Gentle Momentum: Moving Forward Without Forcing

The calendar says go, but your body whispers wait—and that quiet nudge might be the smartest move you make all year. We open February as a bridge season where integration replaces urgency, clarity arrives through sensation, and progress looks like small decisions that feel honest rather than performative. Together, we unpack what “gentle momentum” really means: less pressure, more presence; fewer checklists, more alignment; slow shifts that still carry you forward.

We get candid about the discomfort of not having a word of the year or perfectly defined goals, and why that tension can be fertile. You’ll hear how micro-boundaries, aligned collaborations, and subtle redirections become the breadcrumbs that lead to the bullseye. We share practical nervous system tools so you can choose after regulation, not before—an equal-count breath you can use anywhere, plus curated healing frequencies to soothe the vagus nerve and steady your baseline. Expect clear signals to watch for—tightness, urgency, fatigue—and a simple process for honoring desire without abandoning integrity. If an obligation remains, we show how to exit cleanly and kindly, keeping your word while making room for what’s true.

We also zoom out to the bigger arc of a “year one” energy and a collective pivot toward integrity, transparency, and community. The takeaway is both spacious and grounded: you’re not behind if your growth is quiet. February invites you to listen to your body, choose with care, and trust that gentle momentum is still momentum.

Reflection Moment

As you consider your next steps, check in with your body. What kind of movement feels supportive right now—and what might be asking to slow down or soften?

Episode Links

• The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy
• Rife Cure: All Healing Frequency (800 Hz) - Whole Body Regeneration
• Flow Aligned Coaching Podcast, S1/E9: 4:4 Balance Breath

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And February Theme
• 1:37 Why February Feels Like A Bridge
• 4:10 Redefining Momentum Without Hustle
• 10:40 Breadcrumbs, Boundaries, And Alignment
• 16:30 Inner Work That Looks Quiet Outside
• 20:30 Community, Friendship, And Belonging
• 24:20 Nervous System Basics And Signals
• 27:40 Practical Regulation: Breath And Sound
• 33:30 Productivity Conditioning And Time Blocks
• 39:00 Discomfort, Desire, And Honest Choice
• 45:30 Larger Cycles: Year One And 2027

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:09

Hi, I'm Lizzie.

SPEAKER_00: 0:10

And I'm Nikki. Together, we welcome you to the Modern Sun Collective Podcast, a space where we explore holistic living, spiritual alignment, and personal growth.

SPEAKER_01: 0:20

Each week, we'll share conversations, practices, and wisdom to help you live with more joy, effort, and connection.

SPEAKER_00: 0:28

Ancient Wisdom and Modern Mind Committee, we're here to help you connect, and yourself. Helping mind, body, and spirit together.

SPEAKER_01: 0:37

And now on the February is not about rushing forward. It's about letting what's already shifted settle. If January opened doors, asked big questions, or stirred something deep within you, February is the month where those insights begin to land in the body. This month on the Modern Zen Collective Podcast, we're exploring integration, embodiment, and gentle momentum. Not the kind of momentum that pushes or pressures, but the kind that grows quietly, naturally, and in its own time. We'll talk about what it really means to live what you know, how healing and growth unfold beyond the moment of awareness, and why you don't need to have everything figured out to be moving in the right direction. We'll also honor a powerful mid-month energetic threshold, inviting intentional release and realignment as we move forward. Through deep conversations, powerful interviews, seasonal reflections, and grounding practices, February invites you to soften your grip, trust your timing, and allow change to become something you inhabit, not chase. If you've been feeling the urge to move forward, but without burning out, forcing clarity, or abandoning yourself in the process, this month is just for you. Take a breath. Let your nervous system catch up to your growth. And join us as we gently step into what's next. Together. Wherever you're listening from, I'm so glad you're here.

SPEAKER_00: 2:34

Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the Modern Zen Collective Podcast. I am Nikki and I'm here with Lizzie. Hello, everyone. We're so excited to have you here talking about the seasonal cosmic shifts and that gentle momentum, what we're feeling right now and how it feels in your body, how it feels around you. You want to dig into it a little bit more and talk about those subtle shifts you might be feeling.

