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2025: How I am Embracing Connections


Scenes from Esalen, Big Sur

I wanted to wish you all a happy New Year 2025. May it bring health, peace, joy, creativity, and CONNECTIONS (old and new).


For the third year, I spent the end of the year and the beginning of the new year at Esalen in Big Sur. It is a gorgeous retreat center with a lot of history (it was the birthplace of the human potential movement in the 70s and the place for the last scene of the Mad Men series). It is nested in beautiful nature and includes amazing hot tubs on a bluff above the ocean that use natural hot spring water, great food, and a community of like-minded people. It is low-key and a place of beauty, contemplation, and rest, the perfect place to end and start the year. I consider it my "happy place" to be resourceful during hard times. I love that it is a mellow, introspective place, yet you are in a community. 


Curious about Esalen? Click and enjoy these insights.

This week in between years allowed me to slow down and reflect on my year and what I am putting into the universe for 2025.


2024 was a year of significant transitions: I launched and marketed my book, became an empty nester, and have been thinking about what I want next. What came up were connections and communities. As I think about a polarized, AI-driven world in crisis, our humanity and our connections can counter the heaviness, stress, and loneliness of the times.


What connections and communities do I want to focus on? It starts with my family (even if they are far away) and my friends, the people I love, and with whom I have shared meaningful times and experiences.


I am also interested in bringing new communities into my life this year. 


On a professional level, I am moving from being a solo consultant (which I have been for over 25 years) to joining a group of independent consultants (more to come later this month). This will give me the freedom of independence and a network of like-minded people as support and partners on projects, allowing me to exchange best practices and work on broader projects. 


On the personal side, I am continuing to do improv (I started again last fall) and also taking an acting class, which I did, and I am both excited and a little scared about. I also want to start a very French concept of having small dinner parties at my house to share a meal and have a long discussion. I realized that I usually meet friends at a restaurant, which does not create the same space and time for talking. I am also considering game nights (I have over 100 board games) as a way to interact and create a shared experience. Also on my list of new possibilities are going back to sailing (which I did a lot of in my 20s, taking a swing dancing class, or a new yoga class. 


As I am considering downsizing my house, I have also considered the communities I want to live in. I plan to stay in the Bay area and would love to find places where there are more multigenerational communities and where you can meet a diverse group of people at different life stages. I am not interested in sameness (retirement communities being the perfect example) as there is much to learn from our differences. I would love a place where each generation can bring their gifts (babysitting, shopping, helping each other, or sharing a meal).


This year, I am also interested in focusing on how I may have an impact. 


I want to rejoin a board (I have been on boards for 15 years, involved in fundraising and Executive team roles) and share my knowledge of the nonprofit world and my talent as a facilitator around creating change to support organizations that are making a difference. Please let me know if you know of any organization looking for board members.


I am also interested in focusing my knowledge of innovation on nonprofit or NGO organizations or foundations where my skills could make a difference. I am also looking at new opportunities for volunteering.


If any of these ideas or themes appeal to you and you have suggestions, want to partner on some initiatives, join me for an activity, or be part of my dinner party list, please reach out. My communities are all of you, and I hope we can connect in this new year. 


I wish you all more connections and impact in this new year. What are your desires and plans for this new year? 


Please comment, make your asks, and reach out as we are stronger and better in communities. 



Smiling person in a circular frame beside text: "TO YOUR CREATIVITY, Helene." Book titled "Fire Up Innovation" on the right.

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