Writer, Speaker, Researcher | Private Companioning For Profound Transitions
Things are changing. The old ways of living no longer fit.
I work with those who are asking:¨How do I live fully through everything that is unfolding now?"
For the last six years, I have helped hundreds of clients in 20 countries who have been impacted by systemic failures of all kinds.
They:
◾experienced disruptions and destabilizing changes
◾felt disillusioned and distrustful
◾longed to face reality without getting lost in anger or despair
Climate-related displacement. Politically-motivated harm.
Economic instability. Social isolation and polarization.
Ongoing uncertainty about what comes next.
This is what we are living through now, and it can feel crushing.
But it is also opens us to imagining and creating what is possible in our own lives, and in our communities.
I developed a 30-day process specifically designed to help those who recognize the ruptures in the old patterns and practices.
This unique process is remote, asynchonous, and based on daily deep, ongoing conversations that build momentum naturally without forcing or rushing.
The Private Companioning process is tested and transformative.
In just a few short weeks, it can turn the despair about what´s ending into clarity, creative energy, and adaptive capacity for what´s emerging.
This process is ideal for those who are ready to:
- cultivate attention instead of reacting or disengaging
- align their choices and habits with their values
- build lives that fit the realities they now see
- choose to engage more fully in their local community
What does Private Companioning look and feel like?
One client described it as ¨like having a series of epiphanies while walking with a buddy...for a month. :-)¨
You don´t have to take her word for it.
In a series of qualitative case studies, I share the pattern snapshot of each client´s starting point, process, and their personal reflections on their experience.
RESEARCH AND EXPLORATION
Anthropology and ecology. Environmental and ecological psychology.
Behavioral science and biology. Mindfulness practices and contemplative science.
I play in the spaces between these fields, lacing together the learnings of each to understand our current human experience of uncertainty and adaptation.
My eclectic NOW page has links to some of the scientific papers, novels, art, and other media that are informing my work and research.
I regularly share my explorations and reflections in presentations, podcasts, and publications.
Recently featured:
My work has been shaped by over 50 years of mindfulness practice.
1975: first introduction to meditation when I was struggling as the sole survivor of a tragic car accident at age 15. I created a mindfulness game I played myself, using nature-related cues as reminders to pay attention. It had a profound impact on my ability to heal from trauma.
1981: spent my senior year in college immersing in Buddhism as part of a nine-month experience of living and learning in nine Asian countries.
2001: while processing the loss of two brothers by suicide and one of AIDS, I turned my early mindfulness game into an online newsletter and course that inspired thousands of subscribers in over 100 countries.
2020: I created Collapse Companioning™ to support those navigating grief, uncertainty, and compounding shifts. COVID had revealed the reality of how systems collapse and the impacts on how we live.
2023: After the pandemic, I created the Doom to Bloom™ series as a way to help people move away from anxiety and anger and start cultivating habits and habitats that fill their lives with meaning, connection, and joy.
2026: As our predicament escalates, I am devoting time to my research on attention and adaptation. I continue to work with clients, and share my insights via print interviews, podcasts, and speaking engagements.
When the old ways of making sense of the world stop working, we don't just need better information.
We need a way of paying attention that makes a different life possible.
That´s what I am exploring in the latest version of my Substack newsletter, Cultivating Attention.
I share the questions that are sparking my research, the small discoveries along the way, and invitations to pay attention and get creative about living fully through everything that is unfolding.
I also share real stories from clients about what has helped them most when their lives were upended by changes.
Listen, I fully recognize the harsh realities of this pivotal period for our planet.
That´s why I am so committed to understanding what can help us adapt.