SPEAKER_01: 3:02

Yeah, absolutely. You know, February is this bridge month. It's not fully winter still, but it's not yet spring. And so this time of year can feel often, you know, ambiguous, a little bit weird, a little bit unmotivated, possibly. You've just finished January. If you're in that societal crunch hustle land still, then you might be hitting that unmotivated side, you know, where you killed, you tried to kill yourself in January and now you're just like so upset because you didn't stick to anything. You know, that could be it. Or just on an energetic level, if you didn't do that and you're just feeling into energetics, I can definitely tell you that I have had multiple days where I have been feeling unmotivated lately. So it's just kind of like a little like low urgency to get things done. Um and I definitely, you know, one of the things I definitely do feel that lack of clear direction still because this year, the first year that I'm really giving myself permission to wait to have my word for the year and to wait to have my big goals for the year. And so it feels weird. Like this year feels really weird and different to me because I'm not starting the year off with that stuff already locked in because I'm trying to practice what I preach. And if I'm asking you to do these things, I need to be doing them too. And I'm if you're doing them, I'm right with you. I'm like, I'm actually really uncomfortable because I have no word for 2026. And I'm like, oh my God, we're in the second month. We're up, we're in February. Like, what are you doing? How come you just wasted a month of your year? Like, honestly, I'm trying to, it's so funny. I'm trying to combat that talk in my mind that is saying that to me right now because I'm really trying to lean into what we're talking about right now. I really am. And so I do feel that lack of clear direction right now. And it's it's bothering me.

SPEAKER_00: 5:00

I know because your corporate type, it's still inside of us, you know, getting things done, checking things off, etc. And then we don't fully kill that part of us. We just integrate it into where we are now. So, you know, I feel I feel very similar. Uh, not not as strong about the word because I actually forgot about that. So I actually forgot. Oh my god, I love you about making a word. Um, but I did make goals, but I made them fluid. I wrote them down. They're not set in stone, but the big things I wanted to do this year, I just wrote them down so I had them, but not in a dogmatic way where I feel very bound by them. I just wrote them down. Uh, but I I do agree. It's this um this energy of the feeling that am I supposed to be doing something else? I feel a pull kind of to do something, but I don't know what that is, what's going on, etc. And it we can really get in into our head at that time when we're doing, we feel like we should be doing something, but we're not actually doing it. So there's definitely like this energetic shift happening. Um, and momentum looks different. And there's nothing wrong if momentum looks different. Lizzie, your momentum right now is sitting in the hell being uncomfortable as hell, and that's your momentum.

SPEAKER_01: 6:22

No, it's funny. It's it's funny though, because I really like truly feel that momentum looks really different right now because I do still feel like I'm moving forward. I do still feel like my dreams, my hopes, my aspirations, my manifestations, my goals are still moving forward. While I don't have clear defined goals for this year or for these first six months, because I'm I'm really riding that train too. I'm only going to create goals for the first six months of this year. Um, is that I do have an idea of what I want overall. You know, I'm now getting into real estate investing. I know generally what I want from that, the feelings, like the outcomes on a general level. We're in Modern Zen Collective together. You know, I know what I want from this on like a high vision level, you know. So it's just not small, but I still feel like I am moving in those directions with you, with my other business partners, like with like with my role as a mother. Like I feel like I'm still having momentum, but it totally looks different right now. It looks, it's totally different right now because it's just it's not fast in the way of like things bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, like a consistent, fast pace. It's like an aha moment and like thinking about something, an aha moment, and then things shift and then we like keep moving. And then it's like another shift, a smaller shift, and it's like as soon as something shifts, it's like it's continuing, those small small shifts are continuing to bring me closer into alignment with what is actually right for me in this lane. And it's so it's really weird because normally I think of it like it is like something happened, and then you got something, and then you got something, you got another customer, you got another customer, you got another customer, then you got this uh promotion, then you got this, then you got this like that, it's not that for me. It's this time it's like, okay, that person's not right to be in business with. Awesome shift. Okay, this person I met, I need to connect with. Talk to them. Great shift. You know, this person is coming in and I'm going to go and meet them when I go to Denver. Okay. On the calendar. Okay, shift. It's like these little things that are actually redirecting back closer into that alignment to get me to where I'm going in like the right, the right direction, you know, redirecting the arrow closer towards the bullseye of like thinking the bullseye is my perfectly aligned highest version of this goal or manifestation.

