Embrace Qi

08/26/2026

🌿 SEPTEMBER LIFESTYLE UPGRADE CHALLENGE 🌿

30 Days of Courageous Conversations

Okay friends… we’re going there next month. 😳💚

How many conversations have you avoided because they felt awkward, uncomfortable, emotional, or just plain HARD?

Maybe you need to…

💬 Ask for what you need.
💬 Say no without feeling guilty.
💬 Tell someone they hurt you.
💬 Admit you were wrong.
💬 Apologize.
💬 Ask for help.
💬 Talk with a parent about their wishes as they age.
💬 Tell someone how much they mean to you.
💬 Or simply learn how to listen without trying to fix everything.

Most of us were never actually taught how to have difficult conversations.

So for September, we’re going to practice.

Not to become perfect communicators.

Not to always say the “right” thing.

And definitely not to win every argument. 😂

We’re going to learn how to show up, get curious, speak clearly, listen deeply, set boundaries, repair relationships, and say the things we don’t want to regret leaving unsaid.

Why does this matter for wellness?

Because relationships matter to our health. Decades of research, including the Harvard Study of Adult Development, have shown a powerful connection between the quality of our relationships and our happiness, health, and well-being as we age.

Communication is wellness too.

Every day I’ll give you ONE simple practice, a little science or psychology behind why it matters, and something you can actually try in your real relationships.

Some days will be easy.

Some might make you squirm.

And there may be a day when you read the challenge and think:

“Nope. Absolutely not, Yvonne.” 😂

That might just be the day worth paying attention to.

So before we begin, I want to know:

👇 DROP A GIF OR EMOJI BELOW THAT SHOWS HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT HAVING HARD CONVERSATIONS.

Are you:

😳 Please don’t make me.
🙈 Avoid until further notice.
😬 I’ll do it, but I won’t enjoy it.
🔥 Bring it on.
💪 I’m ready to get better at this.
😂 Can I just send a text instead?

Who’s joining me for 30 Days of Courageous Conversations? 💚

08/12/2026

We are just about halfway through our conscious language challenge! There’s still time if you want to join in our lifestyle upgrade monthly challenges!

🙌🏼🤩🎊🥰🫶🏻😎☀️🐾💗

Here’s today’s prompt:

Day 12 – Encourage Yourself

Today’s Challenge

Give yourself a pep talk.

Better yet, use your own name.

Example:
“Yvonne, you’ve handled difficult things before.”

Why it matters

Research suggests that using your own name during self-talk can create helpful emotional distance and improve your ability to cope under stress.

Essential Oil: Valor

CTA: What encouragement did you need to hear today?

08/11/2026

Monthly mending circle! Now that the smoke has cleared…
We can all get out and about!

Bring your UFO, sewing project, needing mending things and hang out

Wednesday august 12 from 6:30-8:30pm in washougal!

Pm for address 🙂

08/02/2026

🌿 AUGUST LIFESTYLE UPGRADE CHALLENGE: Conscious Language 🌿

What if one of the most powerful wellness tools isn’t something you eat, drink, or apply… but the words you speak every day?

This August, we’re embarking on a 31-day Conscious Language Challenge to become more aware of how we speak to ourselves and others. Together, we’ll notice the stories we repeat, replace words that keep us stuck, and practice language that encourages growth, gratitude, resilience, and connection.

Science shows that our brains are constantly listening to our self-talk. The words we choose can influence our stress levels, emotions, relationships, and even the habits we build over time. Small changes in language can create meaningful changes in mindset.

This isn’t about being positive all the time or pretending life is perfect. It’s about becoming intentional. Instead of speaking from fear, guilt, or limitation, we’ll practice speaking with awareness, compassion, hope, and purpose.

Each day you’ll receive:
✨ A simple language challenge
✨ Why it matters
✨ A Young Living essential oil recommendation and tip
✨ A reflection question to help you apply it

Imagine how different life could feel after 31 days of speaking with greater intention.

Are you ready to upgrade your words… and maybe even your life?

Drop an emoji below if you’re joining us, invite a friend to grow alongside you, and let’s make August the month we discover the power of conscious language—one conversation at a time.


“Your words become your thoughts. Choose them with intention”

06/25/2026

☀️🌻 JULY TINY BUCKET LIST SUMMER CHALLENGE 🌻☀️

What if this summer wasn’t about doing more… but about LIVING more?

For the 31 days in July, we’re taking one tiny action each day to bring more joy, wonder, connection, and adventure into our lives.

No expensive vacations.
No perfect plans.
No waiting for “someday.”

Just simple, meaningful experiences that remind us that life is happening right now.

✨ Watch a sunrise.
✨ Dance to your favorite song.
✨ Have a picnic.
✨ Try something new.
✨ Leave a surprise kindness for someone.
✨ Create memories you’ll still be smiling about in December.

