Clarity On Fire

Calling all fellow bookworms, library nerds, and general lovers of literature — it’s time for another book club episode of the podcast! Whenever there are five Fridays in a month, we devote the extra Friday to a book that we can’t get enough of. In this episode, we’re diving into an age-old classic, The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. To be VERY honest, when we say “can’t get enough,” in this case we did get enough. Too much, even. Like, “throw this book across the room” levels of enough-ness. And not because this book is awful. Quite the opposite! It’s more like, too hot to handle. If you’ve got ~stuff~ … this book is going to bring it up. And you best be ready when it does! Listen in as we talk about: Why we were triggered by this book, and why Rachel in particular had a detox-level reaction to it! The two weekly activities you can do to unblock yourself, creatively or otherwise. Why this book is excellent for people stuck for any reason, not just in an artistic sense. Some next-level ideas that were new, e

In times like these it can be especially hard to tune into your intuition and receive guidance. Fear and uncertainty create a LOT of noise, both internally and externally! And, ironically, it’s exactly when we’re most afraid and unsure that we most need to be able to receive wisdom and inspiration. Last year we started doing “Message from the Universe” episodes to help get us through the pandemic. Though we stopped doing them regularly, we promised they’d be back at random, probably when you most needed a little encouragement—and it feels like we could all use that right about now! So, if you’re having a hard time getting calm, quieting your mind, and tuning in lately (understandable, if so!), we hope this message will give you an extra boost of guidance today. We pulled 3 cards from The Enchanted Map deck by Colette Baron-Reid. One or all has a message for you — come find out what it is! Click here to see the cards, as well as read the description of each! After you listen, come leave a comment to share how

I have this fantasy of one day having a life where everything is in perfect balance. I’m putting out quality work, exercising daily, nurturing all of my relationships, getting plenty of sleep, making smart financial decisions, maintaining a clean home, making green juices every morning and healthy meals every night, and leaving plenty of time for fun and relaxation. And eventually I imagine adding kids and pets into the equation (without disrupting the balance of everything else, of course). Intellectually, I know this is unrealistic, but I can’t help that a small part of me still hopes this fantasy will come true. Can you relate? I’m reluctantly realizing that, as long as I stay attached to the myth of a perfectly balanced life, I’ll always be slightly critical of my current, imbalanced, messy life, judging it for what it *should* be. So I’ve decided I need to take a good, hard look at this whole “balance” thing and shift my mindset around it once and for all. Otherwise, my longing for a perfectly balanced l

A decade ago both of us cared a lot about finding our purpose. It was more than just a want—it was a need. If we didn’t hurry up and find a path that gave our lives meaning we felt like something cataclysmic would happen. And now … well, to be honest, neither of us really care all that much about life purpose anymore. We’ve wondered if it even exists, period! In this month’s brand-new Side Chat, we’re getting into how we went from obsessed with life purpose to feeling

If 2020 left you a bit world weary and you’re craving a spark of hope, optimism, and magic … today’s episode might be just what the doctor ordered. Christina Hart’s story is about finding a new job, and in record time to boot! But it’s also about something much deeper than that: trusting that things are always ultimately working out for you and opening up for life to surprise and delight you. Tune in to this week’s episode with a normal person to get inspired by Christina’s story. Kristen asked Christina about… How she built up the confidence to finally speak up for herself (even to her boss!), and the unexpected outcome of that. The story of how she quit her job with no plan, and ended up unemployed for less than 24 hours in the midst of a global pandemic. The seemingly magical bread crumb trail she followed that led her to the perfect next job. Her personal journey of building her intuition and trust in the universe, and her advice for how you can start developing this for yourself. After you’ve listened,

