Venture Beyond

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been fascinated—borderline obsessed—with the concept of appreciation. Not just in my personal life, but in my professional work, in how I build relationships, lead teams, and move through the world.

Gratitude is beautiful. It softens us, opens our hearts, and helps us see what we have instead of what’s missing. But over the years, I’ve come to realize something: gratitude is not enough.

Appreciation takes us further.

Appreciation is active. It’s when we not only notice something good, but we take the time to name it, to express it, to let another person feel seen, valued, and acknowledged. It’s the difference between quietly feeling thankful for your friend and telling them, “You bring so much joy into my life. I love how you always know how to make me laugh.”

This book—Gratitude Is Not Enough, Appreciation Is the Way—has been on my…

One of the most powerful realizations I’ve had on this path of consciousness is that life rarely offers clear, clean answers. More often, it asks us to hold things that seem to contradict each other. To hold sadness and joy. Fear and love. The known and the mystery.

This is the Law of Polarity—an ancient teaching that tells us everything exists on a spectrum. That light and dark, pleasure and pain, expansion and contraction, are not enemies—they are two expressions of the same essence. Different degrees of the same energy.

When I first encountered this idea, it stayed in my mind. I understood it intellectually. But over time, it’s become something I experience more and more in my body, in my relationships, in the way I move through the world.

Lately, I’ve had days where I’ve felt what seemed like opposing emotions at once—grief and joy, exhaustion and inspiration. And instead…

There’s something about birthdays that makes you pause.

Not always in a grand, confetti-filled kind of way—but in a quiet, reflective one. At least that’s how it’s always been for me. I’ve never really been the type to make a big deal out of my birthday. I usually prefer to keep things intimate—time with the people I love most, something simple and meaningful.

But this year, as September arrives and my birthday approaches, I want to take the opportunity to reflect—not on the celebration itself, but on what it represents.

Because here’s what I know for sure:

Life is worth celebrating. Every single breath of it.

Claves para resignificar el “nido vacío” desde la conciencia y el amor.

La vida familiar tiene ciclos, y uno de los más desafiantes llega cuando los hijos comienzan a volar por sí mismos. La casa se siente distinta, las rutinas cambian y, de pronto, nos descubrimos con más tiempo, con más espacio… y con una mezcla de orgullo y nostalgia en el corazón. A esta etapa muchos la llaman “nido vacío”, pero ese término suele sonar a pérdida, a carencia, a ausencia.

Prefiero mirarlo de otra manera: no es un vacío, es un vuelo. Nuestros hijos no se van, se lanzan a la vida. Y nosotros, aunque los extrañemos, también renacemos con ellos. Lo que alguna vez se vivió como dependencia diaria ahora se transforma en un vínculo más libre, más maduro y más profundo.

Este artículo es una invitación a transformar la mirada sobre esta etapa: de un tiempo…