We just crossed the one-year anniversary of Joanna’s death, and the whole month — from the anniversary of her hip-break to that of her death five weeks later — was a portal of grief and remembering. In case you missed it, I wrote about it here.

I’m struck by the breadth of what life hands us, sometimes all at once. Amid that grief, I also spent the last six weeks on a gorgeous grand adventure: I white water rafted the Wild and Scenic Rogue River in Oregon, taught the Work That Reconnects at a 200-person, 4-day festival in Sweden, wandered Copenhagen (a city I lived in 15 years ago and hadn’t been back to since), and celebrated my 38th birthday on the Jersey Shore surrounded by four generations of Serrantes.

This birthday got me thinking a lot about “mid-life” — the stories we inherit about what life “should” look like by this precious mid-point (if I’m lucky enough for this to truly be the midpoint), and my own definition of a good life. And I’ve landed here: I’m deeply proud of the life I’m living. I’m surrounded by people who light me up with joy, work that feels soul-level resonant, a body that’s healthy and strong, and a love for this crazy gorgeous world that only deepens with age.

I’m wildly grateful to get to spend my days collaborating with so many brilliant people devoting themselves to the Great Turning — including you all. So, thank you so much for being here.

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Life often feels so full that it’s hard to keep you all up to date on what I’ve got going on, so here are a few things I’ve been meaning to share:

Dancing with Despair: Turning Toward the Darkness Without Bypass or Collapse

A few weeks ago my friend Kristin Barker from One Earth Sangha called and asked if I’d lead their August online EcoDharma Exploration. She said, “I want to challenge you to pick a topic that feels right on the edge of your comfort zone.” I adore a loving dare from a friend almost as much as I love a challenging conversation, so I decided we should talk about despair.

Even amid all the beauty (and there is so much) we’re living inside real darkness — fires and smoke, extraordinary violence against immigrant communities, an increasingly fractured political landscape, the steady creep of techno-fascism. For many of us, dancing with despair is a daily practice; we teeter on the fine line between hopelessness and our commitment to acting on behalf of what we love. It’s natural to want to get away from this despair as quickly as we can, but what if we stayed with it for a moment longer? What could it teach us about how to live well in these times?

This session won’t seek to assuage our despair, but instead, to open an honest conversation: a space to turn toward the weight of what we’re all carrying, truthfully, without negating and without drowning.

I’ll guide us into a vulnerable conversation about how we relate to our despair, and share what I’ve learned from Joanna and my own experience as a lineage carrier of the Work That Reconnects. Come ready to be tender with yourself and each other. We won’t leave with answers — but hopefully with a little more room to carry what’s true, together.

Sunday, August 23, 10:30am–12:30pm PT / 1:30–3:30pm ET, hosted with One Earth Sangha, Braided Wisdom, and Spirit Rock.

Register Here

I’ve also been on two beautiful podcasts in the last few months:

Human Nature Odyssey

The first time I met Alex Leff, creator of the Human Nature Odyssey podcast, I knew we’d become friends. Alex and I talked for hours preparing for this episode, just because we couldn’t stop jamming on these topics that we both think about so much, and he wove our conversations and some of the original recordings I made for We Are The Great Turning into a truly beautiful episode that honors Joanna’s legacy and explores some big questions like how do we find meaning while civilization unravels? How do we let grief move through us, and turn it into action? And what does it mean to elder and be eldered? The episode is part remembrance, part real talk about living through collapse and renewal at the same time. If you want to sit with Joanna’s voice again, or hear how her teachings are still working on me, this is a beautiful one.

Listen Here

Women Changing The World

In June, I sat down with Lis Best to talk about liminality — that threshold space between what’s ending and what’s not yet born — and what it actually means to lead from inside it. This is something I’ve been talking about a ton since launching my program Leading in Liminality (get on the waitlist here!)

We got into Joanna’s teachings, my own path from climate activist to coach, and why it’s time to leave behind our grandiose “hero” stories of leadership and make way for a more matriarchial, collaborative definition of leadership. We also talked about the potent possibilities that live in these times of uncertainty. If you’re in a transition of your own, or also thinking about liminality and leadership, I think this one will land.

Listen Here

Also, for women business leaders — Lis is a badass coach and creator of the awesome Girls Club Collective, and it’s worth checking out.

While the sun is still high and the days are still long here in the Northern Hemisphere, here some closing words and summer adventure inspiration from good ol’ Edward Abbey:

“One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am - a reluctant enthusiast....a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space.

Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards.”

I’m so grateful to be alive in these wild times with you,

I miss her sharp wit, her childlike silliness, her deep sage wisdom, how we would always find ways to laugh even as we discussed the most painful realities of our lives and our world. I miss being able to call her when I’m feeling lost (which happens more than I care to admit these days). She had this way of always somehow making the painful things more bearable — not by “fixing” whatever the pain was, but by accompanying you in it. A friend suggested that she had this capacity because “she knew how to stay with these feelings in herself.”

She died on July 19th, 2025. And a year later, on her Yahrzeit, as a Jewish friend told me it’s called, I’m humbled by my own limited capacity to stay with the ache. Another mutual friend recently said, “I just hate the feeling of her getting farther away.” I feel this deeply. Today, I hate how close her death feels.

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In the morning, the grief feels quiet, even peaceful. I pray, meditate, whisper to her, and check in on mutual friends. As the day goes on, though, the grief feels increasingly chaotic. It swirls around in me, getting louder as it snowballs with the many other griefs of my life — my fear and outrage at the state of the world, my longing for love, my confusion about purpose and money and what the future holds. Joanna taught me that all grief is woven together, so I’m not surprised that every other ache of mine is rearing its head now too.

