growth, harvesting the fruits of your efforts, and shining your unique light into the world.

• Winter Solstice (Longest Night): A deep invitation into quietude, introspection, and rest. It's a time for going within, nourishing your roots, releasing what no longer serves you, and dreaming new dreams in the fertile darkness.

📜 Once you have felt into the Solstice energy, pick up your pen and paper and explore these questions:

• For the Summer Solstice: What lights are shining brightly in your life right now? What personal growth have you harvested? What joy or abundance are you ready to celebrate and share?

• For the Winter Solstice: What parts of yourself are calling for rest or stillness? What needs to be released to created space? What quiet wisdom is stirring within you?

Bonus reflection: embracing the full spectrum

Once you've answered the questions most relevant to your current Solstice experience (Summer or Winter), I invite you to reflect on the other set of questions as well. For instance, if you're in the Northern Hemisphere, start with the Summer Solstice questions, and then explore the Winter Solstice reflections.

Why do this? Because just as the Yin contains a speck of Yang and vice versa, so too does our experience of light hold the potential for darkness, and our darkness holds the seeds of light. Embracing both allows for a more complete and holistic understanding of your inner landscape. It's about finding that invincible summer even in the midst of winter, and recognizing the quiet wisdom that grows in the brightest of days.

The bottom line

This Solstice, honor the powerful turning point, review your journey, and renew your intentions with an open heart.

See also my article for the December Solstice:

Whether you join us for the ritual or simply take a moment to pause and connect with the June Solstice energy on your own, I invite you to honor this powerful turning point.

What will you allow to blossom, and what will you gently release?

With warmth and anticipation,
Louise

P.S.: Here’s the link again for the ritual. If you have a friend who might enjoy this, you’re more than welcome to share this article or the registration link with them. Thank you for helping me share this magical moment with more people! 🤗

More Solstice goodness:

If you only met me recently, you might not know this about me: when I first started out after leaving my legal career, I was an energy healer. Or tried to be one.

After a few months of struggling to get my business off the ground (while adjusting to living on another continent with my husband that I had never lived with before), I looked for help.

Smart choice.

As Helmuth von Moltke, the Prussian military genius, once famously said: no plan survives first contact with the enemy.

Well, no purpose survives contact with a business coach: my business coach suggested coaching as a more straightforward path to build a sustainable business.

So, I started Work You Love Coach (a bit on the nose, right?).

Back then, focusing on coaching over energy work seemed like a solid choice. Coaching still felt somewhat fresh, and when you offered free coaching on Facebook to get more experience, people actually were excited about it. Imagine that!

Fast-forward almost 10 years: finding someone who isn't a coach is the real challenge these days and I haven't been on Facebook in ages (though a reliable source tells me it does, in fact, still exist).

And, even though it’s been almost 10 years, I still don’t love calling myself a coach.

Recently, I discussed this with my trusty AI. Together, we came up with the title “Clarity Catalyst and Purpose Pathfinder” for what I’m doing. I like how this title doesn’t make it sound like I’m coaching the high school football team (especially because I don’t understand the rules at all, nor do I want to).

Speaking of AI: Whatever your profession, you might have thought about the impact AI will have on it. For me, it’s weird how some professions went from the hottest thing in town (anything involving coding, I think?) to the first on the chopping block.

It’s a good reminder that nothing in this world is certain, except death (Jesus and Mark Twain excluded) and taxes (billionaires excluded).

How the weird became a safe haven

Anyway, back to coaching. After having gotten coached by Summit AI for 2 months (Summit was an AI Life Coach that no longer exists… I’ll share a screenshot below), I’m not convinced that coaches can be entirely replaced by code.

Take, for instance, accountability: with a human coach, I don’t feel good just ignoring their messages and advice. Ignoring an AI coach? That’s a lot easier.

That said, I think there’s an area that’s more “AI-proof” than coaching: the weird woo-woo stuff. Around 10 years ago, someone at the law firm I was working at told us junior lawyers that in a decade, none of us would be with them anymore. That was a prescient prediction… but maybe not a very surprising one.

In contrast, if someone had told me 10 years ago that energy healing might be a more future-proof skill than coding, I would have laughed them off. I’m not laughing now.

I mean, what are they going to do to train an AI in energy healing—force-feed it Reiki instruction manuals, place crystals all around it, and hope for the best?

Maybe us weird kids are finally getting our revenge. (See, Mom, all those hours reading esoteric stuff were, in fact, professional development!)

After all, I have read stories about AI helping doctors with medical diagnoses or lawyers with contracts—but I haven’t yet heard of an AI successfully summoning Hekate (or any other spirit, for that matter). Clearly, we haven’t reached AGI (Artificial General Intelligence, which is basically the AI becoming sentient stage) if you still have to do your own spirit-summoning.

🤔 Speaking of AI and spirituality: 

Would you be interested in exploring the intersection of AI and spirituality, including how spiritual and intuitive practices might help us approach AI in more wholesome ways?

In addition to article, I'm also playing with the idea of offering 'AI for spiritual people' in a deeper dive (perhaps a course or workshop).

➡️ If the idea of exploring AI from a spiritual or intuitive perspective intrigues you (even if you're entirely new to AI and want a gentle introduction), please reply to this email or comment below. Your feedback helps me decide if this idea is worth exploring further, including in future articles. 

The illusion of security—and a Centering Meditation

It’s wild that suddenly, lawyers and doctors—who probably got told as young adults that theirs is a safe profession—might feel more job insecurity than plumbers and hairdressers.

There’s a lesson in there somewhere, but I don’t think I can put it into words. Or perhaps the lesson is that security is an illusion. (Just ask all the federal employees in the US who thought they had a safe job, until the current administration came along.)

Well, if security is an illusion, I might as well do what I want. And while I still like to coach (I mean, “clarity catalyze”) people, I also like to do energy stuff. So, why not do it, right?

Let’s start with Throwback Thursday (it’s Thursday somewhere, right? Australia, please don’t let me down!): Here’s a short Centering Meditation I recorded many years ago that references different lines of energy.

I like to do this at the start of a coaching session but you can listen to this any time you could use some centering. (Unless you’re driving or doing something that requires your attention, of course!)