SPEAKER_00: 9:09

Yeah. Yeah, it's what you're describing to me, sounds it's very calm and grounded, and you're not forcing or looking to be productive all the time to make it happen. You're trusting and having these clear, whether they're energetic or tangible, things that are happening, boundaries that are happening, decisions that are happening just one by one, by one, just little breadcrumbs that are leading you. It's not about speed, it's not about seeing things visibly happen all the time. It is about making those little decisions from clarity and from being grounded that you have because you've connected with your body. And you know, even as a mom, I know you don't, you know, it's not you're not like you're a Tibetan monk and like meditating every morning. As soon as you open your eyes, the kids are right there. Like there's no way you can still be like that. But just it's in your the way that you're showing up. Like every day is a meditation, the way we show up to things. We don't have to carve out 30 minutes to close our eyes and be away from everything. We do that so that in that chaos when the kids are jumping on you at six in the morning, you can be in that state of calm. And that's what you're bringing here. Like you're bringing this state of calm where you trust and you can see, and you're making these little micro decisions here and there that are just bringing it feels like clarity in my heart. It's just bringing clarity in your heart to like subtly move you forward.

SPEAKER_01: 10:39

Yeah, it's funny. It's not clarity in my mind. It's definitely probably clarity in my heart, like clarity in what I know I want to feel, the kind of person I want to be in that, you know, in that thing that I'm working towards, the kind of people I want to be around. And I it's not really me understanding exactly the blueprint or like the step-by-step way to get there. It's me being like feeling drawn to somebody, you know, and then wanting to explore that deeper. It's me feeling repelled by other actions or other things I hear, other things I feel, and then taking a step back. You know, it's it's interesting because when it is this gentle momentum, this slower, more easeful, kind of like what you're reflecting back to me right now, it is very connected to the it my instincts, my intuitions, like to the body. And so I think that that's very different to what I'm used to thinking and feeling of momentum about. But one of the best examples of momentum that I've always loved, it's from Darren Hardy, and he wrote the book, The Compound Effect, which totally changed my life when I read it as a young corporate professional. Um he talks about a like water spigot, you know, back in the day, how you used to have to pump the water from the well up, you know, to get it to come out of the spigot. And he talks about you start pumping it, you know, in the beginning and it's hard and it's slow, and you just got to keep pumping it and keep pumping it and keep pumping it. And then all of a sudden, the water starts coming out. And if you let off, the water will come out. But when you need more water, you're gonna have to keep pumping it and pumping it and working really hard at the beginning again to get the water to come out. Whereas if you just do one slow pump every few seconds, every, you know, every watt once in a while, it continues the water coming out without you having to work so hard to get things going again. And I kind of feel like that right now. Like I've worked so hard to get to allow myself to be in this uncomfortable place where I don't have things planned out, where I'm like really leaning into these, the seasons and the cosmic shifts and trying to live my life that way that I've worked so hard to just get to the point where I'm willing to try it, even though a lot, all these voices in my head are telling me this is wrong, you know, this is not how it's done because of my programming, you know, in that society that like now I can just do these small, I can just live my life and have these small intuitive hits as I move through the different things and then act on them. And it is allows things to continue to move forward without any sort of timeline attached to it because time is so weird now. So now it's just like if that change makes a small shift right now that just makes me feel better moving forward, that's great. If that makes if that small decision makes a big shift to where I'm being brought into some sort of deal, then that's great too. And it's just like not having any expectations about when things are gonna show up or what they're gonna look like, just knowing that that conversation or letting go of that or holding on to that opportunity is the right decision for me. And so whatever comes of it is meant to be.