I remember a day in 2021 when I was leveled by heartbreak — the end of a love I thought might be my forever — and I called Joanna from the floor in front of my best friend’s fireplace in Colorado, a place I’d taken up residence to lick my wounds. That day she told me,

“Let your suffering connect you to the suffering of your world. Can you see how your heartbreak connects you to a mother in Yemen who has just lost her child to hunger? Or to a farmer in India who lost their crops to flooding? Or someone who has just received a cancer diagnosis?”

She wasn’t equating these painful experiences — every loss is not exactly the same — but she was saying:

We are all connected in that our hearts break. And our pain becomes sacred when we allow it to deepen our connection with our world.

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The thing is, though, this ache pokes at my guts and booms in my head. It’s ugly, gnarly, and in it I feel ugly and gnarly. This is the kind of grief that feels nearly impossible to show to others. But I can hear Joanna reminding me that “truth telling is like making oxygen” — when we speak our truth to another, everyone breathes easier. So I call the person I feel safest in my mess with, and he listens kindly as I pour it out. By speaking the ugly, I have honored it, and I can feel Joanna just a little closer now.

I’m visiting with my family on the Jersey Shore, so I’m far away from the circles of friends gathering to mourn and celebrate her today. My 11-year-old cousin asks me why I’m so sad. I tell her that one of my favorite people in the world died a year ago today, and she jumps off her chair and wraps her little arms around my waist.

Later that night, I sit outside overlooking the Bay with my family, breathing in the wildfire smoke that has blanketed so much of the east coast. I say something about how climate change will only make this more common, and get into a tense conversation with my Great Aunt, who claims to have scientific proof that climate change is not real -just a liberal hoax started by Al Gore in the 90’s. The irony — that as we suck in breath to passionately retort to one another, we breathe in a burning forest of pine and black spruce, over 600 miles away — wears at my capacity to laugh off our disagreement.

If I had to pick one lesson from Joanna that has changed my life the most, it is this:

Every day, choose to be wildly in love with this world, even as it breaks your heart. We live in these miraculous human bodies, in this miracle of a planet Earth, and yes, these times will shatter the heart of anyone who is paying attention — but whether we are hospice workers or midwives, loving this life with all I’ve got is the only way I want to do it.

I wonder what Joanna would say if I described this dissonant scene to her. I imagine that at some point, after joining me in my frustration, we would laugh at the predicament and smile at how lucky I am to love and be loved by this family of big-hearted, opinionated Italians.

I stand up from the table as the conversation ends, and reach across to hold my elder’s hands in mine. I am deeply aware of the preciousness of her presence, and I say, “I think the only thing we might agree on in this world is loving each other and this family. I love you.” and I kiss her soft, wrinkled fingers.

My grandmother, who has been sitting next to her sister-in-law, bearing witness to this whole scene, winks at me and mouths, “That’s my girl”. I can feel that Joanna is winking at me too.

This portrait makes my heart sing!

It’s Joanna in her full poetic aliveness. I imagine her reciting a few lines of Rilke to Etienne, as her hands danced and he looked through his camera at her. Click here for more Joanna-magic and the full post.

Celebrating Joanna’s life story:

My friend Leilani Navar, who I met over tea at Joanna’s kitchen table in ‘22, narrated the new audiobook for Joanna’s extraordinary memoir Widening Circles!

I’m honored to be joining Leilani and the Work That Reconnects Network for an event to honor Joanna and celebrate the release of the audiobook. We will talk about what we’ve learned from Joanna’s life story and invite you into a conversation about how her story can help all of us to rise to meet the opportunities and challenges of our times. We’ll open space to reflect together, share what Joanna’s story stirs in you, and bring your own questions for us. Come ready to listen, to talk, and to celebrate a life that continues to reach out in ever widening circles through the world.

Join us

Last July, while Joanna was in her final days, I listened to this song again and again and again. It was like a prayer that I sent the half mile up the road to her as she took her final breaths in the company of her beloved family: You belong somewhere you feel free, my friend.

Endlessly grateful to be in this Great Turning with you,

I want to let you know about a small but meaningful shift in how I’m structuring my Substack:

I’ve decided to make everything here freely available — no paywalls or tiers of access. All of my writings and offerings here are offered openly, from my heart to yours.

With this change, paid subscriptions will shift from a way to pay for access to a…

Read more

Leading in Liminality starts this Wednesday, May 20th, and there is still space for you. If this has been calling to you, now is the moment.

apply here

In the next 6 months we’re going to weave some magic and make some beauty together — a small, dedicated crew of people showing up to be and to become the kind of leaders this moment of tumult and possibility is calling for.

🎧 Here’s the official LIL playlist to get you in the spirit while you fill out your application:

If you’ve got questions, hit reply and let’s talk.

I hope to see you Wednesday,

JOIN LEADING IN LIMINALITY

I was talking with someone about Leading in Liminality when she said:

“Gosh, this sounds amazing — but I’ve signed up for so many online courses and I never finish them…”

Maybe you know that feeling. The enthusiasm at sign-up. The slow fade. The guilt of another course you paid for and didn’t complete.

When she said that, I told her:

I’ve been running coaching groups since 2019, and that almost never happens in my programs.

Here’s why.

Most online courses aren’t deeply rooted in relationship. You’re not accountable to your own goals, let alone to a community you actually care about. No one notices if you drift. No one’s waiting for you. And so, eventually — no matter how compelling the content is — your enthusiasm fades and life takes over.

Leading in Liminality is built on a completely different premise.

This is a small, coaching-rooted program where most of the value comes through live delivery — real relationships, in real time. Your cohort will be no more than 20 people. I will know you. The group will know you. And over six months together, you will become people who matter to each other, deeply.

Here’s how it works:

We begin by building your Compass — a personal map of your intentions and goals that you’ll return to throughout the program as a guide for how you want to show up, and a reminder of why you joined to begin with.