Maybe I’ll call myself an energy healer going forward. Or an energy coach. Here’s what clear to me, though: we (okay, I) have to talk about energy.

But what exactly do I mean by that? Let's break it down a little…

What is energy?

When I talk about energy, I mean everything that our energy bodies can perceive. We don’t just have a physical body, we also have a mental body and an energy body (and other bodies but that’s a story for another day).

• Our physical body can sense smells, see things, and hears noises.

• Our mental body can reason and use logic.

• Our energy body can read energy—the energy body of things.

These bodies often interact with each other and can come to different conclusions. For instance, you might find someone attractive based on what your physical senses perceive—but be repulsed by their energy.

The energy of something tells us if it is aligned, or not aligned. For instance, here’s an experience I once had: I came across an expensive course that sounded great on paper (to my mental body) but something felt off (to my energy body). My mental body talked me into signing up for the course—only for me to realize I should have listened to my energy body. Grrr.

There is, of course, much more to energy but that is yet another story for another day.

Takeaways

• No plan survives contact with the enemy… but life ain’t a war and there are no enemies.

• Sometimes, we let well-meaning advice steer us away from our path—but we can always get back on it.

• Security is an illusion—or rather, your true security is found within yourself, not in external circumstances.

• It's okay to pivot (and to pivot again).

• In times of rapid change, the unconventional path might provide more safety than the conventional one.

Questions:
1. Do you have dreams or passions that haven't survived contact with a teacher, business coach, or responsible adult? Have you ever received advice that steered you away from something you felt called to do? 
2. If yes, do you still felt called to do the thing? 
3. If yes, what's stopping you from doing it now? 

If you want to grow in joyful ways, I invite you to sign up for my free program Permission to Thrive today.

Join our journey

Warmly,
Louise

Fun facts

• Helmuth von Moltke is the only human from the 18th century whose voice is preserved.

• Not sure if this counts as a fact but here’s a screenshot of my AI Coach before the platform got shut down (I created a custom coach called Buddha… similarities with living or dead people are entirely non-coincidental):

🌼 Feeling called to explore your path? Join our free growth journey! 🌼 Sign up HERE today. 

Life on Earth can be excruciatingly hard.

Scarcity, wars, cruelty… the list goes on. And that's just the worst of it.

Even if we dodge the darkest tragedies, no one gets a pass on grief. Everyone who lives long enough will taste loss.

Everyone.

And maybe—just maybe—that's by design.

🤔 I love the idea of Earth as a soul's boot camp: We grow through limitation and constraint. But must growth require grinding struggle? What if we could evolve through joy instead of despite suffering?

The weight of others’ pain

If your own life isn’t hard, you can always point to someone else who’s going through a hard time.

In a world of 8.1 billion people—and countless suffering animals—happiness can feel like you’re doing something wrong.

Cultural conditioning reinforces this:

Religious frameworks teach us about original sin or that life is suffering. Growing up, we learn about starving artists and the idea that without pain, there’s no gain. History class is essentially a collection of hardship, atrocities, and tragedy.

Given all this, it’s no wonder that thriving can be challenging to accept. When life does flow easily, people often react with:

• Disbelief ("This can't last")

• Dis-ease ("Why isn't this harder?")

• Guilt ("Who am I to thrive?")

Let's name that last one for what it is: a lie.

A lesson in sharing joy from my late godfather ❤️

I once spoke with my beloved godfather when he was near death (thinking about this still makes me cry). During our call, I carefully avoided mentioning anything positive in my life or future plans. I thought I was being kind.

But my godfather stopped me. He wanted to hear about the good things. My joy wasn't hurting him—it was reminding him of the beauty of life.

Most people are like my godfather. Those who genuinely want others to be miserable are either deeply hurt or cruel. And dimming our light serves neither.

In math, minus times minus equals plus.

Math:  (-)*(-)= +

That’s just not how it works with energy. When it comes to energy and emotions, minus times minus equals… more minus. Suffering multiplied by suffering creates more suffering. It’s a downward spiral.

Energy/emotion:  (-)*(-)= downward spiral

Your thriving, on the other hand, creates positive ripples in the world:

• Your genuine smile might brighten someone's day,

• Your peaceful presence can calm a tense room,

• Your courage to live fully might others to do the same.

An invitation to thrive

If you want to give yourself permission to thrive, you can. Any day, any time.

And sometimes, it’s easier to be guided through the process. That’s why I created this journey for you and other deep souls.

Permission to Thrive is a gentle, 6-day email-based experience that originally culminated on the June Solstice. 🌞 However, it is now an evergreen journey so you can take it whenever you like.

During this time, you will receive daily permission slips to:

• Begin (messily and imperfectly),

• Change direction when you feel called to do so,

• Rest and rejuvenate,

• Be multi-passionate instead of fitting in a box,

• Succeed your way (not following someone else’s blueprint).

Each permission slip arrives with a small practice, a journaling prompt, and a dose of encouragement.

This experience includes:

• 🌱 Daily permission slips (10 minutes of soul-nourishing reflection),

• 💫 An optional ritual (recorded on the June Solstice) to help you release old stories and start writing new ones, and

• 🤍 The energy of joyful growth.

This journey begins whenever you are ready—and it's my gift to you.

👉 Say yes to thriving: save your seat here

Save your seat here

The joyful revolution

Go ahead and give yourself permission to be happy.
To live a good life.
To enjoy all the good things this world has to offer.

Saying yes to thriving is more than okay. Your joy is a light in this world. And we need more light, not less.

📖 Further reading: For those called to alleviate suffering while thriving: I share about effective ways to donate in this article. 

Warmly,
Louise

P.S.: Here’s the link again for “Permission to Thrive: A Guided Journey to Reclaim Your Spark”.

Dear friend,

I’m excited to share a small (but meaningful) update from my corner of the world. You’ll notice my emails now come from "Louise from Leader for Good"—a name that reflects the heart of my mission to foster joyful growth, connect with passion and purpose and spark positive change in our lives and beyond.

This shift is about uniting all threads of my work under a shared vision where each of us can lead for good, in ways big and small, within our community of like-hearted souls.