There are a fair amount of things in life that we have some degree of control over. If you want to lose weight, you could follow a nutrition plan and work with a personal trainer. It might take time, but with consistent effort you would be guaranteed to see changes. Or maybe you decide to go back to grad school, but you’ve got to take the GRE first. So you buy the prep books, enroll in a class, and take practice exams until you feel positive that you’ll ace the test. And if you feel the urge to up and move to Colorado, you could save money, hire movers, rent an apartment, and haul yourself across the country. No need to wait on anything or anyone to make that happen. But there are just as many things that we have no control over—things that matter to us a whole lot that we can’t guarantee or force to happen at all. Finding a dream job. Meeting your life partner. Having your business take off. It’s waiting for these things — the things we can never guarantee, that could potentially never happen — that drives u

Happy New Year! We’re starting off 2021 right with a brand-new episode of Dear Krachel, our monthly advice segment where we answer listener questions about life, career, relationships, existential angst, and anything that helps you become a more whole, fulfilled version of yourself. This month we answered questions from: Diana, who made a load of personal progress last year, but after a period of time woke up one day somehow back in the same old stuck place she was before. Does that mean she never made progress at all? What gives?! Good & Poor, who had the guts to ask for a raise and got unexpectedly denied. Worse, her boss heavily implied that she should be “grateful for what she has,” as if it’s shameful to ask for more. How can she let go of the guilt for wanting to earn more money? Trying not to be desperate, who is turning 34 and feeling panicked about not yet having a spouse or children, which she very much wants. Friends keep telling her “it’ll happen when she stops trying,” but her desperation wo

If you’re reading this, congratulations. You made it to the last days of 2020—maybe exhausted, burnt out, lost, confused, and a little worse for wear—but nevertheless, you did it. And if ever a year needed processing, it’s this one. So, in our final episode of the year we’re sitting down to work through some feeling and make some confessions. We got into… How the “no expectations for the rest of 2020” challenge went—in an interesting plot twist, Kristen is feeling saltier than Rachel for potentially the first time ever. Two confessions from Rachel, one of which she’s positive you’re going to hate (Kristen sure did!) Some VERY helpful do’s and don’ts for analyzing how this year went for you. A big question to help lift your spirits as we go into 2021. Leave a comment after you’ve listened to share how this one landed—there’s a lot to unpack! LAST DAY OF CLARITY IN A TIME OF COVID! 2020 has been a YEAR, and you deserve something good! So, through the end of TODAY (Friday, December 18), you can get access to t

You’ve probably all dreamed at some point of being Duchess Catherine (British royalty) or Beyoncé (American royalty)—if only because of how nice it must be to have the resources to outsource the mundane crap that eats up all your time! If they don’t want to cook, clean, do laundry, file their taxes, or go to the grocery store every again, they don’t have to. The dream! Like Kate and Bey, Anna is also a busy working mom of three young kids. But unlike the mega-rich and famous, she doesn’t have a full-time staff to take care of everything for her. Yet, somehow, in the midst of a pandemic, while working full-time and juggling virtual learning for her kids, she managed to carve out a couple hours multiple times per week to go to her own private studio space and paint. Given that Anna would have sworn up and down that such a thing was impossible just a few months ago, we had to have her on the podcast to talk about how she created space in her life just for her. So, in this month’s brand-new interview with a norma

A client of mine, Jack, has been entrepreneurially minded for his whole life. He’s an idea machine, and he’s constantly coming up with cool business ideas. He can’t help it — it’s just how his brain works. Naturally, he’ll get excited about a new idea and want to share it with people. As soon as inspiration hits (which is frequently), he’ll text his brother or call his mom or tell the coworker on the other side of his cube. Their reactions aren’t always what he’d hoped for. In fact, they’re usually pretty discouraging. They’ll ask a million questions about how it will work — questions he can’t yet answer, since he’s still working out the idea in his mind — or they’ll jump to all the reasons why it’s risky or impractical or straight-up impossible. Usually, after these deflating conversations, Jack will feel less enthusiastic about the idea, and often he’ll end up abandoning it altogether. When Jack came to coaching, he told me he was afraid he’s all ideas and no action. He was feeling like maybe he wasn’t cut

