This act of living each day twice lets him settle as he watches each day go by with a kind of tenderness. The second time around, he smiles at the barista who hands him his morning coffee. He holds his children a bit longer and notices his wife’s lovely face before leaving for the day.

Sometimes, when I feel overwhelmed, I pretend I’m that guy, reliving the day for a second time.

Here’s a real example:

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I know the official end of summer isn’t until September 22 (or thereabouts) but it sure feels like a season of endings: By summer’s end, we will have moved two of our three children to the East Coast. Which means that Sal and I are trying to be very present to (and enjoy every moment with) our last remaining in-house child without totally freaking him out.

Anyhoo, here are the things I got myself into this month:

1. Ozlo sleep buds. Friends, let’s just say the quiet part out loud: if you share a bed with someone, there is a 150% chance one of you is snoring. No shame. No shade. But we need to address the fact that the person being kept awake by the snoring is probably getting progressively meaner due to sleep deprivation. Enter Ozlo. These comfortable little darlings play white noise directly into your ear-holes. And the app will tell you exactly how many noises were blocked and exactly how loud those noises were (no, you are not imagining it: that snoring is the same decibel level as a blow dryer). They are not cheap, but they are the best money I’ve spent in a long time.

2. Max & Co. Speaking of spending a little extra for something fabulous, I was recently introduced to Max Mara’s younger (more accessibly priced) sibling, Max & Co. The looks do skew a bit younger, but I found many treasures there and purchased the most comfortable loafers of my life thus far.

3. Nomadland. I know this is a strange movie to recommend during the summer blockbuster months, but I can’t help it. After seeing the magnificent Hamnet directed by Chloé Zhao, I had to see what else she’d helmed. The film is based on the non-fiction book Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty First Century by Jessica Bruder which follows the baby boomers who traded houses for vans and hit the road after the economy priced them out of stability and retirement. Sounds grim, right? But this film is majestic and magnificent … maybe even a little magical. This is mostly due to Frances McDormand’s incredible performance, but it also has to do with Zhao’s keen eye and her massive heart. Each character is treated with so much dignity and tenderness … I am still in awe.

4. ChomChom Roller & Rake. Hi, I’m Bronwyn, and I have a hairy Golden Retriever named Bowie. He fills my life with love and joy and he covers my clothing with his hair. You can’t imagine my joy when I discovered that pet hair removal technology has evolved by getting low tech. No sticky tape to refill, just roll it and walk out the door.

That’s all for now my friends. May you close out this summer with long exhales and as many evening sunsets as you can grab hold of before the days shrink up again.

Shine on, my friend. We need your light.

B

***Sometimes writing a newsletter means deciding whether or not to address the dreadful news of the day. Do I talk about how as a little girl I memorized the lyrics to 9 to 5 after seeing the film because those women reminded me so much of my single mom and her perpetual struggle at random office jobs? Do I acknowledge the terrible, apocalyptic situation in Nepal? And how do I reconcile all of that with the happiness I feel as I sit inside of a shaft of bright sunlight on a gorgeous morning? Short answer: I haven’t got a clue. Long answer: Actually there is no long answer. I just don’t know what to say.

I find they can take a perfectly average conversation and turn it into something extraordinary.

The question I want to offer you on this fine Monday morning is powerful when deployed toward the end of a work conversation or meeting (or the end of your part in said meeting).

Ready? Here it is:

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And worse? I was hungry. Lunch never quite materialized, given how the day had gone.

While my mind gnashed at itself — why did I forget to eat? Why did I schedule things this way? — a voice inside me said, “Take the next exit and get a sandwich.”

I did. And as I got out of the car, it added one more thing: “Leave your phone and your laptop. Take only pen and paper.”

This seemed insane, given how much I’d planned to tackle while eating said sandwich. But I’ve learned not to argue with that voice, so I grabbed a notebook and headed inside a very David Lynchian diner.

Here’s what happened:

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The dread was manifesting as my bestie “avoidance,” so the task just sat there looming larger by the hour as I focused on everything except said task.

I decided to procrastinate even harder by leashing up my hound to take an extra long walk.

As I was walking, I heard a little voice inside my head whisper:

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I was recently co-presenting with my dear friend Jen Reidy, helping a group of executives tell better stories and connect with their audiences. After the workshop, we spent the next week working one-on-one with each participant — helping them set goals as communicators, and working through the obstacles standing between them and those goals.

What struck me was that every single executive brought up the same one line from the workshop. Not the storytelling frameworks. Not the narrative discipline, the pacing, the energy work. One line, from Jen:

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This past Friday, I officiated a wedding for the first time.

Two dear friends, one hundred or so guests, and a love story over 30 years in the making. I was honored and delighted.