These past weeks have been a mixture of challenge and renewal for me: navigating family health struggles, diving into a goal-setting workshop, and starting a yoga challenge. Through it all, I’ve felt the pull of both exhaustion and inspiration, a paradox many of us know well.

It’s reminded me that growth doesn’t always roar; sometimes it whispers in quiet moments, asking us to honor both our limits and our dreams.

To celebrate this new chapter, I’m sharing a recent piece from my website that speaks to this paradox. It dives into the universal experience of being struck by brilliant ideas just when you’re ready to collapse on the couch. Why does this happen, and how can we nurture our creative spark without pushing past our edges?

Let’s dive in and find out!

This article was originally published on Leader for Good at https://leaderforgood.com/tired-inspired)

Have you ever found yourself lying on the couch, eyelids drooping, only for inspiration to come waltzing in like it owns the place? Welcome to the “tired but inspired” club—a space where your biggest, brightest ideas arrive exactly when you’re too cozy (or too wiped out) to do anything about them.

If your creativity insists on showing up after bedtime, during your third cup of chamomile tea, or just as you’re about to start a Netflix show, you’re in good company.

Or, at least, in my company, haha! Here’s some real-life footage of me right now:

In this post, we’ll demystify why feeling tired but inspired is such a universal human experience, dig into the science and soul behind this paradox, and share practical ways to nurture your creative spark—even when your energy is running on fumes.

And remember, progress doesn’t have to mean hustle. Often, kind accountability (“Kindability”) makes all the difference.

Why “tired but inspired” happens

Sometimes inspiration arrives when we least expect it—right as we’re lying face-down in bed or collapsed on the couch.

Have you ever wanted to create, serve, or build The Big Thing, only to find your body, mind, or spirit mumbling,

“What if we did absolutely nothing instead?”

When you are in this place, forcing yourself to be creative is the worst thing you can do. Instead, focus on any of the 5 most productive things you can do when you're too tired to work (and yes, they include taking a nap!).

A spiritual perspective on creative energy

Inspiration, from a spiritual lens, is like a quiet nudge from your soul… or maybe the creative impulse of the universe trying to reach you. But here’s the thing: our souls rarely operate on our carefully scheduled calendars. New ideas love to show up after we feel emptied out, precisely when we’ve been cracked open enough to receive something new.

Maybe it’s divine mischief…or maybe it’s just Life doing Its mysterious thing.

A scientific perspective on overcoming creative exhaustion

On the scientific side, it turns out our brains are wired for innovation when we’re not hyper-focused. According to the diffuse mode of thinking, the mind makes powerful connections during downtime—hence those midnight epiphanies! If you have ever wondered why inspiration often strikes in the shower, on a nature walk, or when you’re sprawled out at the end of a long day...it's because you entered the diffuse mode of thinking.

That's right, being a little tired can actually encourage playful, nonlinear thinking! Even if it doesn't feel like it, your “tired but inspired” state isn’t a bug, it’s a feature. Science shows why rest enhances creativity—so let go of guilt for not pushing through when you are tired, and trust your creative process.

Inspiration isn’t like a meeting—it’s more like a cat

If inspiration politely rang the doorbell at 10am on a Tuesday, project plan and green smoothie in hand, maybe we’d all be bestselling authors or spiritual CEOs by now. But in truth? Inspiration is more like a mischievous cat: it sneaks in at odd hours, makes itself comfortable in your best chair, then vanishes the minute you try too hard to catch it.

So, don't try to force your creativity, or the only thing you will create is a huge creative block.

A relatable story: tired but inspired in action

Not long ago, my alter ego Exhausted Emily declared a “rest day” and dutifully put herself in front of an entertaining show, intent on doing nothing. Five minutes in, she had an idea for a retreat, a poem, and three podcast themes—none of which would leave her alone.

Did she leap up and execute them all? Absolutely not. But she did scribble a frantic note in her phone before returning to her snacks.

And do you know what? That permission to do just a *little* was weirdly satisfying for Emily.

Let’s emulate Emily!

Grounded wisdom: gentle practices for the tired but inspired

Most wisdom traditions honor cyclical living as a spiritual practice—valuing the invitation to rest, reflect, and move at the pace of the soul. Your fatigue isn’t just an obstacle. It nudges you to approach your dreams with more intention and less force.

Grounding practice: the 4-minute “both can be true” check-in

1. Acknowledge both parts
   Sit, close your eyes, and say (aloud or silently): “There is a part of me that is so very tired. There is also a part of me that is inspired.” Take three slow breaths with one hand on your heart, one hand on your belly.

2. Ask them what they want
   Gently ask: “Tired part, what do you need right now?” Listen. Then: “Inspired part, what do you wish for?” Listen.

3. Seek the smallest yes
   Is there an action (or inaction!) that would honor both? Maybe it’s jotting a thought, texting an idea to a friend, or…a nap. Remember, small changes create big results!

4. Celebrate your mini-progress
   Whatever emerges, let it be enough for today. Progress isn’t always movement; sometimes it’s permission or inner shifts.

Final thoughts: embracing gentle creativity

You don’t have to choose between honoring your limits and honoring your dreams. Sometimes the most spiritual, science-backed path to creative progress is
gentle,
incremental,
a little bit funny,
and above all, utterly imperfect.

If you’ve been waiting to “find the energy” to act, maybe today is about befriending your tiredness and your inspiration as allies, not as rivals.

With an inspired…yawn,
Louise

Hi friend,

Overwhelm is a real thing at the moment.

Many of the people I know are struggling with low energy, a lack of motivation, minor health issues (such as getting one cold after the other), job insecurity or economic concerns. Some are dealing with major health issues, or a loved one who got a scary health diagnosis.

Add to that what’s currently going on in the collective, politics, the rate of change with AI and technology—and it’s a wonder we are still as well-adjusted as we are. (I mean that sincerely. We all deserve a pat on the back.)

If you are like many of the people I talk to, you’re exhausted! You want to enjoy life… but right now, it probably feels more like running around in circles and constantly putting out fires.

All you want is to take a vacation. That, and to save the world.

