Sometimes I leave my friend Liz voice memos while I’m driving around Miami just to tell her how happy I am.

This season of life that includes having closed 2 major programs, having birthed Relaxed Money, and having a husband who’s pretty healthy and walking without assistance while creating a super solid foundation for our company has me feeling more spacious than I’ve ever felt in my life.

And in the space I’m leaning into a lot of simple joys.

Even though my life is really stable right now, the only reason I can enjoy the stability is because I first found the stability inside myself (through nervous system healing) so now I’m like a tuning fork for it outside myself.

(Previously, even in times of stability, I had free floating anxiety and would feel like even when there was nothing pressing to worry about it wasn’t because all was well, it was because there was something I needed to be worrying about that I’d temporarily forgotten about. So I would worry about that.)

I used to think my greatest joy would come from major life moments and achievements like falling in love, hitting a bestseller list, or a dream trip to Greece or something.

While the big moments are glorious and absolutely inject big joy, I’m finding that my smaller daily investments in joy are delivering a relatively consistent state of magic and wonder that blows my mind some days.

In the back of the Do Less Planner I included a spot for the “Bliss List” which are things that are fairly easy to incorporate into your life that are pretty likely to make you feel good.

The Bliss List is a great tool in times of stability or times of stress. So whichever season you’re in right now, I’m sharing some of what’s on my Bliss List right now to inspire you to get started (or add) to yours.

Here are 11 things that are bringing me bliss right now in no particular order:

1. My morning coffee, made in a blender with grass fed butter, MCT Oil, a half an LMNT Chocolate Salt electrolyte pack and cinnamon on top that I drink out of a mug that says “Hello Gorgeous” that my amazing MIL gave me. (Months after I was given this gift I saw JLo drinking out of the same one on Instagram, which only confirmed what a good daily choice it is.)

(My favorite thing to do is drink from it while walking my kids to school just down the block. Makes me feel very cozy and neighborhood-y.)

2. A cup of tea after dinner. I’m going on the second year of clearing some serious parasites from my system (another convo for another day) and one of the symptoms they cause is nighttime cravings. Luckily my tendency to eat chips standing in front of the pantry after putting the kids to bed has tapered off as I’ve dealt with the parasites, but the other thing that’s helped is signaling myself that eating is done for the day with a cup of tea while we watch a show. Right now I’m loving Yogi Tea Stomach Ease.

3. Red light therapy. I can instantly feel the calming effect red light has on me and the data shows it’s also good for immune function and collagen restoration. I’ve got the Joov half-body light and I do 10 min on either side of my body each day. (Use KATE50 at checkout for $50 off your order!)

4. The bougainville on our balcony next to our egg chair. We got this bougainville and she was so gorgeous and vibrant. Then there was an aphid issue and all her blooms withered and died. 

My mom bought me some copper wire and told me to try using it with the plant to revive her and…voila! It worked like a charm. I just stuck one end of the wire in the dirt in the pit and wound the rest around the trellave and the stalks of the plant. I didn’t follow anyone’s instructions. I just intuitively tried and it worked. (Do a search on electroculture gardening to learn more about using copper to enhance your plants!)

Sitting next to this plant and swinging gently as I get some morning light in my eyes is a little slice of heaven (usually it includes my 5yo on my lap and my 7yo asking me 100 questions.)

5. Reading books that aren’t teaching anything per se. Back in April when we went through a black mold journey in our apartment, I got really sick for most of the month and had a lot of time on my hands (while launching Relaxed Money 🤷‍♀️) where I didn’t have a lot of energy to do much other than read. And my brain didn’t want to learn. It wanted to be entertained. I tore through a bunch of novels and memoirs and it was heaven. I’m keeping them in my regular rotation as I add a few for learning back in. A favorite of the bunch was my friend Laura Belgray’s debut memoir, Tough Titties. 

6. Intuitive aromatherapy and my wall rack of essential oils. People have sent me essential oils for years and I’d gathered quite a collection that I wasn’t using at all. Enter Robin Jones, essential oils alchemist and co-creator of Essential Emotions, who did two rounds of the Origin Mastermind and blew me away with the science and magic behind these wondrous elixirs. Now I have a beautiful wall rack where all my oils are stored so I can see them and intuitively grab them for my diffuser, a state change throughout the day, nervous system regulation, and to support my kids’ health and emotional well-being. They’ve been a significant olfactory upgrade in my life this year.

7. My friend’s Emily and Layla’s podcasts. Two relatively new (yet deeply beloved) friends of mine launched podcasts on the very same day with the very same first guest a few weeks ago. These women happen to be best friends and didn’t realize they were Podcast twinning hardcore when they launched simultaneously. Talk about a divine wink.

I’ve been devouring each episode of both of their shows and they’re expanding me in ways I didn’t realize I needed/longed for.

The shows are called Why Isn’t Everyone Doing This? from Emily Fletcher and This Tantric Life by Layla Martin. 

8. Darker brows. For years I’ve been afraid of highlighting my eyebrows because I come from a well-endowed brow lineage on my maternal side and I’m afraid of looking like Groucho Marks. But I recently started seeing a brow magician and I’m so into the darker, more defined brow. I’m shocked! She’s doing tweezing and tinting so far. Here’s the result:

9. Nail art. The Miami glow up is so real and I’m here for it! I’ve started getting Japanese gel nails (my real nails but with this hard gel on top) with designs and it’s one of the greatest joys of my life. My Instagram discover page is 95% nail art and all month long I ideate on my next design that’s in sync with the vibe of the coming month. I learned a hack from my friend Vedika to always do a neutral base close to the nail bed so I can stretch each manicure for an extra week at least. 

10. Prepping for Taylor Swift. When I told Mike I wanted to go see Taylor Swift’s tour he managed to find us tickets for like a tenth of the going resale rate. I’m getting myself prepped by listening to her entire discography in chronological order and it’s such a fun musical journey! My girls are loving it too.

11. Fresh basil. This one is so freaking simple and glorious. We have a fresh basil plant on our balcony. It smells amazing. I love to huff it. That’s all.

I hope my current Bliss List inspires you to create one of your own. Turns out life is full of tiny miracles and wonder if we train our attention in that direction.

All my love,

Kate