And so I prepared for this wedding like I prepare for everything: I researched. I interviewed the couple. I practiced my wedding officiant script twice a day, every day for two weeks. I knew exactly when to pass the rings. I felt ready.

Then the bride appeared. She was luminous and the way she locked eyes with her fiancé!? I’ll never get over it.

But here’s what nobody warns you about officiating: you have to be the one neutral, steady presence in a room built entirely for feeling.

Everyone else gets to cry. Everyone else gets to gasp when the vows land just right. I am, by nature and by reputation, the person in the crowd audibly reacting to things — the sniffler, the one who laughs a beat too loud. That’s usually fine. That day, it was the job description in reverse. I had to pilot the plane, not eat the snacks.

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I’d sigh: “That the days will start getting shorter?”

“IT MEANS CHRISTMAS IS ON AROUND THE CORNER!”

He would literally slap his own thigh and wheeze-laugh, and I would roll my teenage eyes and groan at him.

But the older I get, the funnier the joke gets … even if it is gallows humor. I mean … a second ago it was January, and in another blink, it’ll be December.

So: half-way through. Let’s take a hot second and check in with ourselves.

I went back and reread my own January goals. I’d written that I would write six days a week, minimum 40 minutes a day. At the time, this felt measured and realistic. Tough but doable.

Rereading it in June, I realize I’m just not that kind of writer. Some days I can drop in for 2 hours easily, then other days I can barely hit the 30 minute mark. Oh and by the way, my goal allowed ZERO time for research.

I wondered, “Why do I so often fall short on goals like this?”

But then I caught myself, and realized that was the wrong question. A better set of questions would be:

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As we exhale the last few days of June and begin the slow July inhale, I have some goodies for you.

Insight Meditation Center (Live) Someone whose daily meditation habit I admire recently confessed: I can't do it on my own. She invited me to join her and nearly a thousand others for a daily live meditation on YouTube, courtesy of the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City. It sounded too good to be true, but I'm now meditating daily — always with my first cup of coffee in hand — at 7am PST. I've never been able to sit for 30 minutes in meditation, and yet here I am. Join me! The first 30 minutes are guided meditation, then 15 minutes of a "dharma" talk. See you there? All talks are recorded, so if 7am PST isn’t your jam, they are available anytime!

Yesteryear, by Cairo Claire Burke. Believe the hype. This book is good. In case you’re not in my same summer-reads algorithm, here’s the plot: a tradwife influencer—who makes her living selling the appeal of a nostalgic view of wife and motherhood—suddenly wakes up in the 1800s. Panic ensues. Her backstory unspools in fits and starts, and just when you think you know what’s happening, the world turns upside down. If you’re still scratching your head over the ending, this might help: I spoke with someone who grew up in a very extreme religious environment and she said, “If you want to understand Yesteryear, you really need to understand the concept of scrupulosity.” Dying to know your thoughts if you’ve read it.

I Who Have Never Known Men, by Jacqueline Harpman. I started seeing this book pop up at bookstores and was puzzled by it — why would a dystopian novel written in the '90s suddenly become such a darling? We have Gen Z to thank for making this one of the biggest reads of the year. It's about a group of 39 women held prisoner in an underground bunker. It's impossible to identify the place, the timeline, or even the planet (!!), but the characters are vivid and the writing is breathtaking. I know the premise sounds grim, but it's a spectacular feat of imagination. Thanks, Gen Z BookTok!

Is This Thing On? Hulu. Anyone who has been married for a long time can attest to one thing: we think we know our partner, but there is usually so much more to explore — if you have the eyes (and the intestinal fortitude) for it. This film is about a couple (Will Arnett and Laura Dern) who decide to separate in the most low-drama manner possible (“Should we call it?” “Yeah.”). Their split forces both of them to come alive in their own lives — he finds an unlikely second act in New York’s stand-up comedy scene and she rediscovers a part of herself she’d shelved for the family. It’s a beautiful, painful, funny, and deeply relatable film about keeping love alive not through martyr-like determination but through reinvention, risking our old self concepts for something bigger and wilder.

Flat Leather Sandals. Look, sometimes a girl just needs a good, elevated flip-flop to kick off the summer. Zara delivered. I've been wearing these nonstop since the weather started warming up.

That’s all for now. May you close out June with some burrata, fresh tomatoes and basil.

Shine on,

B

We are resilient. We stay steady under pressure. We get through the brutal quarter.

When the going gets tough, the tough feels familiar.

But sometimes I wonder if in our effort to build muscle for weathering life’s storms we let atrophy our capacity for feeling good. For savoring moments of contentment and joy.

I noticed this in myself while watching World Cup fever sweep the Americas.

Here’s the thing — I am NOT a sports person. I’m not even a fair-weather, show-up-for-the-playoffs-only person. I just can’t be bothered with sports. But I am loving the World Cup content I’m seeing. (Below is my favorite World Cup TikTok so far)

@ell_maccWorld Cup hopecore ❤️ #worldcup2026 #fifa #humanityfirst

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(Don’t even get me started on how the Scotts are showing up to Fenway for baseball games.)