Each day includes:
💛 A simple challenge
💛 A reminder of why it matters
💛 An essential oil to support the experience
💛 Encouragement and accountability from our amazing community

Because age is just a number, and your bucket list doesn’t need to be big to be meaningful.

Our motto this month:

🌻 One day or Day One. Why wait? 🌻

I’d love for you to join us in a private fb group!!

Comment with a ☀️ if you’re in and invite a friend who could use a little more joy and adventure this summer. Ill send over the invite to the group 🙌🏼

Let’s make July a month we’ll remember ✌🏻

06/20/2026

Look at what we weaved under the tutelage of Shawnna Goodwin Basketry!!

These were really fun to watch transform from sea grass into birdhouses!!

Each one is unique just like each of us!!

Stay tuned for the next class to weave a berry basket!!!

06/10/2026

Can you tie a knot?

Come over to the arts hub Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursdays and tie two strips of fabric together to create a curtain that will be part of an art installation at Ester Short Park for the Vancouver Arts and Music Festival!!

If you have fabric to donate, please drop it off there when you go tie knots!

Grab some friends, family or neighbors and get some creativity going as you tie knots!!

This is a community project led by Sharon Svec and Christine Richardson and me 🙂 for the gazebo in Ester Short Park during the Vancouver Art and Music Festival August 7-9,2026!

Come by and say HI!!

02/22/2026

The windphone in the greenhouse is coming along…
Stay tuned for a wishlist and volunteer opportunities!!

Here’s the vision:
New windows for the greenhouse.
Mandala painted on the floor.
Be Kind painted on the outside concrete wall of the pumphouse next to the greenhouse- insert yourself where the letter I would be.
Signage for the road/ driveway and leading to the windphone.
Gravel path or wheelchair/walker accessible path. Sculpture/ artwork for along a nature path.
A raised garden bed with a way for people to write their loved ones’ name to “plant” in the garden of peace and love… a mosiac or stained glass piece as a backdrop to this raised bed.
Signs to explain the windphone and the nature loom outside the greenhouse.
Help to lay out wood chips in the apple tree area in front of the greenhouse.
Flowers to plant around the greenhouse.
Electricity or solar power.
Maker spaces filled with local artists’ creations and a community lending library.
A way to record people’s poems or writings to their loved ones where it could be dialed up on another windphone or real phone- for writers:poets and a savvy tech person to make this happen.
Fundraising for all this to happen and more!
A bench for people to sit and listen to the wind take their message into the beyond
🙏🏼🙌🏼💕😍👏🏼🌱🥰🙋🏻‍♀️🙋🏻‍♂️😎👋🥳🫶🏻

01/19/2026

❤

Come talk on the wind phone. Release a little bit of grief into the wind.

The Winter of Grief: What Lies Beneath

Grief feels like winter.
It arrives without warning,
a thinning of the light,
a chill that seeps into the bones.

The world grows muted,
stripped down to what is essential.
Laughter sounds distant.
Time slows.
Even breath feels heavier.

In winter, everything appears dormant.
The ground hardens.
What once bloomed with ease
now seems almost inconceivable.

Grief does this too.
It convinces us that life we once trusted
has disappeared,
that color has drained from our lives,
that what was lost
is gone forever.

But beneath the frozen surface,
something is still alive.
Hidden under the cold soil
is a seed, small and patient.

It carries the memory of what once was
and the quiet promise
of what might still be.

Grief, when allowed to exist
without being hurried or denied,
shelters this seed.

Every tear is moisture.
Every remembered laugh,
every ache of longing,
every time you say their name aloud
becomes an act of tending.

Nurturing this seed
does not mean forgetting the winter.
It means honoring it.

You return to the memories
not to reopen old wounds,
but to shield them from the cold.

You tell the stories again,
even when your voice shakes.
You let the love
that once had a place to go
move through you instead.

In doing so,
you keep the ground
from becoming barren.

Spring does not arrive all at once.
It never does.
It begins with the smallest signs:
a softening,
a brief moment of ease,
the realization
that pain no longer fills
every corner of the day.

One day you breathe
without bracing yourself.
Another day,
you smile without guilt.

These are not betrayals of loss;
they are proof
that love is still working
its way toward the light.

The seed does not replace
what was lost.
It grows because of it.
It carries memory in its roots
and tenderness in its leaves.

What emerges
is not the same life as before,
but a life shaped by remembrance,
deeper,
more fragile,
more honest.

Grief is like winter, yes.
But winter is not the end of the story.
Beneath the cold,
something waits.

And when you care for it,
when you allow yourself
to remember,
to ache,
to love still,
it will sprout,
because love
never truly disappears.

~ 'The Winter of Grief: What Lies Beneath' by Spirit of a Hippie

✍️ Mary Anne Byrne

~ Art by Lina Silina