SPEAKER_00: 14:10

Yes, absolutely. And that that can look to yourself or to others that there's not a lot of action happening, which is fine. They're like those little subtle, those little tiny little shifts, and you might feel it be, you know, absolutely magnetic in your body that you're moving and you feel this huge shift in your body. But if someone sees it, you know, they might see that it's not not a shift or something that's not moving forward, which is nobody's business but your own. But just uh for that, for you know, those of you that are listening, just consider when you felt momentum, but it didn't look impressive on the outside and anchor that in to where you are right now in this moment. Whenever you listen to this, whether it is in February 2026, when you listen to it, it's the right time. But when have you felt that momentum? You knew you were having momentum, you knew we were being pulled, you knew you were moving forward, but it didn't quite look impressive on the outside. And that's when those are those times when we are strong in our foundation. We either keep it close to the chest and grow and don't explain and overexplain everything to people, or we're okay just talking about our forward progress without, you know, feeling concerned or feeling judged if someone says it doesn't look like we're doing anything. You know, an example would be, you know, when I left my corporate job and I left in the beginning of 2021, I didn't really do anything or have a job for several months. Luckily, I was able to have, you know, I saved and I was able, but I was resetting my nervous system. So I was doing my slow mornings, my yoga, my Pilates, my meditation, I hired a coach, you know, all these things that are that it just, you know, could look so very self-care heavy, like, oh, what are you doing to bring money in? What are you doing to get a job? You know, all of these things. But to me, I knew I was subtly healing that part of me that felt really dead inside, that felt like I didn't know who I was anymore. And I didn't know when I was gonna find the job that I needed or the job that I was aligned with me, or what it was going to look like. But I knew in that moment those tiny shifts of choosing myself and having a slow morning and and um, you know, meeting people for coffee and doing the things I love and and working with a coach and a healer and all these things didn't look like much on the outside, but it greatly helped me heal a decade worth of just turmoil that was inside of my nervous.

SPEAKER_01: 16:42

I remember that. I remember when you were in that. And I feel like you wouldn't be the person you are today without that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 16:50

Thank you for that reflection. Cause sometimes, as a, you know, I could go back to the guilt and wonder, why did I, why did I do that? Right. But I know, I know, I feel like exactly like you're saying, I wouldn't be who I am without that. You know, like I I feel, I feel that way. And just like we talked about at the beginning of this call, our conditioning can swoop in. And we don't kill the conditioning, we just integrate it. So my conditioning can come up and and judge myself for decisions I made in that year. Uh, but it's yeah, it's definitely something to consider. Like, think about where you are now and are you making momentum that doesn't look like anything that's going on. It's up to you. It's only up to you, you and yourself, of how your momentum is is working and how you're doing it.

SPEAKER_01: 17:39

Yeah. I love that. I can't believe that we've known each other this long. When you said, uh just said 2021 or whatever, I was like, oh my God, like Nikki and I knew each other before that. We've known each other that long. That's really, that's really cool. It's really cool, actually, especially because we started our relationship online, like in a membership community. I think that's why Nikki and I are so passionate about creating community and cultivating it even online, you know, virtually, is because we know it can be done. Because that's us. Like we were, we are completely BFFs for life. You know, have a business together, do all these things together. And we've created this relationship completely virtually. And like you're one of my best friends. And I and I would blitz you like at the top of my list, um, you know, on all the lists all the time. And it's just, it's so, it's so crazy. So, people, I know sometimes you think like these things are crack of shit. Like people just want to make money. But uh, yes, we want to make money. However, this shit works.

SPEAKER_02: 18:46

Like, that's why we do it because we found each other. We want you to find your best friend, you know, online too, you know, like one of your best friends.

SPEAKER_01: 18:53

Like, we can do both. Like, that's what's so beautiful about this world is that we can we can do both. So sorry about this random tangent, but I love the tangent.

SPEAKER_00: 19:03

But it it's true. It's so true. We're creating space, you all are listening. We're we're explaining our journey and being vulnerable through it and and creating those spaces. And that's that's that's where we're moving to in the from as we move into this new reality, you know, moving into the small pockets of community all over the world. So I love stripping it back, stripping it back, like it's time for the truth, you know.

SPEAKER_01: 19:28

It's time for people to just be who they are, you know, everywhere, everywhere. Be who you are, you know.