Let’s dive deeper into this sense of overwhelm, and what to do about it.

(This article describes my current thoughts on productivity and procrastination. It’s not intended to be mental health advice. Please reach out to a mental health professional if you are struggling with your mental health. ❤️)

What causes/increases overwhelm?

In my view, the current collective sense of overwhelm is caused by an incredibly fast pace of change. Things are changing faster than we can comfortably handle, and often, they don’t change in a direction we prefer. Things that used to be certain no longer are, and that creates this pervasive feeling of insecurity and overwhelm.

While processing all these shifts could be its own full-time job, we still have to live our lives. Even with all that’s going on collectively, there’s still stuff we have to do—perhaps even more than before.

And that’s when things get from challenging to even more challenging.

If you are currently feeling overwhelmed, you are likely experiencing a negative feedback loop between procrastination and overwhelm.

Overwhelm turns us into a deer in the headlight: we freeze, instead of taking the right action. That’s why overwhelm leads to procrastination.

That procrastination, in turn, increases the sense of overwhelm:

To break this negative feedback loop, it's important to decrease your sense of overwhelm (I know, easier said than done!).

How can you decrease overwhelm?

The easiest way to decrease overwhelm is to

1. focus on the things you can control or at least influence, and

2. get clear on your priorities.

1. Focusing on what you can control or influence

The first step helps you reclaim your energy from things outside your control.

To do this, we use the "Three Circles of Concern" framework that got popularized by bestselling author Stephen Covey. It divides the things we care about into three concentric circles, based on the level of influence we have on them.

• Circle of Concern (outer circle): This includes all the things we care about but have no direct control over, for instance politics, the economy, and the weather. We can’t change these things directly, so focusing too much here can lead to stress and helplessness.

• Circle of Influence (middle circle): This circle contains things we can’t control outright but can influence through our actions or decisions. It includes relationships, workplace dynamics, and other areas where how we show up can make a difference.

• Circle of Control (inner circle): The innermost circle represents things we have direct control over, such as our attitudes, responses, choices, and behaviors.

To put this into practice, grab a piece of paper, and draw 3 circles. Then, think about the things you are preoccupied with. Decide which category they fall into:

• Are the things you can control? For instance, whether you meditate 5 minutes a day is typically something you can control.

• Are they things you can influence? For instance, your mood might be something you can influence (but not control).

• Or are they things you are concerned about that you can neither control nor influence? For instance, politics typically falls into this category.

When you are done with this, commit to spending more time focusing on the two smaller circles (where you have control or at least influence).

2. Prioritize the things you care about

The second step helps you sort all your tasks according to your priorities.

Here’s why this matters: without priorities, everything feels important, which makes it hard to start and complete any of the tasks on one's to-do list.

The difference between a priority and everything else you could do is comparable to triage in case of an accident: dealing with injured people can be very stressful. That's why everyone has to focus on the most important things.

Medical personnel will make sure that an injured person stays alive (priority), but they probably won't worry too much about cosmetic damage to their patient’s nose (not a priority).

The same principle holds true in everyday life. Not all tasks you think you should do are created equally: some can make a huge positive difference in your life (priorities) while many others won’t move the needle much (to-dos).

The problem is that when you are overwhelmed, you are in a state of stress, and that makes it harder to determine what category tasks fall into.

That’s why it’s important to either

• get into a less stressed state prior to setting priorities, for instance, through meditation, journaling, etc. (you can try out this meditation I recorded), or

• get help from someone who can help you see things clearly.

What happens when you don’t address overwhelm?

If you don’t deal with the underlying causes of your overwhelm, here's what will likely happen:

Your sense of overwhelm will keep on getting worse. As more tasks pile up, you will try to do more, which gets you more stressed, which makes it harder to focus.

You will likely stay in this downward spiral until you

• get competent help, or

• learn to address the underlying causes on your own, or

• something changes in your external circumstances.

If your sense of overwhelm is caused by a lack of priorities, even external changes might completely erase the problem. Because we live in a time when almost everyone has too many things they could do, learning to prioritize is a crucial life skill for the 21st century.

What do you need to focus on to become more productive and less overwhelmed?

To get out of the negative feedback loop between overwhelm and procrastination, it’s important to focus on these 3 things:

1. You need to learn how to differentiate between priorities and to-dos, and then follow through on completing your priorities.

2. You also need to set appropriate boundaries with other people so you can stay focused on your goals.

3. Lastly, having too much to do has likely left you tired and drained, so you also need to learn how to rest and recover.

Once you address these underlying causes, you can start to reduce your pile of undone tasks, and in the process create more time and energy for what really matter to you in all areas of life.

Instead of just putting our fires, you can start to work on things you find meaningful—your ability to prioritize will help you with that.

In other words, your life can get a lot better!

How to put this into action

If you desire personal support in moving from overwhelm to clarity, know that I'm here to guide you.

My approach helps you to:

• align with your most meaningful priorities,

• implement powerful boundaries,

• embrace the art of true rest, and

• cultivate a life that feels joyful and purposeful, far beyond conventional productivity metrics.

Discover how we can work together to bring these transformations into your life.

Find out more

P.S.: Before (overwhelmed) and after (on-top-of-things)

When people are overwhelmed, it’s hard to take action. It’s like being a deer in the headlights, frozen in inaction:

When you are resourced, it’s much easier to take the necessary actions — like this deer who is clearly on top-of-things:

Subscribe now

As I’m continuing to develop my concept of Soulful Productivity, I thought it might help to create a Starter Kit for you, and explain how Soulful Productivity fits into how you can have a good life.

As you might know, this entire publication is about Joyful Growth. To me, that means that we grow and develop in a way that feels good.

💡 Growth is inevitable. The only choice we get is between: 

1. growing through joy, or 

2. growing through suffering. 

I’ve chosen to call the first approach Joyful Growth, and the second one Traditional Growth.

Joyful Growth doesn’t mean that we will never feel pain or experience hardship and challenges. The last few months have certainly felt incredibly challenging to me. You might have had a similar experience.