Then, every month includes two live 2-hour sessions:

• Anchor Session — A cross between a workshop and a ritual. You’ll gain new perspectives and practices to support your leadership, move your body, connect with your group, and build the tools you need to lead well in these liminal times.

• Live Coaching Call — A space to bring whatever is most alive for you and receive support from a skilled coach who has been working with leaders in social change movements for over 12 years (me!👋). Bring a challenge, a question, something to integrate from the Anchor Session, something on your Compass that needs tending — this time is yours, and your group and I will be there for you.

And then there is the community — this is the part that surprises people most.

Again and again, when people finish my programs, they tell me that the relationships they built were among the most meaningful parts of the whole experience. Not a side benefit — a central one. Because in every single session, you are learning from one another, supporting one another, being witnessed and cheered on. These aren’t just networking contacts. They become people you love.

That’s what keeps people showing up as time goes on and life gets busy. Not discipline. Not sheer willpower. Meaningful relationship.

This program isn’t about barraging you with a mountain of content. It’s about you actually practicing the skills that will make a difference in your leadership — and doing it in relationship, with me and with a small, devoted group of people showing up for the same reasons you are.

Almost everyone who starts a program with me finishes it. They show up all the way through. And at the end, they’re so glad they did.

If that’s what you’ve been looking for — I’d love to have you in our circle.

JOIN LEADING IN LIMINALITY

Still have questions about whether this is for you? I’m hosting one final info session for LIL on Monday May 18th. Click here to join

So grateful to be in community with you,

Join Leading in Liminality

What qualifies me to lead a program about leading in these liminal times?

The fact that I don’t know.

I mean this literally — I don’t know what the liminal holds for us. I don’t what it’s going to take to create the change this moment calls for. No one does. I don’t know exactly how we got into this mess or how we get out of it toward the kind of world we want. And if anyone tells you they do? Run.

There is no script. No map for the road ahead.

But there are compasses — tools that can help us orient ourselves in the direction we need to move.

And there are anchors — ways to stay rooted in our values and show up with the full presence this time requires, instead of being knocked around by the uncertainty.

In Leading in Liminality, you won’t get answers for how to “fix” anything about yourself or the world.

What you’ll get instead are tools, frameworks, and practices that help you:

⚡️Show up fully, in your community, as the leader you long to be

⚡️Meet this mysterious moment of unraveling with deep integrity

⚡️Root yourself into the vast web of support and reciprocity already —and always — around you, so you are never carrying the weight of this time alone

This is what we actually need from our leaders right now.

JOIN LEADING IN LIMINALITY

The myth of the solitary hero coming to save the day is dead. But we don’t need heroes. We need:

🌲 Kinship

🌲 Community

🌲 Every individual to see themselves as a leader, capable of contributing something essential to the Great Turning

🌲 People who are fully alive, fully present, rooted in their values — and available to show up for the world with extraordinary love and integrity

I’ve been in climate and social justice movements for nineteen years. I’ve been coaching people in these movements for twelve. I’ve spent a lot of time studying what makes it possible for leaders to keep showing up fully in service of life — while living beautiful lives themselves — despite the heartbreaks and ever-changing terrain of this work.

In Leading in Liminality, I’m going to share what I’ve learned and help you see how these insights might support you on your own path. I’m calling these lessons anchors — tools and practices that help us lead well in these liminal times.

JOIN LEADING IN LIMINALITY

The anchors are:

⚓️ Be a microcosm of the world you want — What is the world you deeply long for? What would it look like to become a living seed of that future, in the midst of this mess?

⚓️ Lead with integrity — What kind of leader are you called to be for these times? We’ll explore ways to align our actions with our values, even when the ground feels shaky.

⚓️ Live the questions now — In this liminal time, we’re surrounded by questions that can’t yet be answered. What if we surrendered to that uncertainty and lived in open-hearted, creative relationship with it?

⚓️ Honor your pain for the world — Unspoken pain blocks our creativity, vitality, and connection. We’ll explore how being with the pain of this moment actually supports our leadership.

⚓️ Become Immense — We are part of a wild, vast web of interbeing, yet we so often feel alone. We’ll explore what it looks like to live as embedded members of that web, living in vibrant relationship with the ancestors, our communities and earth. We don’t do any of this alone.

⚓️ Make it Soulful — Soul is a revolutionary force and a renewable resource for us in these times. What is the relationship with art, beauty, spirit and the animate world that you long for? What would leading as soulfully as possible look like for you?

⚓️ Practice Resilience —Resilience comes from connection. What and who are you woven in connection? How can you hold and support each other through these times? This is not the “resilience” of enduring harm, but the resilience of a system that remembers who and what it truly is.

We’ll practice these anchors in a skillfully held, brilliant community of people just like you — whose hearts are afire for this beautiful world of ours.

If you want that — a community of practice, wise guidance, generous support, and skilled coaching — the doors are open for just a few more days and we begin on Wednesday May 20th.

Come on in.

JOIN LEADING IN LIMINALITY

I’m so grateful to be here with you,

P.S. I’m hosting one final last-minute info session for folks who are still deciding. It’s happening this Monday May 18th. Just two days before we start. Click here to join the info session.

join the call

Here’s the vibe:

✨Come as you are! Whether you’re sitting at your laptop, in the car, whipping up breakfast, join us!

✨I’ll share a little about the program

✨Then I’ll open it up — ask me anything. Who am I? What’s this really about? Is this the right time for you? Let’s talk.

✨ Drop in, get what you need, and head out when you’re ready — no need to stay the whole time (though the vibe will be so good, you may want to)

✨Zero pressure. Zero sales-y stuff. Just a real conversation.

Join the info session

12 days till we begin! Apply to join LIL today.