SPEAKER_00: 19:34

Yeah, be who you are. And that for me, like even going back to what I was just talking about in 2021, I didn't know who I was. I was a people pleaser. I was trying to make other people happy all the time. And I know you love Darren Hardy, Tony Robbins was a big part of my corporate existence growing. And his thing is like, who are you living for? Like, why are you deciding these things for your life? Like, why? Like, you know, people who wanted to, who went to school for a certain degree or or got a certain thing or got married at a certain time, etc. And that year of 2021 was not only like um healing my nervous system, but finding out who I truly was, and then leaning into being unapologetic about who that is, even if it might, you know, rub feathers and whatever it is. I can't even think of how to say it, but uh rustle feathers or make others uncomfortable because they knew me in a certain way. And that was a big part too. And that's we're moving into these like communities and these pockets of authenticity, of alignment, and that comes back to the nervous system regulation and comes back to knowing your nervous system and not, you know, making it um work so hard for you that you're always in the sympathetic and that you don't know who you are, and that's not serving yourself and is not serving your inner circle and the people that are closest to you or as we grow into communities. Um, so having the ability to understand your subtle shifts, your nervous system regulation and what that looks like. Lizzie and I talk about this till we're blue in the face, just making sure you're taking care of yourself and and relaxing and um and not forcing things forward. There's a aligned action that's beautiful, that comes from intuition, that comes from being grounded, it comes from being calm. And there is a forced feeling of control of you have to get it done. You have to control the outcome, you want to know it from A to Z. You want to compare with people, you have a sense of urgency, you need to get it done immediately. And that's when you know your nervous system took over, that it's in the sympathetic and just trying to be in survival, not in your relax, rest, and digest.

SPEAKER_01: 21:42

Yeah. I love that you talk about that because the body never lies. The mind always shows you both sides to the story. The mind, if you decide something, the mind's gonna show you, well, great. And what if this happens? And it's always Going to show you something different because it's it's here to keep you in surviving, it's here to keep you alive. So anything that feels new or unsafe, like you're you're fearful of it, the mind is gonna try and get you not to do it. You know, they're gonna try and tell you not to do it. And so when you can drop into the body and and learn how your body shows you when things are naturally easily aligned when they're aligned for you, or when you're forcing it, like that's gonna be your best way to just know for yourself. You know, we can't really tell you that. We can't tell you where it shows up in your body, but forcing could feel tight. Um, you could feel tired, exhausted, um, or you can get anxiety. A lot of us experience anxiety. A lot of people to today's day and age experience anxiety. So learning how to regulate your nervous system, like Nikki's talking about small practices, they're just little things you can do to get yourself back into alignment and back into that balanced state where you're not freaking out and you're not too low. You're like right in that happy middle where your nervous system is right in that balanced position. And my favorite way is the four-four balance breath. You inhale for four and you exhale for four. And however fast or slow you're counting is good as long as you're making it equal on both sides. So if you're counting one, two, three, four, then it needs to be four, three, two, one. It doesn't need to be one, two, three, four, four, three, two, one. See how those are different cadences? You need to have the exact same on one side to the other. It can be sped up or slowed down. Obviously, the slower you count, the deeper the breath will be. But you can just work your way there. If you're too hyped up and you're counting quickly, that's fine. Just make it equal on both sides and try and slowly slow it down. But that's my favorite way to reset that nervous system because you can do that anywhere and people don't necessarily know that you're doing it. If you're not taking crazy breaths, you know what I mean? You can actually do it out in public and nobody even knows that you're doing it. So that's my go-to. What is your go-to, Nikki?

SPEAKER_00: 24:22

My go-to is listening to a healing frequency. So again, people don't know you're doing it, doing it, listening on my headset or listening to a subliminal that um has the relaxed parasympathetic nervous system, like vagus nerve reset activation. And I can feel it within a few minutes when I listen to that and I have it in. Um particularly, there's some that are really good. I will link one here, but the neo-ache rife frequency has saved me so many times. Like it's uh Rife. Uh, you know, there's a a lot about him and how he created these frequencies that do complete total body healing. And yeah, it's it's um share it with me, please. With us. So anytime I feel anxious or tight or like, why do I feel like this? This is weird, or even even when I feel um like I have allergies too, even when I feel like that, I'll I'll plug that in and put it in. And if like within a few minutes, I feel fantastic. Um, so it's a a body regulation for me that it helps to uh get back to that polarity in my body, get back to that equilibrium and soothe my nervous system. So we'll link that in the show notes because that one, and I love NeoWake. Neowake um combines and creates all of their music on their own sound systems. So if you believe in all the different energies that are in the world, that we can be infiltrated if we're not protective of our energetic field. Um, other sounds that you listen to in other frequencies could possibly be integrate, interjected with um negative forces that aren't for your best good. Um, not saying that they are. You can always protect yourself before they let you listen. But what I love about NeoWake is that it's also it's in German. So hopefully yours translates, but you can you can translate it easily, and most of it's in English, but they're based um in Europe, and they use all of their own um tools and equipment and sound bites, et cetera, to create their own everything. So everything's their own creation, and then they birth it out into the world. Um, so Kyle's even listening. Kyle listens to New Awake all the time too. They have so many different ones. They have uh ones that are for, you know, abundance, ones that are for health, mental health, ones for sleep, insomnia, uh longevity, youth, plump, plump face, release the wrinkles, you know, ever anything you can think of, they have. So big feeling. Excited about this. I'm excited about this.