Welcome to another episode of Dear Krachel, a monthly advice segment where we answer listener questions about life, career, relationships, existential angst, and anything that helps you become a more whole, fulfilled version of yourself. This month we answered questions from: Laura, who’s had a number of job interview recently that end the same way: The hiring manager says it came down to her and someone else, but they went with the other person. Why does she keep almost getting hired, but falling short of success? Christian, who’s very attracted to a career path that’s great for a Firestarter—but that’s not his Passion Profile. Does he have what it takes to make it work, or will he regret pursuing a career that’s not aligned with his Profile? Kim, who’s struggling to tell the difference between being skeptical and being judgmental. How can you tell for sure whether your ego is influencing how you’re something? Leave a comment after you’ve listened to share how our advice for these listeners resonated with

In times like these, it can be especially hard to tune into your intuition and receive guidance. Fear and uncertainty create a LOT of noise, both internally and externally! And, ironically, it’s exactly when we’re most afraid and unsure that we most need to be able to receive wisdom and inspiration. Back in April, we started doing regular “Message from the Universe” episodes to help get us through the pandemic. While we stopped doing them regularly a few months ago, we promised they’d be back at random, probably when you most needed a little encouragement! So, if you’re having a hard time getting calm, quieting your mind, and tuning in lately (understandable, if so!), we hope this message will give you an extra boost of guidance today. We pulled 3 cards from our classic Rider Waite Tarot deck today. One or all has a message for you—come find out what it is! Click here to see the cards, as well as read the description of each! After you listen, come leave a comment to share how the message landed with you. MOR

Lately, one of my (Rachel’s!) clients came back a couple weeks into a homework assignment and proclaimed: “I’m really frustrated and disappointed. It’s not WORKING!!” When you’ve spent a couple weeks on something and you’re seeing no results, of course it’s frustrating. Especially when every day that passes by gives your inner critic more and more fodder for beating you up—“If you were good at this, it would work.” “See, I told you that you’re a failure. Why even try?” But I wasn’t “in it” like she was, so I could see the reality of the situation: It’s not that her strategy wasn’t working, it’s that it wasn’t working YET. She hadn’t given it nearly enough time or effort to conclude it wasn’t working and would never work. So, in this month’s brand-new Side Chat, Kristen and I sit down to talk about how to tell the difference between “it’s not working,” and “it’s not working YET.” We got into… How to define what something “working” even means, according to your situation. Ways you can tell something has the po

Bekah Trice is a self-described wellness junkie. There are a LOT of healing modalities out there — therapy, coaching, massage, acupuncture, human design, tapping, and energy healing, to name a few — and she’s tried them all. I like to think of her as a wellness concierge; she’s dabbled in everything, so she’s naturally great at helping people figure out what might work for them. Of course, the very act of seeking out various healing practices means you sense there’s something within you that needs healing. Whether you struggle with imposter syndrome, people pleasing, low self-confidence, a history of trauma, or a loss of trust in yourself and/or the world, we all could use some emotional and spiritual healing (especially after the year we’ve collectively had!). Tune in to this week’s episode with a normal person to hear more about Bekah’s healing journey. Kristen & Bekah got into… What exactly Bekah was trying to heal from that caused her to seek out so many different wellness modalities. What she tried

I feel like I need to offer a massive correction to all of the people, you included, I may have fooled over the years: I’m not actually all that tough. I know the resting bitch face (which is very handy in repelling unwanted small talk at the gym or grocery store) may have suggested otherwise. Or the fact that I’m blunt, loud, and opinionated. Or that I very clearly do not suffer fools. The exterior may look tough, but the inside is plenty soft and sensitive. And, like most of you, for a long time I thought that sensitivity equated to weakness. I thought the only way to get through hard times was to “tough it out.” Put my head down, plow through my problems, and take no mercy (on myself, most especially). You may be surprised to hear me say that 2018 was not my favorite year, by a long shot. And while all the gory details don’t need to be put on display (yet—I’m positive it’s a story I’ll tell when I have more hindsight and perspective), I can tell you that, very much against my will, I became a MUCH stronger