Leading in Liminality is a 6-month group coaching container for leaders navigating these times of upheaval, uncertainty, and possibility.

It’s for folks who are:

🌀Dedicated to showing up in service of a more just and life sustaining world, no matter what comes

🌀Tired of trying to figure out how to lead with wisdom, integrity, and heart — alone

🌀Ready for a circle of wisdom and solidarity to anchor them while they do what they do

Apply now

Can’t make it today but want to talk? Just reply to this email.

See you in a few hours,

I’m hosting an info session for Leading in Liminality on Friday May 8 at 9AM PT. Join us!

We live in a time of dying worlds, decaying empires, collapsing stories of who we are and how the world works… as many have said: this is not the end of the world, but perhaps it is the end of this world, of this paradigm.

The terrain around here is far to dangerous to go it alone…

This is at the heart of why I’m running Leading in Liminality.

Leading in Liminality is 6 month coaching journey for leaders who want to show up fully in these times of upheaval, uncertainty, and possibility.

It’s for the ones who know none of this can do it alone— and who are looking for a community of like-hearted leaders to make sense of how we love our world well in this time of rapid change.

It’s for the folks who want to spend their precious lives loving this world fiercely — who want to feel it all, to be fully alive and present to these times, without burning out.

It’s for those who see the challenges of this time— and want to rise to meet the moment. To lead with courage, compassion, creativity, wisdom, and integrity.

It’s for my siblings who are hungry to show up to this precious time we have on earth and give of themselves generously, while also living lives they love.

Join Leading in Liminality

For folks who are curious about Leading in Liminality who want to spend some time with me before taking the plunge:

I’m hosting a free info session this Friday, May 9, at 9AM PT.

join the info session

I hope to see you there!

Can’t make the info session?— DM me, let’s chat.

Grateful to be in this Great Turning with you,

Its tree branches swaying in the wind, its perfect yet achingly flawed humans… its stupid, charming internet memes and silly kitchen dance parties, the magic intelligence of mycelium, flowers and bees, its kind strangers, its hugs, roaring oceans, cuddly cats, it’s incredible babies… its aliveness.

You probably wouldn’t be here, reading this substack, if you didn’t.

And, this world that you love so intensely, (like any intimate relationship) also confounds you and breaks your heart…

Its cruel strangers and incessant trauma cycles. Its senseless tragedies, its increasingly destructive storms, its nasty polarization and violent ruling class, its vapid pop culture… its coldness.

Sometimes this seeming “contradiction” feels crazymaking to me. How about you?

So what do we do with all of this big wild love, and this epic heartbreak all at once?

We let it all coexist.

We let our hearts break and burst all at once.

We let this perfect contradiction break us open till our love pours out through the cracks and fissures…

We let it make us bigger.

We let it grow our hearts, our wisdom, and our capacity to stay with the full complex truth of life.

As my friend Joanna Macy used to say,

the heart that breaks open can hold the whole universe.

Leading in Liminality

is my best answer to these times of upheaval, uncertainty and possibility.

It’s a 6-month group coaching container for people who are dedicated to showing up fully in service of life. A place to bring your achy heart, your bursting love, your doubts, and your fierce belief that another world is possible.

Together we’ll practice letting in both the vastness of the love and support around us and the achy truth of our planetary situation — and we’ll discover who we can be as leaders who turn toward the mess rather than away from it.

• We meet every other Wednesday, 9–11am PT, May 20th through November 18th, 2026

• Sliding scale: $150 / $250 / $350 per month

• Capped at 20 people

• Circle community between sessions

  Apply to join Leading in Liminality

If you’re wondering if Leading in Liminality is the right thing for you right now, I’m hosting a casual drop-in info session on Friday May 8th from 9-10AM PT:

register to join the info session

What you can expect:

• I’ll share a bit about the program up front

• Then I’ll open the floor for us to chat— want to get a feel for who I am, great! I’m happy to tell you my story, just ask. Not sure if it’s the right time/fit? Let’s talk about it!

• No need to stay the whole time— just drop in, get your questions answered and head on your way when you’re ready!

• No pressure or salesy stuff— just a space to help you discern whether Leading in Liminality is right for you.

So grateful to be alive in this wild world with you,

What you can expect:

• I’ll share a bit about the program up front

• Then I’ll open the floor for us to chat— want to get a feel for who I am, great! I’m happy to tell you my story, just ask. Not sure if it’s the right time/fit? Let’s talk about it!

• No need to stay the whole time— just drop in, get your questions answered and head on your way when you’re ready!

• No pressure or salesy stuff— just a space to help you discern whether Leading in Liminality is right for you.

join the info session

A little more about Leading in Liminality

Leading in Liminality, is a 6-month group coaching container for leaders in these times of upheaval, uncertainty and possibility.

This program is my best answer to the vast pain AND possibility of this time. It’s a space where leaders can come together and bring all of themselves— their achy-hearts, their doubts, their belief that we can do better, and their big passion for showing up in service to the world despite it all (and no matter what comes next...).

LIL is for folks who are:

• Dedicated to showing up in service of a better world, no matter the circumstances

• Committed to leading with wisdom, integrity, courage, creativity and compassion and are tired of trying to figure out how to do that alone

• Working hard to be of service to the world, and want to see how to do so more sustainably

• Hungry for a circle of solidarity to anchor them while they do what they do

learn more about LIL

Can’t join the session but wanna talk about LIL? Just reply to this email.

I hope to see you in the session,

My dear friend Joanna Macy used to say about this time on earth “I wouldn’t miss this for the world”

and you know what? I’m with her.

I mean it.

Even though I’m scared all the damn time.

Even though the speed of this society feels unbearable.

Even though my heart breaks a million times every damn day.