SPEAKER_02: 26:52

But I just listened to it. I love a good feeling frequency. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 26:55

I listen to that with my headset and it it helps me to get out of it. Um, and uh yeah, it helps me to get out of my head. But, you know, some some examples that you might be latching on and in that that state of um like a dysregulated service nervous system is, you know, you're saying yes quick to get out of the discomfort. You're not sitting in the the weird, that weird energy, you're just to feel it and then make the right decision. You're acting just to feel productive, which can also be a shadow from corporate. Just, you know, if you are given from eight to five to do your day, you're gonna take from eight to five to do everything. So then if you get out of corporate and you have your own business, which I've learned also, I can prolong my day all day to do everything. You know, it'll take me forever to do everything. But I I do also a Tony Robbins thing. I do time blocks throughout my day where I know this is my time to do my one business. This is my time to do um my XYZ, et cetera. So I know that I can condense it down. Um, so you know, acting just to feel productive is a way that shows nervous system dysregulation too.

SPEAKER_01: 28:04

Yeah. Oh, I long. I long for another time block. I long to have time blocks on my calendar.

SPEAKER_00: 28:11

Jackson and Blake don't give you time to time. No, I'm enjoying my time blocks now.

SPEAKER_01: 28:15

Blake falls asleep, computer comes out. It's like as soon as I have the moment. And so if I'm really not even feeling in the mood and she's falling asleep, I'm like, gotta either snap into the mood or I'm gonna be like, all right, you're just not gonna do it and go sit down with Jackson. You know, like I'll just do the complete opposite. I'm either like on the computer doing it, or I just have to like do the dishes or go sit down with Jackson. Because I tell you, it's hard to do dishes with her too. She's grabbing on my legs all the time. But I totally feel you. I know, I know, and I I love it, you know, but it's also hard. Um, and so uh I love the whole, the whole thing you just said though, about when we're in corporate and working, like fitting it into our day. I was literally just talking to someone about that the other day. How when you, you know, there's busy seasons and there's also slower seasons. And I remember like there's busy seasons where you don't even have time to go to the bathroom. Like you're you feel like you can't even get up from your desk because your phone's blowing up, your email's blowing up. And being in logistics, you know, you're completely dictated what to do all day like that. And it's bam, bam, bam, super fast-paced. And then there's slow seasons and there's like nothing to do. And so you're like, well, I gotta look like I'm doing something, you know.

SPEAKER_02: 29:29

So you know, you know, they don't hear me. Yeah, like they're and so they don't have to like try to not pay me, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01: 29:39

Even though I'm on salary, like so it's funny because you we have been programmed to act like we're being productive. And, you know, I definitely like we talked about you had Tony Robbins, I had Darren Hardy, like I was 100% using work hours to improve my personal development. You know, I was a hundred percent using work hours to research anything, do pretty much pay my bills, do whatever. Like I rarely got on the computer outside of work hours unless it was for work, because I got all my shit done at work too. You know, and because we're have to be at our desk for a certain amount of hours a day. And so it is something that gets programmed into us after all those years of doing it. So I definitely I'm with you on that, Nikki. I'm with you on that, Nikki. Luckily, we've been out of it long enough to where I don't feel like that anymore because I have such a little finite amount of time to be productive that I have to be more efficient. But I totally feel you on that. I really, for me right now, it's what you said about making decisions to relieve discomfort. Because I'm fucking uncomfortable right now. Really am, you know, like we talked about like not having the word, not having the goals, like not really feeling like I'm being productive, like my January was productive.

