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Hello, friends! I hope this email finds you healthy and happy, which, based on current events, feels trickier than it sounds. My daughters are nursing what seem to be sharmless cough, but in the age of COVID, have been home for several days letting them run their course. I truly hope you are healthy and happy. This week was punctuated by meaningful projects that reminded me of my reasons for doing the work that I do: helping people connect more deeply with themselves and others.

Early this week I met with the Girl Scouts to discuss ways to shift the media to include voices of children making a difference in their communities. I heard from ten- and eleven-year-old girls worried about bullying in their schools, climate change, plastic pollution in our oceans, and the ways laws are changing that endanger people who identify as LGBTQIA, among other things. Their small voices bravely asked how they can make a difference. I spoke to them about how important it is to speak up about what's important to them, and I helped them with techniques to manage their stage fright ahead of their presentations. These girls were old enough to know what happens when we are quiet, passive, and assume that others will do what's right. Their faces remind me what's at stake. They remind me to keep moving forward in my efforts to strengthen the voices of those helping build a healthier world. I think that single hour was the highlight of my week, and gave me enough professional fuel for the entire year. In a few weeks, they'll deliver their talks to their families and their communities. I can't wait to cheer them on.

Riding high on that energy, here are a few things I came across this week that felt valuable. I hope they're useful!

• I'm continuing to read and fall in love with The Moth's newest book "How To Tell a Story". I came across the Instagram page of one of the authors and discovered that she is a parent balancing work and life like the rest of us. It made me even more excited about the book. Learning about the human behind the words is deepening my experience.
• ​Join me virtually to talk about it on June 9th at 10 am PDT.
• We have a live TEDxSanDiego watch party on the calendar for Southern California next month. If you're nearby, come hang out with us!
• This might seem random to include, but feels important in ways that reach beyond this newsletter. My family spends an unusually large amount of time rescuing bees and we feel quite protective of them. My daughters witnessed a neighbor killing a hive of honeybees on Wednesday and are still talking about it two days later. I found this and shared it to show that there are other helpers in the world. It seemed to ease their grief a bit. We are all connected, and non-human intelligence deserves protection and inclusion.
• Speaking of bees and nature, here's an example of healthy codependency we all need to be reminded of. I reflected on this as I harvested peaches, pruned strawberry plants, and plucked calendula from my flower bed this morning.

That's all for now. I hope you have a safe and wonderful week ahead. See you next Friday!