What Lights me up when everything feels heavy?

What lights me up when everything feels heavy?

I’m in a caregiving season right now.

My niece Naomi is 45, living with an intellectual disability while facing metastatic breast cancer. I’m her person. My mom, Janet, is 90, sharp as ever, and we live together. My days are filled with coordinating, advocating, watching, and loving—leaving little time to simply be Kelly for a moment.

All kinds of it. Light, hopeful stories by Heather Webb — the kind set in the South about families and second chances, where you just know it’s going to be okay.

Historical fiction that opens my mind — like Skylark, about 17th-century women fabric dyers fighting for creative freedom, mirrored against a WWI occupation story set in the same Paris neighborhood. The contrast is so captivating. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. And I want to go there!

And The Women of Château Lafayette, which sent me deep into the story of the Marquis de Lafayette and his role in American independence. I didn’t know half of what I learned.

That’s the other thing about good historical fiction. It gets me googling.

I’ll be mid-chapter and suddenly I’m looking up buttonwood trees at 11pm. Or reading about 18th century French aristocracy. Or following some rabbit hole about women’s rights in 1664. The books open doors and I walk through and suddenly I’m curious about the world in a way that feels like a little gift.

Fiction is how I remember I’m a whole person, not just a caregiver. It lights me up. It keeps me curious. It takes me on little trips without me having to pack anything.

I’m curious about you. What’s lighting you up right now? I’d love to know.

With love from my reading/listening chair,

Kelly

P.S. Come share what’s lighting you up in Athena Village. I’d love to hear!

P.P.S. Athena Village is where conversations like this continue. Learn more here.

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What Lights me up when everything feels heavy?

Jun 17, 2026

What lights me up when everything feels heavy?I'm in a caregiving season right now. My niece Naomi is 45, living with an intellectual disability while facing metastatic breast cancer. I'm her person. My mom, Janet, is 90, sharp as ever, and we live together. My days...

What Lights me up when everything feels heavy?

Jun 17, 2026

What Lights me up when everything feels heavy?

Jun 17, 2026

Positive thinking. 👍🏻 or 👎🏻

Talk2Think

by Kelly Pratt | Apr 16, 2022 | Conversations, Growth, Kelly Pratt

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

I just received an article from Tara McMullin (one of the few ppl I make time to read). Tara was on a rant. People in a parenting thread in the “twitterverse” had responded to a parent wanting to find a way to add some creative time into their parenting schedule in a “… not at all helpful. In fact, it was hurtful.” way. I am definitely a GLASS-HALF-FULL person. But I too have bumped into the issues that Tara talks about in her article. And I know that denying reality doesn’t give you the power to overcome it… [Read More in the Village] [Read Tara’s full article on MEDIUM: Parents Deserve More Than Positive Thinking]

Design a Life with White S.P.A.C.E.

Talk2Think

“white space” – the empty space between and around the essential elements of a design

A good designer knows that “white space” is critical to an elegant design.

And a good composer knows when to add silence to emphasize the beauty of their composition.

Designing a life is no different.

When you live with the right amount of white space, your life will feel like a great symphony. With harmony, rhythm and flow in all the right places.

By adding SPACE you will find the sweet spot where ABUNDANCE + CREATIVITY + PRODUCTIVITY intersect.

What works for me is to pay attention to the essential elements in my life and to make sure that they have enough space around them. Then to truly honor those elements.

That’s it. Just leave space around your essential bits, you’ll find your essential, authentic self will have room to emerge! Clearing SPACE in your life for what’s essential.

The 5 basic ingredients that I’ve found are essential for a life with “white space” are:

STILLNESS | PLAY | ACTION | CONNECTION | ENERGY

STILLNESS.

Find time to be still every day. Traditional meditation, a walk in nature, whatever works for you. Whether it’s for 4 minutes or an hour. Schedule it.

The constancy of stillness… only from that place can you create your best work and your best life. — Oprah Winfrey

PLAY.

Play is not just joyful and energizing — it’s deeply connected to our development and intelligence. And a strong correlation between success and playful activity has been shown. So make time to play! To laugh. Even a forced smile can improve your mood. Smile muscles activate endorphins + immune boosting T-cells.

To thrive in our wild new world you would be well advised to play until you can’t think. — Martha Beck

ALIGNMENT.

When do you feel “in the groove?” What makes you lose track of time?

Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” – Howard Thurman

CONNECTION.

Zoom, call, email, or write someone a note! Connect.

Connection is “… the energy that exists between people when they feel seen, heard, and valued; when they can give and receive without judgment; and when they derive sustenance and strength from the relationship.” ― Brené Brown

ENERGY.

Learn your own circadian rhythm. Honor it.

