Mar 7, 2025 - Appetizer

Writing prompt 8 minutes: Pay Attention to Your Intuition

My First Thought Best Thought: My Aya plant-medicine journey in 2023 

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I can hear them calling me - louder now - to tune in, to wise up and outwards, to expand the ‘knowing’, to climb upon the step.

“No, not a step, you humble fool. Your intuition is numb today, silly little insecure girl.” Aya grandmother reprimands.

“Okay, so what is it, then? A stage?” My Taurean childlike stubbornness retorts. 

“Hah! That’s funny. You are not an actor, memorizing lines written for you by someone else. And don’t even begin to play that old card of being the puppet, little one. Stop thinking, intuitive wise woman - I have not wasted these precious plants on you.”

Bam! Grandmother Ayahuasca punches me square in the face. Boof. I stumble backwards.

Okay, okay. Release the mind. Enter the heart. Release the mind. Enter the heart.

“Is it an altar? A pedestal?” my eager Ego steps in pulsating, rubbing its greedy palms together.

“Oh, wow… You sure are testing my unlimited patience”. Aya Nana shakes her head and sighs an exasperated sigh.

I feel into it, and with the help of a friend’s wise words permeating my being, I see it.

It’s a mountaintop vista. Of course.

I am here because I’ve survived the crags, moved the boulders, scrambled the scree, faced the grizzlies head-on, attempted going around but often choosing instead to go through that big mountain of life.

I, yes, I climbed the mountain.

I navigated the trek through countless storms, balanced by blissful days. I fell and got back up again.

It’s not a stage, or an altar, or a platform.

It is a vista. A muster point. A spectacular open clearing.

A place I get to rest, a place for my secure footing.

A place where I get to plant my feet and use the strength I’ve gained from a life exquisitely, painfully, thrillingly lived.

And I reach over the edge, feel around for the thousands of ready fingertips reaching up from below.

I extend my arm down, grasp their wrist firmly, and assist these beautiful tenacious beings who simply need a helping hand cresting those last remaining difficult steps, so that they too, may stand upon the vista alongside me.

And together we rest and inhale the view, witnessing an eternity of humanity being elevated again and again and again.

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Mar 7, 2025 - Main Course

Writing prompt 8 minutes: The Hope Collector. You OR a character discovers an unexpected source of hope in the ruins of a collapsed system. What is this discovery?

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She hears rustling, sounds like shimmers radiating from the huddle of lives barely hanging on.

The babies in the center.
The toddlers spiraling out from them.
The mothers and fathers circling protectively around the children.
The warrior youth sprinkled along the edges.
The elders framing the outermost ring - this human Fibonacci spiral of survival.

Without fire, edible food, clean water, or breathable air, the clan has learned how to endure the Collapse.

They have learned how to create energy from the last remaining source available - their own cells.

And so they love.

They massage.

They vibrate their fears away, replacing them with more love.

The billions of mitochondria within their collective body obey, dancing to the rhythm of survival, producing just enough energy to keep the clan barely alive.

She knows she’s not supposed to leave her position.

But she can’t help herself.

She draws in more than her fair share of the clan’s energy allocation and dares to move.

With the faintest motion, she presses her pinky into the earth.

The last ounce of mycelium wisdom brushes her fingertip.

And a word stamps itself onto her mind’s eye.

Innovation.

And then - human history blasts her being wide open.

Creativity flows.

Humans are not merely survivors.

They are thrivers.

And she knows - today is going to be a slightly different day.

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Feb 28, 2025 - Appetizer

Writing prompt 8 minutes: The doorbell rings and there is a package for you. It is exactly what you need. Is an object, the right words, a feeling, a person, advice, a trip, money, a new way of thinking/mindset, etc...it's exactly what you need right now. How does it arrive? What is it?
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The Delivery

The doorbell rings.

“Delivery for Ms. Nicolette Richer,” someone calls out.

When I open the door, no one is there - just a small, gold-foiled box resting on the doormat. No return address.

I bend down, pick it up, turn it over and over in my hands.

I lift the lid.

Inside, a black velvet ring box.

I snap it open and back.

No ring.

Phew.

The last thing I want right now is a ring on this newly free, liberated woman finger of mine.

And yet… a part of me feels a flicker of disappointment.

Who doesn’t want to be desired? Adored? Loved and cherished until death do us part?

I remove the empty ring holder. Beneath it, a collection of small plastic-coated slips of paper.

Dozens of tiny, Helvetica type, 8-point font. Temporary tattoos.

I pick them up, reading each one.

Trust
Patience
Presence
Compassion
Gratitude
Love
Surrender
Forgive
Wisdom
Acceptance
Let it go

Gentle little reminders that I already have everything I need.

That this moment, this phase, this space of becoming is a gift.

That my heart is mine to hold.
My time, mine to cherish.
My love, mine to give.

Not to cling. Not to grasp. But to let unfold in its own divine rhythm.

I press one of the tattoos to my wrist.

Presence.

The ink clings to my skin - weightless, yet grounding.

A promise to myself.

A vow.

Not to someone else, but to the woman I am becoming.

I close the box, take a deep breath, and step back inside.

Ready.

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Jun 14, 2024 - Day 1 - Appetizer

Writing prompt 5 minutes: If I had a warning label - what would it be?

1. Warning: Eagle energy unleashed, womb healed woman on the loose, just released from a sacred sexuality retreat, no longer suffers from shame, wickedly clear on desires and needs, may jump your bones.

2. Warning: Untethered soul in the making on the hunt for other untethered souls.

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Feb 28, 2025 - Main Course

Writing prompt 8 minutes: "Just The Facts!" Look around and describe what you see in front of you.

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Sticky Notes & Hot Messes

22 sticky note reminders - each one an attempt to keep my life in order, to inspire me, to remind me of all the things my brain cannot contain in any logical sequence.

One parched, empty water glass, tempting my equally parched lips.
I forgot to refill it this morning.
Maybe I need a “drink water” sticky note reminder for that next Soulo writing class.

One distracting phone - Tinder dating tempting sexting messages, vying for my attention, pulling me away from the much-needed, important life’s work in front of me.

Two half-filled notebooks, craving my mind, my focus, my notes for the three books I’m simultaneously writing.

One middle-aged woman - hot, bothered, creative, typing, loving, being loved.

Her hot ass planted in a comfy office chair.

A pure, freshly single shitstorm.

A hot mess, surrounded by mess, trying to be everything to everyone.

But most importantly - trying to be everything to herself.

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Jun 14, 2024 - Day 1 - Main Course

Writing prompt 8 minutes: Describe your mountain - something you want to achieve or something you want to overcome….what is the goal, what flaw or obstacle are you trying to overcome…8 minutes

Do you see it? Over there? I see it clear as day. Let’s go get it. Your light, your divine limitless potential, your inner and outer beauty and brilliance that fuels all the sunrises and sunsets combined. 

Can you touch it? Your vast endless vista of love for self and others, oh your spark, your beautiful, funny, healed, whole inner child - just there in the near distance. 

Do you hear him? He’s calling you from that dark, protective cave, yodalehhee…Who? You my strong precious one. Come out and dance, play, sing, scream with unapologetic joy from the mountain tops and roll down daisy filled hills.

Ready? - You are safe. We are safe. I’ll keep us protected and resourced along the way. I packed light - white golden healing light.  And my valley wide Open heart. A flowing river of compassionate, Unconditional love to be our North Star. Bottles of fresh Water and bathroom breaks as you need. Acres of patience. Einstein Time eternal. I left judgement behind withering away in the summer heat - too big to fit in my heart sac. And one solemn vow - I won’t abandon you or myself along the way. 

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