However, we can strive to live according to the Buddhist teaching that while pain is inevitable, suffering is optional. In other words, it’s inevitable that undesirable things happen (pain). What’s optional is whether we make them worse through our thoughts, emotions, or actions (suffering).

My concept of Joyful Growth takes this a step further: finding the positive things in our challenges. To give a personal example: while the last few months have been super-challenging for me, they have also made me more mature, strong, and resilient.

Perhaps you have also experienced positive things during recent times of challenges?

Joyful Growth in different areas of life

💡 We can apply this distinction between Joyful Growth and Traditional Growth to all areas of life. 

Here's what this looks like: There’s an old way of doing things (that entails at least some suffering) and a newer, more joyful way (that doesn’t view suffering as a necessity). 

For instance, traditional relationships might include aspects of imbalance (such as overgiving) and inauthenticity (playing a role). In contrast, a truly joyful relationship is one where we can really be ourselves, and the other person(s) can do the same.

Shortly after my spiritual awakening about 15 years ago, I had a discussion with someone close to me. I had started to show up more authentically in that relationship, and this person was wanting me to go back to how I used to be. When I refused to, they said I was threatening the relationship. To which I exclaimed:

“If I can’t be myself, it’s not really a relationship!”

This story has a happy ending: this relationship, like all of my close relationships, is now much more authentic than it used to be. The moral of the story is that it can be confronting for those around us when we change a lot—but if a relationship is strong enough, it will be able to adjust to our new self.

Joyful Growth in our work

While we can apply Joyful Growth in all areas of life, one area is particularly close to my heart: work and productivity.

💡 Soulful Productivity is what Joyful Growth looks like when applied to our work life and productivity.

Work and productivity can feel good. It can also feel bad. Since both of these are valid options, it makes a lot more sense to opt for the one where things feel good, right?

But it’s about more than just feeling good, there are deeper implications to the choice between Soulful Productivity and Traditional Productivity.

Traditional Productivity has hurt your soul — Soulful Productivity can help you heal it

Chances are that Traditional Productivity has hurt your soul. It is based on the belief that in order to be worthy, you need to be productive. As a result of that belief, Traditional Productivity motivates us to go to extremes to prove our worth.

For instance, it might have gotten you to:

• overextend yourself to the detriment of your health,

• neglect your family or friends, or even

• do things that felt borderline unethical to you.

💡 Traditional Productivity is based on the toxic belief that your worth depends on your productivity. 

Soulful Productivity is based on the belief that you are worthy simply because you exist. 

To me, that belief is the crucial difference between Traditional Productivity (which often feels somewhat bad) and Soulful Productivity (which can have its challenges but overall feels really yummy).

Related articles:

• The Art of Aligned Productivity: If Productivity Hurts, You’re Doing It Wrong

• You Don’t Need to Rely on Stress to Get Things Done

Of course, this is not a binary yes-or-no situation, it’s more of a scale:

The Soulful Productivity Scale

Using a scale to track areas we care about can be extremely helpful in improving things. If you like, you can rank your work and productivity on a scale of 1 (hate my work) to 10 (I am doing what I love in a way that I love with people that I love).

• The closer you are to 1, the more you are currently on the path of Traditional Productivity.

• The closer you are to 10, the more you are currently on the path of Soulful Productivity.

➡️ You can also use this scale to rank different work-related activities: for instance, perhaps your writing is an 8 on the scale… but you have a day job that doesn’t get above a 3. Or there are certain aspects of your work (for instance, teaching people) that you love, and others that you hate (for instance, admin stuff).

💡 By using the Soulful Productivity Scale, you can create more awareness, and gradually shift more towards “high-scale” activities. 

The 3 principles of Soulful Productivity

The following 3 principles can help you become more productive in a way that feels good:

1. clarifying priorities,

2. setting boundaries,

3. managing polarities.

1. Clarifying priorities

Today, many people have more freedom than at any other time in history—both in their personal and professional life. However, if you have an overwhelming number of options and no idea which one to choose, freedom of choice turns into a prison.

True freedom comes from being clear on 

✅ your current overall priorities in life, and 

✅ your priorities on a smaller scale (quarterly, monthly, weekly, etc.)

When I start working with a new coaching client, I first help them get clear on their most important goals (= priorities) for the next year. The main goal is generally something Dr. Brian Whetten calls a “Yes Yes Hell No.”

That might seem like a pretty strange name but it will make sense in a moment.

“Yes, Yes, Hell No” considers three perspectives when making a decision:

1. intuition

2. reason

3. fear.

Often, my client’s most important goals are those that receive a “Yes, Yes, Hell No” response:

• Your intuition lights up (the first “yes”) ✔️

• Your reason thinks it makes sense (the second “yes”) ✔️

• Your fear tells you to run the other way (the “hell no”) ❌

“Yes, Yes, Hell No” goals are aligned and get you out of your comfort zone — all while making sense from a rational point of view. Pursuing these types of goals will help you forge your own life path.

If you are interested in learning more about how to identify your Yes Yes Hell No goals, check out the following workshop (for paid subscribers):

💡 Further resources on clarifying priorities:

For more of my thoughts on how to clarify your priorities on a smaller scale, watch the videos below and check out my article How to Quickly Plan Your Day for Maximum Productivity.

Read article

2. Setting boundaries

To follow through on our priorities, we often have to set boundaries… with ourselves and others. As teacher and author Dawn Clark puts it:

“Focused energy produces results.”

Speaking of results, I have identified the closest thing to a magic pill (hooray!)

• It’s the solution to a lot of challenges I see clients struggle with (stress, lack of focus, overwhelm…).

• Not only that, it may well be the first step to most things you want in life.

• And while it’s not exactly easy, it’s so simple that even a two-year-old can do it. (Especially a two-year-old!)

Ready?

It's actually a magic word.

No, it’s not Abracadabra.

It’s much easier to pronounce.

💡 The magic word that helps you set boundaries is: No! (Or “non,” “nein” or whatever the equivalent is in your language.)

That’s right.

“No” is the closest thing to a magic pill I’m aware of.

• Do you want to be super-productive at work?
  Begin by saying “no” to the things that are wasting your time. (Of course, avoiding all of them is often not possible but even a little can go a long way.)