During the day stretch. Stand up. Move around. DANCE. Do something to get your blood moving! (check out our Playlist!)

It’s not the number of hours we work that determines the value we create, but rather the energy we bring to whatever hours we work. Science tells us we’re at our best when we move rhythmically between spending and renewing energy. ― The Energy Project

When you honor the spaces in-and-around the essential elements in your life, you will see your authentic, essential self emerge.

What are your essential elements? It’s up to you to decide your exact ingredients and the perfect measurements for each.

Click to download your Living With Intention Manifesto

LivingWithIntentionManifesto.pdf

Red Winged Blackbird

Talk2Think

A message from A Red Winged Blackbird

He reminded me to Pay Attention

A story:

Once upon a time there was a very sad woman sitting alone and reading.

It was a very bleak time in her life.

A red-winged blackbird had a message for her. He went to great lengths to get her attention.

He flew from the cattails in the river up the bank, under a tree, around a corner and swooped beneath a gabled doorway to hover and stare directly at her though the window.

He hovered there until, finally sensing something, the woman looked up from her book.

What she saw was a rather insistent looking bird hovering and staring straight at her cocking his head left, then right.

Startled, she sat up and asked the bird “Can I help you?”

The bird simply continued to stare, and cocking his head from side to side. Then he blinked and swooped off.

Of course, that woman was me in 2005 – Crazy, I know!

It was a time in my life when I felt a wee bit crazy. I was doing some emotional healing at a beautiful little hermitage in Central Minnesota called Dwelling in the Woods. I felt the bird had been sent as a messenger. The message, although I didn’t know it at the time, was my calling.

Flash forward a couple of years, and many red-winged blackbird encounters later (they’re always swooping my little volkswagen beetle).

Through a long and arduous journey, I eventually made the decision to become a Certified Martha Beck Life Wayfinder Coach and, to specialize in creative entrepreneurs.

It was only then that I thought to look up red-winged black birds in a book on animal totems. Here’s what it said:

Those who possess blackbird medicine sing a song that awakens people to their hidden potential and help them to find their true purpose in life. They bring the touch of poetry, music and inspiration to all that they do.

This all happened 3 years before even a thought about coaching ever crossed my mind – I guess that red-winged black bird knew something I didn’t!

PAY ATTENTION

This story supports what I’ve always instinctively known – but somehow need to be reminded of now and then – to pay attention – to the synchronicities and serendipitous events of our lives.

“That in a creative recovery” as Julia Cameron, author of the ARTIST’S WAY says ” (we need to) take seriously the possibility that the universe just might be cooperating with our new and expanded plans.”

So, now, when I pass the many red-winged black birds we have here in Minnesota, or hear their song or see a picture of any black bird, I say a silent thank you. And I’m reminded again to PAY ATTENTION to the reminders and the ways the universe is supporting us all in our creative and expanded plans!

Learn more about Athena Village here.

Community and connection are what we need – Find the style that works best for you

Community Design, Talk2Think

Community and connection are what we need – Find the style that works best for you

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What Lights me up when everything feels heavy?

What lights me up when everything feels heavy?

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Athena Village

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“white space” – the empty space between and around the essential elements of a design

STILLNESS | PLAY | ACTION | CONNECTION | ENERGY

The constancy of stillness… only from that place can you create your best work and your best life. — Oprah Winfrey

PLAY.

To thrive in our wild new world you would be well advised to play until you can’t think. — Martha Beck

ALIGNMENT.

Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” – Howard Thurman

CONNECTION.

Connection is “… the energy that exists between people when they feel seen, heard, and valued; when they can give and receive without judgment; and when they derive sustenance and strength from the relationship.” ― Brené Brown

ENERGY.

It’s not the number of hours we work that determines the value we create, but rather the energy we bring to whatever hours we work. Science tells us we’re at our best when we move rhythmically between spending and renewing energy. ― The Energy Project

When you honor the spaces in-and-around the essential elements in your life, you will see your authentic, essential self emerge.

What are your essential elements? It’s up to you to decide your exact ingredients and the perfect measurements for each.

A message from A Red Winged Blackbird

A story:

Once upon a time there was a very sad woman sitting alone and reading.

It was a very bleak time in her life.

A red-winged blackbird had a message for her. He went to great lengths to get her attention.

He flew from the cattails in the river up the bank, under a tree, around a corner and swooped beneath a gabled doorway to hover and stare directly at her though the window.

He hovered there until, finally sensing something, the woman looked up from her book.

What she saw was a rather insistent looking bird hovering and staring straight at her cocking his head left, then right.

Startled, she sat up and asked the bird “Can I help you?”

The bird simply continued to stare, and cocking his head from side to side. Then he blinked and swooped off.

PAY ATTENTION

Community and connection are what we need – Find the style that works best for you

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