There is so much to love that needs loving. There is so much to do that is worth doing. The world has never needed brave, big-hearted people like it does right now and — HERE WE ARE.

Leading in Liminality is 6 month coaching journey for leaders who want to show up fully in these times of upheaval, uncertainty, and possibility.

It’s for the ones whose hearts are both breaking and bursting for our fast-changing world — who want to feel it all, to be fully alive and present to these times, without burning out.

It’s for those who see the challenges of this time— and want to rise to meet the moment. To lead with courage, compassion, creativity, wisdom, and integrity.

It’s for my siblings who are hungry to show up to this precious time we have on earth and give of themselves generously, while also living lives they love.

apply to join

For folks who are curious about Leading in Liminality who want to spend some time with me before taking the plunge:

I’m hosting a free info session this Friday, May 1, at 9AM PT.

join the info session

I hope to see you there!

Can’t make the info session?— DM me, let’s chat.

I wouldn’t miss this for the world, and I’m so glad to be here with you,

Yesterday I was alone in the car for a few hours on my way home from a solo weekend at my favorite hot springs. I’d gone up there because I was full of worry and numbness and needed to come back into my body. To feel again. Softened by a day of sweat and heat and camping on the land, when I got into the car a big tangle of grief came bursting into my chest.

And in this grief-tangle, was Lebanon. Was Iran, Palestine, the Epstein survivors, the polarization and economic scarcity running through so many of our lives, the researcher who said to me last week (basically) “AI makes the climate challenge look like a cake walk”…

Like so many of us, I’ve been dancing with deep despair at the state of the world lately.

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For whatever reason, driving down these twisty country roads, my instinctive response to the tangle was “Hey Siri, play Zombie by the Cranberries” — a protest song written in 1994 in response to an IRA bombing in England that killed two little boys— it’s a song of grief and rage.

It asks — how can we become so consumed by our ideologies that killing children becomes the “answer”?

Another head hangs lowly, Child is slowly taken. And the violence caused such silence, Who are we mistaken?

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it speaks to the inheritance of trauma…

It’s the same old theme since nineteen-sixteen. In your head, in your head they’re still fighting,

and cycles of violence…

With their tanks and their bombs, And their bombs and their guns. In your head, in your head, they are dying...

And while this song is about a very specific circumstance of political violence, The Troubles in Northern Ireland from the 1960’s to the 90’s , it felt so prescient to me, alone, in the car this weekend. I must have played and belted it 7 or more times…

I am perpetually horrified by the senseless violence committed by my own country and by the divisive narratives used to justify more bombs, and guns and children (and all lives) taken.

The numbness that drove me to the hot spring was born of the sense that we are hurtling toward our collective destruction — and the powerlessness that follows in it’s wake.

At times I catch myself in my outrage and think cynically “aren’t you used to this yet? How could you still be surprised by any of this?”, but then I remember my wise mentor Joanna Macy saying to me on a phone call during the early days of the 2023 siege on Gaza—

“this is a sacred pain. You wouldn’t want to not feel this”1

— in other words, yes, this hurts like hell, but it’s a very good thing that you can feel it. This violence can only keep happening if we stay numb.

And so I find myself in moments like this one in the car, singing as an escape hatch for the pain.

What’s in your heaaaaad, In your heaaaaad,

Zombie, zombie, zombie-ie-ie-ie!

So, how do we continue to show up, rooted in our values, hearts open, generous and present to the world around us in times like these?

How do we keep from going numb? And how to do we “lead” when we don’t have the “answers”? Or when our hearts are never-not-breaking?

These are question to live into… questions we answer moment by moment, not with any kind of neat formula, but with our creativity, the generosity of our hearts, our resourcefulness…. and we do it best together.

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Last week I shared with you that I’m running a new coaching cohort— Leading in Liminality.

Leading in Liminality, is a 6-month group coaching container for leaders in these times of upheaval, uncertainty and possibility, and it’s my best answer to the pain of this time.

learn more

With this program, I’m creating the space I need too. I’m pulling from 19+ years of climate and social justice activism and 12+ years of leadership coaching to offer something that feels like a meaningful response to this moment.

It’s a space where leaders can come together and bring all of themselves— their achy-hearts, their doubts, their belief that we can do better, and their big passion for showing up in service to the world despite it all (and no matter what comes next...).

Leading in Liminality is for folks who are:

• Dedicated to showing up in service of a better world, no matter the circumstances

• Committed to leading with wisdom, integrity, courage, creativity and compassion and are tired of trying to figure out how to do that alone

• Working hard to be of service to the world, and want to see how to do so more sustainably

• Hungry for a circle of solidarity to anchor them while they do what they do

You can apply to join us here

And, if you are wondering whether this is right for you, I’m offering a casual drop-in info session on Friday. I’ll share a bit about the program up front and the rest of the time will be for us to chat, explore your questions etc. No pressure or salesy stuff— just a space to help you discern whether Leading in Liminality is right for you!

Join the info session

I’m so grateful to be alive with you in this time of great danger and possibility,

a coaching container for leaders who are dedicated to showing up fully in service of life — a space for you to be held in rich community and supported to lead with love and integrity, no matter what comes next.

May-November 2026

apply now

My friends, we live in a time of dying worlds, decaying empires, collapsing stories of who we are and how the world works. But as many have said:

this is not the end of the world, but perhaps it is the end of this world, of this paradigm.

We don’t get the luxury of knowing how all this crumbling plays out, and so we live in liminality. We occupy a threshold space — no longer where we were, not yet where we’re going.

This liminal space is fraught with fear, confusion and instability, but it also holds incredible fertile potential.

It is a precious opening for us to churn the dominant paradigm into the rich compost we need to reclaim what it means to be human and plant seeds of a world more beautiful than we could ever imagine.