The entire experience is reminding me of that line from Ecclesiastes (and/or Footloose):

There is…

It’s made me realize how often we move through our days bracing, waiting for some unnamed bit of bad news or a cutting remark we seem to be expecting ... Completely missing opportunity after opportunity to feel connected. Safe. Happy. Grateful.

Here’s our thought experiment for the week:

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Diana said two things that knocked me out:

“Other people are not ours to control.”

And then:

“Can you let go of impossible projects?”

(Impossible projects = other people and their choices.)

Have you ever stopped to notice just how many of your thoughts and moods are bent toward managing (or reacting to) other people and their choices?

Since Friday’s meditation, I’ve been wondering if the impulse to engage in “impossible projects” isn’t really about other people at all. What if focusing on something fundamentally impossible creates a juicy, false sense of progress — a way of staying very busy while avoiding the real project: looking at my own life and choices?

Apparently, the big payoff for letting go of impossible projects is F R E E D O M. Which seems like a pretty big payoff to me.

The logic goes like this: if we stop trying to control other people, we might finally see a situation clearly for the first time. We might be able to access a bit more curiosity about the person who’s been driving us crazy. This means that we might need to reckon with what’s actually true about another human being (vs. what we keep hoping could be true if they would just …). Which might lead us to make decisions about our own lives in light of all of this clarity. And so we arrive at a kind of freedom.

Your thought experiment this week:

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Last week we talked about how listening builds the web of connection that holds a career together. But here’s the thing: trust isn’t built by hearing someone. It’s built by entering their world.

For this week’s thought experiment, I invite you to try one of the three moves for doing exactly that:

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And it makes sense. A career can feel like a series of battles — arguments to win, ground to hold, positions to defend. And the humble act of truly listening in that context can feel dangerous, almost as if it were a sign of retreat or weakness.

Here’s the thing: We can look at a career as a series of battles. But I think it might be more useful to see it as a series of relationships. The web you build — the people who trust you, who want to work with you, who will go to the mat for you — that is the connective tissue of a good, long career. Not necessarily all the battles fought and won.

Listening is a key part of how we build that web of connection: people can feel the quality of our attention when we truly listen. They sense whether we’re present or just waiting for our turn. And when they feel genuinely heard — not managed but actually heard — trust forms.

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By the time this hits your inboxes, I’ll be watching my baby girl cross a stage and collect her high school diploma. Tears will be shed. Congratulations will be shared. Gratitude will be felt.

And whilst I am experiencing those precious moments, here are a few precious things I gathered this month to share with you. May was RICH from a content consumption standpoint.

Here we go:

1. Famesick: A Memoir, by Lena Dunham. There are few millennial voices more polarizing than Lena Dunham. You either love her or you absolutely do not. I am in the lover camp. Not because I think she’s flawless, but because she is unabashedly herself in all of her sometimes gruesome specificity. To me, Famesick is first and foremost a memoir about relentless creative excellence in the face of chronic illness. Did she make life hard for those who loved her and worked alongside her? Probably. But I’m sure Pablo Picasso and Martin Scorsese weren’t/aren’t exactly easy to live with either … so as the kids say, let her cook. Reading Famesick led me to rewatch Girls, which from the vantage point of 2026 continues to be a marvel right through to the last episode of the final season.

   

2. The Singers, on Netflix. Someone recommended this Oscar-winning short film and thank GOD I took the 18 minutes to watch it. It is a modern interpretation of a classic Russian short story written by Ivan Turgenev that tells the tale of an impromptu singing contest that breaks out in a remote Russian tavern among the local men. In this stunning adaptation, the singing contest erupts in a broken-down, vaguely urban American bar with present-day disaffected men. I read the original short story “The Singers” in George Saunders’ incredible book A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Masterclass on Writing, Reading, and Life (another book I HIGHLY recommend). But you do not need to have read the original to fully appreciate the beauty of The Singers.

   

3. Michael Pollan’s Journey to the Borderlines of Consciousness — Ezra Klein Show. There are few things I enjoy more than a trip down the rabbit hole of consciousness. I mean … What even IS consciousness?? Is there such a thing as a collective unconscious, as Jung posited? What about the natural world? Those octopi seem pretty darn sentient. And what happens to our consciousness when we die? This interview was a splendid entry point into Pollan’s latest book, A World Appears: A Journey Into Consciousness, which I am planning to read this summer.

