Dearest Reader,

Earlier this year my husband and I both quit our salaried and super stressful jobs, rented out our house in Denver Colorado, launched two new companies, decided to homeschool our children while traveling the world and our first stop- a farm near Lyons Colorado. The move to the farm was nothing like we expected and everything we expected all at once. It was a $hit show in every possible way no matter how organized or planned we were, everything was in constant flux. We learned and grew so much as a family in four weeks that felt both like a blink of an eye and a lifetime of stress #moving! Two main lessons shined their light for me during this time of change and growth. 

Lesson one: the attachment to our material belongings is bull$hit! Every time I got super stressed or overwhelmed during the move I realized it was about all of our belongings, our things. When I really stopped to think about it everything my children needed was there tenfold: healthy organic regeneratively grown food, a community of beautiful humans there to help out, and play with the boys or teach them skills like carpentry, farming, how to drive on a tractor or drive off a rattlesnake. We had a safe place to sleep, healthy food to eat, a community of people offering their help, friendship and love, and 100 acres of beautiful land to explore.

Everything that really mattered was covered and all the material crap we acquired over a lifetime was what was stressing us out. While we were fine, our $hit was not settled and that had a really big impact on us. Why? I wonder if this is why moving is considered one of the most stressful things to do? I have done so much work over the years releasing attachment to ‘things’ and ‘stuff’. We spent months purging and getting rid of everything possible so I thought I was ready for the move. Yet each time I felt my chest tightening or stress rising it was about the material things that really don’t matter and that are 100000% replaceable. The truly unique things that I cherish and love that can never be replaced are the people- the land- the values of #regenerative living! The move to the farm shone a light on this for me and my husband. We are still working on the kids and managing their expectations that the Amazon boxes show up, day of, to their doorstep. #Instant gratification and #consumerism might have shaped my kids for the first few years of their lives but we say no more! 

Lesson #2 There is both light and dark in everything. Nothing is all good or all bad. The farm has the most beautiful energy and life- animals and a thriving ecosystem. The farm has the most awful smells of rotting compost, livestock, and dead mice. The farm has the most joyful areas for children to play and learn and explore. The farm has the ugliest areas full of debris, and old barbed wire and trash. The farm is both beautiful and harsh all at once. The garden is regeneratively managed and all the food is donated to people in need. The garden is right by a busy highway and is hot and grueling to farm. 

And just like the farm I have both light and dark in me. So do you. So does everything in this universe. So as you turn on the news, as you yell at the radio or TV please know that there is good out there we just have to choose it. I believe we must choose the light. Focus on what is good. Scale the solutions that are working. It is not that our dark sides are bad, they are just there. I also believe that what we focus on grows. Where we put our attention matters, the narratives in our heads matter. If we constantly tune into the dark, the bad and the things we hate we actually grow more of that in our lives. 

What would it look like if we all consciously choose to find the light? Where is the silver lining when climate change, the economy and global politics are the way they are? In your kids’ laughter, in the bubbling river, it’s in the regeneratively grazed cow, or seeing your son learn how to drive a tractor, learn plant medicine, harvest wheat. It is in the hug of a dear friend and the kindness of a stranger. 

If everything has both light and dark in it and what we focus on grows. Then let’s choose the light and grow a better world together. Let’s B the Light! 

With Much Love and Light,

Brenna