If we are to spend our lives composting the old while birthing the new, if we are to live in ways that are responsive, generous, creative and relational, we need anchors.

We need tools, practices and community that help us:

• metabolize our grief and fear

• stay resourced and rooted in our values

• show up for each other

• and offer ourselves generously in service to life— without getting lost in the growing swirl of pain and panic around us…

Right now, we could all use little extra support to be our most creative, compassionate, generous selves.

Leading in Liminality is a place for us to navigate the uncertainty of these times together.

This group is for you if:

• You see yourself as a leader in service to the Great Turning — whether you’re an organizer, healer, teacher, artist, parent or a professional who longs to dedicate their life in service of a better world.

• You often feel like you’re running yourself ragged, sacrificing your own wellbeing for your work— and you long to feel deeply resourced and support as you do what you do.

• You want to show up to this moment with wisdom, courage, integrity and creativity — and you’re tired of trying to figure out how to do that alone.

• You’re willing to sit in the discomfort of heartbreak, uncertainty, and emergence — both in the world and in the group.

• You’re longing for a circle of solidarity that can anchor you while you do your work in the world.

• You want support to find and hone your own unique path — and you’re ready to align your actions with your deepest values.

  ---

  We will meet every other Wednesday, 9–11am PST, from May 20th through November 18th, 2026

  apply to join us

We’ll have two alternating kinds of sessions:

Anchor sessions:

A cross between a workshop and a ritual. These sessions go deep into practice or teaching that can help us lead well in the liminal. You can expect some kind of movement/embodied practice, space to ground in your personal intentions and relationship with the theme and time to connect with others. (learn more about our 7 program anchors at jessserrante.com/liminality)

Open group coaching sessions:

These sessions are an open space for you to integrate the content from the anchor sessions and explore your challenges, dreams, longings and questions. Bring whatever is alive — a vision you’re longing to bring to life, a decision you’re wrestling with, a question you’re stuck on etc. With the support of skillful coaching, your own inner wisdom and the brilliance of our group, you’ll leave each session with a fresh perspective and a next step

Between sessions you’ll have access to Circle — our online community platform where you’ll find all materials, links, and a space to stay in touch with your Leading in Liminality crew.

To make this program as accessible and class-equitable as possible, I offer all of my services on a sliding scale with pay-what-you-can scholarships available for youth, BIPOC and front line leaders for who could otherwise not afford to join.

Check out the sliding scale

This program is one of my all time favorite offerings… last time I ran it was just after the last election and with all that’s happening in the world, it’s so clear to me that this is the perfect time to gather in this way again:

— To dance (literally and figuratively) together in this political and paradigmatic world-between-worlds.

— To anchor ourselves in truth, and show up as the visionary leaders we long to be.

— To build deep bonds through brave truth telling about what we love, what we’re losing and what we long for (no bypassing here).

— To come into deeper connection with ourselves and our sacred purpose in this time of great need.

Apply to join Leading in Liminality

My teacher Joanna Macy used to say about this time on earth “I wouldn’t miss this for the world”— whether you already feel that way, or you’re hungry to, I hope you’ll join us.

Got questions? Wanna talk about whether this is for you?

Leave a comment

I heard your feedback.

Many of you reached out to say you wanted to join the We Are The Great Turning Podcast Club but the timing just didn’t work... so, I’m doing something about it.

I’ve postponed our kickoff and moved it to a new time so that more of you can actually be there.

The new time is: 9–11am PST / 4–6pm BST

And the dates are: Wednesdays (and a few Tuesdays) - May 6, 12, 20 + 27, June 3, 10, 17, + 23

If this has been on your radar and the old schedule was the only thing standing in the way, this is your moment!

Learn more + join us

🌀 We Are The Great Turning Podcast Club 🌀

With Host + Executive Producer, Jess Serrante

• Zoom — Wednesdays (and a few Tuesdays) at 9–11am PST / 4–6pm BST

• 8 sessions: May 6, May 12, May 20, May 27, June 3, June 10, June 17, June 23

• Intimate circle capped at 25 participants

• Sliding scale $400–$800, scholarships available

• Who it’s for: activists, artists, organizers, community leaders and changemakers who are longing for community and the emotional and spiritual fortitude for the work ahead

  Join us!

This offering is for the heartbroken changemakers who refuse to give up. The ones doing the work of creating a better world — organizing, creating, healing, building — and who may be quietly running on fumes. The ones longing for a community of like-hearted comrades and a place to speak the hard truths about what it’s like to work for what we love when things feel this freaking dark.

Over 8 weeks, we’ll listen to all 10 episodes together — not just as listeners, but as active explorers and practitioners. We’ll let Joanna’s wisdom move from our heads into our bodies, tell the truth about what we’re facing, and resource ourselves to keep showing up in service of life.

Here’s what Andrew Davis said after the last round:

“In session with Jess, I could hear the roar of Joanna Macy’s fierce love for the world — alive, present, carried forward through this next-generation teacher. Jess holds this living legacy with such authenticity that you can feel it in the room. It felt like magic to find this work and this community when I needed it most.”

I hope you can join us. Please drop me a note if you have any questions.

P.S. Did you know that I’m a beekeeper? My bees swarmed (twice!) this week and it was ecstatic. 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝

Swarms are magic! They are the birth of a new hive, rebirth, fertility, new beginnings, life multiplying itself. A heck of a spring-equinox mascot! Here I am standing amid the (very peaceful) swarm before catching them to start my second back yard hive. If you are bee-curious yourself, I highly recommend checking out the work of my amazing mentor, Ariella Daily.