Welcome to another episode of Dear Krachel, a monthly advice segment where we answer listener questions about life, career, relationships, existential angst, and anything that helps you become a more whole, fulfilled version of yourself. This month we answered questions from: Ellie, whose friends are all talk no action when it comes to personal development. What do you do when your close friends aren’t committed to growing as people? Tribe of One, whose parents have each moved on to new relationships after their 31-year-long marriage ended in divorce. Their new significant others seemingly have no interest in getting to know her, though. How can she be more accepting of people who don’t care about having a relationship with her? Reality Checker, whose passive-aggressive co-worker has finally come to the attention of their manager. Now that he’s being held more accountable for his behavior, Reality Checker wants to stop reading into every little interaction, but it’s understandably hard to trust him. How do y

Calling all fellow bookworms, library nerds, and general lovers of literature — it’s time for another book club episode of the podcast! Whenever there are five Fridays in a month, we devote the extra Friday to a book that we can’t get enough of. In this episode, we’re diving into the #1 New York Times bestseller The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk, M.D. This is by far the densest, most intense book we’ve ever shared on the podcast. In fact, we broke it down into two episodes so that we could do the content justice! The Body Keeps the Score is about trauma and all of the ways it manifests in the mind and body. If you think that subject doesn’t apply to you, think again. Given that all humans experiences trauma at some point in their life—and live with, work with, and love people who’ve been through trauma, too—this book is relevant to you no matter your background. We got into… What trauma is, who experiences it, and why it’s often unconsciously running your life. The quick quiz that helps you def

Calling all fellow bookworms, library nerds, and general lovers of literature — it’s time for another book club episode of the podcast! Whenever there are five Fridays in a month, we devote the extra Friday to a book that we can’t get enough of. In this episode, we’re diving into the #1 New York Times bestseller The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk, M.D. This is by far the densest, most intense book we’ve ever shared on the podcast. In fact, we broke it down into two episodes so that we could do the content justice! The Body Keeps the Score is about trauma and all of the ways it manifests in the mind and body. If you think that subject doesn’t apply to you, think again. Given that all humans experiences trauma at some point in their life—and live with, work with, and love people who’ve been through trauma, too—this book is relevant to you no matter your background. We got into… What trauma is, who experiences it, and why it’s often unconsciously running your life. The quick quiz that helps you def

All of us have either been the person who, even if they know it’s happening, can’t stop dating carbon copies of the same person over and over again; OR we’ve been the friend watching it happen, wanting to beat our head (and our friend’s head) against the wall. And if that doesn’t resonate, maybe you’ve been the person who keeps seeking praise and validation from a boss who’s stingy with compliments, or maybe you’ve been the person who really wants to get close to people but runs away as soon as things get too vulnerable. How you show up in relationships — romantic, platonic, professional, familial — is VERY much influenced by your attachment style. There are 4 styles, and only one of them is healthy. And none of us have just one style (sooo … do the math — that means we’ve all got at least some unhealthy relationship patterns). In this side chat from October 2019, we’re getting into some Psych 101 and breaking down: Each of the 4 attachment styles: What they mean and where they came from. Why attachment theo

There’s a reason that the Hero’s Journey is a circle—the hero or heroine can only appreciate how much they’ve grown and changed when they go back to the beginning. Everything at home is as they left it, but yet it feels incredibly different … because they are different. In the last four years, Brit Kolo quit a job, started a business, evolved that business into something new, lost her faith in that business, got a new job, quit it after 3 months, and came back to her business with renewed hope and energy. A heroine’s journey for sure! There’s a reason Brit is one of our favorite people, and this conversation showcases it. You’re going to love how deep and empowering this one is. Listen in as Rachel and Brit talk about… What precipitated Brit, a Firestarter if ever there was one, deciding to throw her hands up in surrender and be open to literally anything that happened next … including setting her business aside for a new job. How she followed her intuition and pursued what felt aligned every step of the way