I Want You To Know That I 💜 💜 💜All of You Awesome Community Members

You guys rock.

I don't say it enough, but I am humbled and grateful that you allow my words to enter your email box every week. When the world produces overwhelming content, and I can take up some of your mental real estate once a week, wow! That's something to be grateful for.

I wish I heard from you more. Sometimes it feels like I am writing into the void. Please drop me a line in the comments or reply to the email. Both work! It doesn’t have to be about what I wrote. I’d love to know what you had for dinner, how smart your grandchildren are, or where you’re going on your next trip.

Someone asked me recently how I started the newsletter, and it reminded me about how deftly the universe works.

Most of you don't know that I started writing to my online yoga students during the pandemic. Through a newsletter, I publicized my classes and included my thoughts on yoga. As the restrictions of the pandemic lifted, fewer students showed up for class, but more were interested in reading the newsletter. I started teaching again in studios but kept writing a yoga-themed newsletter.

I had a bit of a reckoning that maybe I, as a white lady with a few hundred hours of training, was not an authority on yoga. No one questioned my knowledge, but yoga started to reveal its magnitude to me.

I realized I was a surface swimmer and that yoga was the ocean.

The more I learned, the more overwhelmed I was at its enormity and how much I didn't know. That's when I changed the focus and name of the newsletter to The Pebble in Your Shoe. The notion that life isn't straight or smooth, and we would often be uncomfortable with it, parallels with what yoga teaches.

I take a broader view of the joy and difficulties we householders face. In particular, the newsletter focuses on the third chapter of life when careers are winding down, the nest is empty-ish, and there's a sense of 'what's next' besides death and taxes.

I also talk about death here (ok borderline obsessed 🤣) because it's something I'm uncomfortable with, and as long as you're willing, I'm taking you along to discover how to live beside its inevitability. You know the mother's mindset that if mom's cold, the kids need to put on their sweaters. You're not my kids but companions on the path.

The next phase of the newsletter is the podcast. I wanted to find people doing extraordinary things in the third chapter of life to inspire me. Last week's podcast was an interview with Neera Mahajan, 62 years old, from Down Under, who retired four years ago and has since written five books. She's a dynamo, with much to teach us.

This week's podcast features entrepreneur Niki Fielding.

She's 65 years old and never wants to retire. I mean, who do you know who says that? She loves her work that much and keeps following where her curiosity leads her. She shares her wisdom by giving us actionable advice.

Click here for Spotify and here for Apple.

I finished my first season, so here's a sneak peek of the interviews ahead:

March 13- Denise Stensland, Artist and Herbalist

March 20 – Dr. Leslie Faerstein, Psychotherapist and Clinical Director

March 27 – Mike M., Podcast Host for the "Rational Boomer"

April 3—Linda Hoenigsberg, Psychotherapist, Artist, and Writer of the Substack "Another Think Coming"

April 10—Rashidah Cartwright, Podcast Host for "Autism for Badass Moms"

April 17—Ann Richardson, Author and Writer of the Substack "The Granny Who Stands on her Head"

April 24—Michele Maize, Writer on Medium and the Substack "The Maize"

May 1—Jessica de Koninck, Poet and Author

Mike is the only man in the mix, but he's a third-chapter inspiration, so I let him the club. Michele and Rashidah are in their mid-forties, are not in their third-chapter yet, but share their stories that we will all come away better from.

Everyone gave their time generously, and I hope you will listen to our conversations.