   

4. The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love, by bell hooks. I am embarrassed to admit that until recently, I had never actually read any books by the feminist, philosopher, educator, and legend bell hooks. I figured it was high time, so I began with The Will to Change — a devastating and hopeful book about the effect of patriarchy on men and how love just might be the only way out of it. I triple underlined this quote:

In patriarchal culture males are not allowed simply to be who they are and to glory in their unique identity. Their value is always determined by what they do. In an anti-patriarchal culture males do not have to prove their value and worth. They know from birth that simply being gives them value, the right to be cherished and loved.

May we all feel cherished and loved.

Sending you hugs and high fives this gorgeous Saturday morning.

B

My daughter graduates from High School on Saturday. Between now and then, there are dinners and banquets and logistics I haven’t thought of yet and probably a few tears — good ones, I hope. It will be a beautiful, chaotic, logistically intense blur that I’ll look back on and barely remember because I was too busy managing it to actually be in it.

I don’t want that. So I’m trying something this week, and I want to invite you to try it too.

I’m calling it an Intention Intervention, and it takes about three minutes.

Here’s how it works:

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Here’s what I keep noticing with the executives I work with: They are prepared. They are polished. They have done the work. And somewhere in all of that preparation, they have carefully, methodically edited out the thing that actually wins people over — the thing that makes people lean in and trust without quite knowing why:

Their enthusiasm. Their contagious belief in something.

Don’t believe me? Think about the last time someone made you want to believe in something. Were they carefully modulating their affect, delivering a perfectly worded script? Or were they lit up and speaking from the heart?

Here’s your thought experiment for this week:

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The conclusion: we are often convinced we are standing in a spotlight, all eyes on us. But the truth is that most of us are just staring at ourselves in a funhouse mirror, a little bit horrified by what we see.

I don’t think it’s conscious, or even our fault. In fact, it seems to be baked into the human experience. But regardless, there is a very real cost to living inside a fake spotlight — presence.

Self-consciousness naturally shuts down our curiosity and our natural capacity for attunement. It can cost us our ability to actually read the room we’re standing in.

I see this constantly with the leaders I coach — and in myself. We are not struggling because we lack skill. We become disconnected because we are so busy monitoring ourselves — our posture, our pacing, our word choice — that we stop being genuinely interested in the people in front of us. And people can feel it.

Your thought experiment for the week:

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If you were able to calmly plot your week yesterday and feel calm and regulated, go ahead and skip this post.

But if you’ve been shot out of a Monday-morning-shaped cannon, I’ve got a good five-minute reset to help you get grounded.

Set your timer, then sit with this for five whole minutes:

Someday, people will gather to celebrate your life.

Yep. I’m asking you to ponder your own death for five minutes.

But here’s the thing: I don’t want you to do this grimly (is that a word? It is now!).

I want you to really imagine everyone you’ve ever loved — and everyone who has loved you — gathering to celebrate your life, their eyes and hearts full of gratitude for having known you.

And here’s where it gets interesting.

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Life is moving at warp speed as we prepare to launch our second of three kiddos into the world. The month of May will bring a whole slew of “lasts” with our daughter … last day of high school, last lacrosse game, last school Mass.

It’s all very surreal and thrilling if I give myself enough space to feel it.

Anywayyyyzz, here’s what I’ve been enjoying this month:

1. The Testaments on Hulu I am a massive Margaret Atwood fan and devoured the novel almost in a single sitting. So far, the series is living up to my highest hopes. Each episode is not only beautifully (and eerily) shot — the acting is spectacular. Chase Infinity (Agnes) and Lucy Halliday (Daisy) are luminous, holding the complex experience of coming of age inside a system built to enslave them. You'd think it would be too nightmarish to watch, but these young women are absolutely mesmerizing, their faces revealing courage, joy, frustration, and confusion moment to moment. Check out the trailer here.

   

2. Death is But a Dream: Finding Hope and Meaning at Life’s End, by Christopher Kerr and Carine Mardorossian. As a vivid dreamer, I'm endlessly fascinated by what happens when we sleep. Based on interviews with over 1,200 hospice patients, Kerr and Mardorossian reveal the remarkable — and surprisingly predictable — patterns in how dying people dream. What moved me most: as our outer experience begins to dim, our inner experience lights up, bringing peace and resolution. Maybe the arc of human experience bends toward wholeness after all. It's a comforting thought for anyone who has ever said goodbye to someone they love.

   

3. Jason Bonham Led Zeppelin Experience at Mountain Winery. Guys. They’re back — and if you love Led Zeppelin, just trust me and get your tickets. This was one of the best concerts I’ve seen in years. Note-for-note fidelity to the original sound, anchored by John Bonham’s son Jason on drums. About midway through, he takes a storytelling break — sharing hilarious (and often unsettling) vignettes about his father and the wild days of his childhood. Spectacular doesn’t cover it. See you there on May 19th.

That’s all for now. Happy Saturday and shine on.

B

As a communication coach, I like to think of conversational silence in two categories

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