• Do you want to start a new business?
  Begin by saying “no” to the things that take up your time and distract you from focusing on it. (This could include Social Media etc.)

• Do you want to find the right person to be with?
  Begin by saying “no” to the wrong people. (This may first require figuring out how to tell what category someone falls into.)

You might wonder what makes the word “no” so powerful. I think it is because it’s connected to priorities. By consciously saying “yes” and “no,” you can build a life based on your priorities.

The bottom line? Your “no” protects your “yes.” By saying no to what matters less, you make space for what matters most.

As Richie Norton put it:

“Say no to everything, so you can say yes to the one thing.”

💡 Resources related to setting boundaries: 

For more of my thoughts on this topic and practical advice for getting better at saying no, watch the video below and check out my article Saying No: How the Magic of This Word Can Free You:

Read article

3. Managing polarities

Getting clear on your priorities and setting boundaries is not enough. To navigate life in a skillful way, we also need to learn how to manage polarities!

Let’s talk about one of the most important distinctions I’m aware of (thanks to Barry Johnson who created Polarity Management): the difference between

• problems and

• polarities.

💡 This distinction between problems and polarities is crucial because it helps us determine if a challenge we face is solvable (indicating a problem) or only manageable (indicating a polarity).

For instance, the question “Should I leave my job?” indicates a solvable problem. The same is true of the question: “Should I stay in my job?”

💡 Problems tend to have an either/or answer. You either stay in your job or not. Staying or leaving is a concrete action step that you can choose to take or not.

In contrast, the question “Should I focus on my immediate or my longterm priorities?” has a both/and answer. It is not solvable because one would ideally focus on both immediate and longterm priorities.

This question does not indicate a problem, but a polarity — the polarity between immediacy and longterm.

💡 Unlike problems, polarities are ongoing and need a both/and approach. 

Here’s what to do when you are presented with an productivity challenge:

1. Identify if the challenge is a problem or a polarity:
   Problems typically have an either/or answer, whereas polarities have a both/and answer. Problems are typically limited in time, whereas polarities are ongoing. Problems can be solved, whereas polarities can only be managed. If you want to work from home, but your employer wants you in the office, it’s a problem and therefore at least technically solvable (for instance, if one of you compromises, or if you decide to quit and find a differnet job). 

2. If your challenge is a polarity, identify the two poles of it:
   For instance, if you feel tired from work, you may be dealing with the polarity between action and rest. (Note that both poles have a positive or neutral label. This is intentional, because both poles are important.)

3. Identify which pole you generally tend to gravitate more to:
   Oftentimes, when we are presented with a polarity, we tend to favor one side over the other. For instance, you may be an energizer bunny and avoid taking a break until you almost pass out from exhaustion, or you may be so chilled out that you never do the things you intend to do.

4. Identify the negative effects that come from focusing on one pole:
   When we focus too much on one side of the polarity, we make things harder than they need to be. This is because polarities tend to be interdependent, not oppositional. If we ignore one pole and go overboard with the other, both poles suffer. For instance, if you only focus on taking action and don’t get enough rest, at some point you may start to burn out… and be forced to take an extended break. Thus, ignoring the “rest” pole may have a negative impact on the “action” pole, too.

5. Start focusing more on the other pole — without overdoing it:

   In contrast, if you took adequate (as opposed to excessive) time and energy to rest, it would be much harder to burn out. Thus, by adequately dealing with the “rest” pole, the “action” pole also benefits.

Just remember to not go overboard with it.

The following quote from Ashleigh Brilliant always cracks me up:

“I don’t have any solution, but I certainly admire the problem.” 

When it comes to unsolvable productivity challenges, this is actually a good attitude to have. Polarities don’t have a solution and the sooner we accept that, the sooner we can start managing them. 

By following the 5-step process above, you can get started right away!

💡 Resources related to managing polarities: 

For more of my thoughts on navigating the polarity between rest and productivity, check out the article below: 

↪️ Putting this all together ↩️

1. Where are you on currently on the Soulful Productivity Scale between 1 and 10?

2. What is your most important priority in your work?

3. What boundaries do you need to set?

4. How can you get adequate rest? Are there other polarities you need to manage? (For instance, between doing things for other people, and doing things for yourself?)

This 5-minute meditation brings the 3 principles of Soulful Productivity together (downloadable version available here):

Warmly,
Louise

P.S.: If you have questions about this Starter Kit or Soulful Productivity in general, please comment below. And if you know somebody who could use this, please consider sharing it with them. Your support helps me reach more people!

Hi there,

These days, do you feel like you’re able to do the things you’d like to do? Do you find it relatively easy to focus on the tasks at hand?

Personally, I’m finding it harder than during “normal times.” If you are in the same boat, this article is for you!

I’m also extending the founding member rate to people who join the Soulful Productivity Club this month. Given all that’s going on, I think affordable and kind accountability is more important than ever. You can find out more about that at the bottom of this email.

Does productivity even matter right now?

Now, to be clear: there are more important things right now than work or productivity: justice, democracy, liberty, etc.

At the same time, I don’t want this year — my 2025 — to just be about the collective dumpster fire. More importantly, when I look back at 2025, I want to be able to tell a story that doesn’t center around the people who are currently dominating the news.

My story of 2025 is my story, and I refuse to make it about the people creating this mess. They don’t deserve that power over my life.

🌼 Being productive isn’t just about obligations. It’s also about our self-expression, creative potential, and possibilities for the future. Plus, maintaining good habits and practices is an act of self-care. 

Given that the collective situation probably won’t improve much in the next few weeks, let’s talk about how to do all these things in the middle of a dumpster fire.

First, let’s talk about why we can’t just do productivity as usual:

The problem with expecting ourselves to be productive right now

During the pandemic, I frequently read through requests for sources that reporters and bloggers had put out. A staggering number of requests were for “creative” or “unorthodox” advice on how people can be more productive when working from home.

Despite being a productivity coach (even if I’m a rather unusual one), I never responded to them. Something about having to come up with “new” and “unusual” productivity advice just felt terrible, like being asked to create a “fresh” design for an Iron Maiden torture device.