If you’ve been on the fence, I’d love to help you decide if this is for you right now:

• Are you stubbornly dedicated to the work of creating a better world — be it through organizing, creating, healing, building, connecting — but right now you’re more fueled by your outrage than by the beauty you’re fighting for (the outrage matters, but its unsustainable fuel in the long term)

• Are you grappling with despair and hungry for an authentic, non-bypass-y kind of hope to help sustain you through the trying work of these times?

• Are you feeling alone and craving a community of like-hearted comrades — a place where you can speak the hard truths about what it’s like to work for a more beautiful future when things feel this freaking dark?

• Are you longing for more clarity about what is yours to do, to offer generously to the world, in this time of great need?

  If you’re nodding — this is for you.

  And it’s likely I won’t be offering this program again for while.

  Join the club

Here’s what Jenny Bates, a midwife, said after completing the last round of the club:

In just 6 days, we begin. And I hope you’ll be there.

🌀 We Are The Great Turning Podcast Club 🌀

With Host + Executive Producer, Jess Serrante

• Zoom — Wednesdays at 6–8pm EST

• March 25 – May 13, 2026 — 8 weeks

• Sliding scale $400–$800, scholarships available

• Who it’s for: activists, artists, organizers, community leaders and changemakers who are longing for community and the emotional and spiritual fortitude for the work ahead

Over 8 weeks, we’ll listen to all 10 episodes together — not just as listeners, but as active explorers and practitioners. We’ll let Joanna’s wisdom move from our heads into our bodies, tell the truth about what we’re facing, and resource ourselves to keep showing up in service of life.

Join us.

Grateful to be in this Great Turning with you,

P.S. Got questions about the club? Drop them in the comments!

Subscribe now

Many of you reached out to say you wanted to join but the timing just didn’t work... so I’ve postponed our kickoff and moved it to a new time so that more of you can actually be there.

The new time is: 9–11am PST / 4–6pm BST

And the dates are: Wednesdays (and a few Tuesdays) - May 6, 12, 20 + 27, June 3, 10, 17, + 23

In the last few years of her life, I sat at the kitchen table with my friend and mentor Joanna Macy, talking about what it takes to live with our hearts intact in this time of crisis.

We talked about grief and gratitude, burnout and belonging, and falling in love with the world even as it breaks our hearts. Some of these conversations were turned into our podcast, We Are The Great Turning.

Over the last two months, in the WAGT Podcast Club, I had the privilege of returning to those powerful conversations with a crew of brilliant, big-hearted people —folks stubbornly committed to seeding beauty and justice through these times of war and destruction.

The responses from the last Podcast Club moved me so deeply. People kept telling me the same thing: I didn’t know how much I needed this. This has given me essential fuel for the work I’m doing.

That’s why I’m offering it again.

If you’ve been curious, or you’ve been waiting for the right moment — this is your invitation.

Join us!

“Being a part of this community has been a life raft for me. The podcast itself has served as the vessel; Jess as the compass; and the group, the wise and enduring company. There’s this sense that whatever comes our way, we will head into those stormy seas together, with great love and reverence to guide us.” — Liza Cochran, teacher and co-founder of Understory Writers

🌀 We Are The Great Turning Podcast Club 🌀

With Host + Executive Producer, Jess Serrante

• Zoom- Wednesdays at 6-8pm EST

• March 25 – May 13, 2026 — 8 weeks (dates have been changed)

• 20 spots total — filling on a rolling basis

• Sliding scale $400–$800, scholarships available

• Who it’s for: activists, artists, organizers, community leaders and changemakers who are longing for community and the emotional and spiritual fortitude for the work ahead

Over 8 weeks, we’ll listen to all 10 episodes together — not just as listeners, but as active explorers and practitioners. We’ll let Joanna’s wisdom move from our heads into our bodies, tell the truth about what we’re facing, and resource ourselves to keep showing up in service of life.

Learn more + Join us

So grateful to be in this Great Turning with you,

Many of you reached out to say you wanted to join but the timing just didn’t work... so I’ve postponed our kickoff and moved it to a new time so that more of you can actually be there.

The new time is 9–11am PST / 4–6pm BST and the dates are Wednesdays (and a few Tuesdays) - May 6, 12, 20 + 27, June 3, 10, 17, + 23.

My loves, we are living through fast-moving, heart-shattering times.

The looming threats of World War III and AI dystopia. Powerful pedophilic political puppeteers. ICE terrorism against our communities. Seemingly endless ongoing assaults upon human and more-than-human life…

So many of us feel defeated, fragmented, frozen. How about you?

How the hell are we supposed to hold it all? If Joanna taught me anything, it’s that we cannot do it alone.

We have been fed endless myths that teach us that individualism equals strength — the lone wolf, the fierce independent woman, the self-made hero who needs no one, and arrives at the perfect moment to save the day. These stories are dangerous because the truth of course, is that strong community, not individual strength, is what gets people through dark times such as these.

There is no script and no playbook for living through times of unraveling but the one thing I know is that if we want to lead with love we need to break our contract with insidious individualism and practice embedding and entwining ourselves in loving connection with one another.

Individualism undermines the belonging that most of us are so desperately hungry for, but breaking our contract with it is harder work than it might seem. We have been well trained by our culture.

Check in with yourself. When in the last week did you:

• Swallow your heartbreak or outrage at the state of the world instead of sharing it with a loved one?

• Say “I’m fine” to someone who genuinely wanted to know how you were?

• Feel moved to reach out to someone and then talk yourself out of it? — It’s too much. I’m too needy. They’re probably busy.

• Default to doom-scrolling over reaching out for connection — to a friend, colleague, or the natural world.

If any moments came to mind here — welcome to the club! There is nothing wrong with you. This is what it looks like to be raised in a culture of separation.

Subscribe now

The Great Turning is an invitation into a culture of belonging — but we have to be the ones to build that culture. No one is coming to do that part for us.

