Clarity on Fire

OK, procrastinators, it's time to face the music. (Does anyone here actually NOT procrastinate?? First of all, how dare you? And second, kindly show yourself out). It seems like everyone is forever trying to overcome procrastination. A lot of us believe that if we just read enough "life hacking" articles we can force ourselves into submission. But if you couldn't guess, we aren't down with that. I...

I can't help but notice that my gym has been more crowded this month. The lines at my organic grocery store have been longer, too. Several of my clients have felt a sudden surge of motivation to move, or start online dating, or apply to new jobs in earnest. I get it. There's something sobering about entering a new year, especially if there are things you don't necessarily want to repeat from the p...

The last few months of 2018 were pretty monumental for Marina. The turning point was in October when she met to a retreat with 300 other women hosted by powerhouse inspirational couple Glennon Doyle and Abby Wambach. She returned from the retreat having witnessed real-deal true love, which solidified the realization that her partnership wasn't that, and that it was time to end things. But how do y...

I feel like I need to offer a massive correction to all of the people, you included, I may have fooled over the years: I'm not actually all that tough. I know the resting bitch face (which is very handy in repelling unwanted small talk at the gym or grocery store) may have suggested otherwise. Or the fact that I'm blunt, loud, and opinionated. Or that I very clearly do not suffer fools. The exteri...

Welcome to another episode of Dear Krachel, a monthly advice segment where we answer audience questions about life, career, relationships, existential angst, and anything that helps you become a more whole, fulfilled version of yourself. On this episode, we're answering questions from: Diana, who can't figure out what her REAL Passion Profile is because her chronic health issues are getting in the...

It's our last podcast episode of the year! So, we figured what better time than now to bring on an expert who can help us predict the future, right?? We sat down with our friend Madeleine—astrologist, tarot reader, and intuitive extraordinaire—and asked her all about… Some astrology 101 – What's the difference between the sun, moon, and rising signs? Why do some people gel with their sign and othe...

Paul knew he was a pretty self-aware person — he'd been on a personal development path for years — but he had no idea just how far he could go on this journey until he became a parent. Having kids, he quickly realized, turned out to be the most intense crash course in personal growth he could have ever signed up for. It's made him redefine just about everything in his life — his values, his intent...

A client of mine, Jack, has been entrepreneurially minded for his whole life. He's an idea machine, and he's constantly coming up with cool business ideas. He can't help it — it's just how his brain works. Naturally, he'll get excited about a new idea and want to share it with people. As soon as inspiration hits (which is frequently), he'll text his brother or call his mom or tell the coworker on...

Quick question—Have you ever said (or thought) something about your career like … "Something feels off, but I can't figure out why." "I should like this job, but I just don't." "Am I broken? Maybe I'll never enjoy working." "Has everyone else figured out something I haven't?" If you're nodding along with that, you definitely need to hear this conversation we had about the 4 Passion Profiles. (Make...

When I was 7, I told anyone who asked that when I grew up I was going to be a journalist. I loved reading and writing, and sometimes I'd flip my mini indoor trampoline on its end and sit behind it and force a babysitter to "watch me on TV" as I read my version of the evening news. When I was 15, I altered that to "journalist or lawyer" (because my teen years were the ones where I proved, mostly to...

Welcome to another episode of Dear Krachel, a monthly advice segment where we answer audience questions about life, career, relationships, existential angst, and anything that helps you become a more whole, fulfilled version of yourself. On this episode, we're answering questions from: Amy, a young woman in her late teens who's ready to quit some childhood hobbies, but whose parents are reluctant...

The following is a trick question: Would you rather feel miserable, or would you rather feel neutral? I get it. No one really wakes up in the morning wanting to feel miserable. If you had your choice between feeling misery — you know, the existential angst and the "I can't do this for one more day" kind of stuff — and feeling indifferent, we all know which one of those sensations sucks less . Feel...

Have I ever told you guys about the time I fired my therapist? Well, to cut to the chase—she was god-awful. I left every session with her feeling worse about myself than when I'd walked in. Personal development is hard work, but it probably shouldn't make you cry for hours after the session is over. Honestly, that experience was part of what cemented my desire to become a coach. I knew I wanted to...