I beat myself up a bit for not taking action on those emails — and then proceeded to read a funny piece of fiction (my chosen form of self-medication in the midst of challenging collective situations).

A bit later, I realized why I hadn’t responded to any of the requests for productivity advice:

💡 Telling people they should be more productive in the midst of what might be one of the scariest things and the biggest societal upheaval they have ever gone through is a terrible thing to do.

It is.

It’s toxic.

And I don’t want to be a part of that.

The same thing applies today.

Here’s why you might be less productive right now:

Erm … where do I even start? Here’s a partial list:

• Because the world is changing at the fastest pace ever...and it doesn’t exactly look to be changing in a positive direction.

• Because all the chaos and uncertainty is hard to deal with.

• Because 2025 has been a lot so far and things aren’t looking up.

• Because the US president is talking about invading other countries.

• Because you're worried about the state of the economy or the world.

• Because the injustices and inequalities you're seeing are breaking your heart.

• Because you’re concerned about the safety of other people — or yourself.

• Because you don’t recognize the world anymore, and you wonder if it will ever return to normal again.

💡 In other words, you might be less productive than usual because this is really, really hard. It’s not because you’re lazy or because you don’t care.

It’s also not because you aren’t

• setting priorities,

• scheduling periods of deep work, or

• staying away from the news during work hours (I wasn’t even reading them when I ran into my productivity blocks).

Under normal circumstances, all these things might be sufficient to help you be productive.

But we’re not in normal times. We’re living in dumpster fire times.

That’s not to say that you won’t get to be productive at all.

You just need to find a way of being productive that’s

• grounded in self-compassion, and that

• acknowledges the stress you are currently under, given collective events.

A compassionate way to be productive in the middle of a dumpster fire

When approached correctly, getting things done can be part of our self-care routine. After all, being productive often feels better than vegging out.

This might be even more true in a situation like the current one, when so much feels out of our control. In that case, taking action can feel like we’re taking back our sovereignty.

That’s certainly been my experience in this situation. For instance, I recently spent a workday only doing the very basics in terms of work. After having done a lot the previous two days and feeling tired due to everything that’s going on in the world, I wanted to take a break.

What I realized is that I didn’t really enjoy my lazy day that much. The next day, I got a lot of things done, and that accomplishment made me feel great, like I was able to move things forward.

💚 If you can, I would encourage you to look at productivity through the lens of self-care: what approach would be the kindest one toward yourself? 

Sometimes, taking it slowly is the right thing to do to be compassionate towards yourself in the middle of a dumpster fire. Other times, being productive will actually make you feel better and thus be part of your self-care routine.

How to make productivity part of your self-care routine

To make productivity part of our self-care routine, we need to approach it differently.

1. Decide to make this year about something positive — for yourself

As I stated above, I refuse to have my year be all about the people currently dominating the news. When I look back at 2025, I want to have something positive to show for it. Pursuing that goal helps me reclaim my sovereignty.

Is this hard? Yes. Is it worth it? Also yes.

So, how can you do this? Start by picking just one small thing that you have been wanting to do for a long time. Maybe that’s as simple as “I have always wanted to re-read Lord of the Rings.” Or: “I have always wanted to learn to meditate.”

➡️ "What's something you could do this year that you have been wanting to do for a long time?" 

If you like, share in the comments below. 

For instance, I just started doing a Yoga challenge. If I keep on this trajectory, by the end of the year, I will be able to say: “2025 was the year I finally became proficient in Yoga.” I also started a productivity coaching group — something I had been wanting to do for years.

Make sure that your chosen goal actually feels good, and not like a chore. We are already dealing with more than enough things we don’t like.

2. Don’t force yourself to be productive

If at all possible, don’t force yourself to take specific actions. Trying to force yourself to do something often leads to a negative feedback loop. The more pressure you put on yourself, the more you resist.

To remove pressure, the following step might help:

3. Reframe your language

This is an exercise that comes from Marshall Rosenberg’s Nonviolent Communication framework. To get started, grab down a piece of paper and write down 3–5 things that you feel you must/should/have to do. Focus on the things that weigh on you.

For instance: “I have to reach out to Sophie about the upcoming meeting.”

Then, restate every sentence according to this format: “I chose to do X, because I value Y.”

For instance: “I choose to reach out to Sophie, because the upcoming meeting is about a topic I care about, and it’s important to me that it goes well.”

If you cannot find a good reason, re-evaluate if you really want to do the thing.

4. Give yourself permission and be playful

With the things you choose to do, give yourself permission to do them and be playful with it.

That’s the approach I took with this article. Initially, the thought of writing an article felt terrible. I then realized that I had tried to force myself to get it done, and that I already had more than enough constriction and negativity going on.

Adding more constriction on top of all that just increased the amount of resistance I had to taking action. But once I decided to give myself permission to write the article and considered how doing so could actually help me feel better, that resistance faded away, and I began typing.

If you want to read more about the power of playfulness, I have an entire article here.

Takeaway

It’s hard to be productive in the middle of a dumpster fire. But productivity can be an expression of kindness:

1. towards yourself (staying on top of things tends to feel better than not),

2. towards others (the people around you who might rely on you to show up), and

3. towards the world (through the positive impact and ripple effects you create when you are productive in a kind, compassionate, and soulful way).

If there’s something you have been meaning to do but keep putting off, how about giving yourself permission to do it as a part of your self-care routine?

If my experience with this article is any indication, you just might feel better afterward.

Next steps

If you would like more support to focus on the things that matter to you, I invite you to explore how I can help you here.

Find out more

Warmly,
Louise

Hi friend,

You can do so much more than you think.

The problem is that we spend more time thinking than doing. (Don’t feel bad about it. Many people have the opposite problem: too much doing and too little thinking.)

This article is about helping you do more, and (over)think less.

If you want more support with that, try our Soulful Productivity club. We are meeting every first and third Tuesday of the month at 12pm ET. Your first meeting is complimentary, so you can check it out risk-free. Join us and get support in setting your priorities for this month!

try it out

Expanding your world

One of my favorite feelings in the world is whatever I experience when I do something I thought I couldn’t do. It’s a mix of joy, pride, and expansion… a sense that life suddenly got larger.

