March 19, 2026 Happen To Notice with Vanessa Micale Hello Reader, In the closing session of a somatic certificate program, Linda Thai said to us, “We love each other into becoming.” As a writer, I also see how I love my book into becoming. I just finished a book writing sprint with my dear writer friend. We didn’t co-write but we did exchange accountability check-in’s. We both started writing our books six years ago in March. Six years is a long time to hold a parallel world in the heart,...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
February 26, 2026 Happen To Notice with Vanessa Micale Hello Reader, My body has felt heavy and hyper-aware of bad news (local, national, global: it’s all connected in a heart-torn-asunder way) that has extended into my nighttime dream-world. I was reminded by another lucid dreamer that I can shape the dream material. I forgot my power. If I remember I have agency in the dream-space, then I can shift so much without going into battle, freezing up, or performing fawning and appeasement to...
3 months ago • 3 min read
January 22, 2026 Happen To Notice with Vanessa Micale Hello Reader, Over the new year, I was unexpectedly in Ohio, surrounded by piles of quiet snow. I googled “wtf is a snow squall,” filled up the gas tank of the borrowed car so the tank wouldn’t freeze, physically experienced the weather app’s “feels like -6 degrees” in my bones. It was a grief-laden trip to say goodbye to a loved one nearing the end-of-life. I did my daily practices which are non-negotiable for me, like brushing my soul’s...
4 months ago • 3 min read
December 19, 2025 Happen To Notice with Vanessa Micale Hello Reader, I flipped back through The New Saints: From Broken Hearts to Spiritual Warriors, where I underlined these words by Lama Rod Owens: “My body is more ancient than any system of violence created to tame it. How do I trust my body's ancient intuitive wisdom?” I surrender to awe of giant gold-green leaves larger than my head as the sun bathes the forest in the botanical garden. I notice the people and places where I can be...
5 months ago • 2 min read
December 4, 2025 Happen To Notice with Vanessa Micale Hello Reader, At my recent annual eye exam I confessed I never filled last year’s minimal prescription. I tried to find frames but got overwhelmed by the style options and price-points. I said I’d be back, and never came back. “It’s just been one of those years,” I said—something I’ve been saying for several years now. The doctor said my eyes were healthy. She gave me a minimal prescription again. She said it was optional to fill it as...
5 months ago • 2 min read
October 30, 2025 Happen To Notice with Vanessa Micale Hello Reader, I’m in the middle of a self-directed ten-week book writing sprint through November (with a two week extra buffer if desired). I am writing three days a week, for about three hours a day. I have revision notes carefully organized and catalogued. I have a a long-held vision and a felt sense of how I want the pacing to feel. I follow my breadcrumbs. Some mornings I toss them up in the air and let imaginary birds devour them. Or...
7 months ago • 3 min read
October 2, 2025 Happen To Notice with Vanessa Micale Hello Reader, On the last day of school before summer vacation, I heard kids at an elementary school chanting “Kick it like you mean it!” Their chanting was exuberant. I try to kick it like I mean it. I try to be present and intentional. But what about when I don’t know what I want? How can I kick it like I mean it if I’m flailing in some in-between, unclear on what I actually desire? As we move through a major transformation, time can feel...
7 months ago • 3 min read
September 11, 2025 Happen To Notice with Vanessa Micale Hello Reader, In her memoir, Fearless and Free, Josephine Baker (a world-renowned artist, animal lover, and French spy) asks, “Why don't we make more funny faces? What are we scared of? Making faces is a sport [...] just as important and interesting as the others!” This summer, I gathered weekly with over a hundred strangers to make funny faces, strange sounds, collective songs, and sometimes to weep gently, full-bodied. We were led by...
8 months ago • 3 min read
August 14, 2025 Happen To Notice with Vanessa Micale Sign up for tomorrow's "Somatic Sometimes" in-person class, Friday August 15, 4:15 p.m. in 222 SE 8th Ave, PDX. For a 20% off coupon code: TINYLOVE20 Hello Reader, At a Livelihood Northwest business networking event, there were name-tags with cute fill-in-the-blank prompts. Mine said “I have been thinking a lot about…” I wrote “community.” In 2020, I took my first essay writing class with author Emilly Prado which led to the first essay...
9 months ago • 3 min read