This is not easy work for people who have been wired to believe that separate = safe, but what wildly worthy work it is nonetheless.

Together, we can practice feeling the full, achy reality of what’s happening on our planet without being swallowed by it. We can remember that none of us carry this alone, so that we can start acting together. We can learn how to love ourselves and each other through the fear and vulnerability and into a lived experience of interdependence. We can redesign our lives in the pursuit of deep community, solidarity, and belonging, no matter how daunting it may feel.

These capacities (and more) are what we are exploring and practicing together in the We Are The Great Turning Podcast Club.

Over 8 weeks, starting March 18th, we’ll listen to all 10 episodes of the podcast together — not just as listeners, but as active explorers and practitioners. We’ll let Joanna’s wisdom move from our heads into our bodies. We’ll tell the truth about what we’re facing and how it feels. And we’ll resource ourselves — together — to keep showing up in service of life.

Here’s what Jenny Bates, a midwife, said after joining the last round of the club:

“Where do I start?! This podcast club has changed my life. It has provided the designated time and space to think about and process all the grief and fear and anger that has had nowhere to go — that has just been this unacknowledged thing deep inside me. It has provided a framework to face the despair, to acknowledge out loud the depth of loss we’re collectively facing. It is SUCH a relief to feel the despair in community, to witness the grief of others and share my own. From this wild experience has emerged a magnitude of love for the world that I didn’t realize I had. Everything just feels deeper now. There is so much to fight for.”

If you’re longing for this — for wise company and a space to practice deep belonging alongside others who are devoted to a more beautiful future — I would love for you to join us.

We gather on Zoom, Wednesdays at 6pm EST, March 18 – May 6. Space is limited to 20 people. Sliding scale $400–$800, with scholarships available.

Join the pod club

So honored to be in this Great Turning with you,

For a long time, working with me meant committing to a 6 month coaching container, but I’m changing that.

You can now book a single 55-minute session with me — for coaching, mentoring, or consulting — whenever you need it, with no ongoing commitment required.

Book a Session

In these sessions you’re invited to bring whatever is most alive for you:

a leadership challenge, a vision you’re trying to clarify or birth, a strategic puzzle you’re caught on, a difficult dynamic you’re navigating, something you’d love my input on, or something harder to name that simply needs support.

Working with Jess is like talking with a dear, sweet friend that only sees you for your own beautiful potential. She is a wonderful guide that gets down in the scary trenches and helps pull away and clear layers of uncertainty to reveal the most authentic next step to help move you to a life worth living. I guarantee my life would not be nearly as fulfilling without Jess’ support. -Terri Thiesen, Food + Garden Educator

✍️ Know you want my support but you’re not sure where to start?

Take a few minutes to journal out your answers to these questions:

• What’s the next great thing (a project, vision, seedling of the Great Turning…) that is calling on you to bring it forth into the world?

• What are your deepest longings — for yourself, your work, or our world? And what’s getting in the way?

• Where might you be getting stuck, spinning, or working harder than you need to be?

• What would a real breakthrough, insight, or clear next step look like for you?

• What are you most afraid to tell the truth about? — or most excited to dig into?

“Jess’ guidance was a pivotal stepping stone for my journey in becoming an impact-focused researcher in climate change and mental health. She took the passion and pain I had for this time of poly-crisis and helped me weave my way of addressing it by getting me to focus on meaning, purpose, and possibility. I’m so grateful for those developments in my path.”- Britt Wray, author of Generation Dread: Finding Purpose in an Age of Climate Crisis

Sessions are $300 and I offer a limited number each week.

Book a session here

Got a question about 1:1 work with me? Leave it in the comments below!

They’re doing the bonus practices, exploring the ideas from the episodes, and most importantly, getting real and honest with each other about what it’s really like to live in these wild times:

— their fears, heartbreaks, and grief

— their hopes, dreams, and visions

— the beauty they long to create amid it all

—the longing to do that work in community.

In the show I say time and again, “We build the Great Turning by talking and acting together”— and knowing that people are using what we made to help them have real, vulnerable conversations with their people is exactly what me and Joanna hoped for.

We wanted to create something that could help you engage with these big spiritual, political, emotional topics — not just cognitively (we all get enough of that every day), but in your heart, your relationships, your life.

I’ll admit, after hearing all these stories, I got a little pod-club envy! I wanted to be part of these circles of people exploring and truth-telling together! So— I’m hosting my own podcast clubs, online and in my living room, and I hope you’ll consider joining me. We begin in early January.

Join Jess' Podcast Club

🌀We Are The Great Turning Podcast Club

Two circles, with Host + Executive Producer, Jess Serrante 👋

• Online Circle — Wednesdays at 9 AM PT, starting January 8 (8 spots left)

• Living Room Circle — Mondays at 6 PM PT in my living room in Berkeley, starting January 6 (5 spots left)

Over 8 weeks, we’ll listen to all 10 episodes together—not just as “listeners” but as active explorers and practitioners and builders of the Great Turning.

This program is for folks already showing up in the Great Turning—activists, artists, organizers, changemakers who are longing for community and emotional and spiritual fortitude for the work ahead.

Spaces are limited and filling on a rolling basis.

Learn more + apply

I’m so grateful to be in this Great Turning with you,

P.S. A poem for you 💗

Let Them Not Say by Jane Hirshfield

Let them not say: we did not see it.
We saw.

Let them not say: we did not hear it.
We heard.

Let them not say: they did not taste it.
We ate, we trembled.

Let them not say: it was not spoken, not written.
We spoke,
we witnessed with voices and hands.

Let them not say: they did nothing.
We did not-enough.

Let them say, as they must say something:

A kerosene beauty.
It burned.

Let them say we warmed ourselves by it,
read by its light, praised,
and it burned.1