It’s why I love this quote by Franz Kafka:

“Productivity is being able to do what you were never able to do before.”

When we go beyond our current limitations, our world grows. Imagine a baby who is taking her first steps. Suddenly, her world is bigger. She now has possibilities she didn’t have before (such as spilling water all over mommy’s favorite book).

If companies really wanted to understand productivity, they wouldn’t hire management consultants. They would watch the actions of little children.

Nobody pursues productivity more relentlessly than babies and toddlers. We knew about this form of magic when we were children. And we can call it forth again. 🪄

Facing the dragon

Seeing a coaching client do something they weren’t able to do before is almost as exciting as witnessing a baby take its first steps. (Plus, when adults do something new, there is usually less mayhem involved.)

The only problem with doing something you could never do before? It can be very uncomfortable. If you want the dragon’s gold, you have to make it past the dragon.

I recently fought a dragon.

This particular dragon consisted of a 24-hour trip to Las Vegas (long story, but let’s just say it seemed like a good idea at the time…).

I would leave my house at 3:50am, arrive in Las Vegas at 8am local time, spend ~14 hours in Las Vegas (that’s enough time to get into trouble, right?), get back to DC at 5:22am the next day, and arrive back home around 8am.

Given this tight schedule, it made no sense to get a hotel room. To make things worse, I had gotten sick a few days before my trip, and still felt very nauseous. 🤢

I went back and forth about whether I wanted to take on this particular dragon.

I worried about not being able to eat, and not having a hotel room, and two overnight flights, all while being stuck in introvert hell (= Las Vegas).

In short, I was thinking like a responsible adult.

How to grow beyond your current limitations

At some point, it occurred to me that I was actually fighting 2 dragons:

• one in my head, and

• one in reality.

The one in my head was so much worse! That’s when I decided I only had to fight one dragon — the real one.

I only had to get to Las Vegas in the real world. Not in my head.

I only had to deal with the real issues, not the imagined ones.

Instantly, things got easier. While some aspects of the trip were still hard (such as not getting good sleep two days in a row), I had an amazing time!

I met a bunch of nice people who helped me find my way around. My nausea disappeared, and I got to enjoy a huge bowl of vegan Pho (my favorite food). I finally saw Las Vegas, something I had wanted to do since being a teenager.

In short, I was able to do something I could not do before.

And it expanded my world.

All because I faced the real dragon, not the imagined one. Or, in other words, I focused on the doing, not the thinking. Like a baby taking her first steps.

Coaching questions:

• What is your real dragon right now? (Doing)
  For instance: “My 24-hour trip to Las Vegas. I have to get on the plane and go there.”

• What is the imaginary dragon? (Thinking)
  For instance: “All the concerns I have about what could happen and how this could be

  really uncomfortable.”

• What would happen if you focused on the real dragon? (More doing, less thinking)
  For instance: “I would be more in the moment. I could see clearly which issues I actually have to address, and which ones I can ignore. I could have a much better experience.”

Warmly,
Louise

Let me help you become as productive as a toddler

At its heart, at its fullest expression, productivity isn’t about something as boring as tasks, numbers, or even habits. No, it is about:

🌟 expanding possibilities that currently lie dormant in you,

🌟 helping you unlock doors that you didn’t even realize you were there, and

🌟 becoming the fullest expression of yourself.

In short, it’s about becoming a toddler (minus the temper tantrums, please!).

If you would like my support with embracing the productivity mindset of a toddler, I invite you to explore how I can help you here.

Find out more

Bonus: Before and after image of a coaching client embracing the productivity mindset of a toddler

Before:

dealing with the same-old, same-old of adulthood

After:

living the life and being unstoppable (“Hey, is that a dragon over there?”)

P.S.: Maybe I should write a book called “Toddlers who run with dragons”?

Hi friend,

Once a week, I tidy up my electronic files.

When I did this today, I came across a document where I described all the problems I was dealing with in 2016.

The contrast between now and then shocked me.

You see, my last few months have been extremely challenging. Here are just some of the things that made it that way:

• a hospital stay for a loved one (thankfully nothing major),

• a hospital stay and a scary health diagnosis for another loved one,

• the loss of our support network for childcare,

• the political situation, and

• my husband’s a federal worker in the US (enough said…).

Oh, and our toddler is very energetic, even by the insane standards of toddlers (who are essentially perpetual motion machines.)

Even with all that going on, my life is still so much better now than it was 9 years ago.

Here’s what this has taught me:

1. Focus on what you can improve

9 years ago, at least some of my problems were internal.

Today, almost all the challenges I’m dealing with are external (other people’s health, the political situation, etc.).

We can’t control the external, but we can do a lot to improve our internal reality. And that’s what improves our lives.

2. Personal growth pays off big time

That my life is so much better now is the result of my obsession with personal growth.

As I have continued to grow and relentlessly looked for solutions to issues, many of my problems have simply disappeared.

If you want to have a good life, focus on personal growth.

3. Be like wine

Bruce Lee has this amazing quote:

“Empty your mind.
Be formless, shapeless, like water. […]
Now water can flow, or it can crash.
Be water, my friend.”

My Martial Arts trainer got trained by Bruce Lee’s former training partner. Seeing the impact Bruce Lee has had on those around him tells me how special he must have been. So, I have immense appreciation for him.

That said, perhaps it’s time we turn water into (red) wine?

Here’s my advice for living a great life:

“Wine gets better every year. Be wine, my friend.”

It makes me really sad when people think the best days are behind them. What if our best days are in front of us? What if life could continue to get better and better?

Many wines get better with age… don’t get one-upped by a squeezed-out grape!

Warmly,
Louise

Want support to focus on what you can improve? 🤗

If you would like my support to improve your life, you can find more information here.

Bonus:

If you want to be like wine, you can use the image below as your vision board. Just be prepared to explain yourself to everyone who sees it:

“I don’t get it, do you want to own a vineyard?”

“No, I want to be like wine!”

“So — you want to be able to get people intoxicated?”

“Forget it!” (stomps away in frustration)

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