SPEAKER_02: 30:56

And I, but we're talking here about how January is winter time, you know, and we're not supposed to be productive. So I'm I'm trying. I'm trying, everyone. But I am uncomfortable. I'm gonna be honest with you here.

SPEAKER_00: 31:09

Yeah, and it's like how easy would it be just to make a decision to try to get out of the discomfort, but you're learning through the discomfort and you're healing yourself in the process as you and we go through this discomfort. In our whole January, all we did was talk about how much January is that time when we're moving and um and moving into the slower season and moving into regulating ourselves and relaxing ourselves and allowing for that space between what ended and what's coming. And that's what we're easing into now in February.

SPEAKER_01: 31:52

If you've been loving the conversations we're having here, February is the perfect time to go a little deeper with us. We've officially launched our modern Zen Code Plus bonus subscription, and it's been such a beautiful extension of this work. For just$4 a month, you'll receive exclusive interviews, guided practices, channeled insights, and intimate bonus conversations and care on Facebook. It's designed to support integration, and real life perspective, especially as a display for the session. If you're feeling called to join Nicki and I understand, we'd love to have you. You can find the link in the show notes. Thank you so much for supporting this work and helping us continue creating our place of intentional care.

SPEAKER_00: 32:41

So we know you have obligations. You're an adult, yes, of course, but there's a difference between I should and I want. And how does that desire feel in your body? Is it expansive? Are you curious? Do you have neutrality rather than this um trepidation and this angst and this uh waiting for the other shoe to drop? And you let desire guide you and not just that uncomfortable feeling, like you're saying, Lizzie, that you you should just, you know, the the easiest thing would be for you to just pick a word, move forward, and go. But right now, you know you want to live in this energy of the bridge time, live in this energy of what is this year bringing? What are what's the next six months? What do I want to create in the next six months? And how can I be calm and and come at it in that way? And I think it's beautiful that you are using the beginning of this year to tell your nervous system this is how the year is gonna go. We are going to be calm and we are going to be in the uncomfortable, and we're going to make decisions with clarity, and we're going to feel it in our heart. And I think that's beautiful.

SPEAKER_01: 33:50

Yeah. Yeah. It's been, I thank you for saying that because it's been difficult. You know, it's the there have been a lot of major transitions for me in my life recently, and they're they're not easy and they are uncomfortable. Like, yes, I'm getting things that I want. Yes, I'm beginning things that I want, and things are ending that I want. However, that doesn't mean it's it's easy. And so I appreciate you saying that. It's I definitely have been wrestling with this over the past year, the desire versus obligation, even the past couple years. And I had a big ego death a few years ago when I was in leadership Fort Worth and recognizing where I was saying yes to volunteering roles just to say that I held that position. And where I was showing up in a state of I should and dread, like you're saying, oh dang, I have to go to that meeting tonight, instead of feeling expanded by being there, being curious to hear about what's going to be talked about or what we're gonna do or X, Y, and Z. Like I had no desire. I'm not telling you to go and let go of anything that feels like an obligation today. You know, sometimes if we do that kind of stuff, we leave people hanging and it can cause a lot of problems for other people. So we need to see things through until there is a good exit time for the organization or for the other people or for whatever you've said yes to. So sometimes we have to hold on to obligations a little bit longer than we would want to, but that's okay. And that's just being an adult and that's just being a responsible person and not leaving other people hanging. So while we do want to follow our desires and allow those to guide our timing, we also need to be cognizant of what other people have going on and make sure that we're being good, respectful, wonderful human beings and making decisions with loving kindness towards ourselves and others. So while there are things that I still have obligations in Fort Worth and that I have to go and travel and go to do because I said that I would be there and I would really be leaving people hanging if I just dropped off. So just think about that for yourself. We want you to lean into desire, but also timing is everything.

SPEAKER_00: 36:17

Yeah, for sure. Think about yeah. Yeah, think about think about that too, like that balance part of it as well. And how your energy is reflective of what's around you. And then, you know, it's just uh the basic golden rule, living in integrity, having being right, being uh able to show up in the in a way that you'd be proud of to tell others that you made that decision and you showed up and you had that integrity in that way. Um, and you know, that's the desire versus obligations and knowing where you are living in integrity with your obligation and where you are going against what your sole desire is and staying in an obligation because you were trying to please someone else. Um, so something else to feel, right? In your body.

SPEAKER_01: 37:10

That's right. There's another side to that as well. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00: 37:13

Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, something to think about as you're listening. If if pressure wasn't a factor, if there weren't outside factors coming at you from every single angle, what would feel honest with right now? What would feel most honest for you to do right now, for you to live right now? What feels most honest in your body? What are those decisions? What are those choices? Where do you feel expansive? Where do you feel relaxed in your body? Maybe a bit uncomfortable, like Lizzie's felt in this time, but knows it's the right path for where she's heading. So if there wasn't pressure, societal pressure or anything around you, what would feel like your honest decision, your honest choice, and how you can show up for yourself in the most honest way right now?

SPEAKER_01: 38:04

Yeah, I love that. I love that. And, you know, bringing it back in February is this, you know, time right before spring. You know, we're closing out winter, we're getting ready for spring. And it's a weird time where progress might not look like action right now. You know, it might your momentum might not look like much from the outside. But that doesn't matter. You know, like we talked about, momentum can come from a lot of things. It can come from small, subtle changes. It comes from listening, it comes from being aware of what your body is telling you. And we're just getting ready. You know, we're getting ready for what's coming next. Like we've talked about so much. This year is a year one. It's a big deal. This whole year is going to set us up for the next nine years as a collective. And so let's not rush into it just because we're uncomfortable. Let's just let's like slow roll this because stuff's gonna start moving really, really quickly, especially as we approach that big shift in 2027. I mean, Nikki, you know, like how many of the people we listen to, the teachers that we plug into are constantly talking about 2027.

SPEAKER_00: 39:30

Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's the the arc, that's the time when we're moving into 3D to 5D, and all the chaos is happening before that, and all the systems that aren't in integrity, like we just talked about, need to be brought to the surface and realized, integrated, healed so we can move forward in integrity and transparency and love and community. Um, so when things feel chaotic, just know it's for the greater good because things that are not good are are needing to be healed and and released because we're moving into this light era. And 2027 is a big, big, big part of that. So uh yeah, with that, you know, the progress doesn't always look like that action. Um you're resting, you're preparing for all that action that's going to happen in this year as you start to get that energy of the season, energy of the year, energy of the Chinese zodiac, energy of the sun, everything that comes with you to help push you forward with your action. So savor this time for rest, savor this time for that subtle momentum that might not look like a lot in the surface or on the surface. And just know that you're trusting your internal signals and that builds long-term alignment and that really strengthens your intuition even more. So the biggest thing we want you to take away from this is that you're not behind, you're in the season. So you're not behind if you didn't make your goals, you're not behind if you didn't make your word of the year, you're not behind if you know you're not having this huge, impactful people can see it from Mars momentum. You are right in season before we get into the next waves and we get into the equinox and everything that comes along with it.

SPEAKER_01: 41:19

I love that. I love that. Well, thank you so much, everyone, for being with us today. Another episode, Modern Zen Collective Podcast. So we'll see you guys next time.

SPEAKER_00: 41:29

We'll see you soon. Thanks, everyone.

SPEAKER_01: 41:38

Before we close, let's take a moment to reflect together. You don't need to change anything or figure anything out. This is simply an invitation to pause and notice. If it feels supportive, soften your gaze or gently close your eyes. And take one slow deep breath in through the nose, and a gentle exhale through your mouth. Allow your breath to deepen and let your body settle in just a little. Bring your attention inward, and notice how your body feels right now. Not how you think it should feel. Just what's true in this moment. The equation, what would feel honest right now? If obligation weren't part of the equation, what would feel honest right now? Trust whatever comes or doesn't. Let yourself remember you're not behind. You're not late. You're not missing something. Some seasons are about action. And some are about listening. Both are forms of movement. And now take one more slow breath in and release it gently. Carry this sense of permission with you as you move throughout the rest of your day. Trusting that gentle momentum is still momentum. We'll see you next time. If you're ready for more, explore our Practitioner Collective, a trusted resource of experts in healing and wellness to help you deepen your practice or fast time transformation. And be sure to join our email community to get first access to new operating, technologies, and exclusive windows. You'll find all the links in the show notes and comments to invest in your community and underlying the month of the