As I set up my calendar for the month, I select a quote I’ve found that speaks to me. I write it in my planner and leave space below it to capture phrases I hear or read that speak to me and relate to the quote. I found this practice centers me throughout the month, and helps me be more present in my conversations, meetings, and readings. For March 2025, my quote was: “And here we are. Breathing. Loving. Rising.”  

After having this quote-centered practice for five years, it still surprises me when a quote connects so well with my month in ways I couldn’t anticipate. This month the connection was eerie. Here are the quotes, lyrics, and phrases that that caught my attention last month as I breathed, loved, and rose:

• Living in wonder is the rent I owe God
• The cure was courage
• You have to open your mouth and own your story
• May you live long enough to know why you were born
• Lost in the between space
• Jump, and you’ll learn how to unfold your wings as you fall
• We are not our thoughts, but the observers of them
• Be a guide
• We are the silent consciousness beyond
• Find the right places to practice your gifts
• Change requires choice; Choice comes from insight; Insight needs space
• There is possibility in pain
• Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right doing, there is a field; I’ll meet you there
• Our life is elastic
• Everything softened with more possibility
• Wishing wholeness and wonder
• May you dance with the unknown, twirl with joy, and sip deeply from the cup of your own magic
• The real thing to know about light and dark is that it’s always both, and sometimes one is more clear than the other

I grew up going to the beach each summer and we all loved going out into the ocean and “riding the waves.” Early on holding dad’s hand (at 6ft he was a safer bet than mom at 5’2” to get over the wave), then tossed over the wave by dad, later on a raft with my brother, and eventually alone having found my own balance and rhythm of the ocean.

Typically, there was always one “good” day in which the ocean flexed for us and demonstrated its power with hard crashing waves. The thrill and struggle of facing them, choosing over or under, and getting wiped out generated great doses of adrenaline. Squeal! Whomp! Swirl! Laughter! Repeat. I loved it… for one day. The rest of the time I savored the gentle rolling waves that we, as a family, all floated over together.

Every day in March, however, felt like another day of crashing waves. Adrenaline, crash, find my footing, catch my breath, and rise for the next one. As a consultant to the federal government, March felt like crashing waves on my client side and an undertow at work. Just like in all systems in nature, there are symbiotic forces at play at work too.

Breathe

I held my breath as I logged into a call, wondering if the client would be there or lost their job. I held my breath as a watched the news trying to make sense of the disruption and find my footing to best engage. I held my breath as I sat in leadership calls and learned of more and more cut contracts. I held my breath through a round of layoffs.

Then, as if my body knew it couldn’t operate this way much longer, I heard a phrase in my head that is shared in every yoga class or mindfulness practiced I’ve done: “Come back to your breath.” So, I exhaled. Breathed. And eventually found more of a normal rhythm.

Love

Breath (rich oxygen) fueled my fritzed system, and a bit of logic appeared. I realized while I wanted to “do something” and find my footing (control things back to “normal) – the only thing I could truly “control” was how I showed up for others. So, I loved.

I did more one-on-one “buddy check” calls. I texted a few memes to drop a giggle or hug into someone’s day. I used social media to open my network to share job opportunities, job hunting tips, and connections. I sent a few care packages. I mailed some silly postcards. I emailed a Starbucks gift card. I listened without attempting to solve. And then love became a wave of its own as a friend texted me on a day where a tear sat poised on my eyelid ready to fall and asked, “How can I best show up for you?”

Rise

Just like in nature – there are balancing forces in every system. Breathing helped me stabilize. Love helped me recalibrate so I could rise. Specifically, rise with intention – with clarity on what I want to bake into the DNA of the new system:  hope, encouragement, and compassion.