Last week I introduced a phrase I want to stay with a little longer. Emotional starvation. I used it in the context of hunger — how when you don't eat, your body eventually stops sending hunger signals. Not because you're no longer hungry. Because your body learned that the signal wasn't going to be answered. So it goes quiet. It conserves. It protects you by asking for less. Emotions do the same thing. Think about what happens when a child cries and is told to stop. Not once. Over and over....

I want to talk about something that sounds simple but isn’t. Listen to your body. You’ve probably heard it a hundred times. From a therapist, a yoga class, an Instagram post, a well-meaning friend. And if you’re like most people, some part of you quietly thinks: I don’t actually know what that means. That’s not a personal failure. I think most of us were never taught. There’s a reason for that, and it goes deeper than any one family or any one generation. Our ancestors understood something...

From the River & Ember Shelf — Curated Reads From the River & Ember Shelf Curated Reads Adult Edition Each month, Curated Reads moves in rhythm. One month a grown-up book; the next a children's story. River & Ember was built on jointness, connectedness, and reciprocity. The belief that wisdom doesn't travel in one direction. It circles between parent and child, story and reader, moment and memory. Our grown-up Curated Reads are quiet studies in personal rhythm and inner life. Our children's...