New Age spirituality has normalized the idea that there’s more to life than meets the eye. There was a time when spirituality was regarded as more of a “hippy” thing that wasn’t talked about in wider circles. Astrology was something you might read in the newspaper for amusement over coffee just after the cartoon page. Tarot or other card decks were something reserved for the most esoteric and adventurous seekers, crystals were pretty rocks that “other” people would keep by their windows and past life readings were considered eccentric.

Two years ago I was stuck. I was stuck in the expectations other people had for me, I was stuck in the rules that society imposed on me and I was stuck in a cycle that left me feeling constantly disappointed. But most of all I was stuck in the fear that it shouldn’t (and couldn’t) change. And even though I tried to act like everything was okay, being that stuck really hurt. I wasn’t as happy as I knew I could be and I didn’t know why…it seemed to work for everyone else.

At the beginning of every dystopian film, there’s always a story about how a society or civilization reached its breaking point. We have now entered our own dystopian reality. Our lives have been upended, although for many, our daily demands of family, work, school and other responsibilities continue. The world as we know it appears more or less like it had on the surface, yet it has now become an empty shell waiting to be filled.

The prison itself is made up of our fears and the keys that keep us locked in are shame and judgment. As a result, the more we work on seeing our shame and judgment and the more we challenge the fears that they pinpoint to, the freer we can become.

2020 is giving us one huge wake-up call after another. It’s telling us it’s time to confront our fears. As a society, we’ve become adept at not facing reality, seeking out virtual realities in order to escape the painful one and developing detrimental coping mechanisms. It had to be something big like the Coronavirus pandemic to shake us from the somnolence of our complacency.

We will always be confronting the question of our self-worth if we don’t begin to understand that the inherent value of our truest selves does not come in the form of material wealth or achievement—and especially not from likes, thumbs-up, friends, followers, subscribers and applause on social media. Or worse, if we keep believing that being loved or accepted by someone else is the gateway to our self-acceptance and love.

Mindfulness has recently emerged as a trendy modality. However, as with many things born decades ago that were a good idea at the time (think moon shoes, crimping irons and creepy crawlers), it’s time for our own understanding to surpass the concept.

As humans, we are uniquely capable of complete emotional and physical autonomy, and yet, many of us never realize it because the notion of dependency — whether on another or on government — has become so ingrained in us that we sacrifice our personal power to the other and to the collective.

In this day and age of dysfunctional relationships, from frustrated dating experiences to near-failed marriages, I feel like something needs to be said that pretty much no other Romance writer would, or perhaps should ever, say. It’s time to let romance die.

Turns out it wasn’t that Karma was a Bitch, it was just a valuable lesson that clearly I needed reminding. The fact that the learning came in the sequence of the podcast episodes was just coincidence… right?