Not settled, still practicing

Hello Wonderful Open Heart Project,

I’m writing to you from a new home.

Moving, as you may know, has a way of revealing everything at once. There is the thrill of beginning again, of opening a door and not quite knowing how the light will fall in the afternoon. And there is also the compression of it all, the boxes, the disorientation, the sense that life has been temporarily reduced to its most essential and sometimes inconvenient parts.

Both are here.

There is genuine joy in this new space, and also the unmistakable constraint of being mid-transition. Not everything is settled. Not everything is clear. In some ways, that feels exactly right.

Because if these teachings point to anything, it is not toward perfect conditions, but toward meeting conditions as they are.

And so, in the midst of all this, the work continues. I want to let you know how we can stay in touch during the upside down-ness (for me) of this time.

This weekend, the enneagram course begins. It’s a powerful path, not toward categorizing ourselves, but toward loosening the grip of who we think we are and opening to something more fluid, more relational, more true.

There are also two in-person retreats coming up at Drala Mountain Center. Fearless Creativity (May 13–18, 2026) is a meditation and writing retreat exploring creativity as a practice of presence, where expression emerges beyond self-doubt and fixed ideas. Proclaiming Basic Sanity: Living the Bodhisattva Path (August 10–18, 2026) is a weeklong retreat on the bodhisattva path, focusing on basic sanity, compassion, and how to live these teachings in everyday life. These gatherings offer the rare opportunity to practice together in a shared space, to step out of the usual rhythms and into something more intentional, more awake.

And next month, my new book, Inexplicable Magic, will be released. (Here is an excerpt from the introduction.) I’ll share more soon, but for now I’ll just say that it explores the same question that seems to follow all of us: what remains when we stop trying to make everything make sense?

In the meantime, new podcast episodes are continuing each week. These conversations feel, to me, like an extension of sitting together. Not to arrive anywhere in particular, but to keep looking, listening, and questioning.

Wherever you are, whether things feel open or constrained or somewhere in between, I hope you’ll continue along with me.

With love,
Susan

PS: If you have any rituals or practices for making a home feel settled, please hit reply and let me know! In the meantime, I’m running around with juniper smoke and crystals and all the things that attempt to create kind connection with the extant energies of space. <3 <3 <3