This is lighting me up, solstice style.

Happy solstice ❄ (or ☼ for my Southern Hemisphere friends).

I wish you stillness this time of year. Stillness is often where we find a flicker of light in the darkness. And it’s that light we are responsible for shepherding into this new cycle (or celebrate your stewardship fruits if Summer is arriving for you).

Part of how I get clear on what life is asking me to bring forth is a solstice ritual my sister and I started years ago. And now Eça joins in.

We go to Ceremonial, a local witch store, and buy ritual goodies (candles always included). We reflect on the year, acknowledging what we want to leave behind and what’s calling to us for the new year.

The candle flame serves to “burn away” what’s no longer useful and symbolize the learning that lights our way forward. It’s simple and nourishes my soul.

Eça’s first solstice, at almost two months old (3 years ago!):

I’m also lit up by the mainstream narrative around sustainable change seems to finally be shifting 🤸🤸🤸. Last month, Immunity to Change (ITC), which is the evidence-based “bones” of Truce with Food, was on Dr. Brené Brown’s Dare to Lead podcast.

I relished in Brené’s amazement, shock, and awe as she goes through the beginning of this process live on the episode. Her reaction mirrors my own clients reactions’ after our Truce with Food Kick-Off session, where I guide them through this same process, except related to food.

I felt sooo seen as I’ve used ITC for more than 10 years now. When it comes to healing, I am about 15 years ahead of my time thanks to my Maternal line of Witchy Women.

(My late Grandma was 60 years ahead of her time when in the 1940s, she moved her entire family to an “organic” farm when she learned about the power of nutrition (organic wasn’t even a word then!). Her sister-in-law had the doctor who my Grandmother took her family to investigated because he believed in nutrition, which was a “heretic” belief!)

Thus, it has been incredibly lonely at times to work “outside the box”. To see ITC on a big stage feels as if the flicker of light I found in my own body and weight darkness 20 years ago and have stewarded is joining with others who have been shepherding a similar light.

To better understand how Truce with Food works, listen to the Dare to Lead ITC podcasts. You’ll get a real sense of what sustainable change for stubborn change entails. As Dr. Lisa Leahy, one of the originators of ITC says, “Everyone wants to transform. No one wants to change.”

Also, if you know to look for the food = safety connection, notice how Brené says she really wants a Diet Coke when she realizes her ITC map 😉:

Listen to Dare to Lead Podcast Part 1 of 2

Listen to Dare to Lead Podcast Part 2 of 2

Disclaimer: ITC is generally used in work settings. And this episode centers Brené’s leadership at her company. There is much more “connective tissue”, heart, and soul added in Truce with Food for food and body.

We’re still a decade away for ITC to effectively trickle down into coaching. Health coaching especially is still bullish on Motivational Interviewing, Positive Psychology and SMART goals. This despite new research which shows SMART goals and advice in books like Atomic Habits backfires with eating and exercise goals.

If you don’t want to wait that long, consider joining us in Truce with Food 2023!

And whatever light flicker you find this solstice (or are celebrating in the Southern Hemisphere), I hope you know the sustainable goal in the first phase of change is just to make sure you find the light. And it remains lit.

Happy solstice.

Be Well,

P.S. Here’s January’s events as part of my Truce with Food 2023 launch. We open for registration for this once a year program on January 9. Gatherings below are at 12 pm EST: