Finding our Flow at work and home can prove to be quite a challenge. Some people call this “work/life balance” or just “finding balance.” Whether it’s work outside the home or philanthropic work or the work of running a home or any type of work you are involved in, the stress of managing a modern life, especially in midlife, can cause us to feel stretched very, very thin.

I received so much great feedback from the post regarding the conversation with my daughter around how the beauty industry developed its “standards.” (Here it is if you haven’t read it…)

One of the main points illuminated was how deep the threads of body image, shame and what beauty “should” be, show up in women.

And why do we believe so fully, pay so much money to, and operate in a system that we didn’t create?

People often ask me, “How did you get to where you are? How did all...this...happen?”

Three words: Teachers. Trauma. And…Experience.

I’ve had the great fortune to study with brilliant, world-renowned teachers. I’ve had and learned how to move through and heal traumas in my life.

We all have days, weeks, seasons of life when we feel off kilter. Off Center. Drab. Flat. Even depressed or filled with anxiety. Or some combination of all of the above.

This state could be affected by actuals seasons and weather, relationships, career, physical health, mental health…really so many things.

When I find myself in the midst of one of these flat periods, this is my question –

“I just want to lick everything.”

That sentence poured from a woman’s mouth during an event I attended. It was powerful. Palpable. Ancient. Like it came from molten lava at the center of the earth and had been danced by goddesses and medicine women throughout history. It moved people.

My daughter is a fashion design major and furniture design minor at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) in Savannah, Georgia. The following is a text exchange between us during her sophomore year — her sitting in one of her fashion classes and me walking down the street in New York City.