You know that uneasy feeling you get when you  know you're doing something that's not good for you … but you keep doing it anyway? Maybe you're staying in a job or a relationship that isn't really working, or you keep making excuses for why you don't have time to go to the gym. Whatever's causing you to be out-of-alignment, it gives you that awful, knot-in-your-stomach, uncomfortable-in-your-own-s...

Calling all fellow bookworms, library nerds, and general lovers of literature — it's time for another book club episode of the podcast! Whenever there are five Fridays in a month, we devote the extra Friday to a book that we can't get enough of. This time we decided to have a conversation about one of our absolute favorite self-help books of all time, Outrageous Openness by Tosha Silver. We talked...

Sailors used to live in fear of the doldrums—when the sea turns placid and the wind disappears, and your ship is left to float and drift as your fresh water and food stores dwindle ever lower. You'd think a terrible storm would be worse, and maybe it is (I'm no sailor, so I can't speak with authority). But at least in a storm you have no choice but to act; you respond to what's in front of you and...

I'm unafraid to admit that I am a full-blown escapist. I can't help it. I was born this way. The places I've been in my imagination feel just as real to me as places I've actually been—I defy you to tell me that I haven't ever sat in front of the fire in the Gryffindor common room doing homework with my quill and parchment! The truth is, the world in my head is often way more interesting than what...

A client of mine, Erin, feels like she has the same frustrating conversation with her husband on at least a weekly basis. She's an external processor , so after a stressful day at work, she finds it helpful to come home and talk about all the challenges she's dealing with. For her, it's just a way of decompressing and venting out her feelings of the day. Her husband, on the other hand, is a proble...

In December of 2017 Francisca Hernandez nearly died. She'd spent months feeling unwell, bouncing from doctor to doctor, trying and failing to get to the bottom of her health struggles. It came to a head 11 months ago when she (pretty miraculously) walked into the hospital under her own power, and ended up needing six pints of blood transfused into her body. What followed was a very serious surgery...

It doesn't matter where you're from or what generation you belong to, I know you know someone who's actually entitled. I'm not talking about people who are called "entitled" but don't necessarily deserve it. (A lot of Millennials bear the brunt of this, and it's an unfair generalization to make about an entire generation of people, considering how hardworking and engaged most of the Millennials I...

Welcome to another episode of Dear Krachel, a monthly advice segment where we answer audience questions about life, career, relationships, existential angst, and anything that helps you become a more whole, fulfilled version of yourself. On this episode, we're answering questions from: Catherine, who's having some difficulty with a "jackhammer"-type boss. How do you work with someone who inadverte...

I think it's safe to say that I don't know a single person who hasn't been through a period of burnout. Some temporary burnout is normal, especially after you've expended a big surge of energy. I remember feeling exhausted and lethargic for a couple of days after finals in college or after completing a big project at work. Temporary burnout is bound to happen from time to time, and as long as you...

Raise your hand if you've ever been a couch potato who decided the best way to motivate yourself was to go all out: signing up for a marathon, weightlifting every day, or going to yoga 6 times a week. Or maybe you decided it was time to clean up your diet, so you cut all sugar AND dairy AND wheat AND meat. Or perhaps you wanted to get clear on your career direction, so you bought ten self-help boo...

One of my clients has a passion and expertise for parrots (yet another reason I love coaching—you meet people with incredibly diverse interests). The other day we were talking about her desire to educate people with pet parrots about how to properly care for them, when she started dropping some facts that made me go, "Wait, hold up. Say that again." Here's what she told me: "Parrots are highly soc...

Have you ever heard something that felt so true that it resonated in your very bones? Even if you couldn't explain why you knew it was true? You just knew . That's how I felt when I read this passage from the end of Elizabeth Gilbert's mega-bestselling book Eat, Pray, Love : "The Zen Buddhists say that an oak tree is brought into creation by two forces at the same time